HMS Epervier (1803)

Last updated

Epervier (captured 1803) RMG J4598.png
Epervier
History
Civil and Naval Ensign of France.svg France
NameEpervier
BuilderLouis, Antoine, and Mathurin Crucy, Basse-Indre [1]
Laid downOctober 1801
Launched30 June 1802
Completed1802
Commissioned20 July 1802
Captured27 July 1803, by the Royal Navy
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
NameHMS Epervier
CommissionedMay 1804
Honours and
awards
FateScrapped June 1811
General characteristics
Class and type Alcyon class
Type Brig-sloop
Displacement320 tons [1] (French)
Tons burthen31515⁄94 (bm)
Length
  • Overall:89 ft 10 in (27.4 m)
  • Keel:73 ft 2+1⁄4 in (22.3 m)
Beam28 ft 6 in (8.7 m)
Depth of hold8 ft 9+1⁄2 in (2.7 m)
Sail plan Brig
Complement121 men (British service)
Armament
  • French service: 16 × 4-pounder guns
  • British service: 16 × 32-pounder carronades + 2 × 6-pounder guns

HMS Epervier was a French 16-gun Alcyon-class brig. HMS Egyptienne captured her in the Atlantic Ocean on 27 July 1803; she was taken into Royal Navy service under her existing name. Before being broken up in 1811 she captured several prizes and was present at the Battle of San Domingo. Her crew received a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal for their participation in that battle and another for an action in December 1808. She was laid up in late 1810 and was sold in 1811.

Contents

French origins and capture

Epervier was built between 1801 and 1802 by Enterprise Crucy Basse-Indre (near Nantes) to a design by François Gréhan. [4] She was launched on 30 June 1802. [5]

She was commissioned under Lieutenant de vaisseau Emmanuel Halgan. At some point Jérôme Bonaparte boarded her. On 31 August 1802 she sailed from Nantes for Martinique and Guadeloupe. [5]

Captain Charles Fleeming (Fleming) and Egyptienne captured Epervier off the coast of France on 27 July 1803 as she was returning to Lorient from Guadeloupe. At the time she was armed with 16 guns and had a crew of 90 men. [6]

British service

The British rearmed her, upgrading her battery substantially. Commander James Watson commissioned her in May 1804 and then in August Commander John Impey assumed command and sailed for Jamaica the next month. [4]

On 15 January 1805, Epervier captured Sally. [7] [lower-alpha 1]

Then eleven days later, Epervier was in the Leeward Islands, six miles from Crab Island. For five hours she chased a strange sail before she succeeded in capturing the French privateer schooner Elizabeth from Marie Galante. Elizabeth was armed with four carriage guns and small arms. One of her crew of 34 was killed during her "obstinate Attempt to escape." She had already taken a sloop from Tortola that she had sent into St. Thomas. [9]

On 9 May Epervier and Circe captured Charles. [7] Later that month, on 25 May Epervier captured the Spanish schooner Casualidad. She was taking a cargo of cocoa from Puerto Cabello to Old Spain. [10]

Lieutenant James Higginson (acting) assumed command in January 1806. [11] On 6 February Epervier was with the squadron under Vice Admiral Sir John Duckworth in Superb, which took or destroyed five sail of the line in the Battle of San Domingo. Epervier was too small to take part in the battle but she did share in the prize money. [12] In 1847 Her crew also qualified for the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "St. Domingo".

Commander Samuel J. Pechell assumed command of Epervier in March 1807 until April when John Bowker of San Josef was promoted from lieutenant to the command. Ill health forced Bowker to give up his command to Thomas Tudor Tucker from Curieux. On 11 May, while under Tucker's command, Epervier captured the brig Mildred. [13]

Bowker re-assumed command and on 27 October was in command of Epevier when she captured the Danish galliot Active. [14] However, Bowken then had to return home in February 1808. His successor was again Tucker.

On 11 November, Circe, Epervier, and Amaranthe captured Intrepid. [15] Nine days later, Amaranthe, Circe, Cherub, Epervier and Unique captured the American ships Bonetta and Mary and Allen. [16] Prize money for Intrepid and Bonetta was paid in 1814, [16] and 1839. [17] [lower-alpha 2]

On 12 December Epervier joined the frigate Circe, the ship-sloop Stork, the schooner Morne Fortunee, and the advice boat Express in an action against the French 16-gun schooner Cygne and two schooners off the Pearl Rock, Saint-Pierre, Martinique. The British eventually succeeded in destroying Cygne, but suffered heavy casualties in the process. [18] In all, the British lost some 12 men killed, 31 wounded, and 26 missing (drowned or prisoners) for little gain. Epervier suffered no losses. [18] In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the award of the Naval General Service Medal with the clasp "Off The Pearl Rock 13 Decr. 1808" to the then living survivors of the battle. Later in December Tucker transferred to Cherub.

Fate

Commanders Thomas Barclay and James P. Stewart, and possibly Lt. M. de Courcy (acting). [11] commanded her briefly. On 4 September 1810 the Navy Office offered her for sale at Chatham Dockyard. [19] Epervier was scrapped at Chatham in June 1811. [4]

Notes

  1. ↑ A seaman's share of the prize money amounted to 13s 4+3⁄4 d. [8]
  2. ↑ A first–class share for the capture of Intrepid and Bonetta was worth £8 7s 8d; a sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman, was worth 3s 2d. [16]

Citations

  1. 1 2 Winfield & Roberts (2015), p. 210.
  2. ↑ "No. 20939". The London Gazette . 26 January 1849. p. 241.
  3. ↑ "No. 20939". The London Gazette . 26 January 1849. p. 242.
  4. 1 2 3 Winfield (2008), p. 316.
  5. 1 2 Roche (2005), p. 178.
  6. ↑ "No. 15607". The London Gazette . 2 August 1803. p. 963.
  7. 1 2 "No. 16267". The London Gazette . 17 June 1809. p. 896.
  8. ↑ "No. 16271". The London Gazette . 1 July 1805. p. 1010.
  9. ↑ "No. 15809". The London Gazette . 21 May 1805. p. 684.
  10. ↑ Naval Chronicle, Vol. 15, p.253.
  11. 1 2 "NMM, vessel ID 366334" (PDF). Warship Histories, vol i. National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  12. ↑ "No. 16012". The London Gazette . 21 March 1807. p. 366.
  13. ↑ "No. 16207". The London Gazette . 6 December 1808. p. 1664.
  14. ↑ "No. 16602". The London Gazette . 9 May 1812. p. 891.
  15. ↑ "No. 16826". The London Gazette . 18 December 1813. p. 2574.
  16. 1 2 3 "No. 16843". The London Gazette . 11 January 1814. p. 112.
  17. ↑ "No. 19698". The London Gazette . 25 January 1839. p. 150.
  18. 1 2 "No. 16225". The London Gazette . 31 January 1809. pp. 146–147.
  19. ↑ "No. 16402". The London Gazette . 4 September 1810. p. 1352.

Related Research Articles

HMS <i>Cherub</i> (1806) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Cherub was an 18-gun Royal Navy Cormorant-class sloop built in Dover in 1806. She participated in two major campaigns in the West Indies during the Napoleonic Wars, and one major engagement in the Pacific during the War of 1812, all each of which earned her crews clasps to the Naval General Service Medal. The Navy sold her in 1820.

HMS <i>Cerberus</i> (1794) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Cerberus was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars in the Channel, the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, and even briefly in the Baltic against the Russians. She participated in one boat action that won for her crew a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM). She also captured many privateers and merchant vessels. Her biggest battle was the Battle of Lissa, which won for her crew another clasp to the NGSM. She was sold in 1814.

HMS <i>Forester</i> (1806) Brig-sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Forester was a Royal Navy 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by John King and launched in 1806 at Dover. She had a relatively uneventful career before the Navy sold her in 1819.

HMS Amaranthe was an 18-gun Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by John Dudman at Deptford Wharf and launched in 1804. She served in the Caribbean, taking part in an action and two campaigns that gained those members of her crew that survived until 1847 the NGSM. She was sold in 1815.

HMS Circe was a Royal Navy 32-gun fifth-rate frigate, built by Master Shipwright Joseph Tucker at Plymouth Dockyard, and launched in 1804. She served in the Caribbean during the Napoleonic Wars, and participated in an action and a campaign for which in 1847 in the Admiralty authorised the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with clasps. The action, off the Pearl Rock, near Saint-Pierre, Martinique, was a debacle that cost Circe dearly. However, she also had some success in capturing privateers and a French brig. She was sold in 1814.

Rear Admiral Sir Francis Augustus Collier, CB, KCH was a senior officer of the British Royal Navy during the early nineteenth century. Born into a naval family, Collier served in the French Revolutionary Wars and fought at the Battle of the Nile on Horatio Nelson's flagship. During the Napoleonic Wars he was engaged in campaigns in the West Indies and in 1819 he commanded an operation against pirates in the Persian Gulf. He remained in service for the next thirty years, holding several commands before his death in 1849 as commander of the China Squadron at Hong Kong.

French brig <i>Palinure</i> (1804)

Palinure was the nameship for the Palinure-class of 16-gun brigs of the French Navy, and was launched in 1804. In French service she captured Carnation before Circe captured her in turn. After being taken into the Royal Navy as HMS Snap, she participated in two campaigns that qualified her crew for the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM). She was broken up in 1811.

HMS <i>Ferret</i> (1806) Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop

HMS Ferret was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Benjamin Tanner at Dartmouth and launched in 1806, 19 months late. She served on the Jamaica, Halifax, and Leith stations during which time she took three privateers as prizes before she was wrecked in 1813.

HMS Shelburne was the American letter of marque schooner Racer, built in Baltimore in 1811 and captured by the British in 1813. She served on the American coast, capturing the American brig Frolic. She also captured some merchantmen and was sold in Britain in 1817.

HMS <i>Circe</i> (1785) Enterprise-class Royal Navy frigate

HMS Circe was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1785 but not completed or commissioned until 1790. She then served in the English Channel on the blockade of French ports before she was wrecked in 1803.

HMS Incendiary was an 8-gun fireship of the Royal Navy. She was present at a number of major battles during the French Revolutionary Wars, and captured, or participated in the capture, of several armed vessels. In January 1801 she was in the Gulf of Cadiz where she encountered Admiral Ganteume's squadron. The 80-gun French Navy ship of the line Indivisible received the credit for the actual capture.

HMS Netley was launched in 1798 with an experimental design. During the French Revolutionary Wars she spent some years on the Oporto station, where she captured many small privateers. The French captured her in 1806, early in the Napoleonic Wars. They lengthened her and she became the 17-gun privateer Duquesne. In 1807 the British recaptured her and the Royal Navy returned her to service as the 12-gun gun-brig HMS Unique. She was expended in an unsuccessful fire ship attack at Guadeloupe in 1809.

HMS Express was the name-ship of a class of two schooner-rigged advice-boats of the Royal Navy. Express was launched in 1800 and served until she was sold in 1813. During her career she served in one action and one campaign that in 1847 qualified her surviving crew members for clasps to the Naval General Service Medal.

HMS Subtle was a schooner that the Royal Navy reportedly captured in 1807, and purchased and registered in 1808. She served in the Caribbean, taking part in several actions, including a small debacle in 1808, and the capture of Martinique and Guadeloupe in 1809. She foundered in November 1812 with the loss of her entire crew.

HMS Rapid was an Archer-class gun-brig of 12 guns, launched in 1804. She took part in April 1808 in one action that in 1847 the Admiralty recognized with a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal. In May 1808 cannon fire from a shore battery sank her.

HMS Pultusk was the American-built French privateer sloop Austerlitz, which had been launched in 1805 and which the Royal Navy captured in 1807 and took into service as HMS Pultusk. Pultusk served in three campaigns, two of which resulted, some four decades later, in the award of medals, and one boat action that too received a medal. She was broken up in 1810.

HMS Elizabeth was a French privateer schooner that the Royal Navy captured in 1805 and took into service under her existing name. She participated in an engagement and a campaign that earned her crews clasps to the Naval General Service Medal. She was lost with all hands in 1814 when she capsized in the West Indies.

HMS Bacchus was a Dutch 10-gun schooner launched c.1806 that the British Royal Navy captured in 1807 and took into service in 1808 under her existing name. She served in several campaigns that earned her crews clasps to the Naval General Service Medal. She was broken up in 1812.

HMS Morne Fortunee was the French privateer Regulus that British Royal Navy captured in 1804. In 1806 the Royal Navy commissioned her. She captured some small privateers and took part in a number of other engagements. She foundered in 1809.

Bonetta was an American vessel that was launched in 1800 at Duxbury, Massachusetts. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1808. She then became a West Indiaman. Her owners appealed her capture to the Vice admiralty court at Antigua, but without success. A French privateer captured her in 1810.

References

This article includes data released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported UK: England & Wales Licence, by the National Maritime Museum, as part of the Warship Histories project.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.