Royal Navy
In August 1805 Commander William Wilkinson commissioned Nightingale for the North Sea.Nightingale was in company with Texel and Lynx on 6 April when Texel captured the Einigheid. [3] [lower-alpha 1] That same day the same three British ships, together with the hired armed vessels Norfolk and Chapman, captured the Jonge Ebeling, Freundschaft, and Morgenstern. [lower-alpha 2] Six days later Nightingale captured the Prussian ship Frou Gesiner. [6] The capture of the Twee Gebroders followed on 26 April. [6] Then Nightingale captured the Prussian ships Jonge Gerrite, and De Drie Gebroeders on 23 May. [7]
On 24 January 1807, Nightingale arrived at Edinburgh from Tunningen with news of a French defeat north of Warsaw. [8] In the autumn Nightingale was present at the second battle of Copenhagen. [lower-alpha 3] On 20 October she received orders to accompany a small squadron that would escort the transport ships back to Yarmouth. [10] She carried Captain the Honourable Charles Paget, of Cambrian. He had taken up Admiral Gambier's offer to let him return to Britain with the duplicate despatches announcing Denmark's capitulation.
On 25 July 1809, Nightingale captured the Danish vessel Emanuel. [12] That same day she captured Cutter No 16. [6]
On 8 August three Danish vessels arrived at Leith. They were prizes to Naiad, Nightingale, and Snake. [13]
Then on 16 August Nightingale captured the Danish vessel Transport No 52. (Childers was in company at the capture of Transport No. 52. [14] ) Lastly, on 12 October, she captured the Helena Maria. [12]
April 1810 saw Nightingale capture five vessels: Martini Jacobi, C. Stysring, master (15 April), Godes Fisne, A. Brede, master (18 April), Amicitia, Paul Paulson, master, (17 April), Magneten, H. Kilrub, master, (21 April), and a sloop, No. 60, name unknown (21 April. [15] Nightingale was also in sight on 17 April when Mercurius captured Carolus, L.J. Kramer, master, and Enighied, N. Frius, master. [16] That same day Nightingale was in company with Tartar when they captured Amicitia, Paul Poulson, master. [17]
Commander John Eveleigh replaced Wilkinson in November 1810.Nightingale and Forward were in company on 12 April 1811 when they captured Caroline and Berentine. [18]
Commander Christopher Nixon replaced Eveleigh in early 1812. Rifleman and Nightingale, under Nixon's command, were in company when they captured the vessels Liebe (27 February 1812), Maria Dorothea (7 March), Anna Serina (9 March) and Bodel Maria (24 March). [19] Then on 19 May Rifleman and Nightingale were again in company when they captured the Palmtract. [20]
On 29 January 1813, Nightingale captured the American ship Calumet, of 187 tons bm, which had been carrying a cargo of tobacco from Boston to Marstrand. Nightingale sent her into Leith. [21] Then on 9 March 1813, Nightingale was in company with Brev Drageren when they captured the Danish sloop Enigheiden. [lower-alpha 4] On 11 September Nightingale was at Leith receiving a 4-inch false keel.
Disposal
The Navy put Nightingale up for sale on 23 November 1815 at Sheerness. [24] She was sold that day for £810.
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 Oberon was a 16-gun brig-sloop of the Seagull class built at Kingston upon Hull and launched in 1805. She was constructed at the James Shepheard Shipyard, Sutton.
HMS Tartar was a 32-gun fifth-rate Narcissus-class frigate of the Royal Navy, built at Frindsbury and launched in 1801. She captured privateers on the Jamaica station and fought in the Gunboat War and elsewhere in the Baltic before being lost to grounding off Estonia in 1811.
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.
HMS Lynx was a 16-gun ship-rigged sloop of the Cormorant class in the Royal Navy, launched in 1794 at Gravesend. In 1795 she was the cause of an international incident when she fired on USRC Eagle. She was at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, and during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars took numerous prizes, mostly merchant vessels but also including some privateers. She was also at the second Battle of Copenhagen in 1807. She was sold in April 1813. She then became the whaler Recovery. She made 12 whaling voyages in the southern whale fishery, the last one ending in 1843, at which time her owner had her broken up.
HMS Basilisk was a Bloodhound-class gun-brig built by Randall in Rotherhithe and launched in 1801. She served briefly at the end of the French Revolutionary Wars, with most of her service occurring during the Napoleonic Wars protecting convoys from privateers, conducting close-inshore surveillance and taking enemy coastal shipping. She was sold for breaking in 1815.
HMS Patriot was a Dutch schuyt that the Royal Navy captured in 1808 and took into service. She captured several enemy vessels before she was converted to a water vessel in 1813. The Admiralty sold her in 1815.
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. She became a whaler that made four voyages to the British southern whale fishery between 1830 and 1848. She was last listed in 1848.
HMS Calliope was a Cherokee-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1808. She operated primarily in the North Sea where she captured numerous small merchant vessels and one French privateer. She also was present at the battle of Lake Borgne, near New Orleans. She was broken up in 1829.
HMS Cherokee was the lead ship of her class of 10-gun brig-sloops of the British Royal Navy. She saw service during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1810 she participated in an engagement that resulted in her crew qualifying for the Naval General Service Medal. The Navy sold Cherokee in 1828. She then became a merchantman trading between Liverpool and Africa. Cherokee was wrecked in August 1831 returning to England from Africa.
HMS Nimrod was a brig-sloop of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1812. She spent her war years in north American waters where she captured one small privateer, assisted in the capture of another, and captured or destroyed some 50 American vessels. After the war she captured smugglers and assisted the civil authorities in maintaining order in Tyne. She was wrecked in 1827 and so damaged that the Navy decided she was not worth repairing. A private ship-owner purchased Nimrod and repaired her. She then went on to spend some 20 years trading between Britain and Charleston, the Mediterranean, Australia, and India. She was last listed in 1851.
HMS Wanderer was a Cormorant-class ship-sloop launched in 1806 for the Royal Navy. The Royal Navy sold her in 1817. She made one voyage between 1817 and 1820 as a whaler. She then sailed between Plymouth and North America until October 1827 when her crew had to abandon her at sea because she was waterlogged.
HMS Daphne was launched at Topsham, England in 1806. During her naval career Daphne operated primarily in the Baltic where she took part in one notable cutting-out expedition, and captured one small privateer and numerous small Danish merchant vessels. In 1816 the Admiralty sold her after the end of the Napoleonic Wars and she became a merchant ship, while retaining the name Daphne. She made one voyage to Australia in 1819 transporting convicts. Thereafter she traded with India and was last listed in 1824.
HMS Snake was a British Royal Navy ship launched in 1797 as the only member of her class of brig-sloops. She captured or destroyed two French privateers and one Danish privateer. She also captured numerous small merchantmen, but spent time escorting convoys to and from the West Indies. She was sold in 1816.
HMS Partridge was a Cormorant-class ship-sloop launched in 1809. She captured some small vessels while serving in the Mediterranean in 1813–1814. She participated in the blockade of Naples in 1815 with the result that her officers and crew received a great deal of prize money for its fall. She was broken up in 1816.
HMS Muros was launched at Chatham Dockyard in 1809. She had a relatively uneventful career though she did participate in one major campaign. She was sold in 1822 for breaking up.
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.
HMS Woodlark was launched in 1808 and commissioned in 1809. The Royal Navy sold her in 1818. She then became a merchantman with her new owners retaining her name. From 1820/1821 she became a whaler, sailing out of Port Jackson. She was still sailing as late as the late 1850s.
HMS Tweed was launched in 1807. On the Jamaica station she captured two small privateers and several merchant vessels. On the North Sea station she captured one small privateers and several merchant vessels. She was wrecked on 5 November 1813 with the loss of more than half her crew.
HMS Mercurius was launched at Copenhagen in 1806 for the Dano-Norwegian navy under the name HDMS Mercurius. The British captured her at the Battle of Copenhagen (1807) and took her into service as HMS Mercurius. She spent her entire British career successfully escorting convoys to the White Sea, the Baltic, and every part of the North Sea. She was sold in November 1815 after the end of the Napoleonic Wars.
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