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.
Commander Nathaniel Mitchel commissioned Nimrod in August 1812. He then sailed her for North America on 22 September.[1] On 4 January 1813 Nimrod was at 25°45′N56°14′W / 25.750°N 56.233°W / 25.750; -56.233 while sailing from Newfoundland to Bermuda. She had parted from her convoy in bad weather.[3]
On 23 January Nimrod left Barbados with the trade for St Vincents, Grenada, and Jamaica.[4]
On 12 or 15 March 1813, Nimrod captured the American "private ship of war" Defiance off Morant Bay, Jamaica, and sent her into Port Royal, Jamaica. Defiance, of three guns and 80 men, was under the command of a Frenchman.[5][lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 2]
Maidstone, Sylph, and Nimrod captured the brig Victor, of 52½ tons (bm), Swedish lasts, Carl Fred Hallberger, master, on 13 May. She had been sailing from Haiti to New London with 140 hogsheads (hhds) of sugar.[9]
On 17 July Maidstone, with Poictiers and Nimrod in company, captured the American privateer Yorktown, of 20 guns and 140 men, after a four-hour chase. Yorktown, under Captain T. W. Story, had taken 11 prizes before Maidstone captured her. The British sent Yorktown and her crew into Halifax.[10]
Nimrod recaptured the sloop Mary, F. Glawson, master, on 27 July.[9]Mary went into Halifax.[11] Four days later Nimrod recaptured the sloop William & Ann, of 77 tons (bm), W. Eadie, master. William and Mary had been sailing from Scotland to Ireland with a cargo of coals and glass when captured.[9]
On 11 August, Nimrod captured the ship Republican, A. Baupen, master, which was sailing from New York to Port-au-Prince.[12] She was carrying provisions, lumber, tobacco, fruit and dry goods.[9]Nimrod sent her into Halifax.[13]
Poictiers, in company with Maidstone and Nimrod, captured several vessels.
18 August: ship Manchester.[12]Manchester was a Falmouth packet brig, R. Elphinstone, master, and represented a recapture.[9]Manchester, of 180 tons (bm) and 16 guns, had been a prize to the American privateer Yorktown.[15][lower-alpha 5] The squadron also recaptured Lavinia, which Yorktown had captured as Lavinia, of Greenock, had been sailing from Newfoundland to Lisbon.[13]
Nimrod and Albion captured the ship Chili, 260 tons, R. Gardner, master, of Nantucket, on 2, or 7 December. Chili was returning from a whaling voyage with 500 barrels of sperm oil. Nimrod put 500 barrels of flour on her, flour that Nimrod had earlier taken out of a sloop.[9]Chili and Nimrod arrived at Halifax on 13 December, reportedly after Nimrod had cut her out of Tarpaulin Bay, now known as Tarpaulin Cove.[17] A later report has Chili carrying 1210 barrels of sperm oil.[18][lower-alpha 6]
On 13 December, Nimrod captured the sloop Manhatton, D. Gladding, master.[9]
Nimrod's boats destroyed a Swedish brig of unknown name on 31 May in Eastern River, Rhode Island, now known as the Sakonett River.[21]
On 2 June, the schooner USRCVigilant towed into Newport, Rhode Island, the brig Little Francis. Little Francis had been sailing from St Barts with molasses and sugar when she encountered Nimrod. Nimrod had run Little Francis on shore, and a landing party had set fire to her. However, the crew had refloated her, enabling Vigilant to take her under tow.[22] On 3 June Edmond arrived at Halifax after Nimrod ordered her off as Edmond was sailing from St Bartholomew's to America.[23]
On 4 June, Nimrod captured the brig Francisca De Paula, of 90 tons (bm), Frederica Arenos, master. She had been sailing from Havana to Boston with 145 hhds of molasses.[9] Two days after that, on 6 June, Nimrod captured the brig Herculaneum, of 111 tons, Andrew Smith, master. She had been sailing from Haiti Hayti to Boston or Madeira with 19801 gallons of molasses and 19 hhds of sugar.[9]
Commander George Hilton assumed command on 7 June 1814.
On 13 June, Nimrod bombarded Fairhaven, Massachusetts, after the townspeople refused to surrender some cannons. After exchanging fire with the local militia dug in at Fort Phoenix, Nimrod disengaged and sailed off.[24]
In June Captain Charles Paget, in Superb, received intelligence that two new vessels were lying at Wareham, Massachusetts, at the head of Buzzard's Bay, as well as some older ones. He immediately dispatched Nimrod through Quick's Hole with the boats from Superb and two from Nimrod to destroy them. The boats destroyed 17 vessels (accounting in all for 2522 tons (bm)), and a cotton manufactory that had been recently built at great expense, was full of stores worth some half-a-million dollars, and belonged to a company of 60 Boston merchants. The British then took several locals hostage so that they might withdraw through the narrow waters during daylight without the militia firing on them. The vessels destroyed were:[25]
Ship Fair Trader, of 444 tons, quite new, built for a letter of marque, and pierced for 18 12-pounder guns.
Brig Independent, of 300 tons, on the stocks, built for a privateer, and pierced for 14 guns, ready for launching.
Schooner Fancy, of 250 tons, belonging to Falmouth, new vessel.
Schooner Elizabeth, of 230 tons, belonging to Falmouth, new vessel.
Schooner Nancy, of 230 tons, belonging to Falmouth, hew vessel.
Sloop Wilmington, of 150 tons, built in 1809.
Schooner Industry, of 136 tons, built in 1809.
Schooner Argus, of 136 tons, built in 1812.
Brig William Richmond, of 135 tons, built in 1808.
Schooner New States, of 96 tons, built in 1800.
Sloop Paragon, of 70 tons, 1811.
Sloop, name unknown, of 70 tons, ready for launching.
Sloop William, of 60 tons, built in 1801.
Sloop Thomas, of 60 tons, not known when built.
Sloop William Lucy, of 50 tons, new, never at sea.
Sloop Experiment, of 60 tons, not known when built.
Sloop Friendship, of 45 tons, built in 1805.
Between 6 August and 9 October, Nimrod captured 38 schooners and sloops.[26] On 14 September Nimrod captured the schooner Maria, which head been sailing from New Port, Rhode Island, to New York with a cargo of salt, fish and oil, and sent her into Halifax.[9]
Then on 8 December, Nimrod recaptured the brig Lady Prevost, of 146 tons (bm), Alex Strang, master. When the privateer Yankee had captured her, Lady Prevost had been sailing from Lisbon to St. John's, Newfoundland, with a cargo of salt.[9]Lady Prevost arrived at Halifax on 16 December.[27]
On 21 January 1815 Funchal arrived at Bermuda. Nimrod had detained Funchal as she was sailing from New York to Lisbon.[28] However, on 10 February Nimrod was at 33°23′N20°5′W / 33.383°N 20.083°W / 33.383; -20.083 having been caught in a gale and having had to throw all her guns overboard to stay afloat.[29]
Post-war
Commander John Macpherson Ferguson commissioned Nimrod and sailed her to the Leith station in August 1815. It had taken some nine months for Nimrod and the other vessels commissioned at Portsmouth for peace service to obtain full crews.[30]
Commander John Gedge replaced Ferguson when Ferguson received promotion to post captain on 1 January 1817. Commander John Dalling replaced Gedge on 7 January 1817. Lieutenant Charles Nelson received promotion to commander and took command on 25 June 1819. Oh her he captured two smugglers off the coast of Holland.[31]
On 14 August 1820, Nimrod captured the smuggling lugger Mars, which resulted in substantial prize money.[lower-alpha 7] Then on 4 October 1821 Nimrod captured the American schooner Vulture.[lower-alpha 8] Nelson left Nimrod in June 1822.[31]
Commander William Rochfort assumed command on 4 July 1822 on the Leith station. In November he sailed to the Port of Tyne to support the civil authorities who faced a strike by the keelmen against their employers. He was briefly the sole naval officer present.[34] Then Captain John Toup Nicholas arrived in Egeria, and took command of a small squadron consisting of Egeria, Nimrod, and the cutter Swan. Nicholas subdued "a spirit of insubordination among the keelmen." He broke the strike by using the men of his squadron to man the keelboats and move out to the vessels that were waiting for it the coal that had piled up. Nicholas kept up the operation for six weeks. Eventually, Nicholas succeeded in talking with the strikers and agreed to take their complaints to the government himself if the grievances were justified. Shortly thereafter the strikers returned to work.[35] The government, the merchants, and the corporation of Newcastle all thanked him for this service.[36] Also, the local authorities at a public meeting voted a grant to Nimrod's crew a hundred guineas.[34]
Next, Rochfort assumed command of a squadron consisting of two naval and four Revenue vessels engaged in suppressing smuggling on the west coast of Scotland. Then in November 1823 he proceeded on a mission up the river Garonne as far as Pauillac, and "by his firmness and moderation overcame many obstacles thrown in his way by the French authorities."[34]
He subsequently cruised on the Cork station.[1] On 15 April 1825 one of Nimrod's boat upset in Belfast Lough, drowning Lieutenant James Everard and three men.[37]
Rochfort paid-off Nimrod on 13 October 1825. His crew took the opportunity to present him with a sword "as a testimony of their respect and esteem."[34][38]Nimrod then transferred to Cork.[1]
Nimrod sailed from Cork on 13 January 1827 for the Clyde. A gale developed during the night that damaged her and caused her to take on water. As she approached Anglesey Sparshott decided to take refuge at Holyhead. She was able to get into the harbour and anchor. The wind changed direction and she lost her anchor and the wind and sea drove her onto a ridge of rocks. By midnight of 14 January 1827 it became possible to get a line to shore and get the crew of 121 off her.[40][41][42] Over the next few days her stores were landed and on 12 February 1827 the steamer Harlequin was able to pull her off the rocks. The Royal Navy judged her not worth repairing.[43] She was sold to Rowland Robert & Co. on 22 February 1827 for £510.[1] The subsequent court martial acquitted Sparshott, his officers, and men of her loss.[44]
Merchantman
Nimrod first appears in LR for 1828 after having been lengthened and raised, and having undergone a large repair.[2] In 1841, under the command of Captain Manning, she transported assisted emigrants from Liverpool to Port Phillip (Melbourne), and Sydney. She left Liverpool on 13 October 1840 with 34 passengers in Intermediate, and 21 in Steerage. She was also carrying cargo. She arrived at Melbourne on 17 February. On 4 March she sailed for Sydney, where she arrived on 10 March. Nimrod was last listed in 1851 with Bowers, master, A. Taylor, owner, but at Liverpool and without a trade.[45]
↑ Defiance, of 75 tons (bm), was armed with two guns and had a crew of 80 men under the command of Captain J.P. Chazel. She was registered out of New York and Charleston.[6] In the engagement Nimrod fired 30 broadsides before Defiancestruck. Defiance had three men killed and 12 wounded, including Chazel, slightly. Chazel recuperated in Jamaica and then returned to Charleston where he took command of the privateer schooner Saucy Jack.[7]
↑ A first-class share of the head money was worth £60 17s; a sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman, was worth 18s.[8]
↑ Anna was carrying 870 bbls. flour, 40 half bbls. beef. 142 firkins lard, 76 firkins butter, 110 boxes soap, and 30 bbls. gin.[9]
↑ A first-class share of the prize money was worth £129 6¼d; a sixth-class share was worth £1 7d.[14]
↑ Records of the Falmouth packets show Manchester leaving Falmouth on 15 June, and being captured on 25 June. She was recaptured on 18 July, i.e., the day after the recapture of Yorktown, not 18 August, and arrived at Halifax on 19 July. She left there on 12 August, and arrived back at Falmouth on 4 September.[16]
↑ American records give Chili a burthen of 293 tons. They also report 1240 barrels of whale oil.[19]
↑ A first-class share was worth £1261 1s 9d; a sixth-class share was worth £20 15s 9d.[32]
↑ A first-class share was worth £97 1s 10½d; a sixth-class share was worth £1 8s 8¼d.[33]
Nautilus was a schooner launched in 1799. The United States Navy purchased her in May 1803 and commissioned her USS Nautilus; she thus became the first ship to bear that name. She served in the First Barbary War. She was altered to a brigantine. The British captured Nautilus early in the War of 1812 and renamed her HMS Emulous. After her service with the Royal Navy, the Admiralty sold her in 1817.
Sir John Sherbrooke was a successful and famous Nova Scotian privateer brig during the War of 1812, the largest privateer from Atlantic Canada during the war. In addition to preying on American merchant ships, she also defended Nova Scotian waters during the war. After her conversion to a merchantman she fell prey to an American privateer in 1814. She was burnt to prevent her reuse.
HMS Fantome was an 18-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was originally a French privateer brig named Fantôme, which the British captured in 1810 and commissioned into British service. Fantome saw extensive action in the War of 1812 until she was lost in a shipwreck at Prospect, Nova Scotia, near Halifax in 1814.
HMS Belvidera was a Royal Navy 36-gun Apollo-class frigate built in Deptford in 1809. She saw action in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 and continued a busy career at sea into the middle of the 19th century. In 1846 she was reduced to harbour service, in 1860 she became a receiving ship, and she was finally disposed of in 1906.
HMS Poictiers was a 74-gun Royal Navy third rate. This ship of the line was launched on 9 December 1809 at Upnor. During the War of 1812 she was part of the blockade of the United States. She was broken up in 1857.
HMS Curlew (1812) was a Royal Navy Cruizer class brig-sloop built by (William) Good & Co., at Bridport and launched in 1812. She served with the Navy for only 10 years. During the War of 1812 she sailed from Halifax and captured several American privateers. Her greatest moment was her role in the 1819 British occupation of Ras Al Khaimah, leading to the signature of the General Maritime Treaty of 1820, which established the Trucial States, today the United Arab Emirates. Curlew was sold in 1822 in Bombay. She then had a 13 or so year career as an opium runner for James Matheson, one of the founders of the firm Jardine Matheson.
During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars the British Royal Navy made use of hired armed vessels, one of which was His Majesty's hired armed cutter Nimrod. Three such vessels are recorded, but the descriptions of these vessels and the dates of their service are such that they may well represent one vessel under successive contracts. The vessel or vessels cruised, blockaded, carried despatches, and performed reconnaissance.
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 Gleaner was the mercantile ketch Gleaner, launched in 1802. She served the Royal Navy as the "hired ketch Gleaner" from 12 July 1808 until the Navy purchased her in 1809. Initially she served as a light vessel and survey vessel. From early 1811 to August 1811 she served in the Mediterranean, where she captured an Ottoman vessel. She then became a yard lighter and a light vessel again. Then in 1812 she was on the North American station where she participated in the capture of several merchant vessels. Next she returned to the Mediterranean where she captured a privateer. Finally, she served off the north coast of Spain where she was wrecked on 2 March 1814.
Éole was an 18-gun corvette of the French Navy, launched, captured, and later commissioned in the Royal Navy in 1799 as HMS Nimrod after her capture by HMS Solebay. She was then "the finest and most handsome ship-sloop in the British navy". She was sold in 1811. Nimrod made three whaling voyages between 1811 and 1819. On her first she captured several American whalers. Nimrod was last listed in 1820.
HMS Indian was a Bermuda-built sloop launched in 1805. She captured several small privateers while on the West Indies and Halifax stations before the Royal Navy sold her in 1817. Her main claim to fame, however, is that she was the first command of future Rear-Admiral Charles Austen, who was also the brother of the famed novelist Jane Austen. After the Navy sold her she became a whaler for Samuel Enderby & Sons. She apparently sailed for them until the mid-1830s; she then sailed for other owners until mid-1847, for a total of nine whaling voyages since leaving naval service.
Rifleman was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop launched in 1809 for the Royal Navy. She served in the North Sea, on the Halifax and Jamaica stations, and in the Mediterranean Sea. During her service she recaptured a Royal Navy vessel in Danish service, and two privateers. The Navy sold her in 1836 and she proceed to sail as a merchantman and whaler between 1837 and 1856.
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 in the British southern whale fishery. 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 Acteon, was the brig Actéon, launched in France in 1804 as the second of the two-ship Lynx-class. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1805 but laid her up. The Navy finally commissioned her in 1809. She was at the British invasion of Île de France and later served in the Channel, the North Sea, the Baltic, and the Chesapeake. She was broken up in 1816.
Auguste was a French 14-gun privateer commissioned in Saint-Malo in November 1811 under Pierre Jean Marie Lepeltier. She captured numerous British merchant vessels before the Royal Navy forced her in January 1814 to run onshore and wreck.
Manchester was originally built at Falmouth in 1805, and served the Post Office Packet Service. Hence, she was generally referred to as a packet ship, and often as a Falmouth packet. In 1813 an American privateer captured her after a single-ship action, but the British Royal Navy recaptured her quickly. She returned to the packet trade until 1831 when she became a whaler, making one whaling voyage to the Seychelles. From 1835 she was a merchantman, trading between London and Mauritius. She was last listed in 1841.
HMS Royalist was launched in 1807. She captured many privateers and letters of marque, most French, but also some from Denmark and the United States. Her crew twice were awarded the Naval General Service Medal. She was instrumental in the capture of a French frigate. The Royal Navy sold her in 1819. She then became a whaler, making three complete voyages. She was condemned after a mishap while on her fourth.
HMS Albacore was launched in 1804 in Bristol. She participated in two notable actions. The British Royal Navy sold her in 1815 and she became a merchantman, sailing out of Guernsey. She was lost on 12 October 1821 while sailing from Buenos Aires to Barbados.
Vittoria was a schooner launched at Baltimore in 1811 under another name. British owners acquired her in 1813, probably as a prize, and renamed her. She became a privateer sailing out of Guernsey and captured at least three vessels trading between the United States and France. She disappeared from online records circa 1814, though she remains listed to 1818 with data unchanged from 1813. A French privateer may have captured her in 1814.
HMS Martin was launched in Bermuda in 1809. Commander John Evans then commissioned her at Halifax Nova Scotia. During the War of 1812, Martin spent much of her time on the Halifax station. She captured or shared in the capture of numerous small merchant vessels. She also captured a small United States privateer, and was involved in an action with United States gunboats. After the war she conducted patrols against smugglers. She was on one of those patrols when she was wrecked in 1817.
References
Anon. (1829). The history and antiquities of the county of the town of Carrickfergus, etc.
Emmons, George Foster (1853). The navy of the United States, from the commencement, 1775 to 1853; with a brief history of each vessel's service and fate ... Comp. by Lieut. George F. Emmons ... under the authority of the Navy Dept. To which is added a list of private armed vessels, fitted out under the American flag ... also a list of the revenue and coast survey vessels, and principal ocean steamers, belonging to citizens of the United States in 1850. Washington: Gideon & Co.
Mouzon, Harold (2015). Privateers of Charleston in the War of 1812. Pickle Partners Publishing. ISBN9781786252586.
O'Byrne, William R. (1849). A naval biographical dictionary: comprising the life and services of every living officer in Her Majesty's navy, from the rank of admiral of the fleet to that of lieutenant, inclusive. Vol.1. London: J. Murray.
Roberts, Robert B. (1988). Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States. New York: Macmillan. ISBN0-02-926880-X.
Tregoning, H. S. (1865). History of Falmouth and its vicinity, including a poem on Falmouth ... by Mr. Harris, the Cornish poet, etc.
Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN978-1-86176-246-7.
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