HMS Braak (1795)

Last updated

History
Prinsenvlag.svg Dutch Republic
NameDe Braak
NamesakeThe beagle
BuilderP. v. Zwinjndregt, Rotterdam [1]
Launched1781
CapturedBy the British in February 1795
Naval Ensign of Great Britain (1707-1800).svg Great Britain
NameHMS Braak
AcquiredFebruary 1795
Commissioned13 June 1797
FateCapsized on 23 May 1798
General characteristics [2]
Class and type14-gun brig-sloop
Tons burthen255 28⁄94 (bm)
Length84 ft (26 m) (overall); 57 ft 4+3⁄4 in (17.494 m) (keel)
Beam28 ft 11 in (8.81 m)
Depth of hold11 ft 2 in (3.40 m)
Sail plan brig-sloop
Complement
  • Dutch service: 80-100 [3]
  • British service: 86
Armament

HMS Braak was an 18-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched at Rotterdam in 1781 and initially served with the Dutch Republic. The British seized her, in Britain, after the Dutch entry into the French Revolutionary Wars, and took her into the Royal Navy. She served briefly with the British before capsizing off the North American coast. She was subsequently the focus of a number of salvage efforts.

Contents

Dutch career

The cutter De Braak was launched as a "botter", [1] or vessel of the 8th Charter. [3] Sources also give her name as Baak, [1] or Brak. [3] She was part of a Mediterranean fleet based at the French port of Toulon.

By the 1790s Braak was in the Caribbean, and was present at the defence against the French of Willemstad, part of the Dutch colony at Curaçao, in 1793. [4] By late 1794 she was ordered to escort a convoy of East Indiamen to Batavia in the Netherlands East Indies. En route she called at the English port of Falmouth, unaware that the French had since invaded the Netherlands and proclaimed the Batavian Republic as a client state, compelling the Dutch to declare war on the British. On the arrival of the convoy at falmouth, the Royal Navy seized the 26 merchantmen and six warships of the convoy, including De Braak. A boarding party from the sloop-of-war HMS Fortune took over De Braak. [4] [5] Forty-six Royal Navy vessels that were at Plymouth shared in the prize money. [6]

British career

The Royal Navy took De Braak into service as HMS Braak and re-rigged her as a brig-sloop. [4] She was initially commissioned under Commander James Drew on 13 June 1797. A storm at the end of the year dismasted her. On the completion of repairs, she returned to service in February 1798 and was assigned to escort a convoy to the Virginia Capes. [4] She sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 17 March 1798. [2] On 2 April, whilst off the Azores, she became separated from the rest of the ships. Towards the end of the month she fell in with and captured the Spanish ship Dom Francisco Xavier, [7] which was carrying a cargo of copper, cocoa, and other goods [7] and reportedly was worth some £160,000 in prize money. [4]

Braak arrived in company with Dom Francisco Xavier in Delaware Bay on 25 May 1798, and took on a pilot, Andrew Allen, [7] from Cape Henlopen in Delaware. [4] [7] In an exuberant mood because of the capture of the nearby Dom Francisco Xavier, Drew went below to fetch an alcoholic beverage with which he and Allen could toast his success. [7] While he was below, Allen noticed dark clouds approaching and, concerned that a spring thunderstorm was about to strike, ordered Braak′s sails taken in. [7] When Drew returned to the deck, he admonished Allen for ordering the sails to be taken in, telling him "You look out for the bottom, and I′ll look out for the spars." [7] Drew ordered the crew to unfurl the sails, and shortly after they did a strong and sudden squall blew up as Allen had feared, filling the sails. [4] [5] [7] Before the crew could take action, [4] [5] Braak listed heavily to one side, allowing water to pour into the ship's hold through open hatches. Within a few moments, Braak capsized, [4] [5] [7] drowning Drew and 35 of his crew, as well as their 12 Spanish prisoners. [4] [7] Allen swam free of the sinking ship and was saved. [7]

Salvage and controversy

With the wreck lying on the bottom of Delaware Bay, rumours soon began to circulate concerning the amount of treasure Braak purportedly carried when she sank, with estimates of the value reaching $500 million. [4] A number of artifacts were raised during the 1980s, but maritime archaeologists criticised these efforts for their disregard for proper archaeological methods, and for their discarding of anything not considered inherently valuable. [4] In 1986, [7] Braak′s hull was raised, [4] [8] but in such a way that considerable damage was done to both it and the surrounding area of archaeological interest. [4] The hull was eventually placed in a museum, as were many of the artifacts recovered, [4] including items such as decanters, bottles, and glasses. [9] Only a small amount of coin was recovered, worth considerably less than the cost of the large number of salvage attempts that had been undertaken over the years. The treatment of the wreck of Braak, and of many others like it, was a contributing factor to the passage of the Abandoned Shipwrecks Act of 1987. [4]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Rotterdams jaarboekje (1900), p. 106.
  2. 1 2 Winfield (2008), p. 289.
  3. 1 2 3 van Maanen, p.7.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Paine. Warships of the World. pp. 46–7.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Colledge. Ships of the Royal Navy. p. 46.
  6. ↑ "No. 15362". The London Gazette . 5 May 1801. p. 504.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Morgan, p. 26.
  8. ↑ Morgan, pp. 26, 28.
  9. ↑ Morgan, p. 28.

Related Research Articles

Twelve ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Thetis, named after the sea-nymph in Greek mythology:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sloop-of-war</span> Type of warship

During the 18th and 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship of the British Royal Navy with a single gun deck that carried up to 18 guns. The rating system of the Royal Navy covered all vessels with 20 or more guns; thus, the term encompassed all unrated warships, including gun-brigs and cutters. In technical terms, even the more specialised bomb vessels and fire ships were classed by the Royal Navy as sloops-of-war, and in practice these were employed in the role of a sloop-of-war when not carrying out their specialised functions.

HMS <i>Daedalus</i> (1780) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Daedalus was a 32-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1780 from the yards of John Fisher, of Liverpool. She went on to serve in the American War of Independence, as well as the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Eight ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Seagull or HMS Sea Gull, after the gull:

Admiral Sir Lawrence William Halsted GCB was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

HMS Proselyte was a 32-gun Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate. She was the former Dutch 36-gun frigate Jason, built in 1770 at Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Her crew mutinied and turned her over to the British in 1796. She then served the Royal Navy until she was wrecked in 1801.

HMS Celebes was the Dutch or Batavian Republic frigate Pallas, under the command of Captain N.S. Aalbers, that the frigate HMS Greyhound and brig-sloop HMS Harrier captured on 26 July 1806 in the East Indies.

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

HMS Sibyl was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Sibyl was renamed HMS Garland in 1795.

The Dutch cutter Kemphaan, meaning "game cock", was launched in 1781 as a 12-gun advice boat, with a mission of carrying dispatches between the Netherlands and its colonies. The Dutch increased her length by almost a quarter in 1787, gave her six more guns, and made a brig-sloop out of her. The British captured her in 1799 when they captured Suriname. She then served briefly in the Royal Navy as HMS Camphaan before she was broken up in early 1802.

HMS <i>Halstarr</i> (1807) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Halstarr was the Dutch frigate Kenau Hasselar, launched in 1800 that the British captured at Curaçao in 1807. The Royal Navy took her into service but the Admiralty sold her for breaking up in 1809.

The Dutch corvette Scipio was launched in 1784. She convoyed Dutch East Indiamen between the Cape of Good Hope and Europe until HMS Psyche captured her at Samarang in 1807. The British Royal Navy initially referred to her as HMS Scipio, but then renamed her to HMS Samarang in 1808. She was not commissioned in the Royal Navy. She was instrumental in the capture of Amboyna and especially Pulo Ay, and participated in the invasion of Java (1811). She was sold at Bombay in 1814. She then entered mercantile service, sailing between Liverpool and India until 1827. She became an opium trader sailing between India and Canton, and was broken up near Hong Kong in August 1833.

Castor was built at Delfshaven and launched in 1786. The British captured her at the capitulation of Saldanha Bay in August 1796. Because there was already an HMS Castor, they renamed her HMS Saldanha. After she arrived at Plymouth the Royal Navy fitted her as a receiving ship in November 1797; she was sold in 1806.

French corvette <i>Etna</i> (1795)

Etna was a French naval Etna-class ship-sloop launched in 1795 that the Royal Navy captured in November 1796. She was taken into service as HMS Aetna and renamed to HMS Cormorant the next year. She captured several merchant vessels and privateers before she was wrecked in 1800 off the coast of Egypt.

Dutch sloop <i>Havik</i> (1784)

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.

The Dutch sloop Sireene was launched in 1786. The British captured her in 1796 at the capitulation of Saldanha Bay. She then served in the Royal Navy, first briefly as the sixth rate HMS Daphne, and then from 1798 as the prison ship HMS Laurel. The Admiralty sold her in 1821.

HMS Janus was the Dutch fifth-rate Argo, built at the dockyard of the Amsterdam Admiralty, and launched in 1790. HMS Phoenix captured her on 12 May 1796. The British Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Janus. She was a receiving ship by 1798 and in Ordinary by 1807. The Navy sold her in 1811.

Tromp was a Dutch fourth-rate ship of the line launched at Rotterdam in 1777. The Royal Navy captured her at the Capitulation of Saldanha Bay on 17 August 1796. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Tromp, sometimes referred to as HMS Van Tromp. In British service she served as a prison, troop, store, guard, hospital, or receiving ship until the Navy sold her in 1815.

Minerva was launched in 1787 at Veere for the navy of the Dutch Republic. In 1799 the Royal Navy captured her. She became HMS Braak, but the Navy sold her with the arrival of the Peace of Amiens. Daniel Bennet purchased her and she became the whaler Africaine or African or Africa. She made two whaling voyages. After 1805 she was still listed in Lloyd's Register for some years but there is no record of further whaling or other voyages.

The Dutch corvette Waakzaamheid was launched at Enkhuizen in 1786. The French Navy captured her in 1794 and renamed her Vigilance. She was part of a squadron that in 1794 captured or destroyed a large number of British merchant vessels on the Guinea coast. The French returned her to the Dutch, in 1795. The Dutch Navy returned her name to Waakzaamheid. The British Royal Navy captured her without a fight in 1798. She then served as HMS Waaksaamheid until she was sold in September 1802.

The Sea Witch refers to the mascot of the annual Sea Witch Festival in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

References

38°46′34″N75°03′50″W / 38.7760°N 75.0639°W / 38.7760; -75.0639

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.