Hired armed cutter Flora (1794)

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HM hired armed cutter Flora served the British Royal Navy under contract from 16 August 1794 until a French privateer captured her on 1 December 1798. Flora was of 15786⁄94 tons (bm), and was armed with fourteen 4-pounder guns. [1]

Contents

Flora, Lieutenant James Reddy, and the hired armed cutter the Stag, captured the French privateer lugger Epervier. [2] [Note 1] Flora had been reconnoitering Dunkirk when she captured Epervier, which was armed with two 2-pounder guns and six swivel guns. It had sailed from Havre de Grace on 5 May but had captured nothing. Flora arrived in The Downs on 15 May 1796. [4] Lloyd's List reported on 17 May 1796 that the cutter Flora had captured a French privateer of eight guns and 24 men. The lugger was from Havre and Flora sent her into Dover. [5]

Flora shared with Venerable, Repulse, Tamar, Clyde, and the cutter Princess Royal in the proceeds of the capture on 6 September of Hare. [6]

Flora captured Vriendshaft on the 19 February I797. [7]

On 11 February 1798, Flora, under the command of Lieutenant William Yawkins, captured the Spanish schooner Nuestra Senora del Carmen (alias Nimsa). The schooner had been sold at Lisbon. [8]

At some point Flora recaptured the Swedish brig Dorothea Frederica. [9]

Flora sailed to the Mediterranean where she spent time carrying despatches for Admiral Lord Nelson. On 11 September he sent her to Egypt and she returned on 25 October. [10] On 22 November, Flora was part of a squadron under Nelson that left Naples and sailed to Leghorn, arriving on the 28th. The British took possession of the town, as well as two armed polaccas and a merchant vessel. [11] Consequently, she shared with Vanguard, Culloden, Minotaur, and Terpsichorein the proceeds of the capture on 25 November of the Genoese corvettes Tigre and Eguaglianza off Leghorn. [12] The same vessels shared in the proceeds of the capture three days later of the Genoese polacca Nostra Signora del Carmine. [13]

Flora was under the command of Master William Yawkins on 1 December 1798 and en route to the Cape of Good Hope with mail and despatches when a French privateer captured her. [14] On 15 December Nelson, writing from Naples, mentioned that Flora had been lost. [15]

Notes

  1. ↑ Epervier was an 18-ton "of load" privateer commissioned in Dunkirk in 1793 under Captain Charles Sausted, with 24 men and six guns. In 1796, she was under Jacques-François Leclerc with 2 guns and 18 to 26 men. Demerliac states she was captured in March 1796 off Dunkirk, but mistakes her captor for HMS Flora. [3]

Citations

  1. ↑ Winfield (2008), p.388.
  2. ↑ Steele (1805), p.18, #215.
  3. ↑ Demerliac (2004), n°1644, p.211.
  4. ↑ "No. 13893". The London Gazette . 17 May 1796. p. 475.
  5. ↑ Lloyd's List №2820.
  6. ↑ "No. 14062". The London Gazette . 4 November 1797. p. 1053.
  7. ↑ "No. 15331". The London Gazette . 24 January 1801. p. 119.
  8. ↑ "No. 15067". The London Gazette . 2 October 1798. p. 938.
  9. ↑ "No. 15125". The London Gazette . 16 April 1799. p. 361.
  10. ↑ Nicolas (1845), Vol. 3, p.164.
  11. ↑ Nicolas (1845), Vol. 3, p.177.
  12. ↑ "No. 15486". The London Gazette . 5 June 1802. p. 584.
  13. ↑ "No. 15754". The London Gazette . 13 November 1804. p. 1400.
  14. ↑ Hepper (1994), p. 89.
  15. ↑ Nicolas (1845), Vol. 3, p.201.

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References

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