| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain | |
| Name | HM hired armed lugger Cockchafer |
| Namesake | Cockchafer |
| In service | 6 May 1794 |
| Fate | Foundered 1 November 1801 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Tons burthen | 3680⁄94 (bm) |
| Armament | 8 guns |
HM hired armed lugger Cockchafer was a hired armed vessel, possibly actually a shallop, that served the Royal Navy from 6 May 1794 to her loss on 2 November 1801.
On 8 June 1794 Cockchafer played a small, ignoble part in a striking encounter between a frigate squadron under the Guernseyman Captain Sir James Saumarez, and a larger, stronger French squadron. On 6 June, Saumarez received an order from Admiral Macbride to take frigates Crescent and Druid, the 24-gun post ship Eurydice, and six cutters and luggers (Cockchafer and Valiant among them), to Guernsey and Jersey, and then to reconnoiter the French coast around Cancale and Saint Malo for signs of the French fleet. [2]
The squadron sailed on 7 June and on 8 June they were some leagues northwest of Guernsey when Saumarez sighted six sails in the distance. He did not think they were French, but he sent Valiant to investigate. As Valiant approached, the vessels hoisted French colours and fired on her. The French squadron sailed between the cutters and luggers on the one side and the three British ships on the other, so the small vessels fled back to Plymouth. [3]
Valiant was the first to arrive at Plymouth. When Cockchafer reached Plymouth, Mr. Hall, of Cockchafer, reported to Rear-Admiral John MacBride that the French had captured Captain Saumarez and his frigates. MacBride asked Hall if he had seen the frigates captured. Hall replied that he had not, but that the British frigates could not have escaped. MacBride lost his temper and ordered Hall to sail back to Guernsey to deliver a letter to Saumarez. [4]
Saumarez had escaped the French by leading them south towards the Hannoways, both sides firing at each other but at such a distance that the fire was pro forma. He sent Eurydice, his slowest ship, ahead, while Crescent and Druid turned towards the Guernsey coast. Saumarez then sent Druid after Eurydice. Both vessels made it around the south coast of Guernsey into Saint Peter Port. Saumarez sailed close to Guernsey's western shore and through some rocks. What made this possible was that Saumarez's pilot, Jean Breton, a Guernseyman, knew the waters well. The French gave up the chase, not being willing to risk their vessels in rocky waters they did not know. Tacking back and forth, Crescent sailed around Guernsey's north side and then south to Saint Peter Port. [5]
Cockchafer was at Plymouth on 20 January 1795 and so shared in the proceeds of the detention of the Dutch naval vessels, East Indiamen, and other merchant vessels that were in port on the outbreak of war between Britain and the Netherlands. [6]
In March 1797 Cockchafer captured Two Friends. [7]
On 20 January 1795, the British government seized the Dutch men of war, East Indiamen, and merchant vessels then in Plymouth. Cockchafer was among the more than 40 Royal Navy vessels that shared in the gratuity awarded for the seizure. [8]
On 4 June 1800 Cockchafer was in Plymouth and firing her guns in a salute to His Majesty's birthday when one of the guns went off while it was being reloaded. (The vent had not been blocked.) Two crew members had their arms damaged and had to be taken to the Naval Hospital where they underwent amputations. [9]
On 20 May 1801 HMS Clyde, Captain Charles Cunningham, and Cockchafer sailed from Plymouth to Jersey where they were to be part of a squadron with Philippe d'Auvergne as commodore. [10] Cockchafer returned to Plymouth and on 13 June. [11]
Loss: On 1 November 1801 Cockchafer was under the command of V. Philpot, variously referred to as her master, or a lieutenant, when she foundered off Guernsey in a gale. All her crew were saved. [12] [13]
Admiral of the Red James Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez, GCB was an admiral of the British Royal Navy, known for his victory at the Second Battle of Algeciras.
HMS Orion was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the British Royal Navy, launched at Deptford on 1 June 1787 to the design of the Canada class, by William Bately. She took part in all the major actions of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars under a series of distinguished captains.
HMS Hannibal was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 15 April 1786, named after the Carthaginian general Hannibal. She is best known for having taken part in the Algeciras Campaign, and for having run aground during the First Battle of Algeciras on 5 July 1801, which resulted in her capture. She then served in the French Navy until she was broken up in 1824.
HMS Fly was a Swan-class ship sloop of the Royal Navy, launched on 14 September 1776. She performed mainly convoy escort duties during the French Revolutionary Wars, though she did capture three privateers. She foundered and was lost with all hands early in 1802.
Coquille was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class, and launched in 1794. The Royal Navy captured her in October 1798 and took her into service as HMS Coquille, but an accidental fire destroyed her in December 1798.
Pomone was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, launched in 1785. The British captured her off the Île de Batz in April 1794 and incorporated her into the Royal Navy. Pomone subsequently had a relatively brief but active career in the British Navy off the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of France before suffering sufficient damage from hitting a rock to warrant being taken out of service and then broken up in 1803.
HMS Eurydice was a 24-gun Porcupine-class post ship of the Royal Navy built in 1781 and broken up in 1834. During her long career she saw service in the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. She captured a number of enemy privateers and served in the East and West Indies, the Mediterranean and British and American waters.
HMS Amethyst was a Royal Navy 36-gun Penelope-class fifth-rate frigate, launched in 1799 at Deptford. Amethyst served in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, capturing several prizes. She also participated in two boat actions and two ship actions that won her crew clasps to the Naval General Service Medal. She was broken up in 1811 after suffering severe damage in a storm.
HMS Druid was a 32-gun Hermione-class fifth-rate frigate of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1783 at Bristol. She served in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, capturing numerous small prizes. One of her commanders, Captain Philip Broke, described Druid as a "point of honour ship", i.e., a ship too large to run but too small to fight. He and his biographer's view was that it was a disgrace to use a ship like her as a warship. She was broken up in 1813, after a thirty-year career.
HMS Atalante was a 16-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was formerly the French Atalante, captured in 1797. She served with the British during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and was wrecked in 1807.
HMS Nemesis was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. The French captured her in 1795 at Smyrna, but in 1796 a squadron led by Barfleur brought her out of the neutral port of Tunis. Throughout her career she served under a number of commanders who would go on to have distinguished careers. She was converted to a troopship in 1812 and was sold in 1814.
HMS Moucheron was a French privateer, built in 1799, that the British captured in 1801. The British government purchased her in 1802 for the Royal Navy. She foundered in 1807 in the Mediterranean without leaving a trace.
HMS Sprightly was a 10-gun cutter of the Royal Navy, built to a design by John Williams, and the name ship of her two-vessel class of cutters. She was launched in 1778. The French captured and scuttled her off the Andulasian coast in 1801.
Two vessels have borne the designation, His Majesty's hired armed cutter Lion. The first served during the French Revolutionary Wars, capturing five privateers and several merchant vessels. The second served briefly at the start of the Napoleonic Wars. Both vessels operated in the Channel. The two cutters may have been the same vessel; at this juncture it is impossible to know. French records report that the French captured the second Lion in 1808 and that she served in the French Navy until 1809.
His Majesty's hired armed lugger Valiant served the Royal Navy on a contract from 5 May 1794 to 10 November 1801. She was of 109 90⁄94 tons (bm), and was armed with eleven 3-pounder guns.
The Dutch ship sloop Havik was launched in 1784 and served in the Batavian Navy. The British captured her in 1796 at the capitulation of Saldanha Bay. She then served briefly in the Royal Navy as HMS Havick before she was wrecked in late 1800.
Two vessels have borne the designation, His Majesty's hired armed cutter Constitution. The first served the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. The second served briefly at the start of the Napoleonic Wars and was sunk in 1804. The two cutters are similar enough that may have been the same vessel; at this juncture it is impossible to know.
The Royal Navy employed two vessels designated as His Majesty's Hired armed vessel Sir Thomas Pasley during the French Revolutionary Wars. The two vessels were named for Admiral Sir Thomas Pasley. The vessels are also sometimes described as cutters, but more generally as brigs. The Spanish captured the first Sir Thomas Pasley. The second had a brief, but highly productive, career that later led to her crew qualifying for the Naval General Service Medal. After she was returned to her owners in March 1802, she may have been wrecked in the Mediterranean that same year.
HMS Milbrook was one of six vessels built to an experimental design by Sir Samuel Bentham. After the Royal Navy took her into service in her decade-long career she took part in one notable single-ship action and captured several privateers and other vessels, all off the coast of Spain and Portugal. She was wrecked off the coast of Portugal in 1808.
HMS Eling was one of six vessels built to an experimental design by Sir Samuel Bentham. It is not known when she was launched, though it may have been in 1796. After the Admiralty purchased her in 1798 for the Royal Navy she took part in several campaigns and captured a privateer and other vessels. She was broken up in 1814 after several years in ordinary.