| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Builder: | Leith |
| Launched: | 1804 |
| Fate: | Last listed 1809 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen: | 201 (bm) |
| Armament: | 10 × 18-pounder carronades |
Lord Melville was launched in Leith in 1804. She served as a government transport, and was probably present at the Battle of Copenhagen (1807) as an armed transport. She was last listed in 1809.
Lord Melville first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1804. [1]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1804 | Js. Brown | Menzies & Co. | Leith transport | LR |
| 1807 | J.Brown J.Beatson | Menzies & Co. | Leith transport | LR |
Lord Melville may have been the transport of that name that in 1807 participated in the battle of Copenhagen. She was one of several transports that the commander-in-chief had ordered to be armed and that were carrying pennants, hence qualifying for prize money. [Note 1]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1809 | J.Beatson | Menzies & Co. | Leith government service | Register of Shipping |
Lord Melville was last listed in the registers in 1809.
Notes
Citations
Franchise was launched in 1798 as a 40-gun Coquille-class frigate of the French Navy. The British captured her in 1803 and took her into the Royal Navy under her existing name. In the war on commerce during the Napoleonic Wars she was more protector than prize-taker, capturing many small privateers but few commercial prizes. She was also at the battle of Copenhagen. She was broken up in 1815.
Surveillante entered service as a 40-gun Virginie-class frigate of the French Navy. She was surrendered to the British in 1803, after which she served in the Royal Navy, classed under the British system as a 38-gun vessel, until 1814 when she was decommissioned. HMS Surveillante had a long and active career under two successful and distinguished commanders, from the Baltic to the northwestern coasts of France, Spain and Portugal, and was present at the Battle of Copenhagen (1807) and throughout the Peninsula War. Her record as a taker of prizes is notable for its success, particularly towards the end of her career.
HMS Musquito. was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by John Preston at Great Yarmouth and launched in 1804. She was commissioned in October 1804 under Commander Samuel Jackson. She served in the North Sea and the Baltic, and Jackson supervised the first successful rocket attack in Europe at Boulogne in 1806. After the war she served off Africa and captured some slavers. She was broken up in 1822, having been laid up since 1818.
During the period of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, there were two or three vessels known as His Majesty's hired armed cutter Active that served the British Royal Navy. The reason for the uncertainty in the number is that the size of the vessels raises the possibility that the first and second may have been the same vessel.
Diadem was a sloop launched in 1798. The Admiralty renamed her HMS Falcon after purchasing her in 1801 to avoid confusion with the pre-existing third rate Diadem. Falcon served in the north Atlantic and the Channel, and then in Danish waters during the Gunboat War. She was sold in 1816. Her new owner renamed her Duke of Wellington and sailed her to the Indies under a license from the British East India Company. She was wrecked in 1820 at Batavia.
HMS Nightingale was a 16-gun brig-sloop of the Seagull class of the British Royal Navy, launched in July 1805. She served during the Napoleonic Wars, primarily in the North Sea, where she captured a number of merchant vessels. The Navy sold her in 1815. She then became a merchantman, trading across the Atlantic, particularly between Liverpool and South America. She was last listed in 1829.
HMS Procris was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop launched in 1807. She served at the second battle of Copenhagen. She then went out to the East Indies where she spent the rest of her active service, including participating in the 1811 invasion of Java. She returned to Britain in 1814 and was sold the next year. She then became a merchantman, while retaining her name. She traded primarily with North America but on a voyage in the Mediterranean an armed Greek brig captured her. However, her master was able to regain control. She was wrecked on 25 August 1839.
HMS Curlew was the mercantile sloop Leander, launched at South Shields in 1800. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1803 and named her Curlew as there was already a HMS Leander in service, and the Curlew name was available. Curlew was a sloop of 16 guns. The Navy sold her in 1810 and she returned to mercantile service as Leander. On her first voyage to the West Indies a French privateer captured her in a single-ship action; she was lost shortly thereafter.
Lord Eldon was launched at Sunderland in 1801. She was initially a London-based transport, but new owners contracted with the Admiralty. From certainly 1804 through approximately 1811 she served the British Royal Navy as a hired armed ship. During this period Spanish vessels captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her. Between 1812 and 1813 she underwent lengthening. In 1814 she returned to serving as a transport. She was driven ashore and damaged in 1817; she was no longer listed in 1819.
Several ships have been named Lord Melville after one of the Viscounts Melville:
Lord Melville was launched at Quebec in 1807. She was re-registered at London on 4 March 1808. She entered Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1808.
Hebe was launched in 1804 at Leith. From 27 April 1804 to 30 October 1812 she served the Royal Navy as a hired armed ship and transport. She spent her entire naval career escorting convoys to the Baltic. Afterwards, she became a transport that an American privateer captured in March 1814.
Norfolk was built in France in 1784 under a different name. The British captured her c. 1800 and she made some voyages as a West Indiaman. She also made a cruise as a privateer. Between 1803 and 1808 she served the Royal Navy as an armed defense and hired armed ship on the Leith Station. She spent her time escorting convoys in the North Sea and captured one French privateer. After her naval service, between 1808 and 1814 Norfolk was a London-based transport. From 1814 to 1820 she made four voyages as a whaler in the Southern Whale Fishery. She was last listed in 1823.
Brook Watson was launched in 1796, probably in Holland but possibly in Denmark. She became a prize in 1801 and by 1802 was a whaler in the British Southern Whale Fishery. She made two whaling voyages between 1802 and 1806. She then became a West Indiaman and was last listed in 1809 or 1810.
Horatio was launched in 1800 at Liverpool. She made four voyages as a slave ship, during two of which she was captured and recaptured. Shortly before the British slave trade ended she left the slave trade and sailed between Britain and South America and as a West Indiaman. She was wrecked in 1817.
Magdalen was launched in Mehil, Fife in 1802. From 1804 to 1805 she served on convoy duty in the North Sea for the British Royal Navy as a hired armed ship. She then returned to mercantile service and continued to sail for over 45 years, going as far as Malta and Quebec, though mostly sailing along Britain's coasts. She was last listed in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1853.
Providence was launched in 1790 at South Shields. She initially traded with Saint Petersburg but then in 1804 the British Royal Navy hired her. She remained in Royal Navy service until towards the end of 1812. She returned to trading as a transport, coaster, and to the Baltic. She disappears from the registers between 1835 and 1850. She was wrecked in 1869 and broken up in 1870.
British Tar was launched at Shields in 1803. She first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1803.
HMS Thrasher was launched in 1804 at Brightlingsea, or Colchester as the merchant vessel Adamant. The British Royal Navy purchased her in June 1804, renamed her, and fitted her out as a gunbrig. She captured numerous small merchant vessels, most of them Dutch or Danish. After the Navy sold her in 1814, she returned to mercantile service under her original name of Adamant. She made a voyage to Malta in 1815 and was wrecked as she was returning to London.
Sea Horse was launched in 1782 at Gravesend for the Hudson Bay Company. She then became a merchantman that a French naval squadron captured in 1794. She became the Spanish merchantman Principe Fernando that a Guernsey privateer recaptured in January 1800. She became a merchantman again, and then made one voyage as a whaler. She became a Government transport and it was as a transport that she was wrecked in 1816 with great loss of life.