Originally: 16 x 32-pounder carronades + 2 x 6-pounder bow-chasers
Later: 16 x 24-pounder carronades + 2 x 6-pounder guns + 1 x 12-pounder carronade boat gun
HMS Reindeer (also Rein Deer) was a Royal Navy 18-gun Cruizer-classbrig-sloop of the Royal Navy, built by Samuel & Daniel Brent at Rotherhithe and was launched in 1804.[1] She was built of fir,[2] which made for more rapid construction at the expense of durability. Reindeer fought in the Napoleonic Wars before succumbing in 1814 to the guns of USSWasp during the War of 1812.
In September 1804 Commander John Fyffe commissioned Reindeer and on 21 November sailed for the Jamaica station,[1] of which Rear-Admiral Dacres was the C-in-C. On 7 March 1805 she and Hunter captured the Spanish privateer schooner Santa Rosalía Golondrina after a chase of over five hours. During the chase the Spaniard threw her three guns − one 8-pounder and two 4-pounders - overboard. She was under the command of Francisco de Naras and had a crew of 57 men. The privateer had left Caliodam in Cuba the previous day for a fourteen-day cruise but had taken no prizes. Fyffe sent her in to Port Royal with Hunter.[3]
Then, on 13 September Reindeer captured the French privateer Renommée, of two 6-pounder guns. Reindeer's crew had had to labour at the sweeps for some six hours under a hot sun before they were able to reach their quarry. Renommée had a crew of 40 men and was most recently out of Baracoa. On this cruise she had taken no prizes.[4][5]
Early in March 1805, Reindeer and Magicienne sent two boats each, under the command of Lieutenant John Kelly Tudor of Reindeer, to cut out a 4-gun schooner from under a battery in Aguadilla Bay, Puerto Rico.[lower-alpha 1]
On 24 March 1806, off Puerto Rico, Reindeer encountered two French brigs, Phaéton and Voltigeur, each of sixteen 6-pounder guns. The vessels exchanged fire for some four hours. Reindeer succeeded in damaging the French brigs before they escaped; Reindeer too had some damage but no casualties.[6] Two days later Pique captured the two French brigs.[7]Phaéton, under the command of Lieutenant de vaisseau Saulces de Freycinet, was sailing to the Antilles when she was captured near Santo Domingo.[8] The Admiralty took Phaeton into British service as Mignonne and Voltigeur as Pelican.[9][10]
Then on 21 April, off Cape St. Nicholas in San Domingo, Reindeer captured the French privateer schooner Creole.[1] She was pierced for 14 guns but only mounted six, not including swivel guns. She had a crew of 59 and had put another 16 men on prizes. Creole had a reputation for being the fastest vessel in those waters; Fyffe believed that he would not have caught her if Creole's captain had not been so confident that he could outrun Reindeer that he tried to cut in front of her bow to gain the wind.[11]Reindeer also destroyed another small privateer of two guns. The crew, however, escaped.[12]
In January 1807 Reindeer shared, with Latona, Fisgard and Morne Fortunee in the proceeds of a number of captures. On 18 January they captured Santa Cecilia. Two days later they captured the schooner Mary. Then on 4 February they captured Friends.[13] Later that February Commander Peter John Douglas replaced Fyffe in command of Reindeer.[1]
On 13 October as Reindeer was chasing a suspicious schooner when Bacchante came up and cut the quarry off, which then struck. The vessel turned out to be Amor de la Patria, under Captain Josse de Tournecy. She was armed with three guns and had a crew of 63 men. She was five days out of St. Jago (Santiago de Cuba) but had not taken any prizes.[14]
On 21 December, after a 10-hour chase, Reindeer captured the French schooner privateer Experiment, under Captain Antoine Corocco, off Tiberon in the extreme south-west of Haiti. She was armed with two guns and carrying 40 men and had made no captures in the three weeks since she had left Baracoa in Cuba.[15] Then on 25 January 1808, off Point Picolet in San Domingo, Reindeer chased and captured the French privateer schooner Lyonnaise, under Captain Jean Tessier. Lyonnaise was pierced for 12 guns but only mounted five; she had a crew of 85 men and was eight days out of Baracoa.[15] Two days later, Douglas, learning of a privateer rendezvous, managed to run one of them ashore where her crew abandoned her. Reindeer brought the 3-gun vessel off the shore without much trouble. Douglas then sailed for Port Royal with her. As he had 90 prisoners on board and 30 men away in prizes Douglas apparently feared an uprising.[15]
On 10 November 1808, Reindeer, Franchise, Aurora, Daedalus, and Pert met by chance. The captains got together and decided to capture the town and port of Samana in order to assist the Spanish patriots that had established a blockade of San Domingo. The town was also the last port of refuge for privateers to the windward of San Domingo and the enemy were in the act of erecting batteries for its protection. The British entered the following day and took possession of the harbour. Captain Charles Dashwood of Franchise handed Samana over to a Spanish officer, Don Diego de Lira, who guaranteed the safety of the French inhabitants on their plantations.[16]
During the following week the British captured two French 5-gun privateer schooners. One was Guerrière, Louis Telin, master, with a crew of 110 men; the other was Exchange with a crew of 104. The British also took three merchant vessels, the schooner Diana and a brig, both laden with fish, and the sloop Brutus, laden with coffee.[16]
On 1 November His Majesty's schooner Firefly escorted two schooners that Reindeer had cut out of a port at San Domingo.[17]
On the morning of 16 November Reindeer and Pert re-captured the English ship Jeannet, R. Bradshaw, master, of 10 guns and 185 tons (bm). She had been bound from London to Havana with bale goods and was running for Samana harbour with a prize crew after being taken by a privateer. The two British sloops also captured another prize, the 350 ton (bm) Spanish ship St. Erasmo, A. Gerona, master, sailing from Malaga to Havana with wine and bale goods.[16]
In 1809 Reindeer was in the North Sea. On 8 March she captured the French naval 1-gun schooner-aviso Mouche №13.[18][19]Mouche №13 was under the command of enseigne de vaisseau Detcheverry and was carrying dispatches from Brest to San Domingo when Reindeer captured her west of the Azores.[20] Then on 4 November Reindeer sailed for Jamaica again under Commander Christopher Crackenthorp Askew.[1]
Channel
In 1811 Reindeer came under the command of Commander Nicholas Lechmere Pateshall.[21] In August she was in Plymouth, where Commander Daniel Ross took command. His successor, in 1813, was Commander William Manners.[1]
During 1813 Reindeer captured several vessels, including some privateers. On 2 February Reindeer and Iris captured the Baltimore letter of marque schooner Cashier, which was armed with two 12-pounder guns and four 12-pounder carronades, and under the command of Captain George Wilson.[22] The capture followed a chase during which the American vessel lost one man killed and several wounded out of her crew of 40.[23]
Then on 19 March Reindeer captured the French brig Pandour.[24] Next, on 6 April, Reindeer was in company with Helicon when they captured the American private schooner of war Shadow.[25] On 15 July Reindeer was in company with Whiting when Whiting recaptured Friends.[26] On 22 November, Reindeer captured the French 14-gun privateer lugger Spéculation. She was five days out of St Malo but had taken nothing.[27] Lastly, Reindeer shared in the prize money arising from her sister ship Derwent's recapture of Racehorse on 13 December.[28]
On 28 June 1814 Reindeer encountered the American sloop Wasp, under the command of Johnston Blakely about 500 miles west of Ushant. In the resulting action Reindeer suffered 25 killed, including her commander, and 42 men wounded, out of a total of 98 men and 20 boys, and she was forced to surrender. Key factors in the fight were that Wasp's crew greatly outnumbered Reindeer's, and Wasp's broadside was much heavier than Reindeer's.[2] At the time of the battle, Reindeer had 24-pounder carronades instead of her original 32-pounder carronades because of her age and weakness.[2]
Fate
The following day, on 29 June 1814, Blakely decided Reindeer was too badly damaged and set fire to her.[29][30]
HMS Indefatigable was one of the Ardent-class 64-gun third-rate ships-of-the-line designed by Sir Thomas Slade in 1761 for the Royal Navy. She was built as a ship-of-the-line, but most of her active service took place after her conversion to a 44-gun razee frigate. She had a long career under several distinguished commanders, serving throughout the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. She took some 27 prizes, alone or in company, and the Admiralty authorised the issue of four clasps to the Naval General Service Medal in 1847 to any surviving members of her crews from the respective actions. She was broken up in 1816.
Révolutionnaire, was a 40-gun Seine-class frigate of the French Navy, launched in May 1794. The British captured her in October 1794 and she went on to serve with the Royal Navy until she was broken up in 1822. During this service Revolutionnaire took part in numerous actions, including three for which the Admiralty would in 1847 award clasps to the Naval General Service Medal, and captured several privateers and merchant vessels.
Franchise was launched in 1798 as a 40-gun Coquille-class frigate of the French Navy. The British captured her in 1803 and took her into the Royal Navy under her existing name. In the war on commerce during the Napoleonic Wars she was more protector than prize-taker, capturing many small privateers but few commercial prizes. She was also at the battle of Copenhagen. She was broken up in 1815.
HMS Acasta was a 40-gun Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate. She saw service in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, as well as the War of 1812. Although she never took part in any notable single-ship actions nor saw action in a major battle though she was at the Battle of San Domingo, she captured numerous prizes and rid the seas of many Spanish, French and American privateers. She was finally broken up in 1821.
HMS Cerberus was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars in the Channel, the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, and even briefly in the Baltic against the Russians. She participated in one boat action that won for her crew a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM). She also captured many privateers and merchant vessels. Her biggest battle was the Battle of Lissa, which won for her crew another clasp to the NGSM. She was sold in 1814.
HMS Kingfisher was a Royal Navy 18-gun ship sloop, built by John King and launched in 1804 at Dover. She served during the Napoleonic Wars, first in the Caribbean and then in the Mediterranean before being broken up in 1816.
HMS Circe was a Royal Navy 32-gun fifth-rate frigate, built by Master Shipwright Joseph Tucker at Plymouth Dockyard, and launched in 1804. She served in the Caribbean during the Napoleonic Wars, and participated in an action and a campaign for which in 1847 in the Admiralty authorised the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with clasps. The action, off the Pearl Rock, near Saint-Pierre, Martinique, was a debacle that cost Circe dearly. However, she also had some success in capturing privateers and a French brig. She was sold in 1814.
HMS Unicorn was a 32-gun fifth-rate Pallas-class frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1794 at Chatham. This frigate served in both the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, including a medal action early in her career. She was broken up in 1815.
HMS Highflyer was originally an American privateer schooner built in 1811. As a privateer she took several British vessels as prizes. The Royal Navy captured her in 1813. She then participated in several raids on the Chesapeake and coastal Virginia before the Americans recaptured her later in 1813.
HMS Lark was a 16-gun ship sloop of the Cormorant class, launched in 1794 at Northfleet. She served primarily in the Caribbean, where she took a number of prizes, some after quite intensive action. Lark foundered off San Domingo in August 1809, with the loss of her captain and almost all her crew.
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 Sappho was a Cruizer class brig-sloop built by Jabez Bailey at Ipswich and launched in 1806. She defeated the Danish brig Admiral Yawl in a single-ship action during the Gunboat War, and then had a notably successful two months of prize-taking in the first year of the War of 1812. She was wrecked in 1825 off the Canadian coast and then broken up in 1830.
HMS Ferret was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Benjamin Tanner at Dartmouth and launched in 1806, 19 months late. She served on the Jamaica, Halifax, and Leith stations during which time she took three privateers as prizes before she was wrecked in 1813.
HMS Elk was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop, built of pine, and launched in 1804. She served on the Jamaica station where she captured a number of privateers. She was broken up in 1812.
HMS Nemesis was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. The French captured her in 1795 at Smyrna, but in 1796 a squadron led by Barfleur brought her out of the neutral port of Tunis. Throughout her career she served under a number of commanders who would go on to have distinguished careers. She was converted to a troopship in 1812 and was sold in 1814.
HMS Colibri was the French naval Curieux-class brig Colibri, launched in 1808, that the British captured in 1809 and took into the Royal Navy under her existing name. She spent her time in British service on the North American station based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. During the War of 1812, Colibri served mostly in blockading the American coast and capturing privateers and merchant ships. She foundered in 1813 in Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, but without loss of life.
HMS Alphea was built of Bermudan pencil cedar as a cutter and launched in 1804. Later she was converted to a schooner. She captured a number of small prizes before September 1813 when she blew up in a single-ship action with the loss of her entire crew.
The French corvette Bacchante was launched in 1795 as the second of the four-vessel Serpente class of corvettes. She served for almost two years as a privateer, before returning to the service of the French Navy. After HMS Endymion captured her in 1803, the Royal Navy took her in under her existing name as a 20-gun post ship. Bacchante served in the West Indies, where she captured several armed Spanish and French vessels before the Navy sold her in 1809.
HMS Decouverte was the French schooner Eclipse, launched in 1804, that was captured in 1806. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Decouverte. She served in the Caribbean, where she captured two privateers, one French and one American. She was sold in 1816.
HMS Barbadoes was a 16-gun vessel, the American Herald, captured in 1813. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Barbadoes She captured a number of merchantmen and privateers before she was paid-off in May 1816. In 1814–1815 she also captured three Spanish and French slave ships carrying over 1100 enslaved people. Barbadoes became a powder ship in Jamaica that was later wrecked with her remains being sold.
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Gosset, William Patrick (1986). The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793-1900. Mansell. ISBN0-7201-1816-6.* Gossett, William Patrick (1986). The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793–1900. Mansell. ISBN0-7201-1816-6.
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Southey, Thomas (1827) Chronological history of the West Indies. (London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green; republished Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture).
Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN978-1-86176-246-7.
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