The first Earl St Vincent
The first hired armed cutter Earl St Vincent (or Earl of St Vincent) served the British Royal Navy from 16 March 1798 to 29 April 1802, when she was returned to her owners. [1] She was armed with 14 or 16 cannon and had a crew of 56 men and was of 185 tons (bm). [2]
In 1798 and 1799 she was in the Mediterranean where she carried letters and despatches for Lord Nelson. In 1799, at least, she was under the command of Lieutenant Sargeant. [3] On 25 July 1800 she captured Revanche. [4]
On 6 May 1800, His Majesty's hired armed schooner Earl St Vincent, under the command of Lieutenant Henry Boys, captured the Spanish privateer Santa Ysabella (alias Saavedra). [5]
In 1801 she was under the command of Lieutenant H. Boys (Boyce) at Plymouth. She sailed on 20 January for Jamaica with the King's proclamation for stopping all Russian, Danish and Swedish vessels. However, between 26 and 28 January she was in company with a number of other vessels at the capture of the French 36-gun frigate Dédaigneuse, afterwards added to the British navy under the same name. [6] On 27 January she was in company with Amethyst and Sirius when they captured the Spanish ship Carlotta. [7] On 5 May Earl St Vincent and Naiad captured Phoenix. [8]
Earl St Vincent returned to Portsmouth on 2 July. When she returned to Plymouth on 8 July she brought in Cheri, a valuable French brig, bound for Bordeaux from Cayenne with a cargo of cocoa, coffee and dye-wood. [9] She and Naiad had captured Cheri on 8 April 1801. [10]
On 21 July Lieutenant Boyce received orders to fit for foreign service and the following day he went into the Sound and sailed with a convoy to the eastward. On 6 August she captured the French schooner Elise, in sight of Diamond. [11] On 26 August she brought in to Plymouth two rich Spanish prizes that she had captured of Cape Ortegal. [12]
On 2 November at the height of a gale, Earl St Vincent, which was moored to the south of St Nicholas' Island (now Drake's Island), parted both anchors and scudded through the sound under bare poles to the entrance of the Cattewater. By skillful steering she ran through two lines of trawlers, missed both pier-heads and finished up on the mud in Sutton Pool, quite safe. [13]
Lloyd's List reported on 22 April 1802 that the Earl St Vincent's cutter had detained Fedre Lunder, Geudt, master, as she was sailing from to Copenhagen, and sent her into the Downs. [14]
HMS Pickle was a topsail schooner of the Royal Navy. She was originally a civilian vessel named Sting, of six guns, that Lord Hugh Seymour purchased to use as a tender on the Jamaica station. Pickle was at the Battle of Trafalgar, and though she was too small to take part in the fighting, Pickle was the first ship to bring the news of Nelson's victory to Great Britain. She also participated in a notable single-ship action when she captured the French privateer Favorite in 1807. Pickle was wrecked in 1808, but without loss of life.
HMS Naiad was a Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate that served in the Napoleonic Wars. She was built by Hall and Co. at Limehouse on the Thames, launched in 1797, and commissioned in 1798. She served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and her last actions occurred in 1824-5. She was paid off in 1826. She then served for many years in Latin America as a coal depot, first for the Royal Navy and then for the Pacific Steam Navigation Company. She was broken up in 1898, 101 years after her launching.
HMS Boadicea was a frigate of the Royal Navy. She served in the Channel and in the East Indies during which service she captured many prizes. She participated in one action for which the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal. She was broken up in 1858.
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 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.
The hired armed cutter Black Joke was a cutter that served the Royal Navy from 12 January 1795 to 19 October 1801. In 1799 she was renamed Suworow, and under that name she captured numerous prizes before she was paid off after the Treaty of Amiens.
During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars the Admiralty also made use of hired armed vessels, one of which was His Majesty's Hired armed cutter Swan. Actually there were two such cutters, but the descriptions of these vessels and the dates of their service are such that they may well represent one vessel under successive contracts. The vessel or vessels cruised, blockaded, carried despatches and performed reconnaissance.
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 eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Royal Navy made use of a considerable number of hired armed vessels. These were generally smaller vessels, often cutters and luggers, that the Navy used for duties ranging from carrying despatches and passengers to convoy escort, particularly in British coastal waters, and reconnaissance.
HMS Moucheron was a French privateer, built in 1799, that the British captured in 1801 and that the British government purchased in 1802 for the Royal Navy. She foundered in 1807 in the Mediterranean without leaving a trace.
HMS Greyhound was a cutter that the British Admiralty purchased in 1780 and renamed Viper in 1781. Viper captured several French privateers in the waters around Great Britain, and took part in a notable engagement. She was sold in October 1809.
During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the British Royal Navy employed at least two cutters designated His Majesty's hired armedcutterNile.
Mutin was a 14-gun cutter of the French Navy, the lead ship of the Mutin class of five naval cutters. She was launched in 1778 and the Royal Navy captured her the next year, taking her into service as HMS Mutine. The Royal Navy renamed her HMS Pigmy in 1798. She was lost in 1805.
HMS Childers was a brig-sloop of the British Royal Navy, initially armed with 10 carriage guns which were later increased to 14 guns. The first brig-sloop to be built for the Navy, she was ordered from a commercial builder during the early years of the American War of Independence, and went on to support operations in the English Channel and the Caribbean. Laid up for a time after the end of the American War of Independence, she returned to service shortly before the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. She had an active career in both the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, capturing numerous French privateers and during the Gunboat War participated in a noteworthy single-ship action. The navy withdrew her from service at the beginning of 1811, at which time she was broken up.
HMS Seagull, was a Royal Navy Diligence-class brig-sloop, launched in 1795. During the French Revolutionary Wars she shared in the capture of a number of small French and Dutch privateers. Then early in the Napoleonic Wars she participated in a notable single-ship action before she disappeared without a trace in 1805.
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.
HMS Cameleon was a Royal Navy Diligence-class brig-sloop, launched in 1795. She was built of fir, which allowed for rapid construction, but at the expense of durability. She captured some small vessels and a privateer, and served in the Mediterranean before being laid up in 1805, and broken up in 1811.
His Majesty's hired armed schooner Lady Charlotte served the British Royal Navy on contract between 28 October 1799 and 28 October 1801. She had a burthen of 120 85⁄94 tons (bm), and was armed with twelve 12-pounder carronades. As a hired armed vessel she captured several privateers and recaptured a number of British merchant vessels. After her service with the Royal Navy, she apparently sailed as a letter of marque until the French captured her in 1806.
His Majesty's hired armed cutter Hirondelle served the British Royal Navy under contract between 23 March 1801 and 19 October 1801. She was of 1693⁄94 tons (bm), and carried two 4-pounder guns and ten 12-pounder carronades.
Three hired armed cutters named Earl Spencer served the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary or Napoleonic Wars. Two, both cutters, served at the same time between 1799 and 1801. A third, variously referred to as a tender or cutter, served from 1803 to 1814.
O'Byrne, William R. (1849). "Shepheard, William". A Naval Biographical Dictionary . London: John Murray.