Career
Lieutenant Nicholas Tucker commissioned Intelligent in October 1805.
On 22 August Intelligent was in sight, together with a number of other warships, when Procris captured Minerva. [2]
Intelligent was among the vessels that shared in the prize money for the capture of Copenhagen in 1807. [lower-alpha 1]
On 6 March 1809 the schooner Mermede, a prize to Intelligent came into Falmouth. [4] Intelligent had captured Arminde on 4 March. [5]
On 5 October 1810 Intelligent boarded Quaker as Quaker was returning to London from Trinidad. [6]
On 3 August 1812 Charles, Edg___, master came into Plymouth. She had been sailing in ballast from Portsmouth to America when Intelligent detained her. [7] Intelligent had captured Charles, Elwell, master, on 1 August. [lower-alpha 2]
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 Eclipse was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by John King at Dover and launched in 1807. She served off Portugal and then in the Indian Ocean at the capture of the Île de France. Shortly thereafter she captured Tamatave. She was sold for mercantile service in 1815. She traded with India until 1823. Then between 1823 and 1845 she made seven voyages as a whaler.
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 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.
During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars the British Royal Navy made use of hired armed vessels, one of which was His Majesty's hired armed cutter Nimrod. Three such vessels are recorded, 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 Paulina was a British Royal Navy 16-gun brig-sloop of the Seagull class launched in December 1805 for cruising. She had a relatively uneventful career before she was sold in 1816.
HMS Nightingale was a 16-gun brig-sloop of the Seagull class of the British Royal Navy, launched in July 1805. She served during the Napoleonic Wars, primarily in the North Sea, where she captured a number of merchant vessels. The Navy sold her in 1815. She then became a merchantman, trading across the Atlantic, particularly between Liverpool and South America. She was last listed in 1829.
HMS Crocus was the nameship of the Crocus-class brig-sloops of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1808 and had an almost completely uneventful career until she was sold in 1815. She then became a merchantman trading with the West Indies and the Mediterranean. She was last listed in 1823.
HMS Cockatrice was the fourth of the Alert-class British Royal Navy cutters. She was launched in 1781 and had an uneventful career until the Navy sold her in 1802. Private interests purchased her, lengthened her, and changed her rig to that of a brig. They hired her out to the Navy and she was in service as a hired armed brig from 1806 to 1808. She then returned to mercantile service until she was condemned at Lisbon in May 1816 as not worth repairing.
HMS Earnest was launched at Leith in 1805 as one of 48 later Archer-class gun brigs for the British Royal Navy. During her naval career Earnest captured five small privateers and numerous merchant vessels. In 1816 the Admiralty sold her and she became the merchantman Earnest. She continued to sail and was last listed in 1850.
HMS Cormorant was probably launched in 1803 at Howden Pans as the merchant ship Blenheim. The Admiralty purchased her in June and the Royal Navy took her into service to use her as a convoy escort. Then in 1809 it converted her into a storeship. After the Admiralty sold her in 1817, she resumed the Blenheim name and returned to mercantile service as a West Indiaman. She disappeared after 10 November 1821 and was presumed to have foundered.
HMS Acteon, was the brig Actéon, launched in France in 1804 as the second of the two-ship Lynx-class. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1805 but laid her up. The Navy finally commissioned her in 1809. She was at the British invasion of Île de France and later served in the Channel, the North Sea, the Baltic, and the Chesapeake. She was broken up in 1816.
HMS Juniper was launched at Bermuda in 1809 for the British Royal Navy. She participated in one campaign for which her crew was awarded the Naval General Service Medal (1847) with clasp "San Sebastian". She also participated in the capture of several merchant ships. The Navy sold her in 1814.
Général Pérignon was a brig launched at Saint-Malo in February 1804 as a privateer. She captured numerous British merchant vessels over several cruises. In January 1810 the British Royal Navy captured her. She was sold in March 1810 and became a coaster sailing between Plymouth and London under her original name, or as Intention. She was last listed in 1816.
HMS Sharpshooter was launched in 1805. She operated in the Channel, often from the Channel Islands. She participated in two actions and captured a small number of merchant vessels. She was sold and broken up in 1816.
HMS Muros was launched at Chatham Dockyard in 1809. She had a relatively uneventful career though she did participate in one major campaign. She was sold in 1822 for breaking up.
HMS Thrasher was launched in 1804 at Brightlingsea, or Colchester as the merchant vessel Adamant. The British Royal Navy purchased her in June 1804, renamed her, and fitted her out as a gunbrig. She captured numerous small merchant vessels, most of them Dutch or Danish. After the Navy sold her in 1814, she returned to mercantile service under her original name of Adamant. She made a voyage to Malta in 1815 and was wrecked as she was returning to London.
HMS Growler was a Archer-class gun-brig built for the British Royal Navy and launched in 1804. She captured several French privateers and one Danish privateer, and took part in two actions that earned her crew the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM). She was sold in 1815.
HMS Cracker was a later Archer-class gun brig, launched in 1804. She participated in several actions and captured two small French privateers. She was sold for breaking up in 1816.
HMS Griper was a later Archer-class gunbrig launched in 1804 and wrecked in 1807.
United Kingdom