HMS Circe was a Royal Navy 32-gun fifth-ratefrigate, built by Master Shipwright Joseph Tucker at Plymouth Dockyard, and launched in 1804.[2] She served in the Caribbean during the Napoleonic Wars, and participated in an action and a campaign for which in 1847 in the Admiralty authorised the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with clasps. The action, off the Pearl Rock, near Saint-Pierre, Martinique, was a debacle that cost Circe dearly. However, she also had some success in capturing privateers and a French brig. She was sold in 1814.
Circe entered service in November 1804 under Captain Jonas Rose. She then began operating off Portugal.[2] On 1 March 1805 she captured the Spanish privateer schooner Fama off Oporto. Fama was armed with four brass guns and had a crew of 62 men. She had left Vigo eight days earlier but had not yet taken any prizes.[3]Circe's crew received headmoney for the 62 men in 1829.[4][lower-alpha 1]
Next, on 21 June, Circe captured the privateer Constance in the Leeward Islands. Constance was armed with 10 guns and had a crew of 75 men.[6] She was just out of Guadeloupe. However, she may have been the same Constance that Circe had earlier captured off the coast of Spain.[7] The Admiralty took her in as the schooner Maria.[8] On 9 May Circe and Epervier captured Charles.[9] Then on 11 September Circe was one of several British warships that shared in the capture of Hiram.[10]
West Indies: In 1806, command passed to Hugh Pigot, who took Circe to the West Indies.[2] On 9 December Circe captured Belle Eliza.[lower-alpha 2]
On 2 January 1807 Circe's boats took the privateer Creole, of one gun and 28 men.[2][12] On 5 April she took Austerlitz after an 18-hour pursuit. Austerlitz was armed with eighteen 6-pounder guns and had a crew of 125 men. Pigot reported that "This Vessel has done more Mischief to the Trade than any other from Guadaloupe during the War". The British had chased her several times without catching her and she would have escaped this time too had she not sprung her main topsail-yard and fore-top-gallant mast.[13][lower-alpha 3] Then The Royal Navy took Austerlitz into service as HMSPultusk.
Next, Circe was among the British ships sharing in the capture on 20 October 1807 of the Danish schooner Danske Patriot.[15]
In 1808 Circe participated in the blockade of Guadeloupe. In March Pigot took command of a landing party made up of seamen and marines from Circe, Cerberus and Camilla. They captured Marie Galante after having met no resistance. Neither side suffered any casualties.[16][lower-alpha 4] At some point Circe came under the command of Commander Charles Kerr (acting).[2]
Then on 31 October 1808 Circe encountered a French brig near Diamond Rock.[18] At Circe's approach the brig took shelter under the guns of a battery. Still, after an engagement of no more than 15 minutes, Circe captured the French brigPalinure, which was under the command of M. Fourniers. Palinure was armed with fourteen 24-pounder carronades and two 6-pounder guns. She had 79 men aboard, most of whom were troops from the 83rd Regiment.[18] She had lost seven killed and eight wounded; Circe had lost one man killed and one wounded. The guns of the battery were so much higher than the vessels beneath them that they could not bring their guns to bear and fired few, if any shots.[18] Earlier that month Palinure had recaptured the Cruizer-class brig-sloopCarnation.
On 11 November, Circe, Epervier, and Amaranthe captured Intrepid.[19] Nine days later, Amaranthe, Circe, Cherub, Epervier and Unique captured the American ships Bonetta and Mary and Allen.[20] Prize money for Intrepid and Bonetta was paid in 1814,[20] and 1839.[21][lower-alpha 5]
Off the Pearl Rock:Circe's greatest action commenced on 12 December 1808, when under Commander Francis Augustus Collier, Circe was in charge of a squadron that included Stork, Epervier, Morne Fortunee, and Express.[22] The vessels joined to attack the French 16-gun brig Cygne and two schooners off Saint-Pierre, Martinique. Circe sent in her boats, which the French repelled, causing her 56 casualties, dead, wounded and missing.[22]
That evening Amaranthe, under the command of Captain Edward Pelham Brenton, joined Circe and Stork.[22] The next day fire from Amaranthe compelled the crew of Cygne to abandon her and Amaranthe's boats boarded and destroyed the French vessel. For her part Amaranthe lost one man killed and five wounded due to fire from shore batteries. One schooner ran ashore and was destroyed.[22]
Amaranthe's boats, assisted by boats from the schooner Express, boarded the second schooner and set fire to her too.[22] This expedition cost Amaranthe her sailing master, Joshua Jones, who was severely wounded. The other British vessels that contributed boats also had casualties. Including the losses in the earlier fighting before Amaranthe arrived, the British had lost some 12 men killed, 31 wounded, and 26 missing (drowned or prisoners) for little gain.[22] Brenton was promoted to Post-captain soon after the battle, with the promotion being back dated to 13 December, the date of the battle. In 1847 the Admiralty authorised the award of the NGSM with the clasp "Off the Pearl Rock 13 Decr. 1808".
1809:Circe was in company with Wolverine, Pompee, and Captain when Wolverine captured the French brig Josephine on 15 January 1809.[24] Then in February Circe was in the squadron that took part in the successful invasion of Martinique.[2] In 1847 the Admiralty authorised the NGSM with clasp "Martinique" to all surviving claimants from the campaign.
On 31 March Circe and Narcissus captured Frederique.[25]
In April 1809, a strong French squadron arrived at the Îles des Saintes, south of Guadeloupe. There they were blockaded until 14 April, when a British force under Major-General Frederick Maitland and Captain Philip Beaver in Acasta, invaded and captured the islands.[26]Circe was among the naval vessels that shared in the proceeds of the capture of the islands.[lower-alpha 6]
Circe was also among the vessels sharing in the prize money from Pompee's capture of the D'Hautpoul on 17 April.[28]
In July, Captain Edward Woolcombe took command. Circe was among the vessels listed as having participated in the ill-fated Walcheren Campaign that took place between 30 July and 10 August. She shared in the proceeds of the property captured at Walcheren and the adjacent islands in the Scheldt.[29]
Woolcombe sailed Circe to the Mediterranean on 17 February 1810. She remained there in 1811 before returning to Portsmouth in July 1812.[2]
Circe sailed for the Leeward Islands on 15 November. There, in company with Forester, she took the American privateer Lovely Lass on 14 May 1813 after a nineteen-hour chase. Lovely Lass was under the command of Mr. John Smith, an officer in the American navy. She had been armed with five guns but had thrown four overboard during the chase. She had a crew of 60 men and had been out for forty days without having made any captures.[30] A later report gave her tonnage as 80 tons and her crew as 73 men. She was from Wilmington and Circe sent her to Kingston.[31]
Four days later Circe captured the American schooner William, of 145 tons and 7 men. She was carrying staves and lumber from Boston to Porto Bello and Circe sent her too to Kingston.[31] The prize court restored William to her owners and deducted certain expenses of the detention from Circe's prize money for Lovely Lass.[32]
Fate
In 1814 Circe went into ordinary at Portsmouth. The Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy offered the "Circe, of 32 guns and 670 tons", lying at Portsmouth, for sale on 11 August 1814. The buyer had to post a bond of £3,000, with two guarantors, that they would break up the vessel within a year of purchase.[33] She was sold on 20 August 1814 for £1,900.[2]
Notes
↑ A first-class share was worth £91 15s 0d; a fifth-class share, that of a seaman, was worth 6s 8+1⁄2d.[5]
↑ The prize money for petty officers amounted to £60 16s 2+1⁄2d each, while that for seaman was £12 8s 9d.[11] This compares with monthly pay for a seaman of 1s per day; the prize money would then have represented 248 days' wages.
↑ A first-class share of the prize money was worth £34 10s 1+1⁄2d; a fifth-class share was worth 3s 8+1⁄4d.[14]
↑ A first-class share of the prize money paid in 1825 was worth £311 0s 5d; a fifth-class share, that of an able seaman, was worth £1 13s 3+1⁄2d.[17]
↑ A first–class share for the capture of Intrepid and Bonetta was worth £8 7s 8d; a sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman, was worth 3s 2d.[20]
↑ The prize agent for a number of the vessels involved, Henry Abbott, went bankrupt. In May 1835 there was a final payment of a dividend from his estate. A first-class share was worth 10s 2+3⁄4d; a sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman, was worth 1d. Seventh-class (landsmen) and eighth-class (boys) shares were fractions of a penny, too small to pay.[27]
HMS Belvidera was a Royal Navy 36-gun Apollo-class frigate built in Deptford in 1809. She saw action in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 and continued a busy career at sea into the middle of the 19th century. In 1846 she was reduced to harbour service, in 1860 she became a receiving ship, and she was finally disposed of in 1906.
HMS Cherub was an 18-gun Royal Navy Cormorant-class sloop built in Dover in 1806. She participated in two major campaigns in the West Indies during the Napoleonic Wars, and one major engagement in the Pacific during the War of 1812, all each of which earned her crews clasps to the Naval General Service Medal. The Navy sold her in 1820.
HMS Acasta was a 40-gun Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate. She saw service in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, as well as the War of 1812. Although she never took part in any notable single-ship actions nor saw action in a major battle though she was at the Battle of San Domingo, she captured numerous prizes and rid the seas of many Spanish, French and American privateers. She was finally broken up in 1821.
HMS Cerberus was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars in the Channel, the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, and even briefly in the Baltic against the Russians. She participated in one boat action that won for her crew a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM). She also captured many privateers and merchant vessels. Her biggest battle was the Battle of Lissa, which won for her crew another clasp to the NGSM. She was sold in 1814.
HMS Amaranthe was an 18-gun Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by John Dudman at Deptford Wharf and launched in 1804. She served in the Caribbean, taking part in an action and two campaigns that gained those members of her crew that survived until 1847 the NGSM. She was sold in 1815.
HMS Epervier was a French 16-gun Alcyon-class brig. HMS Egyptienne captured her in the Atlantic Ocean on 27 July 1803; she was taken into Royal Navy service under her existing name. Before being broken up in 1811 she captured several prizes and was present at the Battle of San Domingo. Her crew received a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal for their participation in that battle and another for an action in December 1808. She was laid up in late 1810 and was sold in 1811.
Rhin was a 40-gun Virginie-class frigate of the French Navy launched in 1802. She was present at two major battles while in French service. The Royal Navy captured her in 1806. Thereafter Rhin served until 1815 capturing numerous vessels. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars she was laid up and then served as a hospital for many years. She was finally broken up in 1884.
Palinure was the nameship for the Palinure-class of 16-gun brigs of the French Navy, and was launched in 1804. In French service she captured Carnation before Circe captured her in turn. After being taken into the Royal Navy as HMS Snap, she participated in two campaigns that qualified her crew for the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM). She was broken up in 1811.
HMS Sappho was a Cruizer class brig-sloop built by Jabez Bailey at Ipswich and launched in 1806. She defeated the Danish brig Admiral Yawl in a single-ship action during the Gunboat War, and then had a notably successful two months of prize-taking in the first year of the War of 1812. She was wrecked in 1825 off the Canadian coast and then broken up in 1830.
HMS Musquito. was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by John Preston at Great Yarmouth and launched in 1804. She was commissioned in October 1804 under Commander Samuel Jackson. She served in the North Sea and the Baltic, and Jackson supervised the first successful rocket attack in Europe at Boulogne in 1806. After the war she served off Africa and captured some slavers. She was broken up in 1822, having been laid up since 1818.
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.
HMS Linnet was originally His Majesty's revenue cutter Speedwell, launched in 1797, that the Royal Navy purchased in 1806. Linnet captured a number of privateers before the French frigate Gloire captured her in 1813. The French sold or transferred her to the Americans, who operated her as the privateer Bunkers Hill. In March 1814 the British recaptured her, but did not return her to service.
HMS Cambrian was a Royal Navy 40-gun fifth-rate frigate. She was built and launched at Bursledon in 1797 and served in the English Channel, off North America, and in the Mediterranean. She was briefly flagship of both Admiral Mark Milbanke and Vice-Admiral Sir Andrew Mitchell during her career, and was present at the Battle of Navarino. Cambrian was wrecked off the coast of Grabusa in 1828.
HMS Superieure was the French privateer Supérieure, which was built in 1801 in Baltimore, Maryland, and which the British captured in 1803 in the West Indies, and took into the Royal Navy. She spent most of her career on the Jamaica and Leeward Islands stations, where she captured numerous privateers. She participated in several notable single-ship actions, including one in which she harassed a frigate, and two campaigns that would, in 1847, earn her surviving crew members the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM). She was laid-up in Britain in 1810 and sold in 1814.
HMS Netley was launched in 1798 with an experimental design. During the French Revolutionary Wars she spent some years on the Oporto station, where she captured many small privateers. The French captured her in 1806, early in the Napoleonic Wars. They lengthened her and she became the 17-gun privateer Duquesne. In 1807 the British recaptured her and the Royal Navy returned her to service as the 12-gun gun-brig HMS Unique. She was expended in an unsuccessful fire ship attack at Guadeloupe in 1809.
HMS Thais was built for the British Royal Navy in 1806 and was the name-vessel of her class of fire ships. Between 1811 and 1813 she served in the West Africa Squadron, which was attempting to suppress the slave trade. During this service she captured several slave traders and an American privateer. She made one voyage to the East Indies. Thais was sold in 1818. She then became a merchantman. She was last listed in 1826.
HMS Elizabeth was a French privateer schooner that the Royal Navy captured in 1805 and took into service under her existing name. She participated in an engagement and a campaign that earned her crews clasps to the Naval General Service Medal. She was lost with all hands in 1814 when she capsized in the West Indies.
Bonetta was an American vessel that was launched in 1800 at Duxbury, Massachusetts. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1808. She then became a West Indiaman. Her owners appealed her capture to the Vice admiralty court at Antigua, but without success. A French privateer captured her in 1810.
HMS Barbadoes was a 16-gun vessel, the American Herald, captured in 1813. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Barbadoes She captured a number of merchantmen and privateers before she was paid-off in May 1816. In 1814–1815 she also captured three Spanish and French slave ships carrying over 1100 enslaved people. Barbadoes became a powder ship in Jamaica that was later wrecked with her remains being sold.
HMS Hart was a French schooner launched in 1789 that in 1804 was renamed Empereur and that cruised as a privateer out of Guadeloupe. The British Royal Navy captured Empereur in 1805 and took her into service. She captured numerous small merchant vessels and participated in the capture of the Danish West Indies in December 1807. The Navy sold her in 1810.
References
Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN9781861762467.
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