HMS Cockatrice was the fourth of the Alert-class British Royal Navy cutters. She was launched in 1781 and had an uneventful career until the Navy sold her in 1802. Private interests purchased her, lengthened her, and changed her rig to that of a brig. They hired her out to the Navy and she was in service as a hired armed brig from 1806 to 1808. She then returned to mercantile service until she was condemned at Lisbon in May 1816 as not worth repairing.
The Navy commissioned Cockatrice for home waters in August 1781. In August 1782 she was under the command of Lieutenant C. Bartholomew, in home waters. She was paid off in 1782 or 1783. She was then recommissioned in May 1783 under the command of Lieutenant William Reynolds off the Isle of Wight. She was paid off in 1786 but in October she was recommissioned under the command of Lieutenant C. Hummer (or GGeorge Hume). She was again paid off in 1789.[8]
From 1790 to 1793, Lieutenant Walter Locke commanded Cockatrice in the Channel.[9] On 28 May 1790 she arrived at Portsmouth with 90 impressed men.[10]
In February 1793 Lieutenant John Clements took command.[4] On 9 March Cockatrice sent a Dutch hoy, of about 200 tons, into Poole. The hoy had been sailing from Genoa to Havre. Cockatrice also sent into Portsmouth a French brig carrying wine and salt.[11]
Disposal: The Navy paid Cockatrice off in April 1793 and placed her in ordinary at Portsmouth. She sat there until she sank at her moorings in 1801. The Navy refloated her. Then the "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered "Cockatrice Cutter, 181 Tons, Copper-bottomed, lying at Portsmouth", for sale on 9 September 1802.[12]
Hired armed vessel
Private interests purchased her, increased her burthen from 181 to 195 tons by cutting her in half and lengthening her, and changed her rig to that of a brig.[7] The Admiralty hired her and she commenced service as His Majesty's hired brig (HMhb) Cockatrice on 6 August 1804.[6]
In 1804 she was under the command of Lieutenant Nicholas Kemp (or Kempe) when on 18 June she came into Portsmouth with a convoy from the Downs, and on 22 June sailed with a convoy for the westward.[13] On 2 October she escorted the recaptured West IndiamanWilliam Heathcote into Liverpool.
Later, on 10 January 1805, Cockatrice recaptured the brig Padgey.[14]Padgey had been sailing from Cardiff to London when a privateer captured her near Land's End. Cockatrice sent her into Penzance.[15]
On 20 February Kempe and Cockatrice detained Flora.[16]Flora, Klyn, master, had been sailing from Bilboa to Embden when Cockatrice intercepted her and sent her into the Motherbank.[17]
In 1806 Cockatrice was under the command of P. Greene.[18] According to Ccckatrice's log book, Greene was Pitt Burnaby Greene, and he took command on 6 April 1805. During his tenure Cockatrice patrolled and escorted convoys, but did not capture any prizes. On 30 March 1806, Burnaby Greene was off Ireland with orders to take on board the Earl of Hardwicke, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1801-1805). Burnaby Greene left Cockatrice in February 1807, moving to take command of HMSFoxhound.[19]
In 1807 J. B. Balderston took command of Cockatrice.[18] On 27 and 28 August in the run-up to the British attack on Copenhagen the Royal Navy embargoed three Danish vessels then at Plymouth: Elizabeth, Tiesco, and Aurora.[lower-alpha 2] Also on 28 August Cockatrice and Amazon were in company at the capture of the Danish ship Speculaton and so shared in the prize money for her.[21] Two days later Plover and Cockatrice were in company for the detention of the Danish ship George, and the Danish vessels Die Perle and Fortuna.[22][23]
In 1808 William Balfour replaced Balderston.[18] He wrote to his uncle and some of his letters were later published. He described her as a leaky and that she should be taken out of service. He reported that the owners had hired her out for 15s/month/ton (or £1795 per annum, based on a burthen of 195 tons). The owners also had agreed to provide 45 men at a rate of £5 10s each, per month. However, Balfour further reported that the owners were rarely able to provide half that many. At the time of writing, Cockatrice had a crew of 30 including Balfour and his servant. Lastly, Balfour reported that it was his understanding that Balderston had, in his 16 months in command, amassed some £2000 in prize money.[7]
Cockatrice's contract ended in 1808.[6] There is no readily available record of her having taken any prizes during Balfour's term in command.
Merchantman
The brig Cockatrice, of 200 tons (bm), entered Lloyd's Register in 1809 with Wright, owner, changing to Miller & Co., voyage London to Liverpool, changing to Liverpool-Hayti, with E. Crosbie, master.[1]
In 1810 her master was still E. Crosbie, but changing to J. Young. Her owner was Miller & Co., and her trade Liverpool-Hayti (changing to Africa).[2] In mid-December 1809 Cockatrice, Crosby, master, from "Hayti", put into Yarmouth having lost her foretopmast and bowsprit.[24]
In October 1810 Cockatrice took two representatives of the King of Ashantee back to Accra from Cape Coast Castle.[25]
On 22 April 1813, Cockatrice, Carteheon, master, arrived at Barbados. HMSSceptre had detained her and Wasp, Archer, master, for carrying unlicensed arms and ammunition, and sent them into Barbados for adjudication.[26] The authorities quickly released Cockatrice, Caithcheon, master, and by 3 May she was off Cape Tiburoon (Cape Tiburón, Colombia).[27]
In 1815 Cockatrice, A. Fullerton, master (changing to Kirkpatrick), Goldie & Co., owner, was engaged in the London-San Domingo trade (changing to Liverpool-Africa).[3]
Fate
On 7 March 1816, Cockatrice, Kirkpatrick, master, from Gorée to Liverpool, put into Lisbon in a very leaky state.[28] After a survey, the surveyors reported that she was so "strained and shaken" as to be unworthy of repair.[29]
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 Foxhound was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by King at Dover and launched in 1806. She participated in the battle of the Basque Roads in early 1809 and foundered later that year.
HMS Pilchard 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. She was commissioned under Lieutenant Samuel Crew in May 1804, launched in 1805, and completed at Plymouth in 1806. Although Pilchard was often near naval engagements, she seems not to have had to fire her cannons before she was laid up in 1812. Entries in Lloyd's Register indicate that she continued in mercantile trade from at least 1817 until 1833, under a variety of owners and masters, and as far afield as Africa and Valparaiso.
HMS Haddock was a Royal Navy 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.
On Thursday 21st inst launched off the stocks at Mr Isaac Skinner's shipyard his Majesty's Schooner "Haddock". The above schooner is said to be the completest vessel ever built in Bermuda
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.
The Royal Navy used several vessels that were described as His Majesty's hired armed cutter King George. Some of these may have been the same vessel on repeat contract.
His Majesty's hired armed cutter Duke of York served the British Royal Navy from 23 June 1803 to 24 September 1810.
HMS Sylvia 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 took part in one notable single-ship action in the East Indies in 1810. The Navy sold her in 1816 and she then became a merchantman. She was wrecked in 1823 on a voyage to West Africa.
Two vessels have borne the designation, His Majesty's hired armed cutter Lion. The first served during the French Revolutionary Wars, capturing five privateers and several merchant vessels. The second served briefly at the start of the Napoleonic Wars. Both vessels operated in the Channel. The two cutters may have been the same vessel; at this juncture it is impossible to know. French records report that the French captured the second Lion in 1808 and that she served in the French Navy until 1809.
The French brig Griffon, was a Pallinure-class brig launched in 1806. After HMS Bacchante captured Griffon in 1808, the Royal Navy took her into service. Griffon participated in one action that resulted in her crew being awarded the Naval General Service Medal. Two of her officers were subject to notable courts martial, one for murder and one for smuggling, with the murderer being hanged and the smuggler dismissed the Navy. The Navy sold Griffon in 1819 to Hills & Co., who proceeded to use her as a London-based whaler. She sailed to the South Seas fishery under some under different masters. Hill & Co. then sold her to Wilson & Co. who employed her on one last whaling voyage that ended in 1850.
Sir Sidney Smith was a French vessel taken in prize in 1799. She served the Royal Navy for two years during the French Revolutionary Wars as a hired armed schooner. She then became a merchantman, sailing to the Mediterranean, the Baltic, and the West Indies. She was last listed in 1814.
HMS Thrush was launched in 1794 as the Prince of Wales, which served the Customs Service as a revenue brig. In 1806 the British Admiralty purchased her and the Royal Navy renamed her HMS Thrush as there was already an HMS Prince of Wales in service. Thrush spent her brief active service on the Jamaica Station. She was converted to a powder hulk in late 1809 and foundered at Port Royal in 1815; she was salvaged, and sold.
During the period of the Napoleonic Wars, the British Royal Navy twice employed a vessel named His Majesty's hired armed cutter Albion, though these are probably the same vessel:
HMS Jalouse was a Cormorant-class ship-sloop of the British Royal Navy launched in 1809 and sold in 1819. She participated in the capture of a French privateer, but spent most of her active service escorting convoys. The Navy sold her in 1819.
HMS Nimrod was a brig-sloop of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1812. She spent her war years in North American waters, where she captured one small privateer, assisted in the capture of another, and captured or destroyed some 50 American vessels. After the war she captured smugglers and assisted the civil authorities in maintaining order in Tyne. She was wrecked in 1827 and so damaged that the Navy decided she was not worth repairing. A private ship-owner purchased Nimrod and repaired her. She then went on to spend some 20 years trading between Britain and Charleston, the Mediterranean, Australia, and India. She was last listed in 1851.
HMS Pilote was a cutter launched for the French Navy at Dunkirk in 1778. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1779 and took her into service under her existing name. It sold her in 1799.
HMS Acteon, was the brig Actéon, launched in France in 1804 as the second of the two-ship Lynx-class. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1805 but laid her up. The Navy finally commissioned her in 1809. She was at the British invasion of Île de France and later served in the Channel, the North Sea, the Baltic, and the Chesapeake. She was broken up in 1816.
HMS Juniper was launched at Bermuda in 1809 for the British Royal Navy. She participated in one campaign for which her crew was awarded the Naval General Service Medal (1847) with clasp "San Sebastian". She also participated in the capture of several merchant ships. The Navy sold her in 1814.
HMS Parthian was launched at Deptford in 1808. During the Napoleonic Wars she captured one important French privateer, and several Danish, Dutch, and French merchantmen. After the war, Parthian captured a pirate schooner near Vera Cruz. Parthian was wrecked off Alexandria on 15 May 1828.
HMS Growler was a Archer-class gun-brig built for the British Royal Navy and launched in 1804. She captured several French privateers and one Danish privateer, and took part in two actions that earned her crew the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM). She was sold in 1815.
References
Clowes, W. Laird (1997). The Royal Navy: A history from the earliest times to the present. Boston / London: Little, Brown and Co. / S. Low, Marston and Co.
Grocott, Terence (1997). Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary & Napoleonic Eras. London: Chatham. ISBN1861760302.
Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN978-1844157006.
Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN978-1-86176-246-7.
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