Drawing showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with scroll figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth used to build the Swallow and other ships, 1795 | |
History | |
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Great Britain | |
Name | HMS Swallow |
Namesake | Swallow |
Ordered | 13 July 1795 |
Builder | Perry & Hankey, Blackwall |
Laid down | July 1795 |
Launched | 10 September 1795 |
Fate | Sold August 1802 |
United Kingdom | |
Name | Swallow |
Owner | Metcalf |
Acquired | 1802 by purchase |
Fate | No longer listed in the Register of Shipping after 1810 |
Notes | Fir-built |
General characteristics [1] | |
Type | Albatross-class brig-sloop |
Tons burthen | 369 52⁄94, or 390 [2] (bm) |
Length |
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Beam | 30 ft 8 in (9.3 m) |
Depth of hold | 12 ft 9 in (3.9 m) |
Complement |
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Armament |
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HMS Swallow was an 18-gun Albatross-class brig-sloop of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1795 and sold in 1802. During her naval career she captured a number of French privateers while on the Jamaica station. After her sale she became an armed whaler sailing under a letter of marque. As a privateer she captured two French whaling vessels but then is no longer listed after 1810.
The Royal Navy commissioned Swallow in October 1795 under the command of Commander George Fowke. He sailed her for the Jamaica station on 10 December. [1] On 20 March 1796 Swallow was part of the squadron under the command of Rear-Admiral Hugh Cloberry Christian in Thunderer that escorted a convoy to the West Indies. [3]
On 27 January 1797 Swallow captured the French privateer schooner Molinette. Swallow had been sailing from Cape Nichola Mole, when she encountered Molinette. Molinette was armed only with two swivel guns and had a crew of 18 men, four of whom where aboard an American schooner she had captured on 26 January. Molinette had left Gonaives on 21 January with the object of capturing American vessels travelling between British ports. [4] [a]
On 11 March Swallow captured the French privateer schooner Port au Paix about four leagues outside Cape Nichola Mole. Port au Paix was armed with two swivel guns and carried a crew of 17 men. She had left Port au Paix four days earlier and not captured anything. [6] [b]
Between April and June Swallow captured the French privateer schooner Général Toussaint. Général Toussaint mounted eight guns and had a crew of five men. [8] [c]
Between October 1797 and March 1798 Swallow captured the French privateer Petit Resource. She was armed with two 3-pounder guns and two swivel guns. [10] [d]
In August 1798 Commander William Chilcott replaced Fowkes, [1] who had received promotion to post-captain on 9 July.
Swallow captured the French privateer Buonaparte on 20 September 1798. [e] Bonaparte was armed with six guns and had a crew of 50 men. [13] [f] [g]
On 13 January 1799, Regulus, under the command of Captain George Fowke, and Swallow captured the Spanish brig Carmini. [16]
Between 12 February 1799 and April, Swallow captured one merchant vessel. [17]
In June 1799, Commander John Hayes replaced Sanderson. [1]
Between 22 July and 27 October 1799 Swallow captured three merchant vessels: [18]
During that same period when she was in company with Lowestoffe and Volage, she shared in the capture of five merchant vessels, one a letter of marque: [18]
Between 28 February 1800 and 20 May, Swallow detained two Spanish schooners: [19]
In the period from 20 May to 8 August, Swallow detained the Spanish felucca Baldenaro, which was carrying oil and wine. [20]
Between 3 August 1800 and 3 January 1801, Swallow detained three vessels: [21]
In May 1801, Commander John Davie replaced Hayes. [1]
Disposal: The Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy first offered "Swallow, 381 Tons, Copper-Bottomed and Copper-fastened, lying at Portsmouth" for sale on 7 August 1802. [23] She sold there that month. [1]
"Metcalf" purchased Swallow. [24] Her master was David Smyth Simmons (or David Symonds Smith, or C.F. Smith). David Smyth Simmons received a letter of marque on 1 June 1803. [2] She then sailed on 26 June. [25]
Around 15 May 1804 Swallow sent the French whaler Hero (Héros) into Falmouth. [26] During the Peace of Amiens, the French resumed whaling and on 10 February 1803 Captain Stephen Rawson sailed Hero from Le Havre for Walvis Bay, where she stayed for a month from 24 May to 23 June. [i]
Hero sailed in company with Baleine, of Le Havre, Captain Reuben Baxter. [j] Between 10 July and 15 August they cruised the coast, but after having gathered only 200 barrels of oil, they sailed first to St Helena and then to St Catherine, Brazil. Swallow captured both Hero and Baleine. [31] Swallow was reported to have arrived at Rio de Janeiro on 17 August 1804. [25] As noted earlier, Swallow took Hero back to Britain. Swallow apparently abandoned Baleine, [32] though in what state, and what happened to her subsequently, is not clear.
There are accounts that Swallow engaged in whaling in 1807 and 1809-10. [33] Although there is no record of her in Lloyd's Register after 1805, she does appear in the Register of Shipping in 1809 with F. Smyth, master, Metcalf, owner, and trade London-South Seas fisheries. [34] She is last listed in 1810 with the same information.
HMS Babet was a 20-gun sixth-rate post ship of the British Royal Navy. She had previously been a corvette of the French Navy under the name Babet, until her capture in 1794, during the French Revolutionary Wars. She served with the British, capturing several privateers and other vessels, and was at the Battle of Groix. She disappeared in the Caribbean in 1800, presumably having foundered.
Jean Bart may refer to one of the following ships of the French Navy or privateers named in honour of Jean Bart, a French naval commander and privateer.
HMS Meleager was a 32-gun Amazon-class frigate that Greaves and Nickolson built in 1785 at the Quarry House yard in Frindsbury, Kent, England. She served during the French Revolutionary Wars until 1801, when she was wrecked in the Gulf of Mexico.
HMS Acasta was a 40-gun Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate. She saw service in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, as well as the War of 1812. Although she never took part in any notable single-ship actions nor saw action in a major battle though she was at the Battle of San Domingo, she captured numerous prizes and rid the seas of many Spanish, French, and American privateers. She was finally broken up in 1821.
During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars Égyptienne, or Egypt, which commemorated Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign, was a popular name for French vessels, including naval vessels and privateers. Between 1799 and 1804, warships of the Royal Navy captured one French frigate and five different French privateers all with the name Égyptienne, and at least one privateer with the name Égypte.
HMS Circe was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1785 but not completed or commissioned until 1790. She then served in the English Channel on the blockade of French ports before she was wrecked in 1803.
HMS Kangaroo was British Royal Navy 18-gun brig-sloop of the Diligence class, launched in 1795 at Deptford, England. She served in Home Waters and the Mediterranean Sea until she was sold in 1802.
HMS Merlin was one of the two original Merlin-class sloops that served the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. She was launched in 1796 and was broken up in 1803. Her greatest accomplishment was her role as the leading vessel in a motley flotilla of local vessels that defeated a Spanish attack on the British colonists in British Honduras at the Battle of St. George's Caye. She later captured a number of small merchant vessels in the West Indies before returning to Britain, where she was broken up.
HMS Diligence was the name ship of her class of brig-sloops of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1795 and lost in 1800. She spent her brief career on the Jamaica station where she captured four armed vessels, one of them after a short engagement, and many small Spanish and French merchant vessels in the Caribbean inter-island and coastal trade.
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.
Jalouse was an 18-gun Belliqueuse-class brig-corvette of the French Navy, built to a design by Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait, and launched in 1794 at Honfleur. The Royal Navy captured her in May 1797 and took her into service under her existing name. In British service she served primarily on the North Sea station where she captured three small French privateers, and many Dutch merchant vessels. She also participated with other British warships in two or three major cutting-out expeditions. She was broken up in 1807.
HMS Duguay-Trouin was an 18-gun French privateer sloop launched in 1779 at Le Havre. Surprise captured her in 1780 and the British Royal Navy took her into service under her existing name. It sold Duguay-Trouin on 30 October 1783. She then became the West Indiaman Christopher. She captured several French merchant vessels. Later she became a Liverpool-based slave ship, making five voyages in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She was lost at Charleston in September 1804 in a hurricane.
Numerous French privateers have borne the name Vengeur ("Avenger"):
HMS Matilda was the French corvette Jacobine, which was launched in March 1794 and which the British captured in the West Indies seven months later. Matilda served in the West Indies until 1799, capturing six small privateers. In 1799 she sailed to Woolwich where she became a hospital ship. Between 1805 and 1807 she was the flagship of Rear-Admiral Henry Stanhope. She was broken up in 1810.
Several cutters have served His Britannic Majesty's revenue service as HM Revenue Cutter Swallow in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In wartime each cutter operated under a letter of marque, which authorized the master to engage in offensive actions against the enemy, not just defensive. These letters provide some information. Unfortunately, because the government did not insure its vessels, sources such as Lloyd's Register, and later, the Register of Shipping, did not list the vessels while they were on government service. Also, Revenue cutters worked with the Royal Navy. A Customs House minute of 7 July 1806 notes that the Revenue cutters Swan and Hound might replace the Revenue cutters Stag and Swallow, which were then serving with Admiral Keith. Individual cutters might even for a time serve the Navy as a hired armed vessel.
HM hired armed cutter Flora served the British Royal Navy under contract from 16 August 1794 until a French privateer captured her on 1 December 1798.
HMS Bonetta was the French privateer Huit Amis, launched at Bordeaux in 1798 that the British Royal Navy captured in May. In her brief naval career she captured a number of small prizes, one of them a 2-gun privateer. Bonetta was wrecked in 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.
El Corso was launched in Spain in 1791 as a naval brig. the British Royal Navy captured her in 1796 and took her into service as HMS Corso. She then served in the Mediterranean where she captured numerous small vessels, the great majority of which were merchant vessels. In 1802 she sailed to England. From July 1802 to her sale in September 1814 she served as a receiving ship.