Commander John Thicknesse commissioned Sheldrake in April 1806 for the Channel Islands.[2] On 12 October 1806, Sheldrake was in company with Constance, Strenuous and the hired armedcutterBritannia sailing to reconnoiter Saint Malo when they spotted and gave chase to a strange sail near Cape Fréhel.[3] The British squadron chased the vessel, mostly using their sweeps, and at noon caught up with her. She had taken refuge on shore and near the rocks at Bouche d'Arkie (Bay of Erqui), under the protection of the French battery on the hill and some troops and field pieces. Captain Burrowes of Constance decided to attack. At 2pm a two-hour action began, during which both Burrowes and the French captain were killed. During the battle, Constance too ran aground. Thickness sent his first lieutenant in boats to take possession of the French vessel after she struck.[3]
The French vessel was the frigate-built transport Salamander, armed with twenty-six long 12 and 18-pounder guns and carrying a crew of 150. She had been sailing from Saint Malo to Brest with a cargo of ship timber.[3] A month earlier, Constance, Strenuous and Sharpshooter had run the same ship on shore before leaving her, apparently wrecked.
Thicknesse was unable to get either vessel off the rocks. He was, however, able to get many of Constance's officers and crew on board Sheldrake. When her crew abandoned Constance, under heavy fire from shore, they could not set her on fire because of the number of wounded still on board. A party of her crew made a second attempt to retrieve her, but all were killed or captured. Next morning, Sheldrake destroyed Salamander by gunfire. At that time Thicknesse saw that the action of the sea had destroyed Constance.[3]
Casualties were heavy. Sheldrake herself had lost one man killed and two wounded. Strenuous had had five men wounded. The casualty list for Constance was incomplete because a number of men may have been taken prisoner when they took to the boats or swam ashore. Sheldrake had about 100 of the crew on board her. Burrowes and eight others were known killed, and four others later died of their wounds. Twelve more aboard Sheldrake were wounded, two badly. Sheldrake's first lieutenant estimated that he had seen some 30 dead on Salamander. In addition, Sheldrake had taken nine French wounded aboard, two of whom died.[3]
Prize-taking
On 19 January 1809, Sheldrake captured a French vessel laden with wheat for the French army in Spain. Thicknesse put a prize crew aboard consisting of Sheldrake's master, Mr. William Hubbard, a midshipman and ten crew men. He also retained two of her French crew on board. Thicknesse instructed Hubbard to follow Sheldrake to Guernsey, which was some 15 leagues away. During the night the prize sprang a leak and sank suddenly when her cargo of wheat clogged the pumps. Only one man survived. He had climbed into the rigging as she sank and after she sank was able to get to one of her boats that had providentially been left on deck and unfastened. Sheldrake recovered him the next morning.[4]
Later in 1809, Sheldrake, alone or with other British warships, captured a large number of Danish merchantmen.[5]
Captured by Sheldrake; Kite and Leveret sharing by agreement:[5]
Vrou (15 June);
Boat Denmark (22 July).
Captured by Sheldrake, Leveret sharing by agreement:[5]
Sloop Folken (18 September).
Captured by Sheldrake, Leveret, and the gun-vessel Starling:[5]
Mackerel (10 October).
Captured by Sheldrake, Leveret and Chanticleer sharing by agreement:[5]
Jupiter (24 October).
On 16 November 1809, Sheldrake was in company with Rose when they captured diverse vessels. Some prize money was paid almost nine years later, in June 1818.[6] A first-class share of Rose's portion was £17 8s 2d; a sixth-class share, i.e., the share of an ordinary seaman, was 7s 8+1⁄2d.[7] Also on 16 November, Sheldrake captured St. Peter. Prize money was paid some 11 years later.[8][lower-alpha 1]
In 1810 Commander James P. Stewart replaced Thicknesse, who was promoted to post-captain.[2]
Battle of Anholt
At the beginning of March 1811 Vice Admiral Sir James Saumarez received information that the Danes would attack the island of Anholt, on which there was a garrison of British forces under Captain Maurice of the Royal Navy. Tartar sailed from Yarmouth on 20 March and anchored off the north end of the island on 26 March. On 27 March the garrison sighted the enemy off the south side of the island. Maurice marched to meet them with a battery of howitzers and 200 infantry, and signaled Tartar and Sheldrake. The two vessels immediately set sail and tried to head south but the shoals forced them to swing wide, delaying them by many hours.
The Danes, who had eighteen heavy gunboats for support, landed some 1000 troops in the darkness and fog and attempted to outflank the British positions. They were poorly equipped and their attack was uncoordinated, with the result that the British batteries at Fort Yorke (the British base) and Massareenes stopped the assault. Gunfire from Tartar and Sheldrake forced the gunboats to move off westwards. The gunboats made their escape over the reefs while the ships had to sail around the outside. Tartar chased three gunboats towards Læsø but found herself in shoal water as night approached and gave up the chase. On the way back Tartar captured two Danish transports that she had passed while chasing the gunboats; one of them had 22 soldiers on board, with a considerable quantity of ammunition, shells and the like, while the other contained provisions.
Sheldrake managed to capture two gunboats. First she captured Gunboat No. 9, which struck without a fight. She was armed with two long 18-pounder guns and four brass howitzers. Gunboat No. 9 had a crew of 65 men under the command of a Danish naval lieutenant. Stewart took the prisoners on board and set out for the largest lugger, which he captured at 8pm after the exchange of a few shots. The lugger proved to be Gunvessel No. 1. She was armed with two long 24-pounders and four brass howitzers. She had a complement of 70 men under a Danish naval lieutenant but had only 60 on board when Sheldrake captured her. Stewart believed that from the number of shot the lugger had taken that she had lost many of her crew. Sheldrake had suffered little damage and no casualties. Having 40 more Danish prisoners on board than his own crew, Stewart chose not to attempt to catch any more Danish vessels though he did fire on some and may have sunk one.[10]
The Danes on the western side managed to embark on board fourteen gunboats and make their escape. The Battle of Anholt cost the British only two killed and 30 wounded. The Danes lost their commander, three other officers, and 50 men killed. The British took, besides the wounded, five captains, nine lieutenants, and 504 ratings as prisoners, as well as three pieces of artillery, 500 muskets, and 6,000 rounds of ammunition. In addition, Sheldrake's two captured gunboats resulted in another two lieutenants of the Danish Navy and 119 men falling prisoner. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Anholt 27 March 1811" to the remaining British survivors of the battle.[11]
Prize-taking in the Baltic
On 5 July 1811 Sheldrake was in company with the third ratesCressy, Defence, Dictator, and the gun-brig Bruizer. The British warships were protecting a convoy of merchantmen. As they passed Hjelm Island a flotilla of 17 Dano-Norwegian gunboats and 10 rowboats came out to attack the convoy. The attackers lost four gunboats; the convoy had no losses. During the action, Sheldrake captured the Danish gunboats No. 2, which was under the command of Lieutenant Jørgen Conrad de Falsen, and No. 5.[12][lower-alpha 2] In February 1812 Commander James Gifford replaced Stewart. On 11 April, Sheldrake was in company with Helder when they captured the Fosogern.[13] On 13 May Sheldrake captured the Freihaden and on 11 August the Elias Jonas.[14] Then on 13 August Commander George Brine replaced Gifford.[2]
At some point in the summer, Sheldrake assisted Aquilon in destroying seven large British merchant vessels that had run aground near Stralsund.[15] They were carrying a cargoes of hemp. The British were not able to get the vessels off due to the presence of 1500 French troops on cliffs above the vessels and so contented themselves with first scuttling the vessels and then setting them on fire.
On 16 October Sheldrake captured the French privateer Aimable D'Evrilly. Sheldrake's commander at the time was D. L. St. Clair, who apparently was promoted to the rank of commander on 12 November, that is, after having assumed command of the vessel.[16] The capture took place in the vicinity of Möen Island. Prize money was paid in March 1818.[lower-alpha 3]
Sheldrake, now under the command of Captain George Brine, was in company with Mariner, when they captured the Aageroe on 6 November 1812. Sheldrake then captured the Ebenetzer on 16 March 1813.[18][lower-alpha 4]
Next, Sheldrake was in company with Reynard when they captured the vessels No. 35 and Lilla Maria on 23 and 24 March 1813. By this time St. Clair was captain of Reynard.[20][lower-alpha 5]
Between 23 May 1813 and 20 June Sheldrake was in company with Ariel and other vessels when they captured the Lilla Catherina, Tonsberg packet, Bergen, Cerberus, Caron Maria, Margaretha, Diana, Recovery, Gebhardina, and sundry boats and parcels of corn.[lower-alpha 6] Immediately thereafter, i.e., between 20 June 1813 and 24 July, Sheldrake was in company with Erebus, Hamadryad, Ariel, Woodlark and Thracian. They captured the Erstatning, Gode Hensight, Freden, Falken, Freedshaabet, a boat (name unknown), and "corn ex Sheldrake".[23][lower-alpha 7]
On 27 July Sheldrake, Erebus and Thracian captured Forsoget, Stephanus and Erskine.[18][lower-alpha 8]
Fate
One of Sheldrake's last assignments was to sit at the mouth of the Loire to prevent Napoleon from fleeing to America. Opposum joined her in this assignment, sitting further out to sea.[25]
In about August 1815 Sheldrake was paid off into ordinary at Portsmouth. Brine was assigned to Musquito on 12 August and joined her on 25 August. On 6 March 1817 Sheldrake was sold at Chatham to Mr. Manclerk for £700.[2]
Notes
↑ A first-class share was worth £6 17s 9+1⁄2d; a sixth-class share was worth 4s 2+1⁄4d.[9]
↑ A first-class share was worth £37 3s; a sixth-class share was worth 12s 6+1⁄4d.[17]
↑ A first-class share for the Aageroe was worth £23 11s 4d and for the Ebenetzer £12 10s 1d; sixth-class shares were worth 8s 6+1⁄4d and 7s 0+3⁄4d.[19]
↑ Prize money was paid in 1821. A first-class share was worth £31 3s 3d; a sixth-class share was worth 19s 2d.[21]
↑ A first-class share of the prize money for these vessels and cargoes was worth £58 18s 7+3⁄4d; a sixth-class share was £1 4s 0+3⁄4d.[22]
↑ The prize money for a first-class share was £23 11s; the prize money to a sixth-class share was 9s 1+1⁄4d.[24]
↑ A first-class share for the three was worth £5 6s 11d; sixth-class shares were worth 2s 7+1⁄2d.[19]
Citations
↑ "Warship Histories"(PDF). Royal Museums Greenwich. 2012. Archived from the original(PDF) on 10 October 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
The Gunboat War was a naval conflict between Denmark–Norway and the British during the Napoleonic Wars. The war's name is derived from the Danish tactic of employing small gunboats against the materially superior Royal Navy. In Scandinavia it is seen as the later stage of the English Wars, whose commencement is accounted as the First Battle of Copenhagen in 1801.
The Battle of Anholt was a successful British military operation under the command of James Wilkes Maurice against the Danish-held island of Anholt under the command of Jørgen Conrad de Falsen, taking place during the Gunboat War, a conflict between the United Kingdom and Denmark-Norway that was part of the wider Napoleonic Wars. It was an attempt by the Dano-Norwegians to recapture Anholt, a small Danish island off the coast of Jutland which the British had captured in 1809. Early in the Gunboat War, the Dano-Norwegians had closed their lighthouse at the easternmost point of Anholt. In January 1809, the bomb-vessel Proselyte, which the British had stationed off Anholt to act as a lighthouse, struck Anholt Reef and sank. On 18 May 1809, the 74-gun Third Rate HMS Standard, under Captain Askew Hollis, led in a squadron that also included the frigate Owen Glendower, and the vessels Avenger, Ranger, Rose, and Snipe. Together they captured the island.
HMS Belvidera was a Royal Navy 36-gun Apollo-class frigate built in Deptford in 1809. She saw action in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 and continued a busy career at sea into the middle of the 19th century. In 1846 she was reduced to harbour service, in 1860 she became a receiving ship, and she was finally disposed of in 1906.
Joseph Baker (1767–1817) was an officer in the Royal Navy, best known for his role in the mapping of the Pacific Northwest Coast of America during the Vancouver Expedition of 1791–1795. Mount Baker is named after him.
HMS Apollo, the fifth ship of the Royal Navy to be named for the Greek god Apollo, was a fifth-rate frigate of the Lively class, carrying 38 guns, launched in 1805 and broken up in 1856.
HMS Havannah was a Royal Navy 36-gun fifth-rate frigate. She was launched in 1811 and was one of twenty-seven Apollo-class frigates. She was cut down to a 24-gun sixth rate in 1845, converted to a training ship in 1860, and sold for breaking up in 1905.
HMS Weazel was a Royal Navy 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop, launched in 1805 at Topsham, Devon. She saw active service in and around the Mediterranean during the Napoleonic Wars resulting in her crews earning three clasps to the Naval General Service Medal, was decommissioned in 1815, and was sold for breaking in 1825.
HMS Tartar was a 32-gun fifth-rate Narcissus-class frigate of the Royal Navy, built at Frindsbury and launched in 1801. She captured privateers on the Jamaica station and fought in the Gunboat War and elsewhere in the Baltic Sea before being lost to grounding off Estonia in 1811.
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.
HDMS Brev Drageren was a Danish let brigger, launched in 1801 for the Royal Danish Navy. She was one of the many vessels the Danes surrendered to the British after the Battle of Copenhagen in 1807. She was subsequently added to the Royal Navy as HMS Brev Drageren, and was involved in two notable actions while in British service. She was sold in 1825.
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 Belette was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop, built by King at Dover and launched on 21 March 1806. During the Napoleonic Wars she served with some success in the Baltic and the Caribbean. Belette was lost in the Kattegat in 1812 when she hit a rock off Læsø.
HMS Musquito. was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by John Preston at Great Yarmouth and launched in 1804. She was commissioned in October 1804 under Commander Samuel Jackson. She served in the North Sea and the Baltic, and Jackson supervised the first successful rocket attack in Europe at Boulogne in 1806. After the war she served off Africa and captured some slavers. She was broken up in 1822, having been laid up since 1818.
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.
Grinder was a gunboat serving as a tender, rather than a commissioned warship, to HMS Anholt, the British garrison on the island of Anholt during the Gunboat War. Grinder's origins are obscure, but the Danes captured her in 1810 and the British recaptured her in 1811. She was sold in 1832.
HMS Imogen was a Royal Navy 16-gun brig-sloop of the Seagull class launched in July 1805. She served primarily in the Adriatic campaign before the Navy sold her in 1817.
HMS Podargus was a Crocus-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She participated in one major battle during the Gunboat War between Britain and Denmark. After the war she served at Saint Helena for five or six years. On her return to Britain in 1820 she was laid up; she was finally sold in 1833.
HMS Britomart was a Cherokee-class brig-sloop launched in 1808. She participated in the capture of several small privateers and merchant vessels. She was also at the bombardment of Algiers (1816). The Navy sold Britomart in 1819. She then entered mercantile service. She sailed to South America, Van Dieman's Land (VDL), and the Indian Ocean. She spent much of her time sailing between England and VDL, and between VDL and the Australian mainland. She foundered in 1839 on her way between Port Phillip and Hobart.
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 Prospero was a 14-gun Crocus-class brig of the Royal Navy, launched in 1809. She captured a handful of small vessels, including one privateer. The Navy sold her in 1816 for breaking up.
References
Ireland, William Henry (1822). The Napoleon anecdotes: illustrating the mental energies of the late emperor of France; and the characters and actions of his contemporary statesmen and warriors. Vol.1. C.S. Arnold.
O'Byrne, William Richard (1849). A naval biographical dictionary: comprising the life and services of every living Officer in her Majesty's Navy, from the rank of Admiral of the Fleet to that of Lieutenant. John Murray. OCLC496833918.
Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN1-86176-246-1.
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.
United Kingdom
