 Plan of the Narcissus | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Narcissus |
| Builder | King's Yard at Deptford |
| Laid down | 1 January 1799 |
| Launched | 25 August 1801 |
| Fate | Broken up 1837 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type | Narcissus-class frigate |
| Tons burthen | 90890⁄94 (bm) |
| Length |
|
| Beam | 37 ft 10+7⁄8 in (11.6 m) |
| Depth of hold | 12 ft 6 in (3.8 m) |
| Complement | 254 |
| Armament |
|
HMS Narcissus was the lead ship of the Royal Navy Narcissus-class 32-gun fifth-rate frigates, launched in 1801. She participated in the War of 1812.
Narcissus was stationed in the Mediterranean in 1802 under Captain Ross Donnelly; assisting with the evacuation of Alexandria 12 March 1803. On 18 May 1803, Lord Nelson was named Commander and Chief of the Mediterranean and began the Blockade of Toulon on 6 July 1803. On 7 July, the French naval brig L'Alcion, was chased by Narcissus near Sardinia. L'Alcion, after a pursuit of 22 hours and an exchange, struck her flag. [2] She was repurposed as HMS Halcyon.
Much of the next six months, the Narcissus supported the blockade of the French fleet at Toulon. In July 1804, in a sanguinary encounter, close to a dozen enemy settees in Hyères Bay were destroyed (one captured) by ten boatloads of marines and sailors from Narcissus, HMS Seahorse, and HMS Maidstone. [3]
In late 1805, Narcissus joined a squadron under the command of Commodore Sir Home Popham. This squadron was part of a force dispatched to take the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch.
On her way to the Cape, on 30 October, Narcissus recaptured Horatio Nelson and the French privateer Prudent, which had captured Horatio Nelson. The action took place off Cape Mount (Liberia). In his letter, Captain Ross Donnelly of Narcissus described how he had come to capture the two vessels with the assistance of the slave ship Columbus. Donnelly had Columbus take Horatio Nelson to Cape Massarida, where her late captain and part of her crew were. The privateer Prudent was armed with four 12 and eight 6-pounder guns, and had a crew of 70 men. [4] A report in Lloyd's List (LL) stated that Narcissus had come into Saint Helena after having captured the French privateer Prudent (or Prudente) [5] and recaptured the Guineaman (i.e., slave ship) Horatio, of Liverpool. Narcissus reportedly had sent Horatio on her voyage. [6] [lower-alpha 1]
Proceeding to Table Bay to rendezvous with Popham’s force, Narcissus drove the French privateer Napoleon ashore near the Cape of Good Hope on 25 December 1805; some wreckage still exists at Olifantsbos Point. [9] Narcissus did not reconnect with the squadron prior to the Battle of Blaauwberg. After the surrender of the cape, the squadron captured the French naval brig Rolla on 21 February 1806 in Table Bay. On 4 March, Narcissus and HMS Raisonnable chased the French Navy frigate, Volontaire into Table Bay where she struck without firing a shot. [10] Both the Rolla and Volontaire would enter service as Royal Navy vessels.
Narcissus next sailed to Spanish controlled South America. The Spanish ship Nostra Senora del Buen Viage was taken on 8 June 1806 by Narcissus. [11] Royal Marines and sailors from Narcissus, as part of a squadron-wide "marine battalion"; joined the 71st Highlanders and a small regiment from Saint Helena to capture Buenos Aires on 25 June. In July, Narcissus sailed for England loaded with captured Spanish silver and currency worth over one million dollars. [12] Many of the Royal Marines who had arrived in Buenos Aires with Narcissus, had been left to garrison the city's fortress and were captured 14 August 1806 at La Reconquista de Buenos Aires. They were marched deep to the country's interior and spent a year as prisoners; not returning to England until January 1808.
In April 1809, Narcissus was a part of a British squadron, off the Saintes, West Indies, which chased a French squadron, and captured the French 74-gun D'Hautpoul, of 1871 tons. D'Hautpoul afterward served in the Royal Navy under the name HMS Abercrombie.
On 2 November 1810, Narcissus collided with the Spanish Navy fifth-rate frigate Santa Maria Magdalena. As a result of the damage she sustained in the collision, Santa Maria Magdalena subsequently was driven ashore and wrecked at the Ria de Vivero. [13] [14]
On 25 November 1812 Narcissus was off Navassa Island where her boats captured the schooner Joseph and Mary, Captain William Wescott, of 139 tons (bm). She had been launched in Queen Anne's County, Maryland, and had been commissioned as a privateer on 12 September 1812. [15] Joseph and Mary was armed with four guns and had a crew of 73 men. Narcissus chased her for three hours. As Narcissus's boats approached, the men on Joseph and Mary fired on them, killing one man and wounding another. Joseph and Mary surrendered the moment the men on the boats prepared to board. There were three wounded men aboard her. [16] Before her capture, Joseph and Mary had recaptured the American ship Piscataqua, which subsequently bilged, and a schooner that she sold in Haiti. [15]
On 1 January 1813 Narcissus captured the brig Viper and the schooner Shepherd. [17] Shepherd, of 134 tons (bm), Captain Robert Hart, had a crew of 18 men and was armed with two 6-pounder and two 4-pounder guns. Narcissus captured her off Cape St Blare. [lower-alpha 2]
On 10 June 1813 Narcissus slipped into Chesapeake Bay under the cover of darkness and attacked the USRC Surveyor. A Royal Navy boarding party of approximately 65 sailors and marines closed on Surveyor in small boats with muffled oars to conceal their approach. [19] [20] British forces navigated away from the cutter's six-pound deck guns and boarded the ship. [21] A fierce effort by Surveyor's crew to repel Royal Navy and Royal Marine boarders followed, described by British Lt John Crerie as one in which "her deck was disputed inch-by-inch" in a "gallant and desperate" defense. [21] During the engagement, Royal Marine Captain Thomas Ford was mortally wounded by Captain Samuel Travis of Surveyor in a cutlass duel. Still, outnumbered more than two-to-one, Captain Travis ultimately ordered the ship's surrender. [21] In tribute to the ferocity of Surveyor's resistance, Crerie returned Travis' sword to him and he was paroled at Washington, North Carolina on 7 August 1813; the remainder of the crew were transferred to a British prison camp in Halifax, Nova Scotia. [21] [22]
On 13 July 1814 Narcissus captured Governor Shelby, Captain John H. Hall, was a letter of marque schooner of 184 tons (bm), built at Queen Anne's County, Maryland, in 1812 and commissioned on 11 December 1813. She was armed with three 4-pounder guns and had a crew of 11 men. [23] [lower-alpha 3]
On 9 October 1814 Narcissus was contacted by HMS Dispatch, which requested support in taking the USRC Eagle, which had run aground in Long Island Sound. Upon returning to the site of Eagle, Narcissus and Dispatch found that the damaged Eagle had been re-floated. Eagle retreated and was beached and her crew moved to the shore to direct musket fire against British barges attempting to attach tow cables to the wrecked hulk. By noon on 13 October, the Royal Navy had managed to take Eagle under tow and she was captured.
Narcissus was used as a convict ship from December 1823 until she was sold for breaking up in January 1837.
HMS Polyphemus, a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 27 April 1782 at Sheerness. She participated in the 1801 Battle of Copenhagen, the Battle of Trafalgar, and the Siege of Santo Domingo. In 1813 she became a powder hulk and was broken up in 1827.
HMS Plantagenet was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 22 October 1801 at Woolwich. She was designed by Sir William Rule as one of the 'large class' 74s, and was the only ship built to her draught. As a large 74, she carried 24-pounder guns on her upper gun deck instead of the 18-pounder guns found on the middling and common class 74s.
Révolutionnaire, was a 40-gun Seine-class frigate of the French Navy, launched in May 1794. The British captured her in October 1794 and she went on to serve with the Royal Navy until she was broken up in 1822. During this service Revolutionnaire took part in numerous actions, including three for which the Admiralty would in 1847 award clasps to the Naval General Service Medal, and captured several privateers and merchant vessels.
HMS Reindeer was a Royal Navy 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, built by Samuel & Daniel Brent at Rotherhithe and was launched in 1804. She was built of fir, which made for more rapid construction at the expense of durability. Reindeer fought in the Napoleonic Wars before succumbing in 1814 to the guns of USS Wasp during the War of 1812.
HMS Belle Poule was a Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate, formerly Belle Poule, a Virginie-class frigate of the French Navy that had been built by the Crucy family's shipyard at Basse-Indre to a design by Jacques-Noël Sané. She was launched on 17 April 1802, and saw active service in the East. In 1806 a British squadron under Sir John Borlase Warren captured her off La Palma in the Canary Islands. The Admiralty commissioned her into the Royal Navy as HMS Belle Poule. She was sold in 1816.
HMS Niemen was a Royal Navy 38-gun fifth-rate frigate. She began her career as the Niémen, a 44-gun French Navy Armide-class frigate, designed by Pierre Rolland. She was only in French service for a few months when in 1809 she encountered some British frigates. The British captured her and she continued in British service as Niemen. In British service she cruised in the Atlantic and North American waters, taking numerous small American prizes, some privateers but mostly merchantmen. She was broken up in 1815, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.
HMS Santa Margarita was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had been built for service with the Spanish Navy, but was captured after five years in service, eventually spending nearly 60 years with the British.
HMS Spartan was a Royal Navy 38-gun fifth-rate frigate, launched at Rochester in 1806. During the Napoleonic Wars she was active in the Adriatic and in the Ionian Islands. She then moved to the American coast during the War of 1812, where she captured a number of small vessels, including a US Revenue Cutter and a privateer, the Dart. She then returned to the Mediterranean, where she remained for a few years. She went on to serve off the American coast again, and in the Caribbean, before being broken up in 1822.
HMS Recruit was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1806 at Sandwich, Kent. She is best known for an act of pique by Commander Warwick Lake, who marooned a seaman, and for an inconclusive but hard-fought ship action under Commander Charles John Napier against the French corvette Diligente. She captured a number of American vessels as prizes during the War of 1812 before being laid up in 1815 and sold for breaking up in 1822.
HMS Highflyer was originally an American privateer schooner built in 1811. As a privateer she took several British vessels as prizes. The Royal Navy captured her in 1813. She then participated in several raids on the Chesapeake and coastal Virginia before the Americans recaptured her later in 1813.
Rhin was a 40-gun Virginie-class frigate of the French Navy launched in 1802. She was present at two major battles while in French service. The Royal Navy captured her in 1806. Thereafter Rhin served until 1815 capturing numerous vessels. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars she was laid up and then served as a hospital for many years. She was finally broken up in 1884.
Surveillante entered service as a 40-gun Virginie-class frigate of the French Navy. She was surrendered to the British in 1803, after which she served in the Royal Navy, classed under the British system as a 38-gun vessel, until 1814 when she was decommissioned. HMS Surveillante had a long and active career under two successful and distinguished commanders, from the Baltic to the northwestern coasts of France, Spain and Portugal, and was present at the Battle of Copenhagen (1807) and throughout the Peninsula War. Her record as a taker of prizes is notable for its success, particularly towards the end of her career.
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.
HMS Nemesis was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. The French captured her in 1795 at Smyrna, but in 1796 a squadron led by Barfleur brought her out of the neutral port of Tunis. Throughout her career she served under a number of commanders who would go on to have distinguished careers. She was converted to a troopship in 1812 and was sold in 1814.
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.
Junon was a 40-gun Minerve-class frigate of the French Navy.
HMS Moselle was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1804. She served during the Napoleonic Wars in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, and the North American station. She was sold in 1815.
Horatio was launched in 1800 at Liverpool. She made four voyages as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. During two of these voyages she was captured and recaptured. Shortly before the British slave trade ended she left the slave trade and sailed between Britain and South America and as a West Indiaman. She was wrecked in 1817.
HMS Richmond was a Confounder-class gunbrig, launched at Itchenor in February 1806. She captured several small privateers and merchantmen off the Iberian peninsula before the Royal Navy sold her in 1814. After the Navy sold her, she became the mercantile Ben Jonson.
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