In July 1796, HMSCerberus(1794) and Seahorse took the privateer cutter Calvados (or Salvados). Calvados carried six guns and ten swivels, and had a crew of 38 men. She was ten days out of Brest, France, but had not made any captures.[5]
Joined by Diana, Cerberus and Seahorse captured the 14-gun privateer Indemnité on 28 August. Indemnité, of Boulogne, was pierced for 14 guns but carried ten. She had a crew of 68 men.[6]
On 14 September 1796, Cerberus, Seahorse and Diana captured the Brazilian ship Santa Cruz.[7]
Seahorse captured the French frigate Sensible on 27 June 1798 in the Strait of Sicily
She captured the French frigate Sensible in a minor action on 27 June 1798 in the Strait of Sicily.[8]
She was with Vice-Admiral Hood's squadron off Alexandria in August 1798.
On 2 September, while on patrol in the company of Zealous, Goliath, Swiftsure, Emerald, Alcmene, and Bonne Citoyenne, Seahorse assisted in the destruction of Anemone, a French aviso. Anemone had left Toulon on 27 July and Malta on 26 August.[9]
Emerald and Seahorse chased Anemone inshore where she anchored in the shallow water, out of reach of the two British frigates. When the frigates despatched boats, Anemone cut her anchor cable and drifted on to the shore. While the Frenchmen were attempting to escape along the coast, unfriendly Arabs captured them and stripped them of their clothes, shooting those who resisted. The commander and seven others escaped naked to the beach where the British, who had swum ashore with lines and wooden casks, rescued them.[9][lower-alpha 1]
A banner bearing the arms of Baron Ferdinand von Hompesch, 71st Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, in 1798 Napoleon's French forces captured Malta on their way to invade Egypt. Seahorse later seized the banner from the French at Malta, about 1797
Anemone had a crew of 60 men under the command of enseigne de vaisseau Garibou,[11] and was also carrying General Camin and Citoyen Valette, aide de camp to General Napoleon Buonaparte, with dispatches from Toulon, as well as some other passengers. Camin and Valette were among those the Arabs killed.[9][lower-alpha 2]
Seahorse arrived at Portsmouth in October 1799, and returned to the Mediterranean in May 1800 as the flagship of Rear-admiral Sir Richard Bickerton.[4] On the way, in the evening of 4 April, she encountered the merchantman Washington which was sailing form Lisbon to Philadelphia, and which cleared for action. Both parties were able to identify themselves in time.
She was paid off for a first time, in October 1802, and was recommissioned in May 1803. She was in action at Lavandon (Hyeres) 11 July 1804.[4] Her next notable action was against the Turkish vessel Badere Zaffere on 6 July 1808.
His Majesty authorized the issue of a gold medal to Captain Stewart for the action; only 18 battles or actions qualified for such an award.[14] In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issue of the NGSM with clasp "Seahorse with Badere Zaffere" to all the surviving claimants from the action.
On 10 May 1809, a landing party from Seahorse and Halcyon landed on the small Italian islands of Pianosa and Gianuti. The landing party destroyed the enemy forts and captured about 100 prisoners during four hours of fighting. British losses were one marine killed and one wounded.[15]
On 8 May 1810 Seahorse captured the Neapolitan privateer Stella di Napoleon, of two guns an d40 men.[16]
On 22 August 1810, while cruising off Tuscany, Seahorse encountered the French brigRenard and Ligurie. Ligurie escaped immediately but Seahorse was able to drive Renard ashore and cannonade her there. Even so, Renard was little-damaged and was able to get off after Seahorse had left. Renard limped back to Genoa. En route, Renard again met Seahorse, but sought refugee under the shore batteries of Levanto which, although in bad shape, proved sufficient to deter the Seahorse.[17]
She was paid off for a second time in June 1811, and was under repair at Woolwich from August to October 1812. She was recommissioned in September 1812 under the command of Sir James Gordon. She sank the 16-gun privateer lugger Subtile off Beachy Head on 13 November 1813 after a chase of three hours. The lugger had been so damaged in the chase that she sank before Seahorse could take off her crew. As a result, of her crew of 72 men, all but 28 drowned, her captain, François-David Drosier, and all his officers, among them. She was a few days out of Dieppe and had captured a Swedish brig laden with salt, and a light collier. HMSUrgent was in sight at the time.[18]
On 24 March 1814 Seahorse recaptured the Swedish ship Maria Christina while in company with Pactolus and another warship.[lower-alpha 3]
War of 1812
Seahorse was off the Atlantic Coast of Northern America in 1814, taking part in an action off the Potomac on 17 August 1814. (John Robyns, Captain of the Royal Marine detachment of HMS Albion, reckoned the Seahorse took £100,000 in prizes.[20] ) In September, she was present at the Battle of Baltimore.
For more detail about the action off the Potomac on 17 August 1814, see HMS Erebus (1807).
In November, Seahorse was at Pensacola until the arrival of General Andrew Jackson's forces caused the British to depart. Whilst accompanied by Alceste and Sophie passing Lake Borgne in the direction of the Chandeleur Islands, They were fired upon by two gunboats of the US Navy. Her boats were to participate in the Battle of Lake Borgne. [21] Her officers and crew qualified for the clasps to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants, for the former and latter actions of 17 August 1814 and 14 December 1814 respectively.[lower-alpha 4][22]
Seahorse stopped off at Prospect Bluff, on the Apalachicola River, to embark 64 Royal Marines. She departed on 15 April 1815, and arrived at Portsmouth on 31 May 1815.[23]
↑ The Arabs captured some 17 to 20 survivors (accounts differ), and offered them to General Kleber, who ransomed them.[10]
↑ Anemone was the tartaneCincinnatus, which the French Navy had commissioned in June 1794 as an aviso, and renamed in May 1795. Her armament consisted of two 6-pounder and two 4-pounder guns, and four swivel guns.[12]
↑ A first-class share of the prize money was worth £187 3s3+3⁄4d; the prize money for an ordinary seaman was £2 2s 4+1⁄2d.[19] For an ordinary seaman, this would have amounted to about six weeks' wages.
↑ The 'Names of Ships for which Claims have been proved' are as follows: warships Tonnant, Norge, Royal Oak, Ramillies, Bedford, Armide, Cydnus, Trave, Seahorse, Sophie, and Meteor; troopships Gorgon, Diomede, Alceste, and Belle Poule.
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.
HMS Gorgon was a 44-gun fifth-rate two-decker ship of the Adventure class of 911 tons, launched at Blackwall Yard in 1785 and completed as a troopship. She was subsequently converted to a storeship. She also served as a guardship and a hospital ship at various times before being broken up in 1817.
HMS Lively was a 32-gun fifth-rate Alcmene-class frigate of the British Royal Navy launched on 23 October 1794 at Northam. She took part in three actions – one a single-ship action, one a major battle, and one a cutting-out boat expedition – that would in 1847 qualify her crews for the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal. Lively was wrecked in 1798.
HMS Goliath was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line in the Royal Navy. She was built by Adam Hayes at Deptford Dockyard and launched on 19 October 1781. She was present at the Battle of Cape St Vincent, Battle of the Nile, and Battle of Copenhagen. She was broken up in 1815.
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.
Pomone was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, launched in 1785. The British captured her off the Île de Batz in April 1794 and incorporated her into the Royal Navy. Pomone subsequently had a relatively brief but active career in the British Navy off the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of France before suffering sufficient damage from hitting a rock. Due to this, the ship was taken out of service and then broken up in 1803.
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 Melampus was a Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate that served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. She captured numerous prizes before the British sold her to the Royal Netherlands Navy in 1815. With the Dutch, she participated in a major action at Algiers and, then, in a number of colonial punitive expeditions in the Dutch East Indies.
HMS Martin was a 16-gun sloop of the Royal Navy. She served at the Battle of Camperdown in 1797 and captured two privateers before she disappeared in 1800.
HMS Santa Margarita was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had been built for service with the Spanish Navy, but was captured after five years in service, eventually spending nearly 60 years with the British.
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 Cydnus was one of eight Royal Navy 38-gun Cydnus-class fifth-rates. This frigate was built in 1813 at Blackwall Yard, London, and broken up in 1816.
Minerve was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She operated in the Mediterranean during the French Revolutionary Wars. Her crew scuttled her at Saint-Florent to avoid capture when the British invaded Corsica in 1794, but the British managed to raise her and recommissioned her in the Royal Navy as the 38-gun fifth rate HMS St Fiorenzo.
HMS Alcmene was a 32-gun Alcmene-class fifth rate of the Royal Navy. This frigate served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars under the command of several notable officers. Alcmene was active in several theatres of the war, spending most of her time cruising in search of enemy vessels or privateers, and escorting convoys. She fought at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 and served in the blockade of the French coasts during the later Napoleonic Wars until she was wrecked on the French coast in 1809.
HMS Lapwing was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.
HMS Quebec was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate launched in 1781 and broken up in 1816. She sailed under various captains, participating in the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars. During these wars she captured many enemy merchantmen and smaller privateers. One action led to her men qualifying for clasp to the Naval General Service Medal.
HMS Swallow was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop launched in December 1805, nine months late. She served the Royal Navy through the Napoleonic Wars, capturing numerous privateers. After the end of the wars she was broken up in 1815.
The French brig Suffisante was launched in 1793 for the French Navy. In 1795 the Royal Navy captured her and took her into service under her existing name. HMS Suffisante captured seven privateers during her career, as well as recapturing some British merchantmen and capturing a number of prizes, some of them valuable. She was lost in December 1803 when she grounded in poor weather in Cork harbour.
HMS Barbuda was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1780 after having briefly served as an American privateer. Barbuda was one of the two sloops that captured Demerara and Essequibo in 1781, but the French Navy captured her there in 1782 and took her into service as Barboude. The French Navy sold her to private owners in 1786, and she served briefly as a privateer in early 1793 before the French Navy purchased her again and named her Légère. She served them until mid-1796 when the Royal Navy captured her and took her into service as HMS Legere. She was wrecked off the coast of Colombia, without loss of life, in February 1801.
HMS Stag was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate built for the Royal Navy. She was ordered in 1790 and work began in March 1792 at Chatham Docks. Completed in August 1794, Stag spent much of her service in home waters, where she worked to protect British shipping from French privateers. In an action on 22 August 1795, Stag engaged, and forced the surrender of, the Dutch frigate Alliante, and took part in the chase that ended with the capture of Bonne Citoyenne by HMS Phaeton on 10 March 1796.
References
"Campagnes (opérations; divisions et stations navales; missions diverses)"(PDF). Inventaire de la sous-série Marine BB4 (in French). Ministère De la Défense. Archived from the original(PDF) on 6 March 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2015. Cette première partie comprend les pages 1 à 312 qui correspondent à l'inventaire des articles BB4 1 à 209, c'est-à-dire les articles correspondant à la période 1790 - 1804
Brooks, Richard & Little, Matthew. (2008). Tracing Your Royal Marine Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians - Published in Association with the Royal Marines Museum. Pen & Sword, Barnsley. ISBN978-1844158690 pg86
Winfield, Rif; Roberts, Stephen S. (2015). French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786–1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN978-1-84832-204-2.
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