HMS Fly (1805)

Last updated

History
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Fly
Ordered4 January 1805
Builder[Nicholas] Bools & [William] Good, Bridpoort
Laid downMarch 1805
Launched24 October 1805
CommissionedJanuary 1806
FateWrecked 28 February 1812
General characteristics [1]
Class and type Fly-class brig-sloop
Tons burthen28579⁄94 (bm)
Length
  • Overall:96 ft 4 in (29.4 m)
  • Keel:79 ft 9 in (24.3 m)
Beam25 ft 11+1⁄2 in (7.9 m)
Depth of hold11 ft 6 in (3.5 m)
Complement94
Armament16 × 24-pounder carronades + 2 × 6-pounder bow chasers

HMS Fly was launched in 1805. In 1807 she participated in one major naval campaign. She was wrecked on 28 February 1812 at Anholt Island in the Kattegat.

Contents

Career

Captain Henry Vaughan commissioned Fly in January 1806. Commander John Thompson replaced Vaughan in February in the Downs.

In June and July 1807 Fly took part in the British invasions of the River Plate. Captain Thompson was mentioned in letters in the London Gazette for his role in positioning the gun-brigs to provide support for the landing of troops. [2] [3]

On 16 January 1808 Fly arrived back at Portsmouth.

On 31 October 1808 a French privateer captured Concord, Vaux, master, of Sunderland. Fly recaptured Concord and brought her into Portsmouth. [4]

Commander Thompson was promoted to post captain on 21 October 1810. [5] Commander Manley Hall Dixon replaced Thompson until Dixon was promoted to post captain on 26 June 1811. [6]

Commander John Skekel took command of Fly on 26 June 1811. He transferred to Gluckstadt. [7] His replacement aboard Fly was Commander Henry Higman, who transferred from Gluckstadt. [8]

On 2 November 1811, Fly towed into Aberdeen Solomon, Grocow, master, which had been on her way from Riga when she'd been dismasted. [9] [lower-alpha 1]

Loss

Fly was part of a British squadron sailing in the north-east of the Kattegat on he morning of 28 February 1812. When the island of Anholt was sighted, and bearings taken on the lighthouse there, Commander Higman expressed his concerns to the two pilots, who assured him that Fly was not in any danger of grounding. At around 1p.m., as Fly tacked to follow HMS Pyramus, Fly grounded. Efforts to get her off were futile until 2p.m. on the 29th, when she suddenly floated free and drifted into deep water. She started to take on water because of the numerous leaks that her grounding had caused. The crew transferred to other ships of the squadron, with Commander Higman setting fire to Fly before he too left. The subsequent courtmartial reprimanded the pilots and ordered them mulcted of all pay due. [11]

Fly had wrecked on the Knobber Reef, a narrow spit of sand and large boulders that extends 4.4 miles (7.1 km) from the eastern end of Anholt Island. [12]

Notes

  1. ↑ Solomon, J.Gronou, master, of 135 tons (bm), had been launched at Mecklenburg in 1807. [10]

Comments

  1. ↑ Winfield (2008), p. 308.
  2. ↑ "No. 16065". The London Gazette . 13 September 1807. p. 1207.
  3. ↑ "No. 16065". The London Gazette . 13 September 1807. pp. 1210–211.
  4. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4302. 18 November 1808. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735023 . Retrieved 4 June 2022.
  5. ↑ Marshall (1828), p. 237.
  6. ↑ Marshall (1828), p. 383.
  7. ↑ Marshall (1831), p. 225.
  8. ↑ Marshall (1830), p. 121.
  9. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4616. 12 November 1814. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735025 . Retrieved 4 June 2022.
  10. ↑ Lloyd's Register (1811), Seq.No.S517.
  11. ↑ Hepper (2023), p. 288.
  12. ↑ Grocott (1997), p. 339.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gunboat War</span> 1807–1814 war between Denmark–Norway and the United Kingdom

The Gunboat War was a naval conflict between Denmark–Norway and Great Britain supported by Sweden during the Napoleonic Wars. The war's name is derived from the Danish tactic of employing small gunboats against the materially superior Royal Navy. In Scandinavia it is seen as the later stage of the English Wars, whose commencement is accounted as the First Battle of Copenhagen in 1801.

HMS <i>Tartar</i> (1801) Narcissus-class frigate

HMS Tartar was a 32-gun fifth-rate Narcissus-class frigate of the Royal Navy, built at Frindsbury and launched in 1801. She captured privateers on the Jamaica station and fought in the Gunboat War and elsewhere in the Baltic Sea before being lost to grounding off Estonia in 1811.

HMS Olympia was an Adonis-class schooner of the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic War. She was built at Bermuda using Bermudan cedar and completed in 1806. In March 1811 the French captured her, but the British recaptured her in October. During her career, she served as far afield as Buenos Aires, Île Bourbon, and Cape of Good Hope. The Admiralty sold her in 1815.

The Royal Navy purchased the Newcastle collier Ramillies in June 1804 and commissioned her as HMS Proselyte in September 1804, having converted her to a 28-gun sixth rate in July and August. Between 1806 and 1808 she was converted to a bomb vessel. She was crushed by ice and abandoned in 1808 at the island of Anholt while acting as a lightvessel.

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

HMS Belette was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop, built by King at Dover and launched on 21 March 1806. During the Napoleonic Wars she served with some success in the Baltic and the Caribbean. Belette was lost in the Kattegat in 1812 when she hit a rock off Læsø.

During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars the Admiralty also made use of hired armed vessels, one of which was His Majesty's Hired armed cutter Swan. Actually there were two such cutters, but the descriptions of these vessels and the dates of their service are such that they may well represent one vessel under successive contracts. The vessel or vessels cruised, blockaded, carried despatches and performed reconnaissance.

HMS Elk was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop, built of pine, and launched in 1804. She served on the Jamaica station where she captured a number of privateers. She was broken up in 1812.

HMS Guachapin was a brig, the former Spanish letter of marque Guachapin, launched at Bayonne in 1800, which the British captured early in 1800 and took into service with the Royal Navy. Under the British flag she captured a Spanish privateer larger and better-armed than herself. She also served at the captures of the islands of St. Bartholomew, St. Martin, St. Thomas, St. Croix, Tobago, and St. Lucia, and of Surinam. She served at Antigua as a guard ship but was wrecked in 1811. She was then salvaged and sold.

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

HMS Pandora was launched in 1806. She captured two privateers before she was wrecked in February 1811 off the coast of Jutland.

HMS Phipps was the Dutch privateer Two Lydias, launched in 1807, that the British Royal Navy captured in 1808 and took into service as HMS Phipps. Phipps captured two privateers, took part in a notable action, and her crew was subjected to mercury poisoning. She was sold for breaking up in 1812.

HMS <i>Minorca</i> (1805) Brig-sloop of the Royal Navy

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 Redbreast was an Archer-class brig of the British Royal Navy. She captured some small merchant vessels and privateers. She also participated in two actions that would in 1847 earn her surviving crew members clasps to the Naval General service Medal (NGSM). The Navy transferred in 1816 to His Majesty's Customs. She was finally sold in 1850.

HMS Magnet was the former French privateer San Joseph or San Josepho, built in 1807, that the British captured in 1809. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Magnet. She disappeared, presumed to have foundered with all hands, while sailing to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in August or September 1812.

HMS Saint Christopher was the French privateer Mohawk, launched in 1805, that the Royal Navy captured in 1806. The citizens of Saint Kitts, purchased her and donated her to the Royal Navy. She was broken up at Antigua in 1811.

HMS Wild Boar was a brig-sloop launched in 1808. She was wrecked in 1810.

HMS Favorite was an 18-gun Cormorant-class ship-sloop, launched in 1806 and broken up in 1821. In her career she sailed as far North America, the Caribbean, Africa, South America, and the Far East. She captured or recaptured several merchant ships and a handful of privateers.

HMS Tweed was launched in 1807. On the Jamaica station she captured two small privateers and several merchant vessels. On the North Sea station she captured one small privateers and several merchant vessels. She was wrecked on 5 November 1813 with the loss of more than half her crew.

HMS Demerara was the French privateer Cosmopoli, launched, captured, and purchased in 1806. She spent her entire career in the West Indies. In 1809 she participated in the capture of Martinique. Demerara was sold in 1813.

HMS Avenger was the collier Thames, launched in 1803, that the Royal Navy purchased in 1804 and renamed. During her service she captured a number of prizes. She also captured one French privateer and participated in the capture of the Danish island of Anholt. She wrecked at St. John's, Newfoundland on 8 October 1812.

HMS Sparkler was launched in 1804 at Brightlingsea. Lieutenant James S.A.Dennis commissioned her in August 1804 for the North Sea.

References

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.