HMS Conflict was launched in 1805. She captured a number of vessels, including privateers, and participated in several major actions. She disappeared in November 1810 with the loss of all her crew.
In 1805 Conflict underwent fitting out at Plymouth. Lieutenant Joseph P. Batt commissioned her in July for the Channel.[2]
On 27 April 1806 Minerva and Conflict were off Finistere when a lugger privateer came around the Cape. Conflict set off after the lugger and after a chase of some 60 miles, captured her. The French privateer was Finisterre, of 14 guns and 50 men, under the command of Monsieur Michel Denré.[3][lower-alpha 1]
HMSHazard, Growler, Conflict, and hired armed brig Colpoys formed the blockading squadron off the Pertuis Breton, the strait between the north-east coast of the Île de Ré and the continent. On 27 July 1807 they sighted 16 enemy vessels in the entrance sailing eastward. Because it was nearly calm the British ships had no chance of closing with the French vessels so Capt. Dilkes of Hazard sent the boats in chase. The British came under intense small-arms fire from the shore that caused no casualties. The boats were able to capture nine chasse-marées, two of them armed.[5]Alban was also among the captors.[6]
The captured vessels were: Deux Amis (armed with two 4-pounder guns), Trois Freres (armed with four swivel guns, Veronique (laden with wheat), Sans Pareil (laden with wheat), Marie Francoise (in ballast), Mairie Louise (in ballast), Bon Janton (in ballast), Pascal (in ballast), and Gaulle (in ballast).[5] Their crews escaped on shore with all their papers. The crew of a tenth chasse-maree scuttled their vessel to prevent the British from capturing her. The British drove six on to the shore, one of which was armed with six guns.[5] The schooner Alban shared in the prize money for the action.[6] The lugger Trois Amis and the chasse maree Courier de Nantes, each of about 20 tons (bm), and their cargoes, were auctioned on 20 April 1807 at Plymouth.[7]
On 3 May 1808 HMSAmethyst and Conflict captured the French sloop Actif.[8] Sixteen days later, Amethyst, Conflict, and Growler were in company when they captured the French schooner Annais.[8] The next month, on 10 June, Amethyst and Conflict captured the Spanish schooner Carmelita.[8][lower-alpha 2]
Then on 31 July, Conflict was in company with Indefatigable,[10] when Indefatigable captured the letter of marque Diane, which was on her way to Île de France, carrying naval stores, as well as letters and dispatches that she threw overboard during the chase.[11] She was six years old, had a burthen of 482 tons (bm), was armed with fourteen 9 and 6-pounder guns, and had a crew of 68 men. She had left the Gironde the evening before on this, her second voyage, to India.[11]
On 19 August Indefatigable, still in company with Conflict, captured Adele.[10] In December a distribution of £10,000 was payable for the proceeds from Diane and Adele.[12]
In 1809 Conflict, with five other gunbrigs, joined the fleet assembling for the attack on the French fleet in the Basque Roads. On 11 April Conflict took part in the attack on the French fleet in Basque Roads.
In the evening the brigs HMSBeagle, Conflict, Doterel, and Growler, and the 36-gun frigate Emeraldd were stationed at the eastern end of the Isle d'Aix to create a diversion while fireships and explosion vessels were launched against the enemy.
During the morning of April Conflict joined other gun-brigs in firing on three grounded French ships in the River Charente but the falling tide in the afternoon forced them to retreat under fire from shore batteries.[lower-alpha 3] In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issuance of the NGSM with clasp "Basque Roads 1809" to all surviving British participants in the battle.
On 19 June 1809 Insolent, Arrow, and Conflict were in company when they captured the French brig Amitaire.[14]
Conflict was in company with Christian VII, Armide, and Snapper when they captured the chasse maree Felicitée on 10 January 1810 and Glorieuse ten days later.[15][16]
On 25 January the French privateer Phoenix, of 20 guns and 110 men, belonging to Bordeaux, captured Donna Maria, Lunes, master, which had been sailing from Boston to Lisbon. However, on 9 February Conflict recaptured Donna Maria on 9 February; she arrived at Plymouth on 24 February.[17]
Fate
Conflict sailed from Corunna bound to Vivero Bay when she disappeared. She was believed to have foundered with the loss of all her crew on or about 9 November 1810.[18]
Notes
↑ Finistère was a privateer from Brest, commissioned in February 1806 with 42 men and 14 guns.[4]
↑ The share of a petty officer was 7s 2¼d, and the share of a seaman was 1s 5½d.[9]
↑ Head money for Basque Roads was paid in March 1819. An ordinary seaman received 13 shillings; a first-class share was worth £86 13s 2¼d.[13]
HMS Indefatigable was one of the Ardent-class 64-gun third-rate ships-of-the-line designed by Sir Thomas Slade in 1761 for the Royal Navy. She was built as a ship-of-the-line, but most of her active service took place after her conversion to a 44-gun razee frigate. She had a long career under several distinguished commanders, serving throughout the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. She took some 27 prizes, alone or in company, and the Admiralty authorised the issue of four clasps to the Naval General Service Medal in 1847 to any surviving members of her crews from the respective actions. She was broken up in 1816.
HMS Sirius was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Between 1797 and 1805, the Sirius was engaged in maintaining the blockade of Napoleonic Europe. She was lost in 1810 when her crew scuttled her after she grounded during the Battle of Grand Port.
HMS Pomone was a 38-gun Leda-class fifth rate of the Royal Navy launched in 1805. She saw action during the Napoleonic Wars, primarily in the Mediterranean while under the command of Captain Robert Barrie. She was wrecked off The Needles, part of the Isle of Wight, in 1811. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England.
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 Amethyst was a Royal Navy 36-gun Penelope-class fifth-rate frigate, launched in 1799 at Deptford. Amethyst served in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, capturing several prizes. She also participated in two boat actions and two ship actions that won her crew clasps to the Naval General Service Medal. She was broken up in 1811 after suffering severe damage in a storm.
HMS Hazard was a 16-gun Royal Navy Cormorant-class ship-sloop built by Josiah & Thomas Brindley at Frindsbury, Kent, and launched in 1794. She served in the French Revolutionary Wars and throughout the Napoleonic Wars. She captured numerous prizes, and participated in a notable ship action against the French frigate Topaze, as well as in several other actions and campaigns, three of which earned her crew clasps to the Naval General Service Medal. Hazard was sold in 1817.
HMS Unicorn was a 32-gun fifth-rate Pallas-class frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1794 at Chatham. This frigate served in both the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, including a medal action early in her career. She was broken up in 1815.
HMS Atalante was a 16-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was formerly the French Atalante, captured in 1797. She served with the British during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and was wrecked in 1807.
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 Snapper 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 1804. She cruised for some seven years, sharing in several captures of merchant vessels and taking some herself, before a French privateer captured her.
His Majesty's Hired armed lugger Duke of York served the Royal Navy from 14 October 1794 to 2 January 1799 when she foundered in the North Sea.
HMS Piercer was a Royal Navy Archer-class gun-brig launched in 1804. She served against the French, Danes and Dutch in the Napoleonic Wars and was assigned to the Downs station. She participated in a number of operations in the Bay of Biscay, the English Channel, and the North Sea. In 1814 the British government transferred Piercer to the Kingdom of Hanover for use as a guard ship. Hanover decommissioned her in 1850.
HMS Clyde was a Royal Navy Artois-class frigate built at Chatham Dockyard of fir, and launched in 1796. In 1797, she was one of only two ships whose captains were able to maintain some control over their vessels during the Nore mutiny. In 1805, HMS Clyde was dismantled and rebuilt at Woolwich Dockyard; she was relaunched on 23 February 1806. She was ultimately sold in August 1814.
HMS Orestes was a 16-gun brig-sloop of the Seagull class of the British Royal Navy, launched in October 1805. She served during the Napoleonic Wars, primarily in the North Sea and the Channel, where she captured three privateers. The Navy sold her in 1817.
The hired armed brig Colpoys was a former French vessel, launched in 1803, that was acquired by a Plymouth owner in the same year. After some months as a privateer schooner in the West Indies, she was chartered to the Royal Navy as a hired armed vessel from April 1804 until 1807. Colpoys was apparently converted to a brig in early 1805. She participated in the blockade of Brest and captured numerous small vessels. Colpoys's contract ended in 1807, and her fate is unknown.
HMS Doterel, was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the British Royal Navy. Launched on 6 October 1808, she saw action in the Napoleonic Wars and in the War of 1812. In February 1809 she took part in the Battle of Les Sables-d'Olonne, then in April the Battle of Basque Roads. She was laid up in 1827 at Bermuda, but not broken up until 1855.
HMS Monkey was launched in 1801 at Rochester. She served in the Channel, North Sea, and the Baltic, and was wrecked in December 1810.
HMS Royalist was launched in 1807. She captured many privateers and letters of marque, most French, but also some from Denmark and the United States. Her crew twice were awarded the Naval General Service Medal. She was instrumental in the capture of a French frigate. The Royal Navy sold her in 1819. She then became a whaler, making three complete voyages. She was condemned after a mishap while on her fourth.
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.
HMS Minerva was a 32-gun fifth-rate Thames-class frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1805 at Deptford. Her namesake was the Roman goddess Minerva.
Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN978-1-86176-246-7.
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