HMS Niger (1759)

Last updated

HMS Niger (1759).jpg
HMS Niger hull plan
History
Naval Ensign of Great Britain (1707-1800).svg Great Britain
NameHMS Niger
Namesake Niger River
Ordered19 September 1757
Builder Sheerness Dockyard
Laid down7 February 1758
Launched25 September 1759
CompletedBy November 1759
RenamedHMS Negro in 1813
Honours and
awards		 Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt" [1]
FateSold for breaking up on 29 September 1814
General characteristics
Class and type Niger-class fifth rate frigate
Tons burthen67967⁄94 bm
Length
  • 125 ft (38 m) (gundeck)
  • 103 ft 4 in (31.50 m) (keel)
Beam35 ft 2 in (10.72 m)
Depth of hold12 ft (3.7 m)
Sail plan Full-rigged ship
Complement220
Armament
  • As built
    • Upper gundeck: 26 × 12-pounder guns
    • QD: 4 × 6-pounder guns
    • Fc: 2 × 6-pounder guns
    • 12 × 1⁄2-pdr swivels
  • After 1794
    • Upper gundeck: 26 × 12-pounder guns
    • QD: 4 × 6-pounder guns + 4 × 24-pounder carronades
    • Fc: 2 × 6-pounder guns + 2 × 24-pounder carronades

HMS Niger was a 32-gun Niger-class fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy.

Contents

History

She was launched in 1759. [2]

In 1766, under the command of Sir Thomas Adams, Niger travelled to Newfoundland and Labrador. [Note 1] Also on board were Constantine Phipps, and the English botanist Joseph Banks. [4] The purpose of the journey was to transport a party of mariners to Chateau Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador to build a fort, to continue strengthening relations with the native population, and to survey some of the coast of Newfoundland. [2]

Banks collected many species of plants and animals during that journey, including many which were previously unknown or undescribed by Europeans. [5] In 1766 Banks met James Cook briefly in St John's, through their mutual friend Thomas Adams. This meeting would lead to Banks joining Cook on his first circumnavigation from 1769 to 1771. [6]

During the American Revolutionary War in 1776, Niger briefly engaged Gurnet Fort guarding Plymouth, Massachusetts, while searching for patriot privateers. Niger grounded but was soon refloated. Plymouth Light was damaged, but there were no other casualties. [7] [8]

On 14 March, 1778, under command of Captain Robert Lambert, she captured schooner Sukey off Monti Christi, Spanish Santo Domingo. [9] On 18 March She pursued and captured sloop Dove after she ran aground 2 or 3 miles off Monti Christi. Dove was refloated and sent to Jamaica. On 19 March she captured French brig St. Joseph 4 or 5 leagues off Monti Christi. [10] On 1 April, 1778 she captured schooners Angelina and Adventure. [11]

Because Niger served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 8 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants. [Note 2]

On 21 May 1806 Niger was in company with the bomb vessel Thunder and the brig Dexterous when they detained Trende Damen (Three Ladies). [13]

Fate

The Navy converted Niger to a prison hospital ship in May 1809, and renamed her Negro in 1813. She was sold in 1814.

Stern plan of Niger NIGER 1759 RMG J6012.jpg
Stern plan of Niger

Notes

  1. ↑ Sir Thomas Adams was Niger's captain from March 1763 until 1767. His father, Sir Robert Adams, was a London solicitor, his mother's name was Diana. Sir Thomas was baptized in St Pancras Church, London on 17 February 1738. [3] He inherited a baronetcy on the death of his father, but died without issue in April 1770.[ citation needed ]
  2. ↑ A first-class share of the prize money awarded in April 1823 was worth £34 2s 4d; a fifth-class share, that of a seaman, was worth 3s 11½d. The amount was small as the total had to be shared between 79 vessels and the entire army contingent. [12]

Citations

  1. ↑ "No. 21077". The London Gazette . 15 March 1850. pp. 791–792.
  2. 1 2 Lysaght, p. 37
  3. ↑ Lysaght, p. 63
  4. ↑ Lysaght, pp. 37 & 41.
  5. ↑ Lysaght, p. 38
  6. ↑ Lysaght, p. 41
  7. ↑ "Massachusetts - Fort Andrew and Gurnet Fort". American Forts Network. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  8. ↑ The Gurnet by Charles W.E. Morris at Pilgrimhall.org
  9. ↑ "Naval Documents of The American Revolution Volume 11 AMERICAN THEATRE: Jan. 1, 1778–Mar. 31, 1778 EUROPEAN THEATRE: Jan. 1, 1778–Mar. 31, 1778" (PDF). U.S. Government printing office via Imbiblio. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
  10. ↑ "Naval Documents of The American Revolution Volume 11 AMERICAN THEATRE: Jan. 1, 1778–Mar. 31, 1778 EUROPEAN THEATRE: Jan. 1, 1778–Mar. 31, 1778" (PDF). U.S. Government printing office via Imbiblio. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  11. ↑ "Naval Documents of The American Revolution Volume 11 AMERICAN THEATRE: Jan. 1, 1778–Mar. 31, 1778 EUROPEAN THEATRE: Jan. 1, 1778–Mar. 31, 1778" (PDF). U.S. Government printing office via Imbiblio. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  12. ↑ "No. 17915". The London Gazette . 3 April 1823. p. 633.
  13. ↑ "No. 16390". The London Gazette . 24 July 1810. p. 1104.

Related Research Articles

HMS Antelope was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Rotherhithe on 13 March 1703. She was rebuilt once during her career, and served in the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War.

HMS <i>St Albans</i> (1764) Ship of the line of the Royal Navy

HMS St Albans was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 12 September 1764 by Perry, Wells & Green at their Blackwall Yard, London.

HMS <i>Badger</i> (1777) Brig of the Royal Navy

HMS Badger was a brig rigged Sloop-of-War in service with the Royal Navy in the late eighteenth century. Badger is notable as being the first Royal Navy ship to be commanded by Horatio Nelson.

HMS <i>Ambuscade</i> (1773) 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Ambuscade was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, built in the Grove Street shipyard of Adams & Barnard at Deptford in 1773. The French captured her in 1798 but the British recaptured her in 1803. She was broken up in 1810.

HMS Glasgow was a 20-gun sixth-rate post ship of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1757 and took part in the American Revolutionary War. While under command of Capt. William Maltby she ran onto rocks at Cohasset, Massachusetts on 10 December 1774. Refloated and arrived in Boston on the 15th for repairs. Capt. Maltby was relieved of command at a Court Martial and replaced by Tyringham Howe some time between 8–15 January 1775. She is most famous for her encounter with the maiden voyage of the Continental Navy off Block Island on 6 April 1776. In that action, Glasgow engaged a squadron of 6 ships of the Continental Navy, managing to escape intact. Under the command of Tho. Pasley, she captured sloop Juliana on 1 April 1777. She captured sloop Unity on 2 April 1777. She captured the sloop Betsy & Ann on 4 April. She captured sloop Volante on 5 April. She captured the brig Aurora on 10 April. She captured sloop Sally on 16 April. She captured American privateer sloop Henry on 19 April. She captured schooner Providence on 2 May. She captured schooner Nancy, probably in early May. She captured schooner Betsy 27 June. She captured brig Dolphin on unknown date. She captured sloop Rover on 24 July. She captured sloop Antonio on 21 July. She captured sloop Tryall on 25 July. She captured an unknown schooner on an unknown date. She captured schooner Gen. Thompson on an unknown date. She captured sloop Industry at an unknown date. She captured schooner Betsy & Ann on 4 November. She captured brig Sally on 8 December. She captured sloop Defiance and schooner Success on 9 December. She captured brig Minerva on 19 December. She captured schooner Happy Return on 22 December 1777. On 28 February 1778, she captured sloop Abigale 5 leagues east northeast of the Tiburon Peninsula. On 9 March 1778, she captured schooner Nancy 6 leagues off Mayaguana, Bahamas. She captured sloop Lucy on 12 March off the south east end of Mayaguana. She captured a prize in April 1778, but it sprang a leak and sank.

HMS <i>Winchelsea</i> (1764) Royal Navy frigate

HMS Winchelsea was a 32-gun fifth-rate Niger-class frigate of the Royal Navy, and was the sixth Royal Navy ship to bear this name. She was ordered during the Seven Years' War, but completed too late for that conflict. She cost £11,515-18-0d to build.

HMS <i>Carysfort</i> (1766) Coventry-class Royal Navy frigate

HMS Carysfort was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars in a career that spanned over forty years.

HMS <i>Mermaid</i> (1761) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Mermaid was a Mermaid-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was first commissioned in April 1761 under Captain George Watson and built in Blaydes Yard in Kingston-Upon-Hull.

HMS <i>Solebay</i> (1763) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Solebay was a Mermaid-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy which saw active service between 1766 and 1782, during the latter part of the Seven Years' War and throughout the American Revolutionary War. After a successful career in which she captured seven enemy vessels, she was wrecked ashore on the Caribbean Island of Nevis.

HMS Greyhound was a modified Royal Navy Mermaid-class sixth-rate frigate. She was first commissioned in October 1775 under Captain Archibald Dickson.

HMS <i>Juno</i> (1757) British naval vessel (1757–1778)

HMS Juno was a 32-gun Richmond-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1757 and served throughout the American Revolutionary War until scuttled in 1778 to avoid capture. On 5 June, 1777 she, HMS Juno, and HMS Orpheus recaptured privateer brig "Lucy" 15 Leagues off Nantucket. On 9 July, 1777 she captured Betsy in Boston Bay. On 9 January, 1778 she captured French snow David 3-4 miles off the north east tip of Block Island. She engaged USS Providence during Providence's escape from Providence, Rhode Island 30 April 1778.

HMS <i>Richmond</i> (1757) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Richmond was the name ship of the six-vessel, 32-gun Richmond-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1757 and served throughout the American Revolutionary War. She and HMS Emerald captured French brig Alexandrine in Chesapeake Bay off the mouth of the Rappahannock River 3 January, 1778. She captured 1 prize off Cape Charles in February, 1778. On 5 February a sloop ran aground off Cherry Point while being pursued by Richmond and HMS Solebay and was burned. On 9 February Richmond and HMS Solebay captured Maryland State Govt. trading vessel Lydia off St. Mary's River, later ruled a recapture. On 28 February she captured Danish flagged, American owned ship Good Hope off Cape Henry. She was captured by the French 74-gun Bourgogne and the frigate Aigrette on 11 September 1781 in the Chesapeake. She then served as Richemont under Lieutenant Mortemart.

HMS <i>Southampton</i> (1757) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Southampton was the name ship of the 32-gun Southampton-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1757 and served for more than half a century until wrecked in 1812.

HMS <i>Milford</i> (1759) Coventry-class Royal Navy frigate

HMS Milford was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built at Milford by Richard Chitty and launched in 1759. She was sold for breaking at Woolwich on 17 May 1785.

HMS Galatea was a 20-gun Sphinx-class sixth-rate post-ship of the Royal Navy. She was designed by John Williams and built by Adam Hayes in Deptford Dockyard, being launched on 21 March 1776. She served during the American War of Independence.

Sir Thomas Adams, 6th Baronet was an officer in the Royal Navy who served during the Seven Years' War.

French ship <i>Experiment</i> (1779) 50-gun ship of the line of the Royal Navy, captured and recommissioned in the French Navy

Experiment was a 50-gun ship of the line of the British Royal Navy. Captured by Sagittaire during the War of American Independence, she was recommissioned in the French Navy, where she served into the 1800s.

HMS <i>Scarborough</i> (1756)

HMS Scarborough was a 20-gun ship built in 1756 which served the Royal Navy until 1780. She had a crew of 160 men.

HMS <i>Glory</i> (1763) Royal Navy frigate

HMS Glory was a 32-gun fifth-rate Niger-class frigate of the Royal Navy, and was the second Royal Navy ship to bear this name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HMS Aeolus (1758)</span> Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Aeolus (1758) was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. In 1800, she renamed as HMS Guernsey.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.