Royal Navy
Commander Thomas Renwick was appointed to Mercurius on 18 August 1808, and he commissioned her in September for the North Sea.
Under Renwick's command Mercurius escorted about 2000 vessels, none of which was either captured or lost. In April 1813 Renwick conducted a fleet of some 400 to 500 vessels through the Sound where they came under continuous fire from Cronenburg Castle.
Renwick captured some 17 vessels in Mercurius.
On 15 March 1809 Mercurius captured Bonne Mere. [4]
On 17 April 1810 Mercurius captured Carolus, L.J. Kramer, master, and Enighied, N. Frius, master. Nightingale was in sight for both captures; Tartar was in sight for the capture of Enigheid. they therefore shared in the proceeds. [5]
On 29 April Mercurius captured Larken, J. Knudsen, and Jupiter, P. Otrog, master. [5]
On 16 July 1810, Mercurius captured Anna Catherina, H. H. Plump, master. [6]
In October 1811 Mercurius captured St. Simeon. [7]
Mercurius shared with Rose, Belette and Reynard the proceeds for the capture on 18 December 1811 of Axel Thomsen and Cecelia Margaretha (or Sicillia Margaretha). [8] [9]
On 2 March 1812 Mercurius captured Johanna Maria. [10] {{fn|Johana Maria was of about 81 tons (bm). she and her cargo, consisting primarily of rye, were auctioned off on 28 May 1812 at Leith. [11]
On 30 June 1812 Mercurius captured three Russian luggers. [lower-alpha 1] [lower-alpha 2]
On 21 March 1813 Mercurius captured Louise Charlotte de Guldencrone. [lower-alpha 3]
HMS Clio was Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched at James Betts' shipyard in Mistleythorn in Essex on 10 January 1807. Her establishment was 71 officers and men, 24 boys and 20 marines. She served in the Baltic during the Napoleonic Wars, accomplished the re-establishment of British rule on the Falkland Islands in 1833, and participated in the First Opium War. She was broken up in 1845.
HMS Dictator was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 6 January 1783 at Limehouse. She was converted into a troopship in 1798, and broken up in 1817.
HMS Brev Drageren was the Danish let briggerBrevdrageren, which was one of the many vessels the Danes surrendered to the British after the Battle of Copenhagen in 1807. She was involved in two notable actions while in British service before she was sold in 1825.
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.
Grinder was a gunboat serving as a tender, rather than a commissioned warship, to HMS Anholt, the British garrison on the island of Anholt during the Gunboat War. Grinder's origins are obscure, but the Danes captured her in 1810 and the British recaptured her in 1811. She was sold in 1832.
Peter Nicolay Skibsted (1787–1832) was a Danish naval officer with a successful career marred only by the loss in 1810 of a squadron of three gunboats under his command to the British.
Jørgen Conrad de Falsen was a Danish-Norwegian naval officer who, despite being plagued by ill health, saw duty throughout the Gunboat War during the Napoleonic Wars, and eventually rose to the rank of rear admiral. He married twice, the second marriage being to a lady-in-waiting to the Danish Queen.
Hans Peter Holm was a Danish naval officer who commanded vessels of the Dano-Norwegian Navy in several actions. He commanded several naval vessels during the Gunboat War. His most important action occurred in 1812 at the Battle of Lyngør when a British squadron, led by the British ship-of-the-line HMS Dictator, destroyed his vessel, HDMS Najaden. Holm sustained wounds in the battle but survived, only to drown in an accident shortly afterwards.
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 Rover was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop laid down in 1804 but not launched until 1808. She served in the North Sea, off the north coast of Spain, in the Channel, and on the North American station. She captured two letters-of-marque and numerous merchant vessels before being laid-up in 1815. She then sat unused until she was sold in 1828.
HMS Gleaner was the mercantile ketch Gleaner, launched in 1802. She served the Royal Navy as the "hired ketch Gleaner" from 12 July 1808 until the Navy purchased her in 1809. Initially she served as a light vessel and survey vessel. From early 1811 to August 1811 she served in the Mediterranean, where she captured an Ottoman vessel. She then became a yard lighter and a light vessel again. Then in 1812 she was on the North American station where she participated in the capture of several merchant vessels. Next she returned to the Mediterranean where she captured a privateer. Finally, she served off the north coast of Spain where she was wrecked on 2 March 1814.
HDMS Friderichssteen or HMS Frederichsteen was a Danish Navy frigate, built in 1800, and captured by the Royal Navy in 1807 at the Battle of Copenhagen. She was taken into service as HMS Fredericksteen and served in the Mediterranean until being finally broken up in 1813.
HMS Cherokee was the lead ship of her class of 10-gun brig-sloops of the British Royal Navy, which saw service during the Napoleonic Wars.
HDMS Friderichsværn was a Danish frigate built at Nyeholm, Copenhagen, in 1783. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1807 and took her into service as HMS Frederickscoarn. It sold her in 1814.
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.
Kongen af Assianthe was launched in Sweden in 1797.
HDMS Nidelven was a brig launched at Copenhagen on 1 December 1792. She was present at both British attacks on Copenhagen, and the British Royal Navy seized her at Copenhagen on 7 September 1807 at the surrender of Copenhagen. The British took her into service as HMS Nid Elven. She served between 1808 and 1809, during which time she captured a small French privateer. She was laid up in 1809. The Navy sold her in 1814.
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.
The privateer brig Admiral Juel was the second largest ship in Denmark-Norway to be granted letters of marque during the Gunboat War between Denmark and Britain. The British Royal Navy captured her in a notable single ship action in 1808.
Broder Knud Brodersen Wigelsen was an officer in the Royal Danish-Norwegian navy at the time of the gunboat war with Britain. After the war he served in various capacities, principally in the Danish customs service.
Denmark-Norway
United Kingdom