Gleaner, later HMS Gleaner, was a ketch launched in 1802. She initially served as a light vessel and survey vessel. She served the Royal Navy as the "hired ketch Gleaner" from 12 July 1808 until the Navy purchased her in 1809. As a Royal Navy vessel, she served in the Mediterranean Sea, on the North American station, and off the north coast of Spain, participating in the capture of several vessels. She was wrecked off the north coast of Spain in 1814.
Gleaner was launched in 1802 and the Royal Navy hired her from 12 July 1808. She was under the command of Lieutenant Andrew Green. On 2 December Green and Gleaner captured the Danish sloop Emanuel, Jeffen, master.[3] She had been sailing from Droutheim to Bordeaux and arrived at Plymouth on 7 December.[4]
On 17 January 1809, Gleaner was on the coast of Spain, ready to take dispatches back to Britain.[5]
Already by early 1810 Gleaner was carrying dispatches and capturing vessels. In March she detained the America, Dunkin, master, which was sailing from Baltimore and Lisbon. Gleaner sent her into Plymouth.[7] On 30 October Gleaner was at Falmouth, having brought mails from Surinam.[8] Eleven days later she sailed for Surinam again.[9]
In 1811 Gleaner sailed for the Mediterranean. Early in 1811, Lieutenant Alexander Branch was first lieutenant on Pylades, which was operating in the Aegean archipelago. Captain Charles Ferguson of Pylades ordered Branch to take charge of the "armed ketch" Gleaner, during the temporary absence of her proper commander,[10] and to search all the Greek vessels he could find to see if they were carrying French cargoes under a neutral flag. Off Samos, Gleaner encountered a polacca of 12 long guns and 70 men. A two-hour single-ship action ensued before the polacca struck. During the action a cannon ball mangled Branch's right leg. He lay essentially untreated until Gleaner was able to reach Smyrna five days later, where his leg was amputated. He then endured three months of suffering before he was able to heal. Despite the gallantry of the action, Branch did not receive promotion, and it was another two years before he received a pension for his injuries.[11] As soon as he was able to move on crutches, Lieutenant Branch returned to Pylades and remained senior lieutenant on her until she returned to England in late 1811. The Sublime Porte claimed the polacca on the grounds that she belonged to an Ottoman subject. The British Ambassador to the Sublime Porte argued that she should be declared a legitimate prize, but was unable to prevail and she was restored to Ottoman control.[10]
On 19 June she sailed for North America. She was reported to have arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia on 22 July to verify the news of war, but then sailed to New York.[13] Before Gleaner arrived at Halifax, she participated in some captures. On 18 July Ringdove, which was apparently serving on the Halifax, Nova Scotia station, captured the ship Magnet, of 172 tons (bm), from Belfast, bound to New York, with passengers, and a small quantity of linen. The Royal Navy took Magnet into service as a prison ship at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Ringdove was in company with Gleaner.[lower-alpha 1] The next day Ringdove captured the schooner Rover, of 98 tons (bm), sailing from Liverpool for Amelia Island. Rover was carrying coals, earthenware, and hardware.[15] Once again Gleaner was in sight.[lower-alpha 2]
On 27 February 1813, the "Gleaner hired armed ketch", Lieutenant William Knight, captured the schooner Amphrite, of 164 tons (bm). She was sailing from New York to Bordeaux with a cargo of cotton and potash.[17]
One month later, Knight wrote that Gleaner had captured the French privateer Adelaide some six leagues WNW of Cape St Vito (Sicily). While both vessels were lying becalmed, the privateer used her sweeps to bring her into position to attack Gleaner. Adelaide was armed with six guns and had a crew of 46 men. Nevertheless, she struck to Gleaner. Adelaide was five days out of Naples and had taken nothing. Knight's letter was dated at Plymouth on 6 May,[18] suggesting that Gleaner had been in the Mediterranean carrying dispatches, and then returned.
On 23 October 1813 Gleaner, still under the command of William Knight, was in sight when Andromache captured the French frigate Trave after an engagement of only 15 minutes.[19]Trave, although a new vessel, had lost her masts in a storm and was sailing under jury-rigged masts and so unable to maneuver. She was armed with twenty-eight French 18-pounder long guns and sixteen 18-pounder carronades, and had a crew of 321 men, almost all Dutch. Before she struck she had one man killed, and 28 men wounded, including her commander capitaine de frégate Jacob Van Maren. Andromache had little damage and only two men wounded.[20] The Royal Navy took Trave into service as the troopship Trave.
Lieutenant Alexander Branch returned to command of Gleaner on 2 December 1813, on the north coast of Spain.[11] As the Duke of Wellington moved on Bayonne, Gleaner blockaded the Ardour river. On 24 February 1814 when a flotilla of hired and purchased boats crossed the highly dangerous waters at the bar to the river, preparatory to erecting a floating bridge, Rear-Admiral Penrose hoisted his flag on Gleaner to supervise the operation.[11] Although some boats had been lost and a number of men drowned, 25 chasse marees and some gunboats succeeded in getting into the river. There they formed a 900-yard long floating bridge.[21]
In January 1819, the London Gazette reported that Parliament had voted a grant to all those who had served under the command of Admiral Viscount Keith in 1812, between 1812 and 1814, and in the Gironde, the grant to include the vessels that had crossed the bar of the Ardour. Gleaner was listed among the vessels that had served under Keith in 1813 and 1814.[lower-alpha 3]
Fate
Admiral Penrose chose Gleaner to take the dispatches concerning the operation to create the bridge back to Britain, but asked Branch to wait at Saint-Jean-de-Luz for the arrival of one of General Lord Wellington's officers with dispatches from the general. Contemporary sources claim that Gleaner foundered there on 3 March 1814.[23][24] According to a modern account, the weather worsened on 1 April 1814, but Gleaner was well-anchored and prepared and rode out the storm until the morning of 2 April. Unfortunately, the storm drove a merchant sloop across Gleaner's bows. Gleaner's crew separated the two vessels, and the crew of the sloop was able to take shelter on the ketch before their sloop sank. As the winds worsened they drove Gleaner under the bows of a transport brig, where she became so trapped that she started to come apart from the action of the wind and waves. By 5pm Gleaner was so damaged that her crew and that of the sloop transferred to the transport brig. The combined crews were able to cut Gleaner free. The waves swept her onto the beach and she disappeared within minutes. The brig was able to rid out the storm until the next day, but then her crew was forced to cut her cables and to drive her on to the beach. All the survivors made it safely ashore. In all, the storm wrecked 17 vessels.[25]
The subsequent court martial acquitted Lieutenant Branch, his officers, and crew of any culpability in the loss of Gleaner. On 6 June 1814 the Admiralty promoted Branch and gave him command of the brig HMSSwinger.[10]
Notes
↑ In September 1815 there was a pay out of a grant for the capture. A first-class share was worth £348 15s 2½d; a sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman, was worth £5 7s 7d.[14]
↑ A first-class share of the prize money was worth £90 3s 2d; a sixth-class share was worth £1 7s 9¼d.[16]
↑ The money was paid in three tranches. For someone participating in the first through third tranches, a first-class share was worth £256 5s 9d; a sixth-class share was worth £4 6s 10d. For someone participating only in the second and third tranches a first-class share was worth £202 6s 8d; a sixth-class share was worth £5 0s 5d.[22]
USS Syren was a brig of the United States Navy built at Philadelphia in 1803. She served during the First Barbary War and the War of 1812 until the Royal Navy captured her in 1814. The British never commissioned her but apparently used her for a year or so as a lazaretto, or a prison vessel. She then disappears from records.
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Bonne Citoyenne was a 20-gun corvette of the French Navy launched in 1794, the name ship of a four-vessel class. She was part of the French fleet active in the Bay of Biscay and English Channel. The Royal Navy captured her in 1796, commissioning her as the sloop-of-war HMS Bonne Citoyenne.
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 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.
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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.
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 Scorpion was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by John King at Dover and launched in 1803. She was the first of the class to be built since the launching of Cruizer in 1797. Scorpion had a long and active career during the Napoleonic Wars, earning her crews three clasps to the Naval General Service Medal when the Admiralty authorized it in 1847, two for single-ship actions. She also took a number of prizes. Scorpion was sold in 1819.
HMS Musquito. was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by John Preston at Great Yarmouth and launched in 1804. She was commissioned in October 1804 under Commander Samuel Jackson. She served in the North Sea and the Baltic, and Jackson supervised the first successful rocket attack in Europe at Boulogne in 1806. After the war she served off Africa and captured some slavers. She was broken up in 1822, having been laid up since 1818.
HMS Patriot was a Dutch schuyt that the Royal Navy captured in 1808 and took into service. She captured several enemy vessels before she was converted to a water vessel in 1813. The Admiralty sold her in 1815.
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Brave, launched at Le Havre in 1793, was the name vessel of a two-vessel class of brig-rigged canonnières, i.e., gun-brigs. The French Navy renamed her Arrogante in May 1795. The Royal Navy captured her on 23 or 24 April 1798. The British Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Arrogante, but renamed her HMS Insolent some four months later. She was sold in June 1818.
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.
The French frigate Trave was a Pallas-class frigate of the French Navy, launched at Amsterdam in 1812. After the Royal Navy captured her in 1813 in the North Sea, it took her into service as the troopship HMS Trave. She served in the Potomac and her boats participated in the Battle of Lake Borgne during the War of 1812. She was sold on 7 June 1821.
HMS Calliope was a Cherokee-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1808. She operated primarily in the North Sea where she captured numerous small merchant vessels and one French privateer. She also was present at the battle of Lake Borgne, near New Orleans. She was broken up in 1829.
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.
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.
References
Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, B. (2010). Ships of the Royal Navy. Casemate. ISBN978-1935149071.
Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650–1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot. ISBN0-948864-30-3.
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