| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Builder | Bordeaux |
| Launched | circa 1804 |
| Captured | 8 March 1806 |
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Muros |
| Acquired | 1806 by purchase of a prize |
| Fate | Wrecked 24 March 1808 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Tons burthen | 4444⁄94 (bm) |
| Length |
|
| Beam | 30 ft 6 in (9.3 m) |
| Depth of hold | 14 ft 5+3⁄4 in (4.4 m) |
| Complement |
|
| Armament |
|
HMS Muros was the privateer Alcide, launched at Bordeaux in 1804. The British Royal Navy (RN) captured her in 1806 and commissioned her. She wrecked in March 1808.
Alcide may have been built in 1802; she was commissioned in Bordeaux in December 1804 under Pierre Feger. [2]
On 7 June 1805 Alcide captured Hannah, of Greenock, which had been returning to Britain from Newfoundland. On 22 June HMS Espoir recaptured Hannah, which arrived at Plymouth on 9 July. [3] [lower-alpha 1]
HMS Egyptienne's boats cut out the privateer Alcide from Muros on 8 March 1806 under incessant but ineffective fire from two shore batteries. Alcide was frigate-built and pierced for 34 guns. She was only two years old and when she had last gone to sea had had a complement of 240 men. [5]
The Royal Navy renamed AlcideMuros as there was already an Alcide in service, though by then she was only a hulk. The Navy classified Muros as a 6th rate post-ship.
Captain Archibald Duff commissioned Muros in March 1807 prior to her undergoing fitting at Plymouth. She sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia on 12 October 1807. [1]
In January 1807 Muros captured the American brig Express, and sent her to Jamaica. However, on the way the American crew recaptured their vessel from the British prize crew and took her into Campeche City. [6]
Muros was wrecked in Honda Bay, Cuba on 24 March 1808. [1] Her crew were saved. [7]
Muros had sailed to the West Indies after having escorted a convoy to Halifax. The British had received intelligence that the Spanish were erecting fortifications at Honda Bay and the Navy despatched Muros to attack and ideally to destroy the works. A privateer from Providence, the Tambourine, accompanied Muros. Tambourine sent a man aboard Muros to act as a pilot. As the two vessels approached the bay just before dusk, the pilot gave a warning that was too late and Muros grounded on a sandbank. Efforts to pull her off failed, even after lightening. Water started to come in faster than the pumps could deal with it and she fell over with her gunports under water. Captain Duff decided to abandon her as a wreck. Only one man died, a "French black who fell victim to his inebriety". The court martial blamed the wrecking on the pilot but did not punish him as the pilot had volunteered his services to attack the enemy. [8]
HMS Thunderer was a ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built in 1783. She carried 74-guns, being classified as a third rate. During her service she took part in several prominent naval battles of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars; including the Glorious First of June, the Battle of Cape Finisterre and the Battle of Trafalgar.
HMS Pomone was a 38-gun Leda-class fifth rate of the Royal Navy launched in 1805. She saw action during the Napoleonic Wars, primarily in the Mediterranean while under the command of Captain Robert Barrie. She was wrecked off The Needles, part of the Isle of Wight, in 1811. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England.
HMS Ferret was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Benjamin Tanner at Dartmouth and launched in 1806, 19 months late. She served on the Jamaica, Halifax, and Leith stations during which time she took three privateers as prizes before she was wrecked in 1813.
During the period of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, there were two or three vessels known as His Majesty's hired armed cutter Active that served the British Royal Navy. The reason for the uncertainty in the number is that the size of the vessels raises the possibility that the first and second may have been the same vessel.
HMS Entreprenante, was a 10-gun cutter that the Royal Navy captured from the French in 1798. The British commissioned her in 1799 and she served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, participating in the Battle of Trafalgar. She has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name. She took part in several small engagements, capturing Spanish and French ships before she was sold in 1812 for breaking up.
HMS Carrier was a cutter of 10 guns, the ex-mercantile Frisk, which the Royal Navy purchased in 1805. She captured two privateers, with one action earning her crew a Naval General Service Medal. She grounded in 1808, which enabled the French to capture her. She became a French privateer that the Royal Navy recaptured in 1811, but apparently did not take back into service.
HMS Firm was a 12-gun Archer-class gun-brig of the Royal Navy, launched on 2 July 1804. She served in the Channel, where she engaged in one action that would eventually result in her crew qualifying for the Naval General Service Medal. She grounded in 1811 and her crew had to destroy her before abandoning her.
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 Netley was originally the French privateer brig Déterminé, which the Royal Navy captured in 1807 and took into service. She was lost at sea on the Leeward Islands station in 1808.
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.
Confiance, launched in 1797, was a privateer corvette from Bordeaux, famous for being Robert Surcouf's ship during the capture of the British East India Company's East Indiaman Kent. The British Royal Navy captured Confiance in 1805, took her into service under her existing name, and sold her in 1810. Before she was sold, Confiance took part in two notable actions.
HMS Barbuda was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1780 after having briefly served as an American privateer. Barbuda was one of the two sloops that captured Demerara and Essequibo in 1781, but the French Navy captured her there in 1782 and took her into service as Barboude. The French Navy sold her to private owners in 1786, and she served briefly as a privateer in early 1793 before the French Navy purchased her again and named her Légère. She served them until mid-1796 when the Royal Navy captured her and took her into service as HMS Legere. She was wrecked off the coast of Colombia, without loss of life, in February 1801.
HMS Pert was the French privateer Bonaparte, a ship built in the United States that HMS Cyane captured in November 1804. The Royal Navy took Bonaparte into service as HMS Pert. Pert was wrecked off the coast of what is now Venezuela in October 1807.
During the Napoleonic Wars, at least four French privateer ships were named Général Ernouf, for Jean Augustin Ernouf, the governor of the colony of Guadeloupe:
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.
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 Barbadoes was originally a French privateer and then slave ship named Brave or Braave. A British slave ship captured her in September 1803. In 1803–1804 she became the British privateer Barbadoes for a few months. In 1804 the inhabitants of Barbados purchased her and donated her to the Royal Navy, which took her into service as HMS Barbadoes. She wrecked on 27 September 1812.
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 Wolf was a Merlin-class sloop launched at Dartmouth in 1804. She captured or destroyed four small Spanish or French privateers before she was wrecked on 4 September 1806 in the Bahamas.
HMS Conflict was launched in 1805. She captured a number of vessels, including privateers, and participated in several major actions. She disappeared in November 1810 with the loss of all her crew.