HMS Bulwark (centre left) as a hulk in Portsmouth in 1826 | |
History | |
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Great Britain | |
Name | HMS Bulwark |
Ordered | 6 November 1794 |
Builder | Master shipwright Nicholas Diddams, Portsmouth Dockyard |
Laid down | April 1804 |
Launched | 23 April 1807 |
Fate | Broken up, 1825 |
General characteristics [1] | |
Class and type | 74-gun third-rate ship of the line |
Tons burthen | 1,93980⁄94 (bm) |
Length |
|
Beam | 49 ft 3 in (15.0 m) |
Depth of hold | 20 ft 7 in (6.3 m) |
Propulsion | Sails |
Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
Armament |
HMS Bulwark was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 23 April 1807 at Portsmouth. She was designed by Sir William Rule as one of the large class 74s, and was the only ship built to her draught. She was built at Portsmouth Dockyard by Nicholas Diddams.
As a large 74, she carried 24-pounder guns on her upper gun deck instead of the 18 pounders found on the middling and common class 74s. [1]
On 24 March 1812, Bulwark was in company with Tonnant, Hogue, Colossus and Poictiers when they captured Emilie. [2]
On 25 November 1813 Maister was on her way from Hull to Martinique when Bulwark ran into her off the Owers. The collision dismasted Maister, which went into Cowes the next day. [3]
On 22 May 1814, Bulwark recaptured Tiger, Cowan, master. The American privateer Yankee had captured Tiger as Tiger was sailing from Malaga to London. Tiger arrived at Halifax on 28 July. [4] The records of the Vice admiralty court at Halifax show that Tyger, Henry Davidson, master, had been sailing from Malaga to Stettin, and that Bulwark had recaptured her on 24 July. [5]
On 23 October 1814 Bulwark captured the American privateer schooner Harlequin, of 330 tons (bm), ten 12-pounder guns, and 115 men. She had been out only four days when captured. [6] [lower-alpha 1]
On 22 January 1815, Bulwark captured the American privateer schooner Tomahawk, of Baltimore. She was of 210 tons (bm), had a crew of 84 men under the command of Philip Bessom, and was armed with eight 9-pounder carronades and a 24-pounder on a pivot carriage. She had been commissioned on 11 January, was two days out of Boston, and had not captured anything. [8] [9] [10]
Bulwark was broken up at Portsmouth on 26 September 1826. [11]
Nautilus was a schooner launched in 1799. The United States Navy purchased her in May 1803 and commissioned her USS Nautilus; she thus became the first ship to bear that name. She served in the First Barbary War. She was altered to a brigantine. The British captured Nautilus early in the War of 1812 and renamed her HMS Emulous. After her service with the Royal Navy, the Admiralty sold her in 1817.
Sir John Sherbrooke was a successful and famous Nova Scotian privateer brig during the War of 1812, the largest privateer from Atlantic Canada during the war. In addition to preying on American merchant ships, she also defended Nova Scotian waters during the war. After her conversion to a merchantman she fell prey to an American privateer in 1814. She was burnt to prevent her reuse.
HMS Fantome was an 18-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was originally a French privateer brig named Fantôme, which the British captured in 1810 and commissioned into British service. Fantome saw extensive action in the War of 1812 until she was lost in a shipwreck at Prospect, Nova Scotia, near Halifax in 1814.
HMS Saturn was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 22 November 1786 at Northam. The vessel served during the Napoleonic Wars with the Channel Fleet, taking part in the 1801 Battle of Copenhagen. With the beginning of the War of 1812, Saturn was modified to become a frigate designed to take on large American vessels of that type. Saturn was deployed as part of the blockading squadron of New York City from 1814 to 1815. From 1825, the vessel was in harbour service and was broken up in 1868.
HMS Niemen was a Royal Navy 38-gun fifth-rate frigate. She began her career as the Niémen, a 44-gun French Navy Armide-class frigate, designed by Pierre Rolland. She was only in French service for a few months when in 1809 she encountered some British frigates. The British captured her and she continued in British service as Niemen. In British service she cruised in the Atlantic and North American waters, taking numerous small American prizes, some privateers but mostly merchantmen. She was broken up in 1815, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.
HMS Pictou was a 14-gun schooner that the Royal Navy captured in 1813. She served briefly on the Royal Navy's North American station, capturing one or two merchantmen before the American frigate USS Constitution captured her during the War of 1812.
HMS Spartan was a Royal Navy 38-gun fifth-rate frigate, launched at Rochester in 1806. During the Napoleonic Wars she was active in the Adriatic and in the Ionian Islands. She then moved to the American coast during the War of 1812, where she captured a number of small vessels, including a US Revenue Cutter and a privateer, the Dart. She then returned to the Mediterranean, where she remained for a few years. She went on to serve off the American coast again, and in the Caribbean, before being broken up in 1822.
HMS Recruit was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1806 at Sandwich, Kent. She is best known for an act of pique by Commander Warwick Lake, who marooned a seaman, and for an inconclusive but hard-fought ship action under Commander Charles John Napier against the French corvette Diligente. She captured a number of American vessels as prizes during the War of 1812 before being laid up in 1815 and sold for breaking up in 1822.
HMS Epervier was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, built by Ross at Rochester, England, and launched on 2 December 1812. USS Peacock captured her in 1814 and took her into service. USS Epervier disappeared in 1815 while carrying dispatches reporting the signing of a treaty with the Dey of Algiers.
HMS Curlew (1812) was a Royal Navy Cruizer class brig-sloop built by (William) Good & Co., at Bridport and launched in 1812. She served with the Navy for only 10 years. During the War of 1812 she sailed from Halifax and captured several American privateers. Her greatest moment was her role in the 1819 British occupation of Ras al-Khaimah. Curlew was sold in 1822 in Bombay. She then had a 13 or so year career as an opium runner for James Matheson, one of the founders of the firm Jardine Matheson.
HMS Bream was a British 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 1807. Bream operated primarily in North American waters and had an uneventful career until the War of 1812. She then captured two small American privateers and assisted in the recovery of a third, much larger one. She also captured a number of small prizes before she was sold or broken up in 1816.
HMS Canso was the American letter of marque schooner Lottery, launched in 1811, that a British squadron captured in 1813. The Royal Navy took Lottery into service as HMS Canso and she served during the War of 1812 and briefly thereafter. The navy sold her in 1816.
HMS Pictou was the American letter of marque schooner Zebra that the Royal Navy captured in 1813. The Admiralty purchased her in 1814 and she served on the North America station during the War of 1812 before the navy sold her in 1818.
HMS Magnet was an American brig captured in 1812. HMS Magnet served during the War of 1812 as a prison ship at Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Royal Navy eventually renamed her Attentive, possibly in 1814 when the Navy acquired Sir Sydney Smith, which it renamed Magnet. Then as Attentive she served as a store ship, still apparently on the Halifax station, before she sailed to Britain in 1816. She was broken up in January 1817.
HMS Atalante was an 18-cannon sloop-of-war launched in 1808 in Bermuda. She was wrecked on 10 November 1813 because of fog off Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Rifleman was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop launched in 1809 for the Royal Navy. She served in the North Sea, on the Halifax and Jamaica stations, and in the Mediterranean Sea. During her service she recaptured a Royal Navy vessel in Danish service, and two privateers. The Navy sold her in 1836 and she proceed to sail as a merchantman and whaler between 1837 and 1856.
HMS Pyramus was a fifth-rate 36-gun frigate launched at Portsmouth in 1810. During the Napoleonic Wars she captured some small privateers. She was hulked in 1832–1833 at Halifax, Nova Scotia. The vessel was sold and broken up in 1879.
HMS Barrosa was launched in 1812 for the Royal Navy and served during the War of 1812 during which she captured several prices. After the war she spent a decade or so (1823–1833) on harbour duties. The navy sold Barrosa in 1841.
HMS Narcissus was the lead ship of the Royal Navy Narcissus-class 32-gun fifth-rate frigate, launched in 1801. She participated in the War of 1812.
HMS Martin was launched in Bermuda in 1809. Commander John Evans then commissioned her at Halifax Nova Scotia. During the War of 1812, Martin spent much of her time on the Halifax station. She captured or shared in the capture of numerous small merchant vessels. She also captured a small United States privateer, and was involved in an action with United States gunboats. After the war she conducted patrols against smugglers. She was on one of those patrols when she was wrecked in 1817.