HMS Sharpshooter (1805)

Last updated

History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Sharpshooter
OrderedJune 1804
BuilderWarren Matthew, Brightlingsea
Laid downAugust 1804
Launched2 February 1805
FateSold for breaking up in 1816
General characteristics [1]
Class and type Archer-class gunbrig
Tons burthen17747⁄94(bm)
Length
  • Overall:80 ft 2 in (24.4 m)
  • Keel:65 ft 11 in (20.1 m)
Beam22 ft 6 in (6.9 m)
Depth of hold9 ft 5 in (2.9 m)
Complement50
Armament10 × 18-pounder carronades + 2 chase guns

HMS Sharpshooter (or Sharp Shooter) 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.

Contents

Career

Lieutenant John Goldie commissioned Sharpshooter in April 1805.

In April 1806 Sharp Shooter detained the American vessel Commerce, Ford, master, from Baltimore and sent her into Plymouth. [2]

In May Sharp Shooter sent Vrienchap, Heijelts, master, from Bordeaux, into Plymouth. [3]

On 12 September the post ship HMS Constance and the brigs Sharpshooter and Strenuous were off Saint-Malo when they sighted a French frigate of some 30 guns. They gave chase until their quarry ran aground near Cape Fréhel. The British were not able to get close enough to fire on her and the presence of French shore batteries and the French army made it too hazardous to send in their boats to cut her out. [4]

On 29 December General Perpignon [sic] captured Patent, Barugh, master, at 49°48′N8°30′W / 49.800°N 8.500°W / 49.800; -8.500 as Patent was on her way from New Providence to London. However Sharp Shooter and the hired armed cutter Britannia recaptured Patent and sent her into Plymouth. [5]

In May 1807 Sharp Shooter detained Maria, which had been sailing from Leghorn to Tonningen, and sent her into Portsmouth. [6]

On 11 October 1807, the French privateer Prince Jerome captured the American vessel Honeflus, Ford, master, which had been sailing from Virginia to London. Sharp Shooter recaptured Honeflus and sent her into Guernsey. [7] [lower-alpha 1]

Sharp Shooter recaptured the American ship Honeflus. [9]

On 20 April 1810 the boats of HMS Firm, Surly, and Sharpshooter cut out the French privateer cutter Alcide from the mouth of the Pirou River, where she had taken refuge after the British vessels had chased her. Alcide was moored under the protection of 400 troops on shore, who kept up an incessant fire while the boarding party carried her. Alcide had thrown her four 4-pounder guns overboard during the chase to lighten her. One man was killed and another wounded, both from Firm. [10] In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with the clasps "Firm 24 April 1810" and "Surly 24 April 1810", to all survivors of the action from those two vessels. [lower-alpha 2]

On 5 August 1812 the Royal Navy detained Asia. Sharpshooter was one of the many vessels that shared in the proceeds of the sale of Asia. [lower-alpha 3]

On 22 November 1813 Sharpshooter recaptured the Swedish brig Mercurius. [13] On 20 November a French privateer from Saint-Malo captured the Swedish vessel Mercury, Starre, master, which was sailing from Cadiz to Gothenburg. Sharpshooter recaptured Mercury off Portland and she arrived at Guernsey on 23 November. [14]

Fate

In September 1815 Sharpshooter was paid off into ordinary. [1] The "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered "Sharpshooter gun-brig, of 178 tons", lying at Woolwich, for sale on 30 May 1816. [15] She sold on that date for £600 for breaking up. [1]

Notes

  1. ↑ Prince Jerome was probably a privateer from Morlaix commissioned in October 1807. She remained active into 1808. [8]
  2. ↑ French records show Alcide as being from Bordeaux and commissioned in 1808 under a Captain Brun, with 30 men and 4 guns. The French records report that HMS Surey [sic] sank her on 30 April 1810 off Granville. [11]
  3. ↑ A first-class share of the proceeds was worth £9 10s 10d; a sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman, was worth 2s 6d. [12]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 Winfield (2008), p. 342.
  2. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4048. 29 April 1806. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735022 . Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  3. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4053. 16 May 1806. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735022 . Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  4. ↑ "No. 15958". The London Gazette . 16 September 1806. p. 1235.
  5. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4115. 6 January 1807. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735023 . Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  6. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4150. 8 May 1807. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735023 . Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  7. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4196. 16 October 1807. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735023 . Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  8. ↑ Demerliac (2003), p. 273, n° 2131.
  9. ↑ "No. 16290". The London Gazette . 19 August 1809. p. 1332.
  10. ↑ "No. 16365". The London Gazette . 28 April 1810. p. 631.
  11. ↑ Demerliac (2003), p. 287, n°2302.
  12. ↑ "No. 17229". The London Gazette . 11 March 1817. p. 614.
  13. ↑ "No. 16875". The London Gazette . 29 March 1814. p. 684.
  14. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4826. 30 November 1813. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735026 . Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  15. ↑ "No. 17138". The London Gazette . 21 May 1816. p. 963.

Related Research Articles

HMS <i>Orestes</i> (1805) Brig-sloop of the Royal Navy

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 Phipps was the Dutch privateer Two Lydias, launched in 1807, that the British Royal Navy captured in 1808 and took into service as HMS Phipps. Phipps captured two privateers, took part in a notable action, and her crew was subjected to mercury poisoning. She was sold for breaking up in 1812.

HMS Briseis was a 10-gun Cherokee- class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1808 at Upnor, on the River Medway. She participated in one notable single ship action before she wrecked in 1816.

French frigate <i>Résistance</i> (1795)

Résistance was a 48-gun Vengeance-class frigate of the French Navy. HMS St Fiorenzo captured her in 1797 and the Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Fisgard. She was sold in 1814.

Henriette was a French privateer commissioned in Bordeaux in late 1803. She served in the Bay of Biscay until mid-1804, and then in the Indian Ocean, based at Île de France. The 74-gun HMS Powerful captured her in June 1806 off Ceylon.

HMS Pert was the French privateer Bonaparte, a ship built in the United States that HMS Cyane captured in November 1804. The Royal Navy took Bonaparte into service as HMS Pert. Pert was wrecked off the coast of what is now Venezuela in October 1807.

During the Napoleonic Wars, at least four French privateer ships were named Général Ernouf, for Jean Augustin Ernouf, the governor of the colony of Guadeloupe:

John Bull was a French vessel that from 1800 to circa 1805 sailed as a British privateer operating out of Jersey. Her master was plaintiff in a notable case involving the law of salvage. She returned to mercantile trading and was wrecked in 1810.

HMS Nautilus was launched at Milford in 1804 as the only member of her class of sloops. She had a minor career capturing a handful of merchantmen. She was wrecked on 5 January 1807 with great hardship for the survivors and loss of life.

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.

Patent was launched at Lynn in 1803. During her career French privateers captured her twice, and the French Navy captured her once. Two of the captures took place in 1812. The British Royal Navy recaptured her twice, and her French Navy captors released her. She also captured but lost a valuable American ship. She was wrecked in 1819.

HMS Argus was launched in 1798 at Bordeaux as Argus. She became a privateer that the British Royal Navy (RN) captured in 1799. She served from April 1803 until she was broken up in April 1811.

The French brig Gironde was launched at Rochefort in 1793 as a Dédaigneuse-class gun-brig of the French Navy. In 1797 she was struck from the lists and sold. She became a privateer operating out of Bordeaux. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1800 but never commissioned her; it sold her in 1801.

HMS Muros was the privateer Alcide, launched at Bordeaux in 1804. The British Royal Navy (RN) captured her in 1806 and commissioned her. She wrecked in March 1808.

HMS Growler was a Archer-class gun-brig built for the British Royal Navy and launched in 1804. She captured several French privateers and one Danish privateer, and took part in two actions that earned her crew the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM). She was sold in 1815.

HMS Favorite was an 18-gun Cormorant-class ship-sloop, launched in 1806 and broken up in 1821. In her career she sailed as far North America, the Caribbean, Africa, South America, and the Far East. She captured or recaptured several merchant ships and a handful of privateers.

HMS Pluto was a 14-gun fire ship of the Royal Navy launched in 1782. Pluto was converted to a sloop in 1793. She spent the period of the French Revolutionary Wars on the Newfoundland station where she captured a French naval vessel. During the Napoleonic Wars Pluto was stationed in the Channel. There she detained numerous merchant vessels trading with France or elsewhere. Pluto was laid up in 1809 and sold in 1817 into mercantile service. The mercantile Pluto ran aground near Margate on 31 August 1817 and filled with water.

HMS Avenger was the collier Thames, launched in 1803, that the Royal Navy purchased in 1804 and renamed. During her service she captured a number of prizes. She also captured one French privateer and participated in the capture of the Danish island of Anholt. She wrecked at St Johns Newfoundland on 8 October 1812.

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.

Chesterfield was launched in 1806 at Portland. She served from November 1806 to her capture in October 1811, as a Post Office Packet Service packet, sailing between Weymouth and the Channel Islands. A French privateer captured her at the end of October 1811 in "a spirited but ineffectual" single ship action. She then became a French privateer that made several captures before the Royal Navy recaptured her.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.