HMS Augustus (or Augusta) was a Thames sailing barge that the British Royal Navy purchased in 1795 and used as a gun-vessel of two or three guns. She was under the command of Lieutenant James Scott when she was wrecked at Plymouth on 7 July 1801.[1]
The sailing barges had a crew of 19 men, generally under the command of a sailing master.[2]
She had three commanders. In September 1796 Mr. J. Yates commissioned her. He commanded her through 1797. From 1798 to 1801 she was under the command of Mr. E.K. Foley.[3]
On the morning of 7 July 1801 Augustus, which had been lying in the Cattewater, got under weigh for Cawsand Bay. As she was turning into Plymouth Sound she missed her stays and ran aground east of two gun batteries under the Citadel. HMS Fisgard sent her boats to assist.[4] A dockyard launch also came alongside. Attempts were made to get Augustus off, but they failed and she started to break up.[1] Her crew and some of the stores were saved.[4] Next day dockyard vessels did succeed in pulling her off and in towing her to the Cattewater, but there she was declared a wreck.[1]
Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot. ISBN0-948864-30-3.
Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN978-1-86176-246-7.
This article includes data released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported UK: England & Wales Licence, by the National Maritime Museum, as part of the Warship Histories project.
HMS Ajax was an Ajax-class 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the British Royal Navy. She was built by John Randall & Co of Rotherhithe and launched on the Thames on 3 March 1798. Ajax participated in the Egyptian operation of 1801, the Battle of Cape Finisterre in 1805 and the Battle of Trafalgar, before she was lost to a disastrous fire in 1807 during the Dardanelles Operation.
HMS Hannibal was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 15 April 1786, named after the Carthaginian general Hannibal. She is best known for having taken part in the Algeciras Campaign, and for having run aground during the First Battle of Algeciras on 5 July 1801, which resulted in her capture. She then served in the French Navy until she was broken up in 1824.
HMS Apollo, the fourth ship of the Royal Navy to be named for the Greek god Apollo, was a fifth-rate frigate of a nominal 36 guns. She was the name ship of the Apollo-class frigates. Apollo was launched in 1799, and wrecked with heavy loss of life in 1804.
HMS Fly was a Swan class ship sloop of the Royal Navy and was launched on 14 September 1776. She performed mainly convoy escort duties during the French Revolutionary Wars, though she did capture three privateers. She foundered and was lost with all hands early in 1802.
Vénus was a corvette of the French Navy that the British captured in 1800. Renamed HMS Scout, she served briefly in the Channel before being wrecked in 1801, a few days after taking a major prize.
The Royal Navy purchased the Newcastle collier Ramillies in June 1804 and commissioned her as HMS Proselyte in September 1804, having converted her to a 28-gun sixth rate in July and August. Between 1806 and 1808 she was converted to a bomb vessel. She was crushed by ice and abandoned in 1808 at the island of Anholt while acting as a lightvessel.
HMS Persian was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Daniel List and launched at Cowes in 1809. She captured two privateers before she wrecked in 1813.
His Majesty's Hired armed cutter Lurcher was a 12-gun cutter that served the Royal Navy from 15 August 1795 until 15 January 1801 when a French privateer captured her in the Channel.
The French brig Alerte was launched in April 1787. The Royal Navy captured her at Toulon in August 1793, and renamed her HMS Vigilante. The British set her on fire when they evacuated Toulon in December of that year. After the French rebuilt her as Alerte, she served at the Battle of Aboukir Bay. The British recaptured her in June 1799 and took her into service as HMS Minorca. Minorca was sold in 1802.
HMS Active was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate sailing frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1758. She was one of the captors of the Spanish ship Hermione. After Hermione surrendered, her captors found that she carried a large cargo of gold and silver that would lead to the greatest single amount of prize money awarded to the crew of a British warship.
HMS Garland was the French privateer Mars, launched in 1798 that Amethyst captured in 1800. The Royal Navy took her into service and sent her out to the Jamaica Station. There she had a brief, eventful career before she was wrecked in 1803.
HMS Cerbere was the French naval brig Cerbère, ex-Chalier, which the British captured in 1800. She was wrecked in 1804.
The Dutch ship sloop Havik was launched in 1784 and served in the Batavian Navy. The British captured her in 1796 at the capitulation of Saldanha Bay. She then served briefly in the Royal Navy as HMS Havick before she was wrecked in late 1800.
HMS Hawk was an 18-gun sloop-of-war, previously the French privateer Atalante, that HMS Plantagenet captured in 1803. The Royal Navy took Atalante into service as HMS Hawk; she foundered in 1804.
The Royal Navy employed two vessels designated as His Majesty's Hired armed vessel Sir Thomas Pasley during the French Revolutionary Wars. The two vessels were named for Admiral Sir Thomas Pasley. The vessels are also sometimes described as cutters, but more generally as brigs. The Spanish captured the first Sir Thomas Pasley. The second had a brief, but highly productive, career that later led to her crew qualifying for the Naval General Service Medal. After she was returned to her owners in March 1802, she may have been wrecked in the Mediterranean that same year.
HMS Hyaena was a 24-gun Porcupine-class post-ship of the Royal Navy launched in 1778. The French captured her in 1793, took her into service as Hyène, and then sold her. She became a privateer that the British captured in 1797. The Royal Navy took her back into service as Hyaena and she continued to serve until the Navy sold her in 1802. The shipowner Daniel Bennett purchased her and renamed her Recovery. She made seven voyages as a whaler in the Southern Whale Fishery and was broken up 1813.
The French schooner Impériale was a 3-gun mercantile schooner-aviso of the French Navy commissioned at Guadeloupe on 23 September 1805. The Royal Navy captured her on 24 May 1806 and named her HMS Vigilant. The Navy renamed her HMS Subtle on 20 November 1806. She wrecked at Bermuda on 20 October 1807.
HMS Imogen was the French privateer Diable á Quatre, built at Bordeaux in 1792, that Thames and Immortalite captured in 1800. The Royal Navy took her into service in 1801 as HMS Imogen. She foundered in 1805.
The British Royal Navy purchased HMS Nile on 3 November 1806. She was the hired armed cutter Nile. After a brief, undistinguished career, the Navy sold her in 1810 only to have to break her up in 1811.
The British Royal Navy purchased two vessels in 1795, both named HMS Friendship. Both were lost in November 1801. The parallels in names and dates has resulted in the two vessels, and their fates, probably being conflated.
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