Providence (1790 ship)

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History
British-Red-Ensign-1707.svgGreat Britain
NameProvidence
BuilderJohn Wallis, South Shields1790 [1]
Launched1790 [1]
FateWrecked February 1869
General characteristics [1]
Tons burthen2913⁄94, [2] or 292, or 293, or 302 [3] (bm)
Armament
  • 1793: 2 × 4 + 2 × 3-pounder guns
  • 1805: 14 × 18-pounder carronades
  • 1813: 2 × 4-pounder guns + 6 × 18-pounder carronades

Providence was launched in 1790 at South Shields. She initially traded with Saint Petersburg but in 1804, the British Admiralty hired her to serve Royal Navy as a hired armed vessel. She remained in Royal Navy service until late 1812. She then 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.

Contents

Merchantman

Providence appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1792 with Hutchinson, master and owner, and trade Petersburg–London. [4]

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource
1795A.CairnesHutchinsonPetersburgh–PlymouthLR
1800HutchinsonHutchinsonLondon–PetersburghLR
1805HutchinsonHutchinsonLondon–HamburgLR
1806HutchinsonHutchinsonNewcastle transportRegister of Shipping; thorough repair 1803 & 1804

Hired armed ship

The Royal Navy hired Providence on 16 May 1804. [2] [5] Her captain was Commander Peter Rye. [lower-alpha 1]

On 14 September Providence captured the Prussian vessel Louisa Ulrica. [7]

On 11 April 1805, Providence, the sloop Thames, and HMS Scorpion, captured the Dutch 12-gun schooner Eer (also known as De Eer, D'Eer or Honneur), under the command of Captain Antoine Doudet. She was carrying 1000 stands of arms, two 12-pounder field pieces, two mortars, uniforms for 1000 men, tents, and the like. [8] [9] [lower-alpha 2] [lower-alpha 3] She was also carrying M. Jean Saint-Faust who was traveling to Curaçao to assume command of the naval forces of the Batavian Republic. [11]

On 28 May, Lloyd's List (LL) it reported that the armed ships Providence, Magdalen, Ranger, and Rosina had arrived at Elsinore on 14 May with their convoy. [12]

In late February 1806, Providence was at Cuxhaven, having brought a convoy to the Elbe. In a gale the pilot ran her aground on the island of Pogen during a neap tide; the next high tide was four feet lower. She remained aground for five weeks. During this time the crew worked to lighten her. They put all her stores and provisions in the Danish government's storehouses at Gluckstadt. Danish labourers in six days dug a channel 473 ft (144.2 m) long, 30 ft (9.1 m) wide, and 6 ft (1.8 m) deep. Rye had the crew dig her anchor and keel free, enabling them to repair her caulking. Finally, on 6 April, in the evening, after more digging, Providence floated free. She returned to Cuxhaven, where the senior British naval officer ordered her out of the Elbe to return to Grimsby to avoid any risk of her being detained and her crew made prisoners. [9]

On 1 July 1808 Providence detained and sent into Grimsby Vrow Maria Catharina, Visser, master. [13]

Later, in September 1808, Rye fought off five Danish gunboats in light winds off Jutland. [9] In October Providence escorted a convoy to Karlskrona. This was Rye's only passage through the Belt into the Baltic. [9]

Commander Peter Rye attained post rank on 12 August 1812, but he was on convoy duty. Providence reached the Little Nore on 14 August. On 21 September he made his last entry in her log and he decommissioned her. During his time as her commander he had made 34 voyages to the North Sea and back, and had sailed 40,000 miles. [9] Providence's contract with the Navy ended on 23 September 1812. [lower-alpha 4]

Merchantman

Providence apparently was not listed in LR between the end of her contract with the Royal Navy and reappearance in 1820. She was listed in the Register of Shipping (RS) from 1813 on.

YearMasterOwnerTradeSource & notes
1813J.SpoorHutchinsonShields transportRS; thorough repair 1803, & repairs 1812
1818HutchinsonHutchinsonShields–LondonRS; repairs 1812, & large repair 1817
1820HutchinsonHutchinsonHull–PetersburgLR; large repairs 1815, repairs 1818
1825HutchinsonHutchinsonHull–ShieldsLR; large repairs 1815, repairs 1818 & 1822, small repairs 1824
1830PyleHutchinsonHull–PetersburgLR; large repairs 1815, small repairs 1824, keel & damages repaired 1828
1835"Richn'berg"LR; homeport Newcastle
1840LR – not listed
1845LR – not listed
1850HutchinsonHutchinsonLR
1855B.RobsonHutchinsonShields–MediterraneanLR; large repair 1847, small repairs 1854,
1860H.GazeA.StrongShields–FranceLR; large repair 1847, keel and keelson 1855,
1865J.Hunter
H.Fox		T.TillockShields–MediterraneanLR; large repair 1847, keel and keelson 1855, small repairs 1861, small repairs 1865 & 1866
1869H.FoxT.TillockShields–MediterraneanLR; large repair 1847, keel and keelson 1855, small repairs 1861, small repairs 1865 & 1866

Fate

Providence was wrecked on 13 February 1869, on Corton Sands, near Great Yarmouth. Her entry was closed on the Register on 31 March 1870, with the notation "condemned & broken up at North Shields". This suggests that Providence had been refloated and brought back to Shields for breaking up. [1] Her listing in Lloyd's Register for 1869 carried the annotation "broken up". [3]

Notes

  1. ↑ For more on Commander Peter Rye see: O'Byrne, William R. (1849). "Rye, Peter"  . A Naval Biographical Dictionary . London: John Murray. and [6] .
  2. ↑ Prize money for the capture was paid shortly after 11 November 1805.
  3. ↑ Thames, of 11850⁄94 tons (bm) and ten 18-pounder carronades, served the Navy as a hired armed ship between 12 May 1804, and 6 December 1805. [2] Knight mis-identifies Thames as the frigate HMS Thames, [10] which was not launched until 24 October 1805.
  4. ↑ Rye then commanded Porpoise from April 1813 until October 1814. [14]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 Tyne Built ships – Providence.
  2. 1 2 3 Winfield (2008), p. 393.
  3. 1 2 LR (1869), Seq.№P578.
  4. ↑ LR (1793), Seq.P33.
  5. ↑ Ships Employed on Convoy Duty – May 1805. Accessed 11 January 2020.
  6. ↑ Knight (2024), pp. 18–20.
  7. ↑ "No. 15999". The London Gazette . 10 February 1807. p. 180.
  8. ↑ "No. 15797". The London Gazette . 13 April 1805. p. 511.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Knight (2022), Chap. 5.
  10. ↑ Knight (2022), Chap.5.
  11. ↑ The Gentleman's magazine, Volume 144, pp. 274–5.
  12. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4202. 28 May 1805. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735022.
  13. ↑ LL 1 July 1807, №4265.
  14. ↑ The Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. 189–190, p. 553.

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Prince William was built in Newcastle in 1788. She then traded between England and the Baltic. The Royal Navy first hired her in 1797. His Majesty's hired armed ship Prince William served on two contracts, one during the French Revolutionary Wars and one during the Napoleonic Wars. The Admiralty returned her to her owners at the end of each contract.

London Packet was a merchant vessel launched on the Thames in 1791. She served the Royal Navy as a hired armed ship from 31 March 1793, to at least 30 September 1800, and despite some records, apparently for a year or more beyond that. She then returned to sailing as a merchant man until an American privateer captured her in May 1814.

HMS Porpoise was the former mercantile quarter-decked sloop Lord Melville, which the Royal Navy purchased in 1804 to use as a store-ship.

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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.

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.

Ceres was launched at Kolkata in August 1793 as Lutchmy and renamed in 1794. She sailed to England in 1798 and became a West Indiaman. She was condemned at Barbados in 1806. New owners returned her to service, first as a West Indiaman and then as an East Indiaman. She was damaged at Mauritius in 1818 and although she was listed until 1824, it is not clear that she sailed again after the damage she sustained in Mauritius.

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Rosina was launched at Hull in 1803. She almost immediately became a hired armed ship for the British Royal Navy for about a year. After she returned to her owners she became a West Indiaman and then a transport. She was last listed in 1818.

Good Design was launched in Shields in 1793. She became a Newcastle-based transport. Between 1797 and 1802 she served the British Royal Navy as a hired armed ship, convoying vessels in the North Sea and transporting troops. Her crew qualified for a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal for her service in the 1801 Egyptian campaign. She returned to mercantile service and apparently was lost in 1805.

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References

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