HMS Nonpareil (1808)

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History
US flag 15 stars.svgUnited States
BuilderPrice, Baltimore
Launched1801, [1] or 1807 [2]
Captured1808
Naval ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Nonpareil
Acquired1808 by purchase of a prize
FateDamaged 1812 and sold 1813
General characteristics [2]
Tons burthen210 (bm)
Length
  • Royal Navy:88 ft (26.8 m)
  • At the rails:94 ft 1 in (28.7 m) [1]
  • Deck:89 ft 6 in (27.3 m) [1]
Beam23 ft (7.0 m), or 22 ft 10 in (7.0 m) [1]
Armament12 × 12-pounder carronades

HMS Nonpareil was launched at Baltimore in 1801 or 1807. The Navy captured her in 1808 and purchased her. Nonpareil captured a French naval brig in a severe action in 1810. The Navy sold Nonpareil in 1813 after a storm damaged her.

Contents

Origins and capture

Sources differ over when Nonpareil was launched, and when she was captured. Two sources state that she was launched in 1801. [1] [3]

Some sources state that the British seized Nonpareil when they captured Montevideo in 1807. [3]

Diana detained Nonpareil, Lumley, master, of Baltimore, on 4 February 1808, [2] and sent her into Plymouth. [4] A prize court condemned her as a blockade runner. [3]

Royal Navy

The Navy purchased Nonpareil and registered her on 7 July 1808. [2] Lieutenant James Dickenson commissioned her in June. On 26 March 1809 he sailed her for the Spanish Coast. Then on 23 June 1810 Dickenson sailed Nonpareil for Newfoundland. [5]

On 10 October 1808 Nonpareil and Snapper went in pursuit of a vessel leaving Corruna suspected of being a French privateer from Martinique. Nonpareil lost her in the night. Nonpareil had arrived on the 9th with a messenger, and was about to return to England, perhaps with despatches. [6]

On 12 October Nonpareil captured the merchantman Belle Coquette. [7] Nonpareil was in company with Snapper.

On 28 February 1809 Nonpareil captured the merchantman Natalie. [8]

On 10 May 1810, Nonpareil took the brig Cannoniere, off the Vilaine. The action took an hour and a quarter before Cannoniere struck. Cannoniere had a crew of 61 men and was armed with three 12-pounder guns and two 24-pounder carronades. [9] The French lost 11 men killed and eight wounded; British casualties were two wounded. [10] [Note 1] Lloyd's List reported that Cannoniere had been armed with 32-pounder and three 18–pounder guns, and 10 swivel guns; she had a crew of 70 men. [13]

Lieutenant Thomas Cowper Sherwin commanded Nonpareil from 22 October 1810 in the Channel until 1812. [5]

Nonpareil was one of the 25 naval vessels that shared in the proceeds of the detention of Asia on 5 August 1812. [Note 2]

Fate

A storm in the Tagus on 19 December 1812 damaged Nonpareil. [2] She was among the many vessels wrecked or damaged there. [15] She was sold there in 1813. [2]

The courtmartial on 24 December 1812 absolved Sherwin, his officers, and the crew of Nonpareil of any blame for her loss. [16]

Notes

  1. ↑ In this case Cannoniere appears to be a description, not a name. The prize money notice refers to her as "Canoniere (or No.176)". [11] If so, she may have been one of the Canonnière No.22 Class of chaloupes-canonnières. No. 176 was built at Bordeaux between July 1803 and February 1804. [12]
  2. ↑ A first-class share was worth £9 10s 10d; a sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman, was worth 2s 5d. [14]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Bulletin (1960), Issue 219, United States National Museum, p.24.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Winfield (2008), p. 367.
  3. 1 2 3 Woodman (2012).
  4. ↑ Lloyd's List (LL), 12 February 1808, №4228.
  5. 1 2 "NMM, vessel ID 372191" (PDF). Warship Histories, vol ii. National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original on 2 August 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. ↑ "Yesterday, his MAJESTY, in Council, was pleased to further prorogue the Parliament, from Tuesday, the 1st." The Times (London, England), Thursday, Oct 27, 1808; pg. 4; Issue 7503.
  7. ↑ "No. 16484". The London Gazette . 11 May 1811. p. 877.
  8. ↑ "No. 16305". The London Gazette . 10 October 1809. p. 1621.
  9. ↑ Naval Chronicle, Vol.23, p.514.
  10. ↑ "Naval Intelligence" Edinburgh Monthly Magazine and Review, Volume 1 (June 1810), p.153.
  11. ↑ "No. 16579". The London Gazette . 29 February 1812. p. 412.
  12. ↑ Winfield & Roberts (2015), p. 284.
  13. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4461. 25 May 1810. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735024 . Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  14. ↑ "No. 17229". The London Gazette . 11 March 1817. p. 614.
  15. ↑ "Marine List". Lloyd's List (4735). 8 January 1813.
  16. ↑ London Chronicle (19 January 1813), p.67.

References

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