HMS Grenada was the French schooner Harmonie, launched in 1800 and armed at Cayenne in 1803 as a privateer. Boats of a squadron of the British Royal Navy cut her out from the harbour of Le Marin, Martinique, on 16 November 1803. The citizens of Grenada purchased her and donated her to the Royal Navy, which commissioned her in 1804 as HMS Grenada. She was later converted to a brig. She captured nine small French privateers before being sold for breaking up in 1810.
Around November, HMSSaint Lucia recaptured the brig Earl St. Vincent, which had been sailing from Dublin to Barbados, and a Swedish schooner. The French privateer Harmonie, of Martinique, had captured the brig and the schooner three days earlier. Saint Lucia was unable to capture the privateer, which escaped by throwing her guns overboard and sawing down her gunwales.[3]
On 14 November Harmonie entered the harbour at Le Marin, together with a prize that she had taken. Captain Thomas Graves, in the 74-gunThird RateBlenheim, determined to cut her out. He beat around Diamond Rock but was not able to get into position until the 16th. He then decided to put 60 seamen in four boats, and 60 marines into another four. The seamen were to go into the harbour to cut out Harmonie, while the marines were to attack a battery of nine guns at Fort Dunkirk on the starboard side of the bay to block French reinforcements from massing there. Drake arrived on the scene and Graves had Captain William Ferris lead the seamen in the attack, together with 16 men from her. Drake towed the cutting out party, whilst the hired armedcutterSwift towed the marines. The two parties set out at 11p.m., and at 3a.m. the two attacks succeeded. The marines captured the fort, which was only guarded by 15 men, whom they took prisoner. They spiked six 24-pounder guns and three 18-pounders, and blew up the magazine. The cutting out party met with resistance from Harmonie and suffered the only British casualties. Hermione, of eight guns, had had a crew of 66 men under the command of Citizen Noyer at the start of the British attack. Some 12 escaped overboard and some may have drowned. Two were killed and 14 wounded. Blenheim had one man killed and two wounded, and Drake had three wounded, one dangerously so.[4]
Lloyd's Patriotic Fund awarded Ferris an honour sword worth £100. It also awarded four swords of £50 to two Royal Marine lieutenants and two naval lieutenants. One of the marines had died before the award and his family requested the value of the sword instead.[5]
HMS Grenada
The inhabitants of Grenada purchased Harmonie and donated her to the Royal Navy on 27 January 1804.[2] Lieutenant John Barker was appointed to command HMS Grenada on 23 April for the Leeward Islands station.[6]
The Navy converted Grenada to a brig and registered her on 13 October.[2]
Still, on 29 December 1804, Kingfisher captured the French privateer schoonerDeux Amis. She was pierced for eight guns but only had two on board at the time of her capture, having thrown the others overboard as she tried to escape her pursuers. She had a crew of 39 men, under the command of Francis Dutrique. She was ten days out of Guadeloupe and had captured nothing. Captain R.W. Cribb of King's Fisher credited His Majesty's schooner Grenada with having chased Deux Amis into his hands. Furthermore, when Grenada's commander saw that King's Fisher would capture Deux Amis, he chased and recaptured the sloop Hero, which was sailing in ballast.[7]
On 16 March, Grenada was some six miles off Union Island when she sighted a suspicious vessel. After a chase of two hours, she caught up with and captured the French privateer schooner Intrepid (or Intrepide). Intrepid was armed with four 6-pounder guns and had a crew of 66 men under the command of Citizen Jean Durand. She had been fitted out at Cayenne and had been at sea for 12 days but without taking any prizes. Intrepid did not resist and there were no casualties.[9]
On 24 July Grenada captured the French privateer schooner Petite Aricere, of four guns and 35 men.[10]
Grenada's only single-ship action – the only real combat of her career – took place on the morning of 15 February 1806. She was some five or six leagues west of Pearl Rock (14°50′N61°13′W / 14.833°N 61.217°W / 14.833; -61.217). Martinique, when she sighted and gave chase to a vessel to the south. At 7a.m. Grenada fired her first shot and an intermittent 4+1⁄2-hour engagement ensued as wind conditions shifted. The enemy vessel finally struck and proved to be the French letter of marque schooner Princess Murat. She was armed with two 42-pounder guns, one 9-pounder gun, several swivel guns, and small arms. Her guns were so arranged that she could fire them on either beam; this meant that her broadside was about 30% heavier than that of Grenada. Princess Murat had a crew of 52 men and was 12 hours out from Martinique. She was carrying a cargo of dry goods, nuts, and other products. In the engagement she had lost three men killed and seven wounded; Grenada had two men wounded, one a boy who died some hours later, and James Atkins, her master, who was severely wounded.[lower-alpha 1] Both vessels had sustained severe damage to their masts and rigging. The next day Princess Murat's masts fell overboard. Grenada's topmasts were damaged and her sails were in pieces.[12]
On 20 August 1806 Grenada captured the French privateer Espoir. Prize money for Pegamy, Intrepid and Espoir was finally paid in April 1815.[lower-alpha 2] Prize money for Princess Murat was paid in February 1827.[lower-alpha 3]
In November 1806 Grenada captured three privateers. On 4 November she was five or six leagues off "London Bridge Rock", Tobago (11°21′00″N60°32′00″W / 11.35000°N 60.53333°W / 11.35000; -60.53333), when she sighted a suspicious vessel. After a chase of four hours Grenada was able to capture the French privateer schooner Desirée, of one gun and 24 men. Desirée was 32 days out of Martinique but had not captured anything. Eight days later, Grenada was five or six miles off Carriacou when she sighted another suspicious vessel. A five-hour chase ensued before Grenada was able to capture the French privateer schooner Marianne. Marianne was armed with one long 9-pounder gun, which she had thrown overboard during the chase. She had a crew of 46 men and was four days out from Martinique, having captured nothing. Still, Barker was pleased to have caught her as on previous cruises the fast-sailing Marianne had done some damage to British trade.[14] On 27 November, Grenada was three leagues west of London Bridge Rock when she sighted yet another suspicious vessel. A four-hour chase later, Grenada captured the French privateer sloop Tigre, of two 6-pounder guns and a crew of 26 men. Tigre was 15 days out from Guadeloupe and had captured a mail boat. On earlier cruises Tigre had considerable damage to the coasting trade of Saint Lucia and St Vincents.[15]
Grenada was laid up at Antigua on 27 January 1808.[2] However, this appears to have been temporary.
In April 1808 Barker left Grenada.[lower-alpha 4] Lieutenant George Guy Burton replaced Barker as temporary commander.[16]
In mid-1808, Grenada recaptured the sloop Trafalgar, Tyne, master, of Trinidad, which the French privateer Rodeur had captured. Grenada sent Trafalgar into Grenada.[17] Then on 25 October, Grenada captured the French privateer Moriche, of one gun and 60 men, off Trinidad.[18]
Then on 6 December 1808 Lieutenant Stephen Briggs commissioned Grenada for the Leeward Islands.[19] He commanded her until she was sold.[20]
Grenada, still under Briggs's command, also participated in the capture of Guadeloupe in January and February 1810.[lower-alpha 5] In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Guadaloupe" to all surviving participants of the campaign.
Fate
Grenada was sold for breaking up on 31 December 1810.[2]
Notes
↑ Atkins received an 18-ounce ball in the shoulder just below the collarbone. He survived and in December 1808 received promotion to lieutenant and appointment to command of Mosambique. Some six years after the engagement he received a gratuity of £136 17s for his wound.[11] A detachment of soldiers from the 60th Regiment of Foot, which was serving aboard Grenada as marines, sustained no casualties.
↑ A first-class share of the prize money for Pegamy was worth £25 15s 4¾d; a fifth-class share was worth 10s 2¼d. A first-class for Intrepide was worth £37 15s 3d; a fifth-class share, that of a seaman, was worth 10s 2¼d. Grenada shared the prize money with Cyane. A first-class share for Espoire was worth £14 12s 8d; a fifth-class share was worth 6s 2½d.[8]
↑ A first-class share of the prize money for Princess Murat was worth £73 3s 6d; a fifth-class share was worth 17s 10d.[13]
↑ In October he became the Resident-Agent in the West Indies for transports and prisoners-of-war, in which capacity her served until December 1815.[6]
↑ A first-class share of the prize money for Guadaloupe was worth £113 3s 1¼d; a sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman, was worth £1 9s 1¼d.[21]
Heureux was a 22-gun French privateer brig that the British captured in 1800. She served with the Royal Navy as the 22-gun post ship HMS Heureux. She captured numerous French and Spanish privateers and merchant vessels in the Caribbean Sea before she was lost at sea in 1806. Her fate remains a mystery to this day.
Franchise was launched in 1798 as a 40-gun Coquille-class frigate of the French Navy. The British captured her in 1803 and took her into the Royal Navy under her existing name. In the war on commerce during the Napoleonic Wars she was more protector than prize-taker, capturing many small privateers but few commercial prizes. She was also at the battle of Copenhagen. She was broken up in 1815.
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.
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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.
HMS Druid was a 32-gun Hermione-class fifth-rate frigate of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1783 at Bristol. She served in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, capturing numerous small prizes. One of her commanders, Captain Philip Broke, described Druid as a "point of honour ship", i.e., a ship too large to run but too small to fight. He and his biographer's view was that it was a disgrace to use a ship like her as a warship. She was broken up in 1813, after a thirty-year career.
HMS Favourite was a 16-gun Cormorant-class sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1794 at Rotherhithe. The French captured her in 1806 and renamed her Favorite. However, the British recaptured her in 1807 and renamed her HMS Goree. She became a prison ship in 1810 and was broken up in Bermuda in 1817.
HMS Pike was a Royal Navy Ballahoo-class schooner of four 12-pounder carronades and a crew of 20. The prime contractor for the vessel was Goodrich & Co., in Bermuda, and she was launched in 1804. She captured one 10-gun enemy vessel before being herself captured, and recaptured.
HMS Eclair was a French Navy schooner launched in 1799 and captured in 1801. The British took her into service under her French name and armed her with twelve 12-pounder carronades. In 1804 she engaged in a noteworthy, albeit indecisive single ship action with the 22-gun French privateer Grande Decide. In 1809 she was renamed Pickle. In December 1812 she and three other small British vessels engaged the French 40-gun frigate Gloire in another noteworthy and indecisive action. She was sold in 1818.
HMS Cruizer was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Stephen Teague of Ipswich and launched in 1797. She was the first ship of the class, but there was a gap of 5 years between her launch and the ordering of the next batch in October 1803; by 1815 a total of 105 other vessels had been ordered to her design. She had an eventful wartime career, mostly in the North Sea, English Channel and the Baltic, and captured some 15 privateers and warships, and many merchant vessels. She also participated in several actions. She was laid up in 1813 and the Commissioners of the Navy sold her for breaking in 1819.
HMS Saint Lucia was a brig-sloop, the former French Navy schooner Enfant Prodigue, which the British captured in 1803 and took into service with the Royal Navy. Under the British flag she captured three small French privateers and several prizes in the Leeward Islands before two French privateers recaptured her in 1807.
During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, British vessels captured at least 12 French warships and privateers named Espoir, which means “Hope” in French. In only one case was there mention of an exchange of fire or casualties. In general, the privateers tried to escape, and failing that surrendered.
HMS Mosambique was the French privateer schooner Mosambique, built in 1798, and commissioned as a privateer in 1804. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1804 and took her into service. She served in the West Indies, engaging in several indecisive single-ship actions before she captured one French privateer. She was sold there in 1810.
HMS Quebec was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate launched in 1781 and broken up in 1816. She sailed under various captains, participating in the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars. During these wars she captured many enemy merchantmen and smaller privateers. One action led to her men qualifying for clasp to the Naval General Service Medal.
HMS Racoon was a brig-sloop built and launched in 1795. She served during the French Revolutionary Wars and in the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars. She had an active career under several captains, working essentially independently while capturing or destroying some 20 enemy privateers and naval vessels. Several of the captures involved engagements that resulted in casualties on Racoon as well as on her opponents. She was broken up early in 1806.
HMS Superieure was the French privateer Supérieure, which was built in 1801 in Baltimore, Maryland, and which the British captured in 1803 in the West Indies, and took into the Royal Navy. She spent most of her career on the Jamaica and Leeward Islands stations, where she captured numerous privateers. She participated in several notable single-ship actions, including one in which she harassed a frigate, and two campaigns that would, in 1847, earn her surviving crew members the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM). She was laid-up in Britain in 1810 and sold in 1814.
HMS Swallow was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop launched in December 1805, nine months late. She served the Royal Navy through the Napoleonic Wars, capturing numerous privateers. After the end of the wars she was broken up in 1815.
HMS Port d'Espagne was a 14-gun vessel, variously described as a sloop, gun-brig or schooner, built in 1806 in Trinidad, whose citizens presented her to the crown. She captured several small Spanish privateers and participated in a major campaign before she was sold in 1811.
The French corvette Bacchante was launched in 1795 as one of the four Serpente-class corvettes built for the French Navy. 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 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.
References
Barton, Mark, and John McGrath (2013) British Naval Swords and Swordsmanship. (Seaforth). ISBN978-1848321359
Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN9781861762467.
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