The British ships Ruby, Captain Michael John Everitt, Aeolus (or Eolus), 32, and the sloop Jamaica, 18, were cruising off Hayti, when on 2 June 1779, in the Bay of Gonave, they fell in with the 36-gun French frigate Prudente, Captain d'Escars. Ruby chased Prudente for some hours and was much annoyed by the well-directed fire of the enemy's stern-chasers, by which Captain Everitt and a sailor lost their lives. When within easy range of Prudente, at about sunset, Ruby compelled her to strike, with the loss of two killed and three wounded. The British Navy took Prudente into service under the same name.
Memorial to Captain Everitt in St Peter & St Paul church, Fareham
Ruby was at Plymouth on 20 January 1795 and so shared in the proceeds of the detention of the Dutch naval vessels, East Indiamen, and other merchant vessels that were in port on the outbreak of war between Britain and the new Batavian Republic.[2]
Ruby, under Captain Henry Edwyn Stanhope,[3] sailed with the first squadron (under Captain John Blankett) to take part in the first British occupation of the Cape, leaving England on 27 February 1795. There she was used on patrols and general duties but saw no action. The Battle of Muizenberg on 7 August 1795 triggered the collapse of the Dutch forces which controlled the Cape of Good Hope at the time.[4]
Representation of the Distressed Situation of His Majesty's Ships Ruby, Hector, Berwick and Bristol when Dismasted in the Great Hurricane, 6 October 1780
On 13 July 1800 Ruby was escorting a convoy from St Helena to Great Britain when at 45°N29°W / 45°N 29°W / 45; -29 when she sighted a strange sail that appeared to be a French privateer. Winds were light and next morning Ruby sighted the privateer some three miles ahead. Ruby was unable to catch the privateer, which made use of sweeps to remain just out of gunshot. Towards evening a breeze came up and Ruby succeeded in capturing the privateer at 1a.m. on 15 July.[5]
The privateer was La Fortune, of Bordeaux. She was a new vessel, strongly built, fully copper-fastened, and a good sailer. She was on only her second cruise. She had been out a month but had succeeded only in capturing the brig Fame, which had been sailing from Sierra Leone to London. La Fortune was armed with sixteen 18-pounder guns, four long iron 12-pounder guns, and two 36-pounder brass carronades. She had a complement of 202 men, but she had put 14 on board Fame as a prize crew. Captain Solomon Ferris, of Ruby, recommended that the Navy acquire La Fortune.[5]
On 25 June 1807, Tsar Alexander I and Napoleon entered an accord at Tilsit, one of the secret clauses of which entailed the joint seizure of the Portuguese fleet. This led Napoleon to send a large army into Portugal in October 1807, with a demand that Portugal should detain all British ships and sequester British property. This led to the departure of a naval squadron under Sir Sidney Smith to blockade the Tagus estuary. The squadron consisted of the Hibernia (110 guns), the London (98), the Foudroyant (80) and Elizabeth, Conqueror, Marlborough, Monarch, Plantagenet and Bedford (all 74s). On arrival Smith arranged for the Portuguese Royal Family, all the serviceable Portuguese fleet and 20 armed merchantmen to leave for Brazil, which they did on 29 October. Smith and his squadron accompanied them part of the way, leaving Marlborough, London, Monarch and Bedford to escort the fleet to Brazil. On 30 October 1807 a Russian squadron under Admiral Senyavin entered Lisbon, where they became blockaded by the return of Smith's squadron. A few days after the Tsar's hostile declaration became known in London, five ships left Portsmouth to reinforce the blockade. These were the Ganges, Defence and Alfred (74s) with Ruby and Agamemnon (64s). On arrival at the Tagus they enabled the Foudroyant, Conqueror and Plantagenet to leave for Cadiz. [6] A convention was signed whereby the Russian squadron was to be escorted by the Royal Navy to Portsmouth without lowering their colours. On 12 September, Senyavin's squadron set sail. On 7 October 1808, the squadron arrived at Portsmouth. [a][7][8]
She was recommissioned in October 1810. From April to June 1811, she was fitted out at Chatham as depot ship for Bermuda.[9] On 25 July 1811, HMS Ruby left Portsmouth and sailed to Bermuda.[10] During 1812, HMS Ruby was used as the Receiving Ship at Bermuda, under Lt. Peter Trounce, then Lt James Ward in 1813, Lt James Knight thereafter in 1815.[9] The resident Commissioner of the Navy at Bermuda, Commodore Andrew Fitzherbert Evans, had his broad pendant flying on board the Ruby in 1816 and 1817,[11] continuing on since 1812.[9] The ship remained in Bermuda and was broken up there in April of 1821.[12][9]
Notes
↑ Extract from a letter written by a seaman, John Williams, on board HMS Ruby off Lisbon in June 1808
"We are at present at anchor, at the mouth of the harbour, in sight of our Enemies. We are in sight of all of their Shipping, with a naked eye there is of them 13 Saile of the Line of Battle Ships & 25 Sloops and Brigs of War, all the Gun Boats we do not know the number of them. We are only 10 Saile of the Line and 2 Frigates 2 Sloops and Brigs. There is[sic] very heavy Batteries which the French has got, the possession of them one of them has mounted as many heavy guns as there is Days in a year. We expect orders to go in Every Day So Dear Brother Remember me in your prayer."
All seems to have gone well, since on the 15th October 1808 John Williams again wrote home from HMS Ruby at Spithead.
↑"Dispatches from Lisbon". Oracle and the Daily Advertiser. London. 30 September 1808. p.2. Retrieved 7 July 2021– via British Newspaper Archive. On the 12th the Barfleur, Rear-Admiral TYLER, with the Conqueror, Alfred, Donegal, Hercule, Elizabeth, and Ruby, sailed from Lisbon with the Russian fleet for Great Britain.—One Russian sail of the line was left in the Tagus.
↑"Ship News. Portsmouth". Morning Post. London. 10 October 1808. p.4. Retrieved 1 June 2013– via British Newspaper Archive. Portsmouth, Oct. 7. — Arrived his Majesty's ships Barfleur, Alfred, Elizabeth, Donegal, Ruby, and Crocodile, with the Russian Fleet from the Tagus.
↑"Port News. Portsmouth". Salisbury and Winchester Journal. 29 July 1811. p.4. Retrieved 27 June 2012– via British Newspaper Archive. Sir George Cockburn, Governor of Bermuda, sailed Thursday [25 July 1811] for that island, in the Spartan, of 44 guns, Capt. Edward Brenton, which had the Ruby store-ship under convoy, with a large quantity naval stores of every description, it being intended to form a naval depot and arsenal at Bermuda.
Potgieter, TD (1997). The First British Occupation of the Cape. Cape Town: Castle Military Museum. ISBN978-0-62-021068-3.
Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN978-1-84415-700-6.
Woodman, Richard (1997). The Victory of Seapower: Winning the Napoleonic War 1806-1814. Caxton Pictorial Histories. Caxton. ISBN978-1-84-067359-3.
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