Oberon | |
History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Oberon |
Ordered | 12 December 1804 |
Builder | James Shepherd Shipyard, Kingston upon Hull |
Laid down | March 1805 |
Launched | 13 August 1805 |
Commissioned | September 1805 |
Decommissioned | 1814 |
Fate | Broken up, May 1816 |
General characteristics [1] | |
Class and type | 16-gun brig-sloop |
Tons burthen | 282 64⁄94 bm |
Length |
|
Beam | 26 ft 5+1⁄2 in (8.065 m) |
Depth of hold | 11 ft 11+1⁄2 in (3.645 m) |
Armament |
|
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.
She was commissioned in September 1805 under her first commander, John Bushby. However from January 1806 she was under Commander George Manners Sutton off the Downs, in the North Sea. On 6 June 1806 she was in company with Earnest when they captured the Yonge Heinrick H.H. Berg, master. [2]
On 13 November 1807 she gave chase to the French privateer lugger Ratifia, capturing her after four hours, some 30 miles east of Lowestoft. The Ratifia commanded by Lieutenant Gilbert Laforeste, had been carrying 14 guns, but at the time had only two mounted for action, the rest being in the hold. She had sailed on 9 November from Delfzijl, on the Ems but had not made any captures before being taken by the Oberon. Captain Sutton sailed her to the Yarmouth Roads and landed 38 prisoners. [3]
On 5 December 1808 Oberon recaptured the Prince of Wales. [4] Sutton removed to Derwent in April 1810, and by May 1810 the Oberon was off the Downs again, commanded by John Murray. On 4 May Oberon was in company with the gun-brig Furious when she recaptured the Galen. [5]
Oberon moved to Leith in 1812. On 23 October, Oberon, Clio and Chanticleer detained the Jonge Henrick. The next day, Clio and Oberon captured the Danish privateer Wegonsende. The same vessels were also involved in the capture of the privateer Stafeten on 24 December. [6] Prize money for Wegonsende was paid in August 1816. [a]
On 18 March 1813 Oberon sailed to search for two American schooners, suspected to be privateers, cruising between Shetland and Norway in the hope of intercepting British whalers returning from Greenland waters. Oberon met the Whitby whaler Esk on 20 March, but the Esk reported that she had not seen any suspicious vessels. Oberon continued cruising until Saturday 3 April, before entering the Sound at Lerwick at 10pm, where she again met the Esk, which was sheltering from storms and adverse winds.
In 1814 Oberon sailed to the Baltic. [1]
Oberon paid off from service into ordinary in 1814 at Sheerness. She was first offered for sale on 9 February 1815, [8] and then broken up there in May 1816. [1]
HMS Wolverine was a Royal Navy 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop, launched in 1805 at Topsham, near Exeter. Early in her career she was involved in two fratricidal incidents, one involving a British frigate and then a newsworthy case in which she helped capture a British slave ship. She later captured a small naval vessel and several privateers, and took part in the invasion of Martinique, and during the War of 1812, in the attack on Baltimore. Wolverine was decommissioned in August or September 1815 and was sold on 15 February 1816.
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 Curieux was a French corvette launched in September 1800 at Saint-Malo to a design by François Pestel, and carrying sixteen 6-pounder guns. She was commissioned under Capitaine de frégate Joseph-Marie-Emmanuel Cordier. The British captured her in 1804 in a cutting-out action at Martinique. In her five-year British career Curieux captured several French privateers and engaged in two notable single-ship actions, also against privateers. In the first she captured Dame Ernouf; in the second, she took heavy casualties in an indecisive action with Revanche. In 1809 Curieux hit a rock; all her crew were saved but they had to set fire to her to prevent her recapture.
HMS Calypso was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop. She was built at Deptford Wharf between 1804 and 1805, and launched in 1805. She served in the North Sea and the Baltic, most notably at the Battle of Lyngør, which effectively ended the Gunboat War. Calypso was broken up in March 1821.
HMS Beagle was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1804, during the Napoleonic Wars. She played a major role in the Battle of the Basque Roads. Beagle was laid up in ordinary in 1813 and sold in 1814.
HMS Clyde was a Royal Navy Artois-class frigate built at Chatham Dockyard of fir, and launched in 1796. In 1797, she was one of only two ships whose captains were able to maintain some control over their vessels during the Nore mutiny. In 1805, HMS Clyde was dismantled and rebuilt at Woolwich Dockyard; she was relaunched on 23 February 1806. She was ultimately sold in August 1814.
HMS Orestes was a 16-gun brig-sloop of the Seagull class of the British Royal Navy, launched in October 1805. She served during the Napoleonic Wars, primarily in the North Sea and the Channel, where she captured three privateers. The Navy sold her in 1817.
HMS Kangaroo was an 18-gun sloop of the Royal Navy launched in 1805. The Navy sold her in 1815 and she became the whaler Countess of Morley. After three whaling voyages she became a merchantman. She may have been condemned c.1827; she was last listed in 1833.
HMS Constant was an Archer–class gun-brig of the Royal Navy, launched in 1801 for service against the French during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. She was variously stationed in English home waters, the Baltic, the Caribbean, and off the coast of Spain, and was responsible for the capture of at least seven enemy vessels during her fifteen years at sea. The Royal Navy sold Constant at Chatham Dockyard in 1816.
The French corvette Naïade was launched at Brest in 1793 as a brig-corvette for the French Navy. The Royal Navy captured her in 1805 and took her into service as HMS Melville. She was sold for breaking up in 1808.
HMS Cockatrice was the fourth of the Alert-class British Royal Navy cutters. She was launched in 1781 and had an uneventful career until the Navy sold her in 1802. Private interests purchased her, lengthened her, and changed her rig to that of a brig. They hired her out to the Navy and she was in service as a hired armed brig from 1806 to 1808. She then returned to mercantile service until she was condemned at Lisbon in May 1816 as not worth repairing.
HMS Earnest was launched at Leith in 1805 as one of 48 later Archer-class gun brigs for the British Royal Navy. During her naval career Earnest captured five small privateers and numerous merchant vessels. In 1816 the Admiralty sold her and she became the merchantman Earnest. She continued to sail and was last listed in 1850.
HMS Monkey was launched in 1801 at Rochester. She served in the Channel, North Sea, and the Baltic, and was wrecked in December 1810.
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 Trompeuse was the French privateer brig Coureur that the British Royal Navy captured in 1800. She was sold for breaking up in 1811.
Général Pérignon was a brig launched at Saint-Malo in February 1804 as a privateer. She captured numerous British merchant vessels over several cruises. In January 1810 the British Royal Navy captured her. She was sold in March 1810 and became a coaster sailing between Plymouth and London under her original name, or as Intention. She was last listed in 1816.
HMS Sharpshooter was launched in 1805. She operated in the Channel, often from the Channel Islands. She participated in two actions and captured a small number of merchant vessels. She was sold and broken up in 1816.
HMS Cracker was a later Archer-class gun brig, launched in 1804. She participated in several actions and captured two small French privateers. She was sold for breaking up in 1816.
HMS Dexterous was a later Archer-class gunbrig launched at Buckler's Hard in 1805. Between 1805 and 1807, Dexterous was operating out of Gibraltar, where she captured two small armed vessels, one naval and one a privateer. Thereafter Dexterous operated in the Channel, where she recaptured several British merchant vessels that French privateers had captured. The Navy sold Dexterous in 1816.
HMS Conflict was launched in 1805. She captured a number of vessels, including privateers, and participated in several major actions. She disappeared in November 1810 with the loss of all her crew.