HMS Venerable (1808)

Last updated

HMS Venerable vs Alcmene 5107.jpg
HMS Venerable fighting the French frigate Alcmène on 16 January 1814
History
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
NameHMS Venerable
Ordered31 January 1805
BuilderPitcher, Northfleet
Laid downDecember 1805
Launched12 April 1808
Honours and
awards
FateBroken up, 1838
General characteristics [2]
Class and type Repulse-class ship of the line
Tons burthen1716 (bm)
Length174 ft (53 m) (gundeck)
Beam47 ft 4 in (14.43 m)
Depth of hold20 ft (6.1 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail plan Full-rigged ship
Armament
  • 74 guns:
  • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
  • Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
  • QD: 8 × 9-pounder guns, 6 × 18-pounder carronades
  • Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

HMS Venerable was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 12 April 1808 at Northfleet. [2]

Contents

Career

On 13 December 1810 Venerable was in company with the hired armed cutter Nimrod and several other vessels at the capture of Goede Trouw. [3]

On 12 March 1812, as the merchant ship Ramoncita was returning from Lima and Cadiz, the French privateer Amelia captured her. However, HMS Virago recaptured Ramoncita. The salvage money notice stated that Virago had been in company with Venerable, Cumberland, Elizabeth, and Plantagenet. [4]

On 31 December 1813, she captured the French letter of marque brig Jason which became HMS Jason. Jason, of 264 tons (bm), was pierced for 22 guns but carried 14, 12 of which she had thrown overboard when Venerable chased her. She had left Bordeaux five days earlier and was sailing for New York with a cargo of silks, wines, and other articles of merchandise. There were 64 people on board, ten of whom were passengers. She was on her maiden voyage, copper-bottomed, and sailed so well, Captain Worth took her under protection, intending to go to Barbados. [5]

Venerable was Admiral Durham's flagship when on 16 January 1814, Venerable and her prize Jason, were in company with Cyane. Cyane spotted two 44-gun French frigates, Alcmène and Iphigénie and signaled to Venerable. Venerable joined her and after a chase that left Cyane far behind, captured Alcmène, though not without a fight. Venerable lost two men dead and four wounded, while the French lost 32 dead and 50 wounded. Alcmène had a complement of 319 men under the command of Captain Ducrest de Villeneuve, who was wounded when he brought her alongside Venerable and attempted a boarding. [5]

Jason and Cyane tracked Iphigénie and initially fired on her but broke off the engagement because they were outgunned. Cyane continued the chase for over three days until Venerable was able to rejoin the fight after having sailed 153 miles in the direction she believed that Iphigénie had taken. On 20 January 1814, after a 19-hour chase, or what amounted in all to a four-day chase Iphigénie, Venerable captured the quarry, having again left Cyane behind. In the chase, Iphigénie cast off her anchors and threw her boats overboard in order to try to gain speed. She had a complement of 325 men, under the command of Captain Émeric. She apparently did not resist after Venerable came up. [5] [Note 1] Before meeting up with the British ships, the two French vessels had taken some eight prizes. [7] The action resulted in the award in 1847, to any surviving claimants, of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Venerable 16 Jany. 1814".

Venerable was able to locate Iphigénie because Commander Ducrest de Villeneuve of Alcmène was so angry at Captain Émeric, who was the senior French commander, for not having come alongside Venerable on the other side also to board, that he essentially revealed the rendezvous instructions to Durham. When some prisoners from Iphigénie's crew were brought on Venerable, crew from Alcmène too were enraged. Durham had to station Royal Marines between them, with fixed bayonets, to prevent fighting from breaking out. [8]

Fate

Venerable was placed on harbour service in 1825, and was broken up in 1838. [2]

Notes

  1. ↑ A first-class share of the prize money for both vessels, including head money for Alcmène, was £819 16s 4½d; a sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman, for Iphigénie was worth £2 1s 8¼d. For Alcmène, a sixth-class share was worth £3 9s 4d. [6]

Citations

  1. ↑ "No. 20939". The London Gazette . 26 January 1849. p. 244.
  2. 1 2 3 Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 188.
  3. ↑ "No. 16543". The London Gazette . 19 November 1811. p. 2244.
  4. ↑ "No. 16744". The London Gazette . 22 June 1813. p. 1228.
  5. 1 2 3 Naval Chronicle, Vol. 31, p.254-5.
  6. ↑ "No. 17048". The London Gazette . 5 August 1815. p. 1599.
  7. ↑ James & Chamier (1837), Vol. 6, pp.259-61.
  8. ↑ Long (1895), p. 199.

Related Research Articles

HMS <i>Saturn</i> 74-gun Royal Navy ship of the line

HMS Saturn was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 22 November 1786 at Northam. The vessel served during the Napoleonic Wars with the Channel Fleet, taking part in the 1801 Battle of Copenhagen. With the beginning of the War of 1812, Saturn was modified to become a frigate designed to take on large American vessels of that type. Saturn was deployed as part of the blockading squadron of New York City from 1814 to 1815. From 1825, the vessel was in harbour service and was broken up in 1868.

HMS <i>Powerful</i> (1783) Ship of the line of the Royal Navy

HMS Powerful was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She took part in the defeat of a Dutch fleet in the Battle of Camperdown in 1797, the capture of a French privateer in the action of 9 July 1806, in operations against the Dutch in the East Indies during the raids on Batavia and Griessie in 1806 and 1807, and finally in the Walcheren Campaign during 1809.

HMS <i>Plantagenet</i> (1801) Ship of the line of the Royal Navy

HMS Plantagenet was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 22 October 1801 at Woolwich. She was designed by Sir William Rule as one of the 'large class' 74s, and was the only ship built to her draught. As a large 74, she carried 24-pounder guns on her upper gun deck instead of the 18-pounder guns found on the middling and common class 74s.

HMS Spencer was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 10 May 1800 at Bucklers Hard. Her designer was the French émigré shipwright Jean-Louis Barrallier. She served in two major battles, Algeciras Bay and San Domingo, and in a number of other campaigns. She was broken up in 1822.

HMS Elizabeth was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 23 May 1807 at Blackwall.

HMS <i>Cumberland</i> (1807) Ship of the line of the Royal Navy

HMS Cumberland was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 19 August 1807 at Northfleet. During the Napoleonic wars she brought King William I of the Netherlands from London to The Netherlands.

French frigate <i>Topaze</i> (1805)

Topaze was a Gloire-class 44-gun frigate of the French Navy. The British captured her in 1809 and she then served with the Royal Navy under the name Jewel, and later Alcmene until she was broken up in 1816.

HMS <i>Cyane</i> (1806) Royal Navy post ship (1806–1836)

HMS Cyane was a Royal Navy Banterer-class sixth-rate post ship of nominally 22 guns, built in 1806 at Topsham, near Exeter, England. She was ordered in January 1805 as HMS Columbine but renamed Cyane on 6 December of that year. Cyane had a distinguished career in British service that included the award in 1847 of a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal to any still surviving crew members of either of two actions. On 20 February 1815, she and HMS Levant engaged USS Constitution; outgunned, both had to surrender. She then served as USS Cyane, including a stint on anti-slavery duties, until she was broken up in 1836.

HMS <i>Ethalion</i> (1797) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Ethalion was a 38-gun Artois-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built by Joseph Graham of Harwich and launched on 14 March 1797. In her brief career before she was wrecked in 1799 on the French coast, she participated in a major battle and in the capture of two privateers and a rich prize.

Captain Sir Thomas Staines was an officer in the Royal Navy.

HMS Alcmene was a 32-gun Alcmene-class fifth rate of the Royal Navy. This frigate served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars under the command of several notable officers. Alcmene was active in several theatres of the war, spending most of her time cruising in search of enemy vessels or privateers, and escorting convoys. She fought at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 and served in the blockade of the French coasts during the later Napoleonic Wars until she was wrecked on the French coast in 1809.

HMS <i>Levant</i> (1813)

HMS Levant was a 20-gun Cyrus-class sixth rate of the Royal Navy built by William Courtney, of Chester. She was one of five British warships that USS Constitution captured or destroyed during the War of 1812. She was soon recaptured, and after 1817 was reclassified as a sloop of war. She was broken up in 1820.

French frigate <i>Iphigénie</i> (1810)

The French frigate Iphigénie was a Pallas-class frigate of a nominal 44 guns, launched in 1810. The British captured her in 1814. The British named her HMS Palma, and then renamed her HMS Gloire. She was sold in 1817, never having been commissioned into the Royal Navy.

French frigate <i>Alcmène</i> (1811)

The French frigate Alcmène was an Armide-class frigate of a nominal 44 guns, launched in 1811. The British captured her on 1814. The Royal Navy named her HMS Dunira, and then renamed her HMS Immortalite but never commissioned her nor fitted her for sea. In March 1822 she became a receiving ship at Portsmouth. She was sold in January 1837.

Jean-Léon Émeric was a French naval officer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandre Louis Ducrest de Villeneuve</span> French naval officer and admiral

Alexandre Louis Ducrest de Villeneuve was a French naval officer and admiral.

HMS <i>Espoir</i> (1804) Brig-sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Espoir was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1804. She served during the Napoleonic Wars, primarily in the Mediterranean, and then briefly on the North American station. She was broken up in April 1821.

French frigate <i>Junon</i> (1786)

Junon was a 40-gun Minerve-class frigate of the French Navy.

HMS <i>Triton</i> (1796) Experimental frigate of the Royal Navy in service 1796–1814/20

HMS Triton was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy designed by James Gambier and launched in 1796 at Deptford. Triton was an experimental ship and the only one built to that design; she was constructed out of fir due to wartime supply shortages of more traditional materials and had some unusual features such as no tumblehome. Her namesake was the Greek god Triton, a god of the sea. She was commissioned in June 1796 under Captain John Gore, with whom she would spend the majority of her active service, to serve in the Channel in the squadron of Sir John Warren.

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.

References

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.