The Placentia class was a class of two sloops of the Royal Navy. John Henslow designed the small sloops for coastal patrol duties off Newfoundland. Their role was "to protect the fisheries and inquiring into abuses.[2] The vessels would sit in the harbour of St Johns over the winter, and then in the spring would be fitted out to visit the ports on the station as soon as the ice had melted.[2]
Jahleel Brenton, who would command Trepassey in 1793, provides an interesting description of her and her sister ship. They were, he said, "…facetiously termed by naval men, a machine for making officers.[2] The vessels initially served in this role through the regular rotation of commanders. Each year the Admiralty would place one lieutenant in command of one of them, and the admiral of the station would appoint the lieutenant commanding the other. The outgoing lieutenants would at the end of the year, or at least just before the admiral of the station left for the winter, go through a nominal invaliding. The Admiralty and the admiral would then appoint their successors from "the cockpit of the Admiral's ship.[2]
Of the eight peacetime (1789-1793) commanders, at least five went on to have distinguished careers:
Each vessel’s crew consisted of a commander, a pilot, and five men. The pilot performed the functions of every class of officer below the commander. In 1792 or so, the Admiralty augmented each vessel’s establishment with two midshipmen.
Placentia was lost before the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. Trepassey served into the Napoleonic Wars, but was too small and weakly armed to serve a major naval role. The Placentia-class sloops were even more puny than the much-maligned Ballahou and Cuckoo-class schooners of the Napoleonic period.
Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet, was a Royal Navy officer. As a captain he was present at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in February 1797 during the French Revolutionary Wars and commanded the naval support at the reduction of Martinique in February 1809 during the Napoleonic Wars. He also directed the capture and Burning of Washington on 24 August 1814 as an advisor to Major General Robert Ross during the War of 1812. He went on to be First Naval Lord and in that capacity sought to improve the standards of gunnery in the fleet, forming a gunnery school at Portsmouth; later he ensured that the Navy had the latest steam and screw technology and put emphasis on the ability to manage seamen without the need to resort to physical punishment.
Vice Admiral Sir Jahleel Brenton, 1st Baronet, KCB was a British officer in the Royal Navy who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
Philip Affleck was an admiral in the Royal Navy. He was the younger brother of Sir Edmund Affleck. Affleck held various commands throughout the latter half of the 18th Century, most notably as commander-in-chief of the Jamaica Station and as a Lord of the Board of Admiralty. Early in his career he fought at the Siege of Louisbourg where he was promoted commander after carrying out a successful cutting-out mission. He was promoted to post-captain a year later after impressing Admiral Edward Boscawen during the Battle of Lagos. Later in his career he joined Admiral Sir George Rodney in the West Indies and took part in the capture of Sint Eustatius. Between 1790 and 1792 he held the position of commander-in-chief of the Jamaica Station and between 1793 and 1796 he held his position as a Lord of the Board of Admiralty. Although his career was marked with long periods of inaction and unemployment Admiral Affleck was known as a good officer and was well respected by his peers.
Admiral of the Fleet Sir William Parker, 1st Baronet, GCB, was a Royal Navy officer. As a captain's servant he took part in the Battle of The Glorious First of June in June 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars and, as a captain, he participated in the capture of the French ships Marengo and Belle Poule at the action of 13 March 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. He was detached on an independent command on the Tagus in September 1831 with a mission to protect British interests during the Portuguese Civil War. As Commander-in-chief of the East Indies and China Station, he provided naval support at various actions between 1841 and 1842 during the First Opium War. Appointed Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet in February 1845, he was briefly First Naval Lord in the First Russell ministry from 13 July 1846 to 24 July 1846 but gave up the role due to ill health before returning to his command with the Mediterranean Fleet.
HMS Algerine was a Pigmy–class 10-gun schooner of the Royal Navy. She was launched in March 1810. She served in the North Sea and then transferred to the West Indies, where she was wrecked in 1813.
Admiral Sir Robert Laurie, 6th Baronet of Maxwelton KCB was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He rose through the ranks after his entry, fighting as a lieutenant under Howe at the Glorious First of June, and being wounded in the action. Shortly after he served in the West Indies and off the American coast, where he operated successfully against enemy raiders and privateers, he was rewarded with the command of the frigate HMS Cleopatra, and in 1805 fought an action with a superior French opponent, Ville de Milan. He was forced to surrender his ship after several hours of fighting, but so heavily damaged the Frenchman that both she and the captured British vessel were taken shortly afterwards when another British frigate HMS Leander, arrived on the scene. Rewarded for his valour and honourably acquitted for the loss of his ship, he served throughout the rest of the Napoleonic Wars. He rose to flag rank after the end of the wars, eventually dying in 1848 with the rank of Admiral of the White. He inherited a baronetcy in 1804, but this became extinct upon his death.
Admiral Sir Peter Halkett, 6th Baronet was a senior Royal Navy officer of the early nineteenth century who is best known for his service in the French Revolutionary Wars. The younger son a Scottish baronet, Halkett joined the Navy and by 1793 was a lieutenant, becoming a post captain after service at the Siege of Williamstadt in the Netherlands. He later commanded the frigate HMS Circe during the Battle of Camperdown in 1797 and later achieved success in the Caribbean in command of HMS Apollo. He was made a rear-admiral in 1812, but his first major command was in the West Indies in 1836, lasting two years. Shortly before his death he inherited the Halkett Baronetcy from his brother Charles, later passing it to his son John.
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.
Rear-Admiral Edward Sneyd Clay was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
Sir Henry Heathcote was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
John Halsted was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
HMS Placentia was the name-ship of her two vessel class, with both vessels being launched in 1789. John Henslow designed the small sloops for coastal patrol duties off Newfoundland. She was wrecked in 1794.
HMS Trepassey was the second vessel of her two vessel class, with both vessels being launched in 1789. John Henslow designed the small sloops for coastal patrol duties off Newfoundland, "to protect the fisheries and inquiring into abuses." In 1793, after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, she accepted the surrender of Miquelon. This appears to have been the highpoint of her career. She disappears from the records in 1807.
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.
HMS Espoir was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1804. She served during the Napoleonic Wars, primarily in the Mediterranean, and then briefly on the North American station. She was broken up in April 1821.
William Taylor was an officer in the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
HMS Calypso was a Royal Navy Echo Class ship-sloop. She was built at Deptford between 1781 and 1783, launched on 27 September 1783 and first commissioned on 1 December 1783 for service off Northern Ireland and Scotland. She served in the North Sea, Atlantic, and the West Indies. Calypso was sunk whilst acting as a convoy escort on 30 July 1803 after colliding with a West Indiaman merchant ship during a violent storm.
HMS Savage 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 and captured a privateer. She grounded in 1814 but was salved. The Navy sold her in 1819.
Gilbert Heathcote was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
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