HMS Tickler was launched in August 1808 at Brightlingsea as a later Archer-class gunbrig. She served in the Channel and the Baltic until the Danes captured her in 1808 during the Gunboat War. They sold her in 1815. From 1815 to 1852 she sailed as Frederikke Louise, first as a merchantman and then from 1843 to 1851 as a sealer.
Lieutenant Charles Irvine commissioned Tickler in August 1804.[1]
In January Tickler was under the command of Lieutenant John Watson Skinner.[1]
On 8 January 1805 Tickler arrived in the Downs with a French officer she had taken out of a fishing boat that had come out of Boulogne Harbour under flag of truce. The French officer was carrying a dispatch from Talleyrand to Lord Harrowby. The dispatch had come express from Paris and the officer was under instructions to contact a British cruiser and then accompany the dispatch to London.[2]
Early in the morning of 24 April 1805, Tickler was part of a squadron under the command of Captain Robert Honyman in HMSLeda. Early in the morning of 24 April 1805, the squadron sighted twenty-six French vessels rounding Cap Gris Nez. Honyman immediately ordered Fury, Harpy, Railleur, Bruiser, Gallant, Archer, Locust, Tickler, Watchful, Monkey, Firm, and Starling to intercept. After a fight of about two hours, Starling and Locust had captured seven armed schuyts in an action within pistol-shot of the shore batteries on Cap Gris Nez.[3][lower-alpha 1] The schuyts were of 25–28 tons burthen, and carried in all 117 soldiers and 43 seamen under the command of officers from the 51st. Infantry Regiment. The French convoy had been bound for Ambleteuse from Dunkirk. On the British side the only casualty was one man wounded on Archer. The seven schuyts were:[3]
Schuyt No. 52, under the command of a Sub-Lieutenant of Infantry Loriol, armed with three 24-pounders;
Schuyt No. 48, under the command of A. Joron of the 51st the Infantry, armed with two 6-pounders, one 24-pounder and one brass howitzer;
Schuyt No. 57, under the command of Lieutenant Loriol of 51st Infantry, armed with one 24-pounder and two 6-pounders;
Schuyt No. 45,an unarmed transport, under the command of Sub-Lieutenant Litner of the 51st Infantry, armed with one 24-pounder, one 12-pounder and one 6-pounder;
Schuyt No. 3. under the command of Mr. Calder, the senior commander, who left her before the British took possession of her;
Schuyt No. 54, under the command of Sub-Lieutenant Bragur of the 51st Infantry, armed with one 24-pounder and two 6-pounders;
Schuyt No.43, Sub-Lieutenant Billa of the 51st Infantry, armed with one 24-pounder and two 6-pounders.
The next day Archer brought in two more schuyts, No.s 44 and 58, each armed with one 24-pounder and two 12-pounders.[3] On 25 April 1805 Railleur towed eight of the French schuyts into the Downs. Starling, which had received a great deal of damage, followed Railleur The next day Archer brought in two more schuyts, No.s 44 and 58, each armed with one 24-pounder and two 12-pounders.[3] On 25 April 1805 Railleur towed eight of the French schuyts into the Downs. Starling, which had received a great deal of damage, followed Railleur in.
Blazer, Bustler, and Tickler shared in the proceeds of the detention on 27 August 1807 of Hausstind, Auroe, master.[4]
On 1 September Tickler sent into Dover Justicia, Jensen, master, which had been sailing from Christiana to Portsmouth.[5] Later that month Tickler detained and sent into Portsmouth Juckinthat, from Norway.[6]
On 16 October Tickler arrived at Elsinore from the Nore, with a convoy.
On 14 December 1807, HMSAstraea captured the French privateer lugger Providence. At the time of the capture, the sloop-of-war Royalist had joined the pursuit and gun-brigs Wrangler and Tickler were in sight.[7]
Capture
Hans Hansen: Christian Wulff capturing the Tickler, 1808.
On 3 June 1808 Tickler was cruising in the Great Belt when she encountered two Danish gunboats. After a 45-minute engagement, the Danes withdrew. The next day the two gunboats could be seen close to land, and four more gunboats were seen off Lolland and rowing towards Tickler. A lack of wind prevented Tickler from manoeuvring, and gave the gunboats an advantage. The four gunboats opened fire at 2:45p.m., and Tickler responded with her bow chasers. Early in the engagement a grapeshot struck Lieutenant Skinner in the head, killing him. Sub-Lieutenant James Sheppheard then assumed command. At 7:15p.m. Sheppheard was forced to strike. Tickler had suffered one man killed and seven men wounded, while her hull was riddled with holes and her rigging was in tatters.[8] Danish casualties were reportedly minimal. The Danish gunboats were under the command of Lieutenant Christian Wulff.
Model of the brig Tickler.
An erroneous report in Lloyd's List conflated the captures of Turbulent and Tickler, though actually the capture of Turbulent occurred five days later, on 9 June.[9]
Danish career
The plans of HMS Tickler that the Danish Navy made after capturing her in 1808
The Danes referred to Tickler as "Den erobrede engelske Brig Tiechler" (the captured brig Tiechler). The Danish Navy sold her in 1815.
From 1815 to 1842 she was the Copenhagen merchant ship Frederikke Louise. Tickler reappeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in the volume for 1839 as a British-built brig of 164 tons (bm), with homeport of Copenhagen, named Fredericke Louise.[10]
Year
Master
Owner
Trade
Source & notes
1839
A.Bohintz
CH Smith
"Gns."–Cette
LR; large repair 1837
Frederikke Louise was sold in 1842 to a company in Rønne, Bornholm that fitted her for seal hunting in the "nordlinge Ishav" (northern ice sea).[11] However, her entry continued unchanged until 1843 when she disappeared from the register. Between 1842 and 1851 she was a Bornholm-based sealer.[12] The following data is from Jørgensen.[13]
Year
Seals
Walruses
Other
1843
1700
1844
1700
6
1845
840
1
1846
2350
58 barrels of blubber
1847
3600
1848
Not available
1849
3030
84 barrels of blubber
1850
3490
1851
5600
148 barrels of blubber
Notes
↑ A schuyt was a Dutch flat-bottomed sailboat, broad in the beam, with square stern; usually equipped with leeboards to serve for a keel.
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.
HMS Leda, launched in 1800, was the lead ship of a successful class of forty-seven British Royal Navy 38-gun sailing frigates. Leda's design was based on the French Hébé, which the British had captured in 1782. Leda was wrecked at the mouth of Milford Haven in 1808, Captain Honeyman was exonerated of all blame, as it was a pilot error.
Embuscade ("Ambush") was a 32-gun frigate. She served in the French Navy during the War of the First Coalition before being captured by the British. Renamed HMS Ambuscade and later HMS Seine, she participated in the Napoleonic Wars in the Royal Navy. She was broken up in 1813.
HMS Turbulent was a Confounder-class 12-gun gun-brig in the Royal Navy. She was the first ship to bear this name. Built at Dartmouth, Devon by Tanner, she was launched on 17 July 1805. The Danes captured her in 1808. She was sold in 1814.
HMS Bold was a 14-gun Archer-class gun-brig of the Royal Navy built at Blackwall Yard. She took part in several minor actions and captured some prizes before she grounded in 1811 and was broken up shortly thereafter.
HMS Basilisk was a Bloodhound-class gun-brig built by Randall in Rotherhithe and launched in 1801. She served briefly at the end of the French Revolutionary Wars, with most of her service occurring during the Napoleonic Wars protecting convoys from privateers, conducting close-inshore surveillance and taking enemy coastal shipping. She was sold for breaking in 1815.
During the period of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, there were two or three vessels known as His Majesty's hired armed cutter Active that served the British Royal Navy. The reason for the uncertainty in the number is that the size of the vessels raises the possibility that the first and second may have been the same vessel.
HMS Cruizer was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Stephen Teague of Ipswich and launched in 1797. She was the first ship of the class, but there was a gap of 5 years between her launch and the ordering of the next batch in October 1803; by 1815 a total of 105 other vessels had been ordered to her design. She had an eventful wartime career, mostly in the North Sea, English Channel and the Baltic, and captured some 15 privateers and warships, and many merchant vessels. She also participated in several actions. She was laid up in 1813 and the Commissioners of the Navy sold her for breaking in 1819.
HMS Seagull was the name vessel for the Seagull class of brig-sloops of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 1 July 1805 and saw active service under the British flag in Danish waters until 19 June 1808 when Dano-Norwegian forces sank her. The Danes raised her and refitted her for service in the Dano-Norwegian Navy, which she served until the end of the English Wars in 1814. She then was transferred to the Norwegians. She was finally decommissioned in 1817.
HMS Firm was a 12-gun Archer-class gun-brig of the Royal Navy, launched on 2 July 1804. She served in the Channel, where she engaged in one action that would eventually result in her crew qualifying for the Naval General Service Medal. She grounded in 1811 and her crew had to destroy her before abandoning her.
HMS Harpy was a Royal Navy Diligence-class brig-sloop, launched in 1796 and sold in 1817. She was the longest lived vessel of her class, and the most widely travelled. She served in both the battle of Copenhagen and the British invasion of Java, took part in several actions, one of which won for her crew a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal, and captured numerous privateers. The Navy sold her in 1817.
Several vessels of the British Royal Navy have been named Tickler:
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 Starling was launched in 1805. She participated in one action and captured a privateer and a number of merchant vessels before she was sold in 1814.
HMS Biter was a 12-gun Archer-class gun-brig of the Royal Navy. She was wrecked in 1805.
HMS Vulture was launched in 1801 at South Shields as Warrior. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1803 as a sloop and renamed her. From 1808 through 1813 she was a floating battery at Jersey,. The Navy sold her in 1814 and she returned to mercantile service as Warrior. She was last listed in 1820, but does not seem to have sailed again after returning from east of the Cape in 1817.
HMS Monkey was launched in 1801 at Rochester. She served in the Channel, North Sea, and the Baltic, and was wrecked in December 1810.
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 Tickler was a cutter built at Dover in 1798 as the mercantile Lord Duncan. Between October 1798 and October 1801 she served the Royal Navy as the hired armed cutter Lord Duncan. Lord Duncan captured or recaptured several vessels, including one privateer. The Navy purchased Lord Duncan in October 1808 and renamed her HMS Tickler. It sold her in 1816.
The Royal Navy purchased the mercantile brig Jane in 1804 and renamed her HMS Watchful. Jane had been launched in 1795 at Norfolk. In 1805 she participated in several actions against French and Dutch vessels on their way to Boulogne. Watchful also participated in the siege of Cadiz in 1810–1811. The Navy sold her in 1814.
Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN978-1-86176-246-7.
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
Denmark & Norway 
