| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain | |
| Name | Dart |
| Launched | 1796 |
| Captured | December 1798 |
 France | |
| Name | Dart (or Dard) |
| Acquired | 1798 by capture |
| Captured | 29 June 1803 |
 United Kingdom | |
| Acquired | 1803 by purchase of a prize |
| Fate | Sold March 1808 |
| General characteristics [1] [2] | |
| Displacement | 120 tons (French) |
| Tons burthen | 81 (bm) |
| Armament |
|
HMS Dart was an 8-gun lugger, reportedly previously the British privateer Dart, built in 1796, captured by the French in 1798, recaptured from the French in 1803, and sold in 1808.
French records refer to her as the lugger Dart (or Dard), and state that she was a former British privateer named Dart, captured when she grounded at Calais in 1798. [2] [lower-alpha 1]
The French refloated her and placed Dart in service in January 1799.
In 1802, after the Treaty of Amiens, she was under the command of enseigne de vaisseau Fayolle when she transported troops from Dunkirk to re-occupy the island of Gorée.
On 29 June 1803, HMS Apollo captured in the Bay of Biscay the French navy brig Dart, which was sailing from Martinique to Lorient. She was armed with four guns and had a 45-man crew. She and several other vessels had been carrying cargo to Martinique. [6] She was under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Fayolle. Apollo sent Dart into Portsmouth. [7]
The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Dart. [lower-alpha 2]
There is no record of her being commissioned or in service, which suggests that she may never actually have served before she was sold.
The "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" on 18 March 1808 offered for sale "The Hull of His Majesty's Lugger Dart, lying in Hamoaze". [8] She sold that month.
Eight ships and one shore establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Badger, after the Eurasian badger:
HMS Apollo, the fourth ship of the Royal Navy to be named for the Greek god Apollo, was a fifth-rate frigate of a nominal 36 guns. She was the name ship of the Apollo-class frigates. Apollo was launched in 1799, and wrecked with heavy loss of life in 1804.
Caroline was a 40-gun Hortense-class frigate of the French Navy, launched in 1806. She captured several small British vessels in 1807, including a 14-gun privateer. She was ordered to the Indian Ocean in 1808 for commerce raiding, arriving in 1809. During the subsequent Mauritius campaign, Caroline captured two East Indiamen and their valuable cargoes of trade goods in the action of 31 May 1809.
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.
Gracieuse was a 32-gun Charmante-class frigate of the French Navy. Renamed to Unité in 1793, she took part in the French Revolutionary Wars. The Royal Navy captured her in 1796 off Île d'Yeu and brought her into British service as HMS Unite. She was sold in 1802
The French lugger Affronteur was launched in 1795 and in 1796-7 participated in the Expédition d'Irlande. In 1803, HMS Doris captured her and she subsequently served the Royal Navy either as a commissioned vessel or, more probably, as His Majesty's hired armed brig Caroline. In 1807 she was either broken up, or became a letter of marque.
At least two vessels known as His Majesty's hired armed lugger Nile served the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. These may have been the same vessel on sequential contracts.
René Lemarant de Kerdaniel was a French naval officer who rose to the rank of admiral.
HMS Coromandel was a 56-gun fourth rate of the Royal Navy, previously the East Indiaman Winterton. She was purchased on the stocks in 1795, used as a troopship from 1796, was converted to a convalescent ship in 1807 for Jamaica, and was sold there in 1813. She returned to Britain around 1847 and was wrecked at Yarmouth in 1856.
HMS Avenger was a 16-gun ship-sloop of the British Royal Navy. Previously she was the French privateer Marseillaise and then naval corvette Vengeur, which the British Army captured during the battle for Martinique in 1794. The Admiralty sold her 1802.
The French corvette Bacchante was launched in 1795 as the second of the four-vessel Serpente class of corvettes. She served for almost two years as a privateer, before returning to the service of the French Navy. After HMS Endymion captured her in 1803, the Royal Navy took her in under her existing name as a 20-gun post ship. Bacchante served in the West Indies, where she captured several armed Spanish and French vessels before the Navy sold her in 1809.
HMS Ranger was the 14-gun revenue cutter Rose, launched in 1776, that the Royal Navy purchased in 1787, and that the French captured in 1794. The British recaptured her (twice) in 1797 and renamed her HMS Venturer. The Navy sold her in 1803.
His Majesty's Hired armed cutter George was a cutter that served the Royal Navy between 6 June 1798 and 12 November 1801 under contract. She had a burthen of 125 34⁄94 tons (bm), and was armed two 6-pounder guns and twelve 12-pounder carronades. She captured one French privateer. During the Napoleonic Wars the French captured her and she served the French Navy until September 1813; she was struck from the French Navy's lists ca. 1816.
Two vessels named His Majesty's hired armed lugger Sandwich served the British Royal Navy, one during the French Revolutionary Wars, and the other during the Napoleonic Wars.
His Majesty's Hired armed cutter Sandwich served the Royal Navy from 23 May 1798 until the French frigate Créole captured her on 14 June 1799. She then served in the French Navy until the Royal Navy recaptured her on 15 October 1803. The Navy purchased her in 1804 and she served for some months in 1805 as HMS Sandwich before she was sold in Jamaica. During this period she captured three small French privateers in two days.
The French corvette Naïade was launched at Brest in 1793 as a brig-corvette for the French Navy. The Royal Navy captured her in 1805 and took her into service as HMS Melville. She was sold for breaking up in 1808.
HMS Experiment was launched in 1793, the only lugger actually designed and built for the British Royal Navy. The Spanish Navy captured her in 1796 near Gibraltar. A British privateer recaptured her in 1806, but the Royal Navy did not take her back into service.
Cornish Hero first appeared in easily accessible records when Captain John Hartney acquired a letter of marque on 4 March 1797. She had a burthen of 182 tons and a crew of 80 men, indicating that she was a privateer. She carried fourteen 6–pounder guns and eight swivel guns. On 20 March he sailed from Falmouth on a cruise.
The Royal Navy purchased HMS Barracouta on the stocks in 1782. After she had served for almost ten years patrolling against smugglers, the Navy sold her in 1792. She became the privateer Thought, which had a successful cruize, capturing several prizes including a French privateer, but then was herself captured in September 1793. She served the French Navy under the names Pensée, Montagne, Pensée, and Vedette, until the British recaptured her in 1800 and renamed her HMS Vidette. The Royal Navy sold her in 1802.
HMS Saint Pierre was launched in 1803 at Bordeaux as Saint Pierre, intended for use as a slave ship. The Department of Eure purchased her and donated her to the French government, which, however, found her unsuitable and returned her to her owner. The French Navy later requisitioned her between July and September 1805 as a storeship and renamed her Diligente. She was at Martinique in February 1809 when the British Royal Navy captured the island. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Saint Pierre.