| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Dart |
| Acquired | 1810 by purchase |
| Fate | Foundered 1813 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Tons burthen | 127 (bm) |
| Length | 62 ft 7 in (19.1 m) |
| Beam | 22 ft 5 in (6.8 m) |
| Depth of hold | 10 ft 1 in (3.1 m) |
| Armament | 10 × 12-pounder carronades |
HMS Dart was a mercantile cutter that the Royal Navy purchased on the stocks in 1810. She spent her career carrying dispatches and mails. She foundered without a trace in 1813.
The Royal Navy purchased Belerina or Ballerina in 1809 as she was being built at Mevagissey. It registered her on 10 March 1810 and commissioned her under Lieutenant Thomas Allen. [1]
Dart's role was to carry mail and dispatches. On 25 October 1810 she sailed from Falmouth with mails for Cadiz and Malta. On 30 December 1811 she sailed from Tarifa with dispatches from Captain Edward Dickson on HMS Stately [2]
On 10 May 1812 she was at Plymouth with dispatches from the Mediterranean and Gibraltar. On 1 August she was reported to have sailed Falmouth for the West Indies with dispatches. The next day she was reported to have sailed from Falmouth for Gibraltar and Malta. On 30 December she sailed from Tarifa with dispatches from Captain Edward Dickson on HMS Stately [3]
On 5 May 1813 Dart put into Rio de Janeiro with her mast and bowsprit sprung. She had encountered a gust of wind in the River Plate. [4] On 1 July she sailed from Rio de Janeiro for England as one of the escorts to a convoy.
On 7 October 1813 Dart arrived at Rio de Janeiro from London and Lisbon.
Dart and Lieutenant Allen sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia on 27 October 1813. She was not seen again. It was presumed that she had foundered with all hands. [5] Other reports state that Dart was lost after she sailed from Pernambuco on 20 October, bound for England. [6]
HMS Landrail was a Cuckoo-class schooner built by Thomas Sutton at Ringmore, Teignmouth. Like all her class she carried four 12-pounder carronades and had a crew of 20. She had a relatively uneventful career during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 until 1814 when she was taken in a notable action, and then retaken. She was sold in approximately 1818.
HMS Saracen was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Perry, Green & Wells at Blackwall Yard and launched in 1804. She had a relatively short and uneventful career before she was broken up at Chatham in 1812.
HMS Herring 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 spent most of her career in North American waters though she did spend two years sailing between Britain and Spain before returning to North America where she foundered in 1813.
HMS Entreprenante, was a 10-gun cutter that the Royal Navy captured from the French in 1798. The British commissioned her in 1799 and she served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, participating in the Battle of Trafalgar. She has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name. She took part in several small engagements, capturing Spanish and French ships before she was sold in 1812 for breaking up.
HMS Mandarin was a Dutch gun-brig of 178 tons burthen (bm) and 12 guns that the British had captured at Amboyna in February 1810. She served as part of a four-vessel flotilla that captured Banda Neira. She was wrecked in November 1810.
HMS Redwing was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the British Royal Navy. Commissioned in 1806, she saw active service in the Napoleonic Wars, mostly in the Mediterranean, and afterwards served off the West Coast of Africa, acting to suppress the slave trade. She was lost at sea in 1827.
HMS Minorca was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1805. She served during the Napoleonic Wars in the Mediterranean and was broken up after an uneventful career.
HMS Columbine was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop launched in 1806. She served on the North America station, in the Mediterranean, off the Portuguese coast, and in the West Indies during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1823 she served briefly off Greece before wrecking off the Peloponnese in 1824.
The French brig Carlotta was a brig-rigged corvetta-cannoniera or, corvetta-brig, of 10 guns, launched in 1807 at Venice as Fiamma that served the French Navy as Carlotta. HMS Belle Poule captured her in 1810 and the British Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Carlotta. She was wrecked in 1812.
HMS Woolwich was an Adventure-class frigate launched in 1784. She essentially spent her career as a storeship until she was wrecked in 1813.
HMS Gleaner was the mercantile ketch Gleaner, launched in 1802. She served the Royal Navy as the "hired ketch Gleaner" from 12 July 1808 until the Navy purchased her in 1809. Initially she served as a light vessel and survey vessel. From early 1811 to August 1811 she served in the Mediterranean, where she captured an Ottoman vessel. She then became a yard lighter and a light vessel again. Then in 1812 she was on the North American station where she participated in the capture of several merchant vessels. Next she returned to the Mediterranean where she captured a privateer. Finally, she served off the north coast of Spain where she was wrecked on 2 March 1814.
HMS Thetis was a 46-gun Leda-class fifth-rate frigate built for the Royal Navy during the 1810s. She was first commissioned in 1823 and was assigned to the South America Station three years later. The ship was wrecked in 1830 off Cape Frio, Brazil, with the loss of 22 crewmen; most of her cargo of bullion was successfully salvaged.
HMS Vautour was 16-gun brig-sloop of the British Royal Navy. The navy captured her from the French on the stocks in 1809 and commissioned her in 1810. She foundered in October 1813.
The British Royal Navy purchased HMS Nile on 3 November 1806. She was the hired armed cutter Nile. After a brief, undistinguished career, the Navy sold her in 1810 only to have to break her up in 1811.
HMS Nancy was the two-masted mercantile brig Nancy that Rear-Admiral Sidney Smith purchased for the Royal Navy at Buenos Aires and commissioned in 1808. Nancy served on the South America station until she was sold in 1813.
HMS Decoy was launched in 1810. She participated in the capture of several small French privateers, captured or recaptured a number of merchant vessels, and captured a number of smuggling vessels. The French captured her in 1814.
Duke of Montrose was a Falmouth packet launched in 1804. She participated in six single-ship actions. During the Napoleonic Wars she captured a French naval schooner but a year or so later a French privateer captured her. She returned to British hands some nine months later. During the War of 1812 she was able to drive off American privateers twice. An American frigate captured her in 1813 but gave her up to her crew, also putting onboard the crews of other vessels the frigate had captured. Then a French frigate also captured her and gave her up after disarming her. She was wrecked at Barbados in 1815.
HMS Mistletoe was launched in Bermuda in 1809 and foundered in 1816.
HMS Thistle was a Shamrock-class schooner launched at Bermuda on 27 February 1802. She participated in one notable single ship action that resulted in the Admiralty awarding her crew the Naval General service Medal (NGSM). She was wrecked on 6 March 1811.
HMS Martin was launched in 1805 at Dartmouth. Commander Roger Savage commissioned her in February and sailed for the Mediterranean on 18 April.