Service
Emulous was commissioned under Commander Gustavus Stupart for convoys and cruising. [lower-alpha 1] She sailed with a Halifax convoy on 18 August 1807 and spent in 1808-1809 in American waters.
On 11 April 1807 Emulous and the gun-brig Cracker recaptured Rochdale. [3]
On 9 November 1809 Emulous repelled a French 32-gun frigate off Puerto Rico. The action took place at pistol-shot range and lasted for one hour and 40 minutes. Emulous was badly damaged and lost 10 men killed and 20 wounded before she could escape.
On 10 March 1810, she and Halifax captured the schooner Spitfire. [5] Stupart was made post-captain on 21 October 1810. [lower-alpha 2]
In November 1810, Captain William Howe Mulcaster took command. On 25 July 1811, Emulous captured the French letter of marque Adele, which was pierced for 16 guns but only carried two. She had a crew of 35 men and was carrying cotton from Charlestown to Nantes. [7]
In July, Emulous alone or with Spartan, captured eight small prizes:
- 11 July: brig Illuminator, of 254 tons, sailing from Havana to Boston with a cargo of molasses, sugar, coffee, and hides;
- 12 July: schooner Lively, of 78 tons, sailing from St. Bartholomew's to Boston with a cargo of molasses and sugar;
- 12 July: schooner Traveller, of 108 tons, sailing from Georgia to Alexandria with a cargo of live oak timber;
- 13 July: ship Maria, of 344 tons, sailing from Cadiz to New York in ballast but carrying dollars;
- 15 July: brig Cordelia, of 197 tons, sailing from Figuera to Boston with a cargo of fruit and dollars;
- 16 July: brig Belleisle, of 119 tons, sailing from Havana to Salem with a cargo of molasses, sugar, and coffee; and lastly, together with Spartan,
- 17 July, Spartan in sight: [8] brig George, of 211 tons, sailing from Messina to Salem with a cargo of wine, brandy, opium, oil, etc.; and
- 18 July, together with Spartan: schooner Hiram, of 132 tons, sailing from Lisbon to Salem with a cargo of fruit and dollars. [9] [lower-alpha 3]
Then on 30 July 1812, after a short chase Emulous captured the American privateer Gossamer, off Cape Sable. [12] Gossamer had a crew of 100 men and 14 guns on carriages, and was under the command of Captain C. Goodrich. She had left Boston on 24 June and had made only one capture, albeit an important one, Mary Jane, of Greenock, which had been sailing from Jamaica to Quebec. [14] Mary Jane was relatively heavily armed for a merchantman as she carried eight 12-pounder carronades and two 6-pounder guns. Her capture netted her American captors $40,000. [lower-alpha 4]
Nautilus was a schooner launched in 1799. The United States Navy purchased her in May 1803 and commissioned her USS Nautilus; she thus became the first ship to bear that name. She served in the First Barbary War. She was altered to a brigantine. The British captured Nautilus early in the War of 1812 and renamed her HMS Emulous. After her service with the Royal Navy, the Admiralty sold her in 1817.
HMS Belvidera was a 36-gun Royal Navy Apollo-class fifth-rate 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 Poictiers was a 74-gun Royal Navy third rate. This ship of the line was launched on 9 December 1809 at Upnor. During the War of 1812 she was part of blockade of the United States. She was broken up in 1857.
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 Belle Poule was a Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate, formerly Belle Poule, a Virginie-class frigate of the French Navy that had been built by the Crucy family's shipyard at Basse-Indre to a design by Jacques-Noël Sané. She was launched on 17 April 1802, and saw active service in the East. In 1806 a British squadron under Sir John Borlase Warren captured her off La Palma in the Canary Islands. The Admiralty commissioned her into the Royal Navy as HMS Belle Poule. She was sold in 1816.
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 Spartan was a Royal Navy 38-gun fifth-rate frigate, launched at Rochester in 1806. During the Napoleonic Wars she was active in the Adriatic and in the Ionian Islands. She then moved to the American coast during the War of 1812, where she captured a number of small vessels, including a US Revenue Cutter and a privateer, the Dart. She then returned to the Mediterranean, where she remained for a few years. She went on to serve off the American coast again, and in the Caribbean, before being broken up in 1822.
HMS Ringdove was a Royal Navy 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop that Matthew Warren built at Brightlingsea and launched in 1806. She took some prizes and participated in three actions or campaigns that qualified her crew for clasps to the Naval General Service Medal. The Admiralty sold her in 1829 to Samuel Cunard, who would go on to found the Cunard Line.
HMS Sophie was an 18-gun Cruizer class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She served during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. During the War of 1812 Sophie participated in the economic war against American trade, capturing or destroying numerous small merchant vessels, and in an unsuccessful attack on Fort Bowyer, Alabama. Later, she moved to the East Indies where she served in the First Anglo-Burmese War. The Admiralty sold Sophie in 1825.
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.
HMS Telegraph was built in 1812 in New York as the American letter of marque Vengeance. The Royal Navy captured her in 1813 and took her into service as the 14-gun schooner or gunbrig Telegraph. Over a period of only about two years she took numerous small prizes and caused the destruction of a French 16-gun brig. A gale caused the wrecking of Telegraph in 1817.
HMS Colibri was the French naval Curieux-class brig Colibri, launched in 1808, that the British captured in 1809 and took into the Royal Navy under her existing name. She spent her time in British service on the North American station based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. During the War of 1812, Colibri served mostly in blockading the American coast and capturing privateers and merchant ships. She foundered in 1813 in Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, but without loss of life.
HMS Paz was a Spanish naval schooner that the British Royal Navy captured at Monte Video on 3 February 1807. She served on the River Plate, North Sea, and North American Stations, where she captured numerous privateers and merchant vessels. The Navy sold her in 1816.
HMS Canso was the American letter of marque schooner Lottery, launched in 1811, that a British squadron captured in 1813. The Royal Navy took Lottery into service as HMS Canso and she served during the War of 1812 and briefly thereafter. The navy sold her in 1816.
HMS Rover was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop laid down in 1804 but not launched until 1808. She served in the North Sea, off the north coast of Spain, in the Channel, and on the North American station. She captured two letters-of-marque and numerous merchant vessels before being laid-up in 1815. She then sat unused until she was sold in 1828. She became a whaler that made four voyages to the British southern whale fishery between 1830 and 1848. She was last listed in 1848.
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 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 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 vessels carrying over 1100 slaves. Barbadoes became a powder ship in Jamaica that was later wrecked with her remains being sold.
HMS Cracker was a later Archer-class gun brig, launched in 1804. She participated in several actions and captured two small French privateers. She was sold for breaking up in 1816.
HMS Martin was launched in Bermuda in 1809. Commander John Evans then commissioned her at Halifax Nova Scotia. During the War of 1812, Martin spent much of her time on the Halifax station. She captured or shared in the capture of numerous small merchant vessels. She also captured a small United States privateer, and was involved in an action with United States gunboats. After the war she conducted patrols against smugglers. She was on one of those patrols when she was wrecked in 1817.
United Kingdom
