For other ships with the same name, see HMS Melampus.
Detail from the painting by Bristol artist Chris Woodhouse of the 36-gun Bristol-built frigate HMS Melampus, commissioned and purchased in 1990 by Bristol City Museum
The Admiralty ordered Melampus from James Martin Hillhouse, of Bristol on 17 April 1782 as a 38-gun fifth rate. After she had been laid down in December 1782, the Admiralty reduced her armament to 36 guns on 11 January 1783, as captains of earlier 38-gun frigates had complained that the extra guns made the upper gundeck too cramped. Melampus was launched on 8 June 1785, and fitted between 3 July and 8 September 1785 for ordinary at Plymouth. She was again fitted between May and 2 July 1790 for Channel service. She had cost £20,785 13s 0d to build, with a further £2,985 being spent in 1790 for fitting out.[3]
Early service
Her first captain following her May 1790 commissioning was Charles M. Pole. Melampus was paid off again in November 1790, but by 1793 she had been moved to Plymouth, where she was refitted between March and June for £4,726.[3]
She came under the command of Sir Richard Strachan in September 1794 and was recommissioned in April 1795.[3] She was part of Strachan's force that attacked and destroyed a French convoy in Cartaret Bay on 9 May 1795. The British squadron spotted a convoy of 13 vessels and immediately gave chase. Twelve of the quarry escaped and got close to the shore where a small shore battery, their own armed escorts, and a brig and a lugger offered some protection. Strachan sent in the boats from the vessels in his squadron while Melampus and the ships provided covering fire. The French crews abandoned their vessels at the approach of the British and eventually the shore battery also stopped firing. The cutting out party retrieved all the vessels, save a small sloop, which was hard ashore and which they burnt. Melampus had eight men wounded and in all the British lost one man killed and 14 wounded. They captured a gun brig and a gun lugger, each armed with three 18-pounder guns. They also captured the convoy, which consisted of: Prosperitte (80 tons and carrying cordage), Montagne (200 tons and carrying timber, lead and tin plates), Catharine (200 tons and carrying ship timber), Hyrondelle (220 tons and carrying ship timber and pitch), Contente (250 tons, carrying powder), Nymphe (120 tons carrying fire wood), Bonne-Union (150 tons), Fantazie (45 tons carrying coals), Alexandre (397 and carrying ship timber, cordage, hemp and cannon), and Petit Neptune (113 tons and carrying ship timber).[6] A later prize money report added the names of the escorts, the gun-brig Crachefeu and the gun-lugger Eclair,[7] both of which the Royal Navy took into service under their existing names.
On 3 July 1795 Melampus and Hebe intercepted a convoy of 13 vessels off St Malo. Melampus captured an armed brig and Hebe captured six merchant vessels: Maria Louisa, Abeille. Bon Foi, Patrouille, Eleonore, and Pecheur. The brig of war was armed with four 24-pounders and had a crew of 60 men. Later she was identified as the 4-gun Vésuve. The convoy had been on its way from Île-de-Bréhat to Brest.[8]Seaflower, Daphne and the cutterSprightly shared in the prize and head money.[9] The Royal Navy took Vésuve into service as HMSVesuve.
Melampus came under the command of Captain Graham Moore in August 1796.[3] On 13 November she and Minerva drove a French navy corvette ashore near Barfleur. However the British were not able to get close enough to assure her destruction. Then Melampus and Childers captured another corvette, the Etna. Etna was armed with eighteen 12-pounder guns and had a crew of 137 men under the command of Citizen Joseph La Coudrais. The prisoners stated that both corvettes were carrying military and naval stores and that the corvette that had run ashore was the Etonnant, of eighteen 18-pounder guns. Both were new ships on their first cruise.[10] The Royal Navy took Etna into service as the 20-gun post ship HMS Cormorant.
Melampus was also active in operations against French privateers. On 5 October 1797 she captured the French privateer lugger Rayon off the Casquets after a chase of four hours. Rayon was armed with six carriage guns and eight coehorns, and had a crew of 54 men under the command of Jean Baptiste Leonard Gosselin. She had sailed from Cherburg ten hours earlier intending to cruise between the Lizard and Cape Clear for six weeks.[11]
Melampus was in company with Seahorse when they captured the Belliqueux, off the Irish coast on 16 January 1798. She was originally a corvette, but was now a privateer. Belliqueux was pierced for 20 cannon but was armed with fourteen 8-pounder guns and four carronades, and had a crew of 120 men. She was out of St. Malo, and on 11 January had captured His Majesty's packet Prince Ernest, which had been sailing from Tortola. The captain of the packet and all but four of her crew were on board Belliqueux.[12]
A few days later, on 23 January, Melampus captured the Volage, after a short, intense engagement. She was a corvette that the French navy had lent to merchants. She was armed with twenty 9-pounder guns and two 18-pounders, and had a crew of 195 men under the command of Citizen Delageneaux, a capitaine de frégate. In the engagement Melampus had two men mortally wounded and three men dangerously wounded; Volage had four men killed and eight wounded. Volage was three weeks out of Nantes, provisioned for a three-month cruise. By the time of her capture, Volage had herself only captured an American ship and destroyed an English brig sailing from Belfast to Lisbon with coal. The Captain and all the officers on Volage were officers in the French navy, but on a three-month leave.[13]
Melampus was present at the Battle of Tory Island in October that year, fighting in the main action and then subsequently capturing the Résolue in a night action two days later. Together with Ethalion she captured the 32-gun frigate Bellone which the Royal Navy took into service as HMS Proserpine.
On 26 February 1799 Melampus captured the French privateer Mercure, which the Admiralty took into service as Trompeuse. Mercure was armed with 16 guns and had a crew of 103 men. She was from Saint Malo and was returning to her home port after having had a successful cruise in the Channel.[14] She was under the command of Captain Jacques Dupuy-Fromy.[15]
On 14 April Melampus pursued another French privateer for 25 hours before she was able to capture her quarry. The privateer was the brig Papillon, which was armed with ten 9-pounder guns and four 36-pounder obusiers and had a crew of 123 men.[16]
On 18 April Melampus was in pursuit of a privateer when the privateer capsized and sank before Melampus could reach her. The captain of Papillon stated that the privateer was the Nantois, of fourteen 6 and 12-pounder guns, and a crew of 150 men. Furthermore, she had on board the master and part of the crew of the brig Echo, which she had captured earlier.[17]
Melampus was then assigned to the Caribbean, sailing for Jamaica in March 1800.[3] On 2 June, Melampus, in company with Juno, captured the French letter of marqueVolant, of 140 tons, armed with eight guns, and having a crew of 49 men. She was sailing from Vera Cruz to the Havannah.[18][lower-alpha 1]Melampus also captured Hannibal on 23 July.[lower-alpha 2]
On 1 October Melampus, Juno, and Retribution were in company when they captured the Aquila.[lower-alpha 3] Thereafter she came under the command of Captain Thomas Le Marchant Gosselin in November 1801 before being paid off in June 1802.[3]
Melampus returned to England, and underwent a large repair at Deptford between August 1803 and October 1804. She was recommissioned in August 1804 under the command of Captain Stephen Poyntz, and commenced cruises off the French coast.[3]
Between 12 and 14 February 1805, Melampus was in company with cutterNimble, and the hired armed cutters Frisk and Rhoda. At this time 27 French gunvessels were sailing from Bordeaux to Brest. Melampus succeeded in capturing two gunbrigs carrying two 24-pounder guns and one 18-pounder gun each, with a complement of 50 men each, primarily soldiers. Melampus also captured four luggers, each armed with one 18-pounder gun, and with complements of 25 men, mostly soldiers.[21] The gunvessels Melampus captured were N°s 169, 174, 277, 286, 287, and 311.[lower-alpha 5]Frisk succeeded in capturing Gunvessel n° 288, armed with one 24-pounder gun, and with a complement of 25 men (20 being troops from the 44th Regiment), all under the command of enseigne de vaisseaux P. Roox.[21]Rhoda succeeded in capturing the lugger Gunvessel n °313, armed with one 24-pounder gun, and with a complement of 22 men (18 of them soldiers), under the command of enseigne auxiliaire Frederick Widsmann. The gunvessel had had one man killed.[23]
On 25 June Loire had been chasing a French frigate privateer for some twelve hours when Melampus and Brilliant came up and cut-off the quarry, forcing her to surrender. She was the Valiant (or Vaillant, of Bordeaux. She was armed with twenty-four 18-pounder guns on her main deck and six 6-pounders, which she threw overboard while Loire was pursuing her. She had a crew of 240 men. She had been out for 20 days on a four-month cruise but had only captured the Halifax packet Lord Charles Spencer.[24]
On 13 July 1805 she captured the Spanish privateer Hydra at sea. Hydra was pierced for 30 cannons and carried twenty-two 9-pounder guns on her main deck, and six 6-pounders on her quarterdeck. She had a crew of 192 men, and she lost three men killed and several men wounded before she struck. Melampus captured her on the 17th day of a four-month cruise and she had not yet captured any British vessels.[25]
One week later Melampus recaptured Barzilla, which the French privateer General Perignon had captured about a week earlier. Melampus shared the salvage money with HMSNeptune.[26]
Melampus was present, whilst serving as part of a squadron under her old commander Sir Richard Strachan, at the destruction of the 74-gun Impétueux on 14 September 1806.[3]
In September 1807 Captain Edward Hawker took over command, sailing her to North America in 1808. He then took her to the Leeward Islands in 1809.[3]
On 16 January 1809 Melampus captured the French navy brig Colibri off Barbuda, after her captain had the "temerity" to put up a fight as Melampus was sailing alongside. She was armed with fourteen 24-pounder carronades and two 8-pounder guns, had a crew of 92 men, under the command of Mons. Deslandes, Lieutenant de vaisseau. In the engagement, Colibri had three men killed and 11 wounded before she struck. She was a new vessel and was sailing from Cherburg with a cargo of 570 barrels of flour and a great quantity of gunpowder intended for the relief of to San Domingo. On her way she had captured and sunk two British brigs that had been sailing from Newfoundland to Lisbon, the Hannibal and the Priscilla, both of Dartmouth.[27] The Royal Navy took her into service as Colibri.
On 14 December Melampus captured the French brig corvette Bearnais after pursuing her for 28 hours. Bearnais was armed with sixteen 24-pounder carronades and had a crew of 109 men (including 30 soldiers), under the command of Monsieur Montbazen, Lieutenant de vaisseau. She fought before striking with the result that she had one man killed and some men wounded, and she wounded two men on Melampus. Bearnais was a new vessel and was sailing from Bayonne to Guadeloupe with a cargo of flour and military stores, some of which she had thrown overboard during the pursuit.[28] The Royal Navy took her into service as Curieux.[29]
Between January and February 1810, Melampus was involved in the capture of Guadeloupe. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Guadaloupe" to all surviving claimants from the campaign.
Melampus was in company with the sloop Driver when they captured a French corvette brig letter of marque on 28 May. The vessel was the Fantôme, of 300 tons burthen (bm), pierced for 20 heavy carronades, and with a crew of 74 men. She had made three captures before being captured herself.[30] The Royal Navy took her into service under her existing name.
Transfer
Melampus returned to Britain, and by December 1812 was under repair at Isaac Blackburn's yards, at Turnchapel.[3] Work was completed by March 1814, and she was again fitted for sea, between April 1814 and May 1815 at Plymouth Dockyard. She was then sold to the Dutch government in June 1815 for the sum of £35,364.[3]
HNLMS Melampus
Melampus flag flown at AlgiersThe Bombardment of Algiers, 27 August 1816, painting by George Chambers Sr.
On 27 August 1816 Melampus was the flagship of the Dutch squadron under Vice-Admiral Baron T.F. van de Capellen that joined a British fleet under the command of AdmiralLord Exmouth in the bombardment of Algiers. Her captain was Antony-Willem De-Man.[31] In the action Melampus lost three men killed and 15 wounded. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Algiers" to the 1328 surviving British claimants from the action.
The bombardment was an attempt by Britain to end the slavery practices of the Dey of Algiers. The Anglo-Dutchfleet bombarded ships and the harbour defences of Algiers.
By 1822 Melampus was in the Dutch East Indies. In that year she led a squadron of five transports and 24 local vessels carrying Dutch marines and local auxiliaries in a punitive expedition against the Iranun of Sulawesi.
Notes
↑ Head money was paid in 1829. A first-class share was worth £34 13s 3d; a fifth-class share, that of a seaman, was worth 2s 2½d.[19]
↑ Head money for both was paid in 1829. A first-class share was worth £43 5 3d; a fifth-class share, that of a seaman, was worth 2s 5d.[19]
↑ Head money was paid in 1829. A first-class share was worth £33 18s 3½d; a fifth-class share, that of a seaman, was worth 2s 4¼d.[19]
↑ Head money for both was paid in 1829. A first-class share was worth £150 14s 5¼d; a fifth-class share, that of a seaman, was worth 6s 4½d.[20]
↑ The share of the prize money accruing to an able seaman on Melampus, Nimble, Frisk, or Rhoda was £1 9s 7d.[22]
HMS Indefatigable was one of the Ardent-class 64-gun third-rate ships-of-the-line designed by Sir Thomas Slade in 1761 for the Royal Navy. She was built as a ship-of-the-line, but most of her active service took place after her conversion to a 44-gun razee frigate. She had a long career under several distinguished commanders, serving throughout the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. She took some 27 prizes, alone or in company, and the Admiralty authorised the issue of four clasps to the Naval General Service Medal in 1847 to any surviving members of her crews from the respective actions. She was broken up in 1816.
Pomone was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, launched in 1785. The British captured her off the Île de Batz in April 1794 and incorporated her into the Royal Navy. Pomone subsequently had a relatively brief but active career in the British Navy off the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of France before suffering sufficient damage from hitting a rock. Due to this, the ship was taken out of service and then broken up in 1803.
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.
HMS Lark was a 16-gun ship sloop of the Cormorant class, launched in 1794 at Northfleet. She served primarily in the Caribbean, where she took a number of prizes, some after quite intensive action. Lark foundered off San Domingo in August 1809, with the loss of her captain and almost all her crew.
HMS Atalante was a 16-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was formerly the French Atalante, captured in 1797. She served with the British during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and was wrecked in 1807.
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.
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.
His Majesty's hired armed cutter Telemachus served the Royal Navy from 17 June 1795 until 15 January 1801. She was of 1285⁄95 tons (bm), and carried fourteen 4-pounder guns. During her five and a half years of service to the Royal Navy she captured eight French privateers as well as many merchant vessels.
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.
The French lugger Affronteur was launched in 1795 and in 1796-7 participated in the Expédition d'Irlande. In 1803, HMS Doris captured her and she subsequently served the Royal Navy either as a commissioned vessel or, more probably, as His Majesty's hired armed brig Caroline. In 1807 she was either broken up, or became a letter of marque.
HMS Netley was launched in 1798 with an experimental design. During the French Revolutionary Wars she spent some years on the Oporto station, where she captured many small privateers. The French captured her in 1806, early in the Napoleonic Wars. They lengthened her and she became the 17-gun privateer Duquesne. In 1807 the British recaptured her and the Royal Navy returned her to service as the 12-gun gun-brig HMS Unique. She was expended in an unsuccessful fire ship attack at Guadeloupe in 1809.
During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the British Royal Navy employed at least two cutters designated His Majesty's hired armedcutterNile.
At least two vessels known as His Majesty's hired armed lugger Nile served the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. These may have been the same vessel on sequential contracts.
Etna was a French naval Etna-class ship-sloop launched in 1795 that the Royal Navy captured in November 1796. She was taken into service as HMS Aetna and renamed to HMS Cormorant the next year. She captured several merchant vessels and privateers before she was wrecked in 1800 off the coast of Egypt.
His Majesty's hired armed vessel Aristocrat served the Royal Navy, twice, as a lugger from 1794 to 1798, and as a brig from 1799 to 1801. She served with the Jersey-based Channel Islands flotilla under Commodore Philippe d'Auvergne, Prince of Bouillon. As a lugger she participated in two notable engagements, the second of which won for her crew the Naval General Service Medal, awarded some 50 years later. As a brig, she captured two privateers.
HMS Childers was a brig-sloop of the British Royal Navy, initially armed with 10 carriage guns which were later increased to 14 guns. The first brig-sloop to be built for the Navy, she was ordered from a commercial builder during the early years of the American War of Independence, and went on to support operations in the English Channel and the Caribbean. Laid up for a time after the end of the American War of Independence, she returned to service shortly before the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. She had an active career in both the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, capturing numerous French privateers and during the Gunboat War participated in a noteworthy single-ship action. The navy withdrew her from service at the beginning of 1811, at which time she was broken up.
The French brig Suffisante was launched in 1793 for the French Navy. In 1795 the Royal Navy captured her and took her into service under her existing name. HMS Suffisante captured seven privateers during her career, as well as recapturing some British merchantmen and capturing a number of prizes, some of them valuable. She was lost in December 1803 when she grounded in poor weather in Cork harbour.
His Majesty's hired armed schooner Lady Charlotte served the British Royal Navy on contract between 28 October 1799 and 28 October 1801. She had a burthen of 120 85⁄94 tons (bm), and was armed with twelve 12-pounder carronades. As a hired armed vessel she captured several privateers and recaptured a number of British merchant vessels. After her service with the Royal Navy, she apparently sailed as a letter of marque until the French captured her in 1806.
HMS Echo, launched in 1797 at Dover, was a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy. She served on the Jamaica station between 1799 and 1806, and there captured a small number of privateers. The Navy sold her in 1809 and she became a whaler. She made four complete whale-hunting voyages but was wrecked in the Coral Sea in April 1820 during her fifth whaling voyage.
HMS Royalist was launched in 1807. She captured many privateers and letters of marque, most French, but also some from Denmark and the United States. Her crew twice were awarded the Naval General Service Medal. She was instrumental in the capture of a French frigate. The Royal Navy sold her in 1819. She then became a whaler, making three complete voyages. She was condemned after a mishap while on her fourth.
References
Demerliac, Alain (2003). La Marine du Consulat et du Premier Empire: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1800 A 1815 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN2-903179-30-1.
Leyland, John, ed. (1902). Dispatches and Letters Relating to the Blockade of Brest, 1803-1805. Vol.2 & 21. Navy Records Society.
Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN978-1-86176-246-7.
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