HMS Boreas (1806)

Last updated

BOREAS 1806 RMG J7062.jpg
HMS Boreas
History
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Boreas
Ordered30 January 1805
BuilderStone, Great Yarmouth
Laid downJune 1805
Launched2 June 1806
Completed16 November 1806 at Chatham Dockyard
FateWrecked 28 November 1807
General characteristics [1]
Class and type22-gun Laurel-class sixth-rate post ship
Tons burthen52626⁄94 (bm)
Length118 ft 0 in (36.0 m) (overall)
Beam31 ft 7+3⁄4 in (9.6 m)
Depth of hold10 ft 3 in (3.12 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail plan Full-rigged ship
Complement155
Armament
  • As built:
  • Upper deck (UD): 22 x 9-pounder guns
  • QD: 6 x 24-pounder carronades
  • Fc: 2 x 6-pounder chase guns
  • + 2 x 24-pounder carronades
  • Later rearmed:
  • UD: 22 x 32-pounder carronades
  • QD: 6 x 18-pounder carronades
  • Fc: 2 x 6-pounder chase guns
  • + 2 x 18-pounder carronades

HMS Boreas was a Laurel-class 22-gun post ship launched in 1806. She was wrecked off Guernsey in the Channel Islands on 28 November 1807 with the loss of most of her crew of 154 men.

Contents

Service

The Royal Navy commissioned Boreas under the command of Captain Robert Scott. On 2 October 1807 she captured, after a four-hour chase, the French privateer schooner Victoire. The privateer had a crew of 28 men and was armed with swivel guns and small arms. She had sailed from Morlaix the day before and had already captured an American brig, which Boreas recaptured. [2] On 8 October 1807 Boreas and the sixth-rate frigate Brilliant captured the Danish ships St Hans and Montreal. [3] [4]

Wreck

Boreas sailed from Saint Peter Port on Guernsey to the rescue of a pilot cutter that was in difficulty in bad weather. Sailing back around Guernsey with the cutter in tow, she struck the Requiers rock. [5] : 11  An expert pilot was on board and had ordered the ship to put about, but the officer of the watch refused to act without permission from the captain, resulting in the loss of the ship in the confusion. [5] : 12  After efforts to save Boreas failed, Scott ordered the crew to abandon ship. He sent some men ahead in boats that landed at Hanois Point, but strong seas and the desertion of many of the men prevented the boats from going back to rescue the remaining men. Boreas eventually sank, with only her rigging remaining above water.

The next morning, boats dispatched by Admiral James Saumarez, commander of the Royal Navy Channel Islands squadron and himself a Guernsey native, rescued 30 men. In all, 120 persons drowned, including Scott. Twenty-six of the survivors took advantage of the situation to desert. [6]

The normal post-loss court martial was held with the captain, officers and crew being praised for their "standing in good conduct." [5] : 12 

Post script

The sinking of Boreas added greatly to the call to construct a lighthouse, [7] which resulted in Les Hanois Lighthouse being erected on Guernsey between 1860 and 1862.

Fort Grey on Guernsey is now a shipwreck museum and holds one of the cannon from Boreas. The cannon points towards the reef where she sank. [5]

Citations

  1. ↑ Winfield (2008), p. 236.
  2. ↑ "No. 16077". The London Gazette . 17 October 1807. p. 1380.
  3. ↑ "No. 16292". The London Gazette . 26 August 1809. p. 1372.
  4. ↑ "No. 16294". The London Gazette . 2 September 1809. p. 1424.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Dafter, Ray (2003). Guernsey Sentinel. Matfield Books. ISBN   0-9540595-1-4.
  6. ↑ Hepper (1994), p. 121.
  7. ↑ "100 men lost: HMS Boreas, 28 November 1807".

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gunboat War</span> 1807–1814 war between Denmark–Norway and the United Kingdom

The Gunboat War was a naval conflict between Denmark–Norway and the British during the Napoleonic Wars. The war's name is derived from the Danish tactic of employing small gunboats against the materially superior Royal Navy. In Scandinavia it is seen as the later stage of the English Wars, whose commencement is accounted as the First Battle of Copenhagen in 1801.

Sixteen ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Viper, or HMS Vipere, after the members of the Viperidae family:

HMS <i>Persian</i> (1809) Brig-sloop of the Royal Navy

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.

HMS <i>Ferret</i> (1806) Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop

HMS Ferret was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Benjamin Tanner at Dartmouth and launched in 1806, 19 months late. She served on the Jamaica, Halifax, and Leith stations during which time she took three privateers as prizes before she was wrecked in 1813.

HMS <i>Magnet</i> (1807) Brig-sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Magnet was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop built at Robert Guillaume’s yard at Northam and launched in 1807. She served in the Baltic, where she took two prizes, one an armed privateer, before wrecking in 1809.

HMS Whiting was a Royal Navy Ballahoo-class schooner of four 12-pounder carronades and a crew of 20. The prime contractor for the vessel was Goodrich & Co., in Bermuda, and she was launched in 1805. She was a participant at the Battle of Basque Roads. A French privateer captured her at the beginning of the War of 1812, shortly after the Americans had captured and released her in the first naval incident of the war.

During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars the Admiralty also made use of hired armed vessels, one of which was His Majesty's Hired armed cutter Swan. Actually there were two such cutters, but the descriptions of these vessels and the dates of their service are such that they may well represent one vessel under successive contracts. The vessel or vessels cruised, blockaded, carried despatches and performed reconnaissance.

During the period of the Napoleonic Wars, two vessels have served the British Royal Navy as His Majesty's Hired armed cutter Idas, named for Idas, a figure from Greek mythology.

During the period of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, there were two or three vessels known as His Majesty's hired armed cutter Active that served the British Royal Navy. The reason for the uncertainty in the number is that the size of the vessels raises the possibility that the first and second may have been the same vessel.

HMS Moucheron was a French privateer, built in 1799, that the British captured in 1801. The British government purchased her in 1802 for the Royal Navy. She foundered in 1807 in the Mediterranean without leaving a trace.

HMS <i>Brilliant</i> (1779) Enterprise-class Royal Navy frigate

HMS Brilliant was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Brilliant was first commissioned in July 1779 under the command of Captain John Ford.

HMS Alphea was built of Bermudan pencil cedar as a cutter and launched in 1804. Later she was converted to a schooner. She captured a number of small prizes before September 1813 when she blew up in a single-ship action with the loss of her entire crew.

HMS Claudia was an Adonis-class schooner of the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic War. She was built at Bermuda using Bermudan cedar and completed in 1806. She was commissioned under Lieutenant Anthony Bliss William Lord in March 1806.

HMS <i>Pandora</i> (1806) Brig-sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Pandora was launched in 1806. She captured two privateers before she was wrecked in February 1811 off the coast of Jutland.

HMS Pert was the French privateer Bonaparte, a ship built in the United States that HMS Cyane captured in November 1804. The Royal Navy took Bonaparte into service as HMS Pert. Pert was wrecked off the coast of what is now Venezuela in October 1807.

His Majesty's hired armed cutter Duke of Clarence, named for William Henry, Duke of Clarence, served the British Royal Navy under two contracts, one during the French Revolutionary Wars, and one at the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars. She was lost on 25 November 1804, but without loss of life.

HMS Jackal was a Bloodhound-class brig of the Royal Navy, launched in 1801. She captured a number of small prizes in the Channel, including one armed sloop, before she was lost in 1807.

HMS <i>Wolf</i> (1804) British sloop-of-war (1804–1806)

HMS Wolf was a Merlin-class sloop launched at Dartmouth in 1804. She captured or destroyed four small Spanish or French privateers before she was wrecked on 4 September 1806 in the Bahamas.

HMS Avenger was the collier Thames, launched in 1803, that the Royal Navy purchased in 1804 and renamed. During her service she captured a number of prizes. She also captured one French privateer and participated in the capture of the Danish island of Anholt. She wrecked at St Johns Newfoundland on 8 October 1812.

HMS Bustler was launched at Topsham in 1805. The French captured her in 1808 when she stranded and attempts to set fire to her failed. The French Navy took her into service as Bustler. The British recaptured her in 1813 when attempts by her crew to scuttle her failed. The Royal Navy did not take her into service and her subsequent disposition is currently obscure.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.