While chasing two vessels off Cape Spartivento, the southernmost point of Sardinia, on 15 October 1803, Morgiana found herself being chased by a lateen-rigged vessel flying English colours that swept out from the coast. When the pursuer came within gunshot she discovered that she was attacking a warship. After Morgiana fired several shots, the vessel hoisted French colours and anchored. Raynsford sent in Morgiana's boats. Although they came under grape and musket fire, the crews were able to board their objective and capture her. She was the French privateer Marguerite, armed with two 6-pounders and two 4-pounders. Of her crew of 40, at the end only three remained on board, the others having swum ashore. Morgiana's sole casualty was one seaman mortally wounded. [16]
On 16 January 1804 Morgiana captured Intrepide. [b] The capture took place at the island of Milo (probably Milos, in the Aegean Sea).
On 28 April, 1804 she arrived at Malta convoying 2 merchantmen from Trieste (placed here because the "fish ships" comment is undated). [17]
Captain Schomberg, of Madras, at Malta, sent Morgiana into the Adriatic with the "Fish Ships". [c] Admiral Nelson, when informed of the instructions, concurred in them, adding only that he trusted that Schomberg had instructed Raynsford to bring [back] with him the merchant vessels going to Malta or England.
On 1 December 1805 Morgiana detained the Sicilian ship Divine Providence. Divine Providence was sailing from Palermo to Genoa with a varied cargo. She had a crew of 9 men and was of 50 tons (bm). [18]
By November 1806 Morgiana was under the command of Captain Thomas Landless. [19] While off Cadiz, Raynsford had been promoted to post captain and command of Madras. [20]
In January 1807 Morgiana was under the command of Captain James Slade, off Cadiz. [1] However, Captain Landless appears to have remained in command until August.
Late on 21 May 1807, Commander William Raitt of Scout sent his boats and those of Morgiana in pursuit of several vessels spotted sailing past Cape Trafalgar with the aim of clearing the Straits under cover of darkness. The boats succeeded in capturing the privateer San Francisco Settaro (or Francisco Solano, or Determinada). [21] The privateer fired heavily on the boats before they captured her, killing one seaman from Scout, and wounding another. San Francisco Settaro was armed with one 18-pounder gun in her bow and two other carriage guns, together with swivels and small arms, and had a crew of 29 men. Raitt described his prize "a large Vessel, about Three Months old, and in my Opinion well calculated for the Gun Boat Service at Gibraltar." [22]
Three days later, Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, Commander in Chief for the Mediterranean, wrote in a letter to William Marsden that Scout, Morgiana, and Redwing had been employed "scouring the Gut of the Enemy". Furthermore, "within this Fortnight past they have taken and destroyed Eighteen of the Enemy's Vessels". [22]
Morgiana returned to Chatham later in the year. She was laid up in ordinary at Chatham in August 1807. [1]
The Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy offered the "Morgiana Sloop, of 283 Tons" for sale at Chatham on 21 February 1811. [23] She did not sell immediately but was broken up in August. [1]
HMS Galatea was a fifth-rate 32-gun sailing frigate of the British Royal Navy that George Parsons built at Bursledon and launched in 1794. Before she was broken up in 1809 she captured numerous prizes and participated in a number of actions, first in the Channel and off Ireland (1794–1803), and then in the Caribbean (1802–1809), including one that earned her crew the Naval General Service Medal.
HMS Naiad was a Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate that served in the Napoleonic Wars. She was built by Hall and Co. at Limehouse on the Thames, launched in 1797, and commissioned in 1798. She served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and her last actions occurred in 1824–5. She was paid off in 1826. She then served for many years in Latin America as a coal depot, first for the Royal Navy and then for the Pacific Steam Navigation Company. She was broken up in 1898, 101 years after her launching.
HMS Boadicea was a frigate of the Royal Navy. She served in the Channel and in the East Indies during which service she captured many prizes. She participated in one action for which the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal. She was broken up in 1858.
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 Amethyst was a Royal Navy 36-gun Penelope-class fifth-rate frigate, launched in 1799 at Deptford. Amethyst served in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, capturing several prizes. She also participated in two boat actions and two ship actions that won her crew clasps to the Naval General Service Medal. She was broken up in 1811 after suffering severe damage in a storm.
HMS Juno was a Royal Navy 32-gun Amazon-class fifth rate. This frigate served during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
HMS Spitfire was a Tisiphone-class fireship of the Royal Navy. She served during the years of peace following the end of the American War of Independence, and by the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, had been reclassified as a 14-gun sloop-of-war. Spitfire went on to serve under a number of notable commanders during a successful career that saw her capture a considerable number of French privateers and small naval vessels. She spent most of her career in Home waters, though during the later part of her life she sailed further afield, to the British stations in North America and West Africa. She survived the Napoleonic Wars and was eventually sold in 1825 after a period spent laid up.
HMS Argo was a 44-gun fifth-rate Roebuck-class ship of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1781 from Howdon Dock. The French captured her in 1783, but 36 hours later the British recaptured her. She then distinguished herself in the French Revolutionary Wars by capturing several prizes, though she did not participate in any major actions. She also served in the Napoleonic Wars. She was sold in 1816.
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 Scout was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Peter Atkinson & Co. at Hull and launched in 1804. She participated in a number of actions and captured several privateers in the Mediterranean during the Napoleonic Wars. The Navy sold her in 1827. In 1829 she reappeared as the British Southern Whale Fisheries whaler Diana. Diana made three voyages for Daniel Bennett & Son until condemned after an on-board explosion in April 1843 towards the end of her fourth voyage.
HMS Scorpion was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by John King at Dover and launched in 1803. She was the first of the class to be built since the launching of Cruizer in 1797. Scorpion had a long and active career during the Napoleonic Wars, earning her crews three clasps to the Naval General Service Medal when the Admiralty authorized it in 1847, two for single-ship actions. She also took a number of prizes. Scorpion was sold in 1819.
HMS Dispatch was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Richard Symons & Co. at Falmouth and launched in 1804. Dispatch was instrumental in the capture of a 40-gun French frigate and was active at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1807. She also sailed on the Jamaica station. She was broken up relatively early, in 1811.
HMS Medusa was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy that served in the Napoleonic Wars. Launched on 14 April 1801, she took part in the action of 5 October 1804 against a Spanish squadron, in the River Plate Expedition in 1807, and made several captures of enemy ships, before being converted to a hospital ship in 1813. She was broken up in 1816.
HMS Moucheron was a French privateer, built in 1799, that the British captured in 1801. The British government purchased her in 1802 for the Royal Navy. She foundered in 1807 in the Mediterranean without leaving a trace.
HMS Redwing was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the British Royal Navy. Commissioned in 1806, she saw active service in the Napoleonic Wars, mostly in the Mediterranean, and afterwards served off the West Coast of Africa, acting to suppress the slave trade. She was lost at sea in 1827.
HMS Arrow was a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy that the Admiralty purchased in 1796. during the French Revolutionary Wars she participated in many actions, including one that resulted in her crew qualifying for the Naval General Service Medal. On 3 February 1805 she and Acheron were escorting a convoy from Malta to England when they encountered two French frigates. Arrow and Acheron were able to save the majority of the vessels of the convoy by their resistance before they were compelled to strike. Arrow sank almost immediately after surrendering, and Acheron was so badly damaged that the French burnt her.
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 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 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.
Proserpine was launched at Amsterdam in 1801 as a 32-gun frigate. The Royal Navy captured her in May 1804 at the capture of Surinam and took her into service as HMS Amsterdam. She sailed to England where she became a guard and storeship at Cork. She was sold in 1815.