History | |
---|---|
Great Britain | |
Name | Prince of Wales |
Operator | HM Revenue Service |
Builder | John and William Scott, Greenock |
Launched | 1794 |
Fate | Sold 1806 |
United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Thrush |
Acquired | 1806 by purchase |
Fate | Foundered 1815; salvaged and sold |
General characteristics [1] | |
Tons burthen | 3073⁄94 (bm) |
Length |
|
Beam | 27 ft 0+5⁄8 in (8.2 m) |
Depth of hold | 13 ft 3+1⁄2 in (4.1 m) |
Propulsion | Sails |
Sail plan | Ship |
Complement |
|
Armament |
|
HMS Thrush was launched in 1794 as the Prince of Wales, which served the Customs Service as a revenue brig. In 1806 the British Admiralty purchased her and the Royal Navy renamed her HMS Thrush as there was already an HMS Prince of Wales in service. Thrush spent her brief active service on the Jamaica Station. She was converted to a powder hulk in late 1809 and foundered at Port Royal in 1815; she was salvaged, and sold.
Some sources describe Prince of Wales as the first naval order in Scotland. However, these sources recognise that she was built as a revenue brig. They report that the Admiralty purchased her in 1803 and re-rigged from a brig to a full rigged ship. [2] [3]
Prince of Wales, a vessel belonging to the Excise service of Scotland, in 1799 was responsible for the coast between the Mull of Cantire and Cape Wrath. She was of 300 tons (bm), and armed with 20 guns. She had a crew of 50 men under William Murray. [4]
Prince of Wales arrived at Portsmouth on 2 June 1806, and the Navy renamed her on 12 September. She then lay there until was fitted out between March 1808 and 25 June. [1]
Commander Charles Webb commissioned Thrush in April 1808. He then sailed her to Jamaica on 18 July. Thrush detained Maria, which was sailing from Cuacoa to St Croix. Maria arrived at Jamaica on 21 January 1809. [5] Thrush also detained Nancy, Fresback, master, which had been sailing from Guernsey to Jacmel. Nancy arrived at Jamaica between 22 and 29 April. [6]
In May 1809 Commander Henry Spark Jones replaced Webb. [1] In the summer of 1809, Thrush participated in the blockade of San Domingo until the city fell on 11 July to Spanish forces and the British under Hugh Lyle Carmichael. The blockading squadron, under Captain William Pryce Cumby in the 64-gun third rate Polyphemus, also included Aurora, Tweed, Sparrow, Lark, Griffon, Moselle, and Fleur de la Mer. [7] [8] [lower-alpha 1]
In October 1809 the Navy converted Thrush to a powder hulk at Port Royal. Thrush foundered in July 1815 while she lay at anchor at Port Royal. [11] The Navy salvaged her and sold her. [1]
In the novel Mansfield Park, by the famed English author Jane Austen, the protagonist, Fanny Price, visits Portsmouth as her brother William is about to sail in Thrush. William has been promoted to lieutenant and appointed to Thrush, which has just gone out of Portsmouth Harbour and is as lying at Spithead. Austen may very well have seen Thrush fitting out there in early 1808, and drawn on her memory for a suitable appointment for a new lieutenant when she wrote the book between 1811 and 1813. [12] (Jane Austen had two brothers who became officers in the British Navy: Admiral of the Fleet Sir Francis Austen, GCB and Rear Admiral Charles Austen, CB.( [13] )
HMS Pompee was a 74-gun ship of the line of the British Royal Navy. Built as La Pompée, a Téméraire-class ship of the French Navy, she was handed over to the British at Spithead by French royalists who had fled France after the Siege of Toulon by the French Republic, only a few months after being completed. After reaching Great Britain, La Pompée was registered and recommissioned as HMS Pompee and spent the entirety of her active career with the Royal Navy until she was broken up in 1817.
HMS Avon was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built at Falmouth and launched in 1805. In the War of 1812 she fought a desperate action with USS Wasp that resulted in Avon sinking on 27 August 1814.
HMS Forester was a Royal Navy 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by John King and launched in 1806 at Dover. She had a relatively uneventful career before the Navy sold her in 1819.
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 Ferret was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Benjamin Tanner at Dartmouth and launched in 1806, 19 months late. She served on the Jamaica, Halifax, and Leith stations during which time she took three privateers as prizes before she was wrecked in 1813.
HMS Haddock was a Royal Navy schooner of four 12-pounder carronades and a crew of 20. The prime contractor for the vessel was Goodrich & Co., in Bermuda, and she was launched in 1805.
On Thursday 21st inst launched off the stocks at Mr Isaac Skinner's shipyard his Majesty's Schooner "Haddock". The above schooner is said to be the completest vessel ever built in Bermuda
HMS Emulous was a Royal Navy 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop, built by William Row at Newcastle and launched in 1806. She survived an inconclusive but bloody battle with a French frigate during the Napoleonic Wars and captured a number of prizes, including two privateers, on the Halifax station during the War of 1812 before she was wrecked in 1812.
HMS Jaseur was originally the French Navy brig Jaseur that the Royal Navy captured in 1807 and took into service under the same name. She participated in one campaign and was lost in August 1808.
HMS Linnet was originally His Majesty’s revenue cutter Speedwell, launched in 1797, that the Royal Navy purchased in 1806. Linnet captured a number of privateers before the French frigate Gloire captured her in 1813. The French sold or transferred her to the Americans, who operated her as the privateer Bunkers Hill. In March 1814 the British recaptured her, but did not return her to service.
HMS Fleur de la Mer was the French privateer Gipsey, captured in 1806. The British Royal Navy bought her in 1807 and she served until she foundered in 1810.
HMS Orpheus was a 32–gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1780, and served for more than a quarter of a century, before she was wrecked in 1807.
HMS Delight was a British Royal Navy 16-gun brig-sloop of the Seagull class launched in June 1806, six months late. She grounded off Reggio Calabria in January 1808 and was burnt to prevent her being salvaged.
HMS Grasshopper was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1806, captured several vessels, and took part in two notable actions before the Dutch captured her in 1811. She then served The Netherlands navy until she was broken up in 1822.
HMS Redbreast was an Archer-class brig of the British Royal Navy. She captured some small merchant vessels and privateers. She also participated in two actions that would in 1847 earn her surviving crew members clasps to the Naval General service Medal (NGSM). The Navy transferred in 1816 to His Majesty's Customs. She was finally sold in 1850.
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.
HMS Vautour was 16-gun brig-sloop of the British Royal Navy. The navy captured her from the French on the stocks in 1809 and commissioned her in 1810. She foundered in October 1813.
Serpent was a French navy brig of the Palinure class, launched in 1807 at Paimbeouf (Nantes) as Rivolli, but renamed. HMS Acasta captured her in 1808 in the Caribbean and the British Royal Navy took her into service there as HMS Pert but renamed her Asp. The navy disposed of her in 1814. She then made five voyages as a whaler, and wrecked in December 1828 on her sixth voyage.
HMS Tweed was launched in 1807. On the Jamaica station she captured two small privateers and several merchant vessels. On the North Sea station she captured one small privateers and several merchant vessels. She was wrecked on 5 November 1813 with the loss of more than half her crew.
HMS Bustler was launched at Topsham in 1805. The French captured her in 1808 when she stranded and attempts to set fire to her failed. The French Navy took her into service as Bustler. The British recaptured her in 1813 when attempts by her crew to scuttle her failed. The Royal Navy did not take her into service and her subsequent disposition is currently obscure.
HMS Princess of Orange was launched in 1796 by the Amsterdam department of the Dutch Navy. In 1799 the British Royal Navy captured her during the Vlieter incident. From 1800 to 1811 she served on the North Sea, Channel, and Irish stations frequently serving as a flagship for various British admirals. Between 1811 and 1820 she served as a powder hulk; she was sold for breaking up in 1822.