History | |
---|---|
Great Britain | |
Name | GB No.7 |
Ordered | 7 February 1797 |
Builder | John Randall, Deptford |
Laid down | February 1797 |
Launched | April 1797 |
Renamed | HMS Sparkler (August 1797) |
Fate | Sold September 1802 |
United Kingdom | |
Name | Sparkler |
Builder | John Randall, Deptford |
Acquired | 1803 by purchase |
Fate | Wrecked in February 1814 |
General characteristics [1] | |
Class and type | Acute-class gunbrig |
Tons burthen | 16121⁄94, or 167, [2] or 179 [3] (bm) |
Length |
|
Beam | 22 ft 2 in (6.8 m) |
Depth of hold | 8 ft 0 in (2.4 m) |
Armament |
|
HMS Sparkler was an Acute-class gunvessel launched in 1797 as GB No.7 and renamed HMS Sparkler in August 1797. She served the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. The Navy sold her in 1802. She became a merchantman. In 1813 a French privateer captured her but the Royal Navy recaptured her shortly thereafter. She was wrecked in February 1814.
Lieutenant Austin Terman commissioned Sparkler in April 1797 for the Channel. In June 1798 Lieutenant William Walker replaced Terman. [1]
On 27 June 1800 on Mr. William O'Kelly, Sparkler's surgeon, came before a Court-martial aboard HMS Gladiator, at Portsmouth harbour. Lieutenant Walker charged Kelly with having behaved in a mutinous, riotous, and disorderly manner. The Court found the charges proved in part and sentence Mr. O'Kelly two years in Marshalsea Prison, and to forfeit his pay. [4]
Less than a week later, on 2 July 1800, Lieutenant Walker himself faced a Court-martial aboard Gladiator. The court found Walker guilty of a number of offences, including theft of provisions, enrolling his one-year-old son as an Able Seaman, and covering up crew desertions while drawing full provisions. The Court found the charges had in part been proven and dismissed Walker from the Navy. [4]
Lieutenant John Stevens took command of Sparkler in August 1800. [1]
In company with other Royal Navy sloops and gun-vessels drove two French sloops ashore at Grandcamp Bay in Northern France on 19 Aug 1800, and destroyed them. [5] A dispatch dated 11 September 1800 credits the ship, along with the cutter HMS Dolphin, HMS Champion, and HMS Bouncer in destroying two more French sloops on 9 September 1800. [5]
On 15 September 1800, Lieutenant Charles Papps Price, of HMS Badger, sighted a French long cutter some four miles off the West Island of the Îles Saint-Marcouf. He sent Lieutenant M'Cullen of the Royal Marines with 24 picked men in Badger's ten-oared galley and six-oared cutter to catch the French vessel. He also signaled Sparkler to draw the fire of two shore batteries, one of two 24-pounder guns and one of two 12-pounder guns, while Badger's boats cut out the French vessel. The French crew ran their cutter on shore and cut her masts and rigging. Nevertheless, the British towed her off despite heavy small-arms fire from the shore. The prize was the privateer rowboat Victoire, mounting four swivel guns, 26 oars, and having a crew of at least 40 men, under the command of Captain Barier. Price described her as "quite new... the completest Boat for the Service of the Islands that possibly could be constructed." The only British casualty was Badger's gunners mate, who took a musket ball to the shoulder. [6]
Lieutenant William Dick replaced Stevens in 1801 before Sparkler departed for the Baltic. [1]
Sparkler joined Admiral Hyde Parker's North Sea Fleet at Yarmouth to take part in the expedition to the Baltic, which had as its objective to compel the Danes to abandon the League of Armed Neutrality. In March Cruizer sailed with Parker's fleet from Yarmouth roads for Copenhagen. Sparkler's crew received head money for the engagement at Copenhagen on 2 April. [7] she did not actually participate in the battle and so her crew was not listed among those qualifying for the clasp "Copenhagen" to Naval General Service Medal.
Following the Treaty of Amiens, the "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered the "Sparkler Gun-Vessel, 160 Tons, Copper-bottomed", lying at Sheerness, for sale on 9 September 1802. [8] She sold then. [1]
Sparkler then became a merchantman. She was raised in 1803 and given a new top and sides of fir plank.
She first appeared in the online copies of the registers in the 1804 volume of the Register of Shipping (RS). [3] She first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in the volume for 1805. [2]
Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source & notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1804 | J.C.Hable | Captain & Co. | London coaster | RS |
1805 | C.Brown | Captain & Co. | Dublin–Norway | LR; raised 1803 and new tops and sides of fir plank |
1810 | C.Brown | Captain & Co. | Dublin–Norway Plymouth–St Johns | LR; raised 1803 and new tops and sides of fir plank |
On 3 December 1812 the French privateer Augusta, of 14 guns and 120 men, from Saint-Malo, captured several British merchantmen near Scilly. One of the captured vessels was Sparkler, Brown, master, which had been sailing from Cadiz to London. Auguste put Sparkler's crew, as well as that of two other merchantmen, aboard Mary, which Auguste then released. [9] Mary arrived at Plymouth on 30 December. [10]
On 23 December HMS Armide and the hired armed cutter Nimrod were in company when they recaptured the English brig Sparkler, A. Brown, master. [11] Nimrod sent Sparkler into Portland Roads. [10]
Having been captured and recaptured, Sparkler apparently changed masters, and perhaps owner, a change that was not reflected in Lloyd's Register. The next mention of Sparkler was that on 11 July 1813 she had arrived at Gravesend from Memel, with Kieth, master.
In February 1814 the transport Sparkler, Keith, master, was driven ashore and wrecked at Bayonne. The French took the crew prisoner. [12]
Eight ships and one shore establishment of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Badger, after the Eurasian badger:
The Royal Navy used several vessels that were described as His Majesty's hired armed cutter King George. Some of these may have been the same vessel on repeat contract.
His Majesty's hired armed cutter Telemachus served the Royal Navy from 17 June 1795 until 15 January 1801. She was of 1285⁄95 tons (bm), and carried fourteen 4-pounder guns. During her five and a half years of service to the Royal Navy, she captured eight French privateers as well as many merchant vessels.
HMS Badger was a Dutch hoy, one of some 19 that the Admiralty purchased for the Royal Navy in 1794 after France's declaration of war in 1793. The intent was to create quickly a class of gun-vessels for operations in coastal and shallow waters. Of all the hoys, she had probably the most distinguished career in that she helped fend off two French attacks on the Îles Saint-Marcouf, and participated in the capture of several French vessels. The Navy sold her in 1802.
HMS Clyde was a Royal Navy Artois-class frigate built at Chatham Dockyard of fir, and launched in 1796. In 1797, she was one of only two ships whose captains were able to maintain some control over their vessels during the Nore mutiny. In 1805, HMS Clyde was dismantled and rebuilt at Woolwich Dockyard; she was relaunched on 23 February 1806. She was ultimately sold in August 1814.
HMS Dolphin was 10-gun cutter that served the Royal Navy from 1793 to 1802, first as a hired armed cutter, and then after the Navy purchased her, as HMS Dolphin. During her almost decade of service Dolphin patrolled the English Channel protecting British trade by capturing French privateers and recapturing their prizes.
HMS Seagull, was a Royal Navy Diligence-class brig-sloop, launched in 1795. During the French Revolutionary Wars she shared in the capture of a number of small French and Dutch privateers. Then early in the Napoleonic Wars she participated in a notable single-ship action before she disappeared without a trace in 1805.
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.
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.
Éole was an 18-gun corvette of the French Navy, launched, captured, and later commissioned in the Royal Navy in 1799 as HMS Nimrod after her capture by HMS Solebay. She was then "the finest and most handsome ship-sloop in the British navy". She was sold in 1811. Nimrod made three whaling voyages between 1811 and 1819. On her first she captured several American whalers. Nimrod was last listed in 1820.
Auguste was a French 14-gun privateer commissioned in Saint-Malo in November 1811 under Pierre Jean Marie Lepeltier. She captured numerous British merchant vessels before the Royal Navy forced her in January 1814 to run onshore and wreck.
HMS Hazard was launched in 1749 For the Royal Navy as brig-rigged sloop. She had a 30-plus year career with the navy, during which she captured several small French privateers. At the end of the American War of Independence, the navy sold her and she became the merchantman Joseph. After almost a decade as a merchantman trading with Spain, a new owner made a whaler of her. She made seven whaling voyages and was no longer listed after 1804, two years after her return from her last whaling voyage.
The Royal Navy purchased HMS Barracouta on the stocks in 1782. After she had served for almost ten years patrolling against smugglers, the Navy sold her in 1792. She became the privateer Thought, which had a successful cruize, capturing several prizes including a French privateer, but then was herself captured in September 1793. She served the French Navy under the names Pensée, Montagne, Pensée, and Vedette, until the British recaptured her in 1800 and renamed her HMS Vidette. The Royal Navy sold her in 1802.
Adventure was a vessel built in France that the British captured c.1799. New owners immediately sailed her as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She then made a voyage as West Indiaman during which a French privateer captured her, but the British Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. She made a second slave trading voyage. Thereafter she became a general trader, trading primarily with the Baltic. She was wrecked in October 1814. Although she was refloated and taken into Copenhagen, she disappeared from subsequent ship arrival and departure data.
HMS Sharpshooter 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.
Agreeable was launched at Bermuda in 1786, probably under a different name. French owners acquired her at some point and sailed her as Agréable. In 1793 the British captured her. Subsequently, between 1793 and 1808, she made six voyages as a slave ship, alternating between the triangular trade in enslaved people, and sailing as a regular West Indiaman. French privateers captured her between the second and third voyages, and the third and fourth voyages, but each time the British Royal Navy recaptured her. In the case of the second capture she was in French hands long enough for them to send her out as a privateer. She herself captured an American vessel in 1808 as she was returning to Liverpool from her last enslaving voyage. After the end of British participation in trans-Atlantic enslaving trade, Agreeable traded more widely, particularly to South America. She was condemned at Buenos Aires in 1814 after running aground in the River Plate. She was repaired and continue to sail to Brazil until she returned to Liverpool in June 1819.
Nimble was built in Kingston upon Hull in 1802. She traded with Portugal, first from Hull and then from Liverpool. She was lengthened in 1806. Later, she traded between London and Brazil, and then London and the West Indies. An American privateer captured her in 1814. She was recaptured and then disappeared from ship arrival and departure (SAD) data.
HMS Dart was an 8-gun lugger, reportedly previously the British privateer Dart, built in 1796, captured by the French in 1798, recaptured from the French in 1803, and sold in 1808.
HMS Pioneer was a Pigmy–class schooner of the Royal Navy, launched in 1810 as a cutter. During her service with the Navy she captured one French privateer and assisted at the capture of another. In 1823–1824 she underwent fitting for the Coast Guard blockade. She then served with the Coast Guard to 1845. She was sold at Plymouth in 1849.
Ramoncita was launched at Shields in 1809. She was captured and recaptured in 1812, an event that gave rise to a case in insurance law and salvage. Then in 1813 she participated in a single ship action in which, despite heavy casualties, she was able to repel the attack of a US privateer. She capsized later in 1813 and was subsequently condemned.