The hired armed ship Sir Thomas Troubridge or Thomas Troubridge, or Troubridge, or Trowbridge) was a ship that the Royal Navy put her under contract from 7 July 1804 to 9 May 1806. She was of 473 74⁄94 tons burthen (bm), and carried eighteen 6-pounder guns and eight 18-pounder carronades. [1] She had a brief, astonishingly unremarkable career while under contract to the Navy.
Troubridge was one of four vessels that Mr. T. Lockyer, of Plymouth, owned that the government hired at the same time. In reporting the transaction, the Naval Chronicle described Trowbridge as armed with twenty 6-pounder guns and eight 18-pounder carronades. [2] [lower-alpha 1]
Trowbridge's commander from September 1804 was Commander William Bevians. [3] Marshall's biographical note makes no mention of Bevians's period of command of Troubridge. [4]
From 7 October 1804 on, Troubridge was permanently stationed at Galway. [5]
Readily available records do not reveal what happened to Sir Thomas Troubridge after the Navy ended her contract.
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This article includes data released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported UK: England & Wales Licence, by the National Maritime Museum, as part of the Warship Histories project.
HMS Mackerel was a Royal Navy Ballahoo-class schooner of four 12-pounder carronades and a crew of 20. The prime contractor for the vessel was Goodrich & Co., in Bermuda, and she was launched in 1804. Given that she served entirely during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, she had an unusually peaceful and uneventful career, primarily on the Newfoundland Station, before she was sold in 1815.
The Royal Navy used several vessels that were described as His Majesty's hired armed cutter King George. Some of these may have been the same vessel on repeat contract.
His Majesty's hired armed cutter Courier appears twice in the records of the British Royal Navy. The size and armament suggests that both contracts could represent the same vessel, but other information indicates that the second Courier had been captured from the French in the West Indies. On the first contract the captain and crew were awarded clasps to the Naval General Service Medal, one for a boat action and one for a single ship action in which they distinguished themselves.
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.
There were two, and possibly three, vessels named His Majesty's hired armed brig Ann that served the British Royal Navy. The first participated in an engagement in 1807 that would earn her crew the Naval General Service Medal. She is sometimes referred to in sources as the hired armed cutter Ann or the hired armed brig Anne. Little or nothing is known of the second and third hired armed brigs Ann or Anne.
The French lugger Affronteur was launched in 1795 and in 1796-7 participated in the Expédition d'Irlande. In 1803, HMS Doris captured her and she subsequently served the Royal Navy either as a commissioned vessel or, more probably, as His Majesty's hired armed brig Caroline. In 1807 she was either broken up, or became a letter of marque.
His Majesty's hired armed cutter Admiral Mitchell served under two contracts for the British Royal Navy, one at the end of the French Revolutionary Wars and the second at the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars. She participated in several notable small engagements and actions. In 1806 the Admiralty purchased her and took her into service as the Sir Andrew Mitchell in 1807.
During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the British Royal Navy employed at least two cutters designated His Majesty's hired armedcutterNile.
At least two vessels known as His Majesty's hired armed lugger Nile served the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. These may have been the same vessel on sequential contracts.
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.
HMS Spencer was a 16-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, formerly the civilian Sir Charles Grey. The Admiralty purchased her in 1795, after having hired her in 1793-94, and renamed her HMS Lilly in 1800. The French privateer Dame Ambert captured her in 1804 and Lilly became the French privateer Général Ernouf. She blew up in 1805 while in an engagement with HMS Renard.
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.
Lady Warren was a French prize that a Briton purchased c. 1804 and that served as a hired armed ship on a contract to the Royal Navy from 7 May 1804 into mid-1807. She served in the Channel, primarily out of Plymouth, convoying and cruising. During 1805 she detained numerous merchant vessels. She left naval service in early-to-mid 1807 and became a letter of marque merchantman. She was wrecked, without loss of life, in November.
Pretty Lass was a ship launched in 1796 in France that a Briton purchased c.1803. From late 1803 she sailed as a privateer under a letter of marque until the Royal Navy put her under contract from 9 June 1804 to 25 May 1805 as a hired armed ship. She had a brief, unremarkable career while under contract to the Navy. She then carried troops for the unsuccessful second British invasion of the River Plate. Pretty Lass was sunk in 1807 at the River Plate.
There may have been two or possibly three hired armed schooners Princess Charlotte that the Royal Navy took under contract during the Napoleonic Wars.
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 Dart was one of two sloops built to an experimental design by Sir Samuel Bentham and launched in 1796. She served the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary wars and the early part of the Napoleonic wars before being sold in 1809 for breaking up.
Two vessels named His Majesty's Hired armed cutter Industry briefly served the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars as hired armed vessels.
Two vessels named His Majesty's Hired armed cutter Adrian served the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars as hired armed vessels.
Hannibal was an armed ship of 16 guns that the British Royal Navy hired in 1804. On 25 September she was reported to be escorting troop transports from Plymouth to the Downs. She was under the command of Commander Richard James Lawrence O'Connor on 16 November when she drifted from her anchors in the Downs; she was wrecked near Sandown Castle, Isle of Wight. Her crew was saved.