HMS Grouper (1804)

Last updated

History
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
NameHMS Grouper
Ordered23 June 1803
BuilderGoodrich & Co. (prime contractor), Bermuda
Laid down1803
Launched1804
Honours and
awards		 Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Guadaloupe" [1]
FateWrecked 21 October 1811
General characteristics [2]
Type Ballahoo-class schooner
Tons burthen70 41⁄94 (bm)
Length
  • 55 ft 2 in (16.8 m) (overall)
  • 40 ft 10+1⁄2 in (12.5 m) (keel)
Beam18 ft 0 in (5.5 m)
Depth of hold9 ft 0 in (2.7 m)
Sail planSchooner
Complement20
Armament4 × 12-pounder carronades

HMS Grouper 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. [2] Grouper was wrecked off Guadeloupe in 1811. This schooner was the only Royal Navy ship ever to use the name.

Contents

Service

She was commissioned at Bermuda under Lieutenant Provo Hughes for the Leeward Islands. In 1807 her commander was Lieutenant Charles Chester Fitch. [2] On 8 June 1807 Grouper captured the schooner Sophia. [3] [lower-alpha 1]

On 26 July 1807 His Majesty's schooners Grouper and Maria captured the schooner Atlantic. [5] [lower-alpha 2]

On 12 August 1809 she came under the command of Lieutenant James Atkins. [7] Grouper participated in the capture of Guadeloupe and its dependencies in February 1810 and was engaged in the protection of trade. In 1847 her surviving crew members would qualify for the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Guadaloupe".

Wreck

Grouper was wrecked on a reef off Guadeloupe on 21 October 1811. [2] At 5am she struck a reef three miles northwest of Carret Island, which lies to the west of Baie-Mahault. [8] Her crew made rafts of the wreckage and abandoned Grouper. One marine drowned but the rest of the crew survived as she went to pieces after daybreak. [9] Some fisherman rescued Atkins from a piece of wreckage after he had been knocked about for some five hours. When rescued he was insensible from lacerations he had suffered. [7]

The subsequent court martial on 7 February 1812 reprimanded Atkins for his want of caution in letting Grouper lie too close to land. [9] However, the board blamed the loss on the neglect of Midshipman Angus McLeod, the officer of the watch. He had neglected to post a look-out and had continued to sail though his orders were to lay-to. [9] McLeod was not punished as he had deserted, along with the quartermaster of the morning watch, when the survivors were landed at Pointe-à-Pitre.

In June 1812, after the injuries he sustained on Grouper, the wounds he had suffered as Acting Master on Grenada, and 12 years in the West Indies, Atkins returned to England as a passenger on Gloire. On 14 November Atkins was appointed to the 74-gun Clarence, [7] which had been launched in April.

Notes

  1. ↑ Each ordinary seaman's share of the prizemoney was 10s 10+1⁄4 d, or a little over ten days wages. [4]
  2. ↑ Each ordinary seaman's share of the prize money was 15s 9+3⁄4d, or a little over two weeks wages. [6]

Citations

  1. ↑ "No. 20939". The London Gazette . 26 January 1849. p. 242.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Winfield (2008), p. 359.
  3. ↑ "No. 16303". The London Gazette . 3 October 1809. p. 1595.
  4. ↑ "No. 16307". The London Gazette . 17 October 1809. p. 1652.
  5. ↑ "No. 16292". The London Gazette . 26 August 1809. p. 1372.
  6. ↑ "No. 16297". The London Gazette . 12 September 1809. p. 1481.
  7. 1 2 3 O'Byrne (1849), p. 24.
  8. ↑ Gosset (1986), pp. 80–1.
  9. 1 2 3 Hepper (1994), p. 138.

Related Research Articles

HMS Pickle was a topsail schooner of the Royal Navy. She was originally a civilian vessel named Sting, of six guns, that Lord Hugh Seymour purchased to use as a tender on the Jamaica station. Pickle was at the Battle of Trafalgar, and though she was too small to take part in the fighting, Pickle was the first ship to bring the news of Nelson's victory to Great Britain. She also participated in a notable single-ship action when she captured the French privateer Favorite in 1807. Pickle was wrecked in 1808, but without loss of life.

HMS Ballahoo was the first of the Royal Navy's Ballahoo-class schooners, vessels 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 patrolled primarily in the Leeward Islands, taking several small prizes, before an American privateer captured her in 1814 during the War of 1812.

HMS Capelin was a Royal Navy Ballahoo-class schooner carrying 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. Like many of her class and the related Cuckoo-class schooners, she succumbed to the perils of the sea relatively early in her career.

HMS Chub was a British 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 1807. She and her crew were lost when she was wrecked in August 1812.

HMS Porgey was a Royal Navy Ballahoo-class schooners. The prime contractor for the vessel was Goodrich & Co., in Bermuda, and she was launched in 1807. Like many of her class and the related Cuckoo-class schooners, she succumbed to the perils of the sea relatively early in her career.

HMS Cuttle 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 1807. She was broken up in 1814.

HMS <i>Haddock</i> (1805) UK naval schooner 1805–1809

HMS Haddock was a Royal Navy 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 1805.

On Thursday 21st inst launched off the stocks at Mr Isaac Skinner's shipyard his Majesty's Schooner "Haddock". The above schooner is said to be the completest vessel ever built in Bermuda

HMS Pigeon was a Royal Navy Cuckoo-class schooner. Custance & Stone built and launched her at Great Yarmouth in 1806. Like many of her class and the related Ballahoo-class schooners, she succumbed to the perils of the sea relatively early in her career.

HMS Sealark was a Royal Navy Cuckoo-class schooner armed with four 12-pounder carronades and manned by a crew of 20. She was built by William Wheaton at Brixham and launched in 1806. Like many of her class and the related Ballahoo-class schooners, she succumbed to the perils of the sea relatively early in her career.

HMS Whiting 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 1805. She was a participant at the Battle of Basque Roads. A French privateer captured her at the beginning of the War of 1812, shortly after the Americans had captured and released her in the first naval incident of the war.

HMS Laura was an Adonis-class schooner of the Royal Navy, launched in 1806 at Bermuda. Laura served during the Napoleonic Wars before a French privateer captured her at the beginning of the War of 1812. She was briefly an American letter of marque before the British recaptured her in 1813. Despite having recaptured her, the British did not return Laura to service.

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

HMS Emulous was a Royal Navy 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop, built by William Row at Newcastle and launched in 1806. She survived an inconclusive but bloody battle with a French frigate during the Napoleonic Wars and captured a number of prizes, including two privateers, on the Halifax station during the War of 1812 before she was wrecked in 1812.

HMS Maria was the French privateer schooner Constance that the Royal Navy captured in 1805 and that foundered in 1807. During her brief career in the Leeward Islands she participated in the capture of five small prizes.

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 Dominica was the French privateer schooner J(T?)opo L'Oeil that the British captured in 1807 in the Leeward Islands. She took part in one inconclusive single-ship action before she foundered in 1809.

French schooner <i>Impériale</i> (1805)

The French schooner Impériale was a 3-gun mercantile schooner-aviso of the French Navy commissioned at Guadeloupe on 23 September 1805. The Royal Navy captured her on 24 May 1806 and named her HMS Vigilant. The Navy renamed her HMS Subtle on 20 November 1806. She wrecked at Bermuda on 20 October 1807.

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 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 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 Tobago was a schooner of unknown origin that the British Royal Navy purchased in 1805. In 1806 a French privateer captured her. The Royal Navy recaptured her in 1809 and took her into service as HMS Vengeur before selling her later that year.

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.