Robert was a 16-gun French privateer corvette launched in 1793 at Nantes. The British captured her in 1793 and named her HMS Espion. The French recaptured her in 1794 and took her into service as Espion. The British recaptured her in 1795, but there being another Espion in service by then, the British renamed their capture HMS Spy. She served under that name until the Navy sold her in 1801. Spy then became a slave ship, a merchantman to South America, and privateer again. The French captured her in mid-1805 and sent her into Guadeloupe.
Perrotin & Son commissioned Robert in Nantes in February 1793; on 15 February Captain François-Marie Pied acquired the 8th letter of marque for the war with England issued at Nantes.[7]
She recaptured two French vessels while on her first cruise. One was the East IndiamanTrajan, Captain Joseph Boudel, which was coming from Pondicherry.[7][8]Thetis had captured her. Robert sent her into Bordeaux. The other vessel was Titus, which an English privateer had captured. Robert sent her too into Bordeaux, where her cargo was sold.
Captain Jacques Moreau replaced Boudel. Robert sailed from Bordeaux on 3 June.[7] It was on this cruise that the British captured her.
The frigate HMSSyren, Captain John Manley, captured Robert on 13 June 1793 in the Bay of Biscay after a chase of 28 hours.[8] One report gave Robert 22 guns and a complement of 200 men, but all other reports trimmed this to 16 carriage and eight swivel guns, and 170 men.[9][10]Robert had been out three days from Bordeaux, had captured nothing.
HMS Espion
The Royal Navy commissioned HMS Espion in March 1794 under the command of Commander William Hugh Kittoe, for the Channel. On 22 July 1794 Tamise and two other French frigates captured Espion south of the Isles of Scilly.[1] Kittoe was so outnumbered and outgunned that he struck without resistance.[11] The French Navy took her into service as the corvette Espion.[12][1]
Espion
On 23 August 1794, HMSFlora, Captain John Borlase Warren, and HMSArethusa, Captain Sir Edward Pellew, chased two French corvettes, Alerte and Espion into Audierne Bay. The two corvettes anchored off the Gamelle Rocks, but when they saw that the British intended to capture them, their captains got under weigh and ran their vessels aground below the guns of three shore batteries. The corvettes continued to exchange fire with the two British frigates until early evening, when the corvettes' masts fell. At that point many of the French crewmen abandoned their vessels and went ashore. Warren sent in the boats from both Flora and Arethusa, all under Pellew's command, with orders to set fire or otherwise destroy the two corvettes. Pellew went in and took possession of both, but determined that he could not extract the wounded. Pellew therefore left the vessels, which he determined were bilged and scuttled, with rocks having pierced their bottoms, and left with 52 prisoners. Pellew estimated that Alerte had suffered 20 to 30 men killed and wounded, and that Espion had lost more.[13]
Alerte was a total loss,[14] but the French Navy was able to refloat Espion, which had been under the command of lieutenant de vaisseauMagendie.[15][16][lower-alpha 1] She then spent time in the Brestroadstead before cruising in the Atlantic and returning to Brest.[17]
On 4 March 1795, the British frigate Lively captured Espion about 13 leagues off Ushant. Espion was armed with eighteen 6-pounder guns and had a crew of 140 men. She was five days out of Brest on a cruise.[18]Lively was under the command of Captain George Burlton, acting in the absence of Captain Viscount Lord Garlies, who was sick on shore, commanded Lively.[19]
Nine days later, Lively captured the French corvette Tourterelle, and two vessels that Tourterelle had been escorting, which had been prizes to Espion.[19]
HMS Spy
As the Royal Navy by this time had another HMS Espion, the Navy took Espion into service on 20 May 1795 and renamed her Spy. She then was at Portsmouth fitting out until November. She was recommissioned under J. Walton. In January 1796 Commander James Young assumed command for The Downs station. A year later Commander William Grosvenor replaced Young, and remained in command until December 1799.[2] In August 1797 Spy recaptured four vessels.[20] She appears to have spent her time escorting convoys in the Channel. For instance, on 5 March 1799 Spy passed Plymouth, escorting a convoy of coasters westward.[21]
Commander Charles Hay replaced Grosvenor.[2] On 14 August 1800, Spy left Plymouth with the London trader George and Francis, Hoskins, master, under convoy for London.[22]
The Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy offered the "Spy 275 tons burthen" for sale at Plymouth on 7 September 1801.[23] She sold that day for £710.[2]
Mercantile service
The supplement to Lloyd's Register for 1802 showed Spy, with Vaughn, master, and "Swansea", as owner, having undergone a refit in 1802.[24] Her trade was London-Africa. A database of slave voyages from London showed Spy, Robert Vaughn, master, and James Swanzy, owner, made one voyage in 1803 carrying slaves from the Gold Coast to British Guiana. Spy sailed from London on 8 August 1802. She gathered her slaves first at Cape Coast Castle and then at Anomabu, which was 16 kilometres away. She left Africa on 18 January 1802 and arrived at Demerara in March. She carried some 300 slaves. She arrived back at London on 13 May.[25]
Year
Master
Owner
Trade
Source
1802
R.Vaughn
Swanzy
London–Africa
RS; large repair 1802
1802
Vaughn
Swansea
London–Africa
LR
1803
Vaughn Clarke
Swansea Hurry & Co.
London–Africa London–South Seas
LR
The entry in Lloyd's Register for 1802 carried over to 1803, but an addendum to the entry in the 1803 Lloyd's Register noted that Spy had a new master, Clarke, and new owner, Hurry & Co. Her trade became the South Seas. Captain Welham Clarke acquired a letter of marque for Spy on 26 July 1803.[6]Spy sailed for the South Seas on 11 September.[26] On 21 December Spy was at Rio de Janeiro with destination "S° Seas". However, she sailed as a merchantman, not a whaler.
Spy, Clarke, master returned to England on 14 October 1804. At Portsmouth she landed several tons of gold and silver belonging to Mr. Hurry, of Gosport. These were the proceeds of her cargo of manufactures that she had sold to the inhabitants of South America. The bullion was deposited in the Gosport Bank.[lower-alpha 2] The next day the bullion, in 100 casks and boxes, traveled in three wagons under strong guard to the Bank of England. The bullion weighed about 10 tons and its value was estimated at £100,000. It included £47,000 in new dollars.[29] She arrived at Gravesend on 26 October with Burrowes, master.
Captain Edward Dyer (or Dwyer), acquired a letter of marque on 14 March 1805.[6] The scale of her armament and the size of her crew signal that she was now a privateer.
On 14 April there arrived at Plymouth Zes Gesusters, DeVries (or DeVrees), master. She had been coming from Lisbon when Spy, Dwyer, master, had detained her.[30]
Fate
Lloyd's List of 2 August 1805 reported that the privateer Spy, of London, Dwyer, master, had been captured and taken into Guadeloupe.[31]
Lloyd's Register continued the entry from the 1803 addendum, including Clarke as master, unchanged until at least 1811. Some sources have Spy engaging in whaling between 1810 and 1813, though the whaling voyages database does not show that.[26] The Register of Shipping for 1805 had an entry for Spy that still showed Clarke as master, and Hurry & Co. as owner. It gave Spy's trade as London-Madeira.[4]
Notes
↑ Quintin & Quintin give the name Espoir instead of Espion, apparently in error.[16] A Hasard-class brig Espoir was in commission at the time, but she was not captured on 2–3 March 1795.
↑ The Gosport Bank (aka Jukes, Langley & Jukes) operated between 1803 and 1810, when it failed. It was a provincial bank and issued bank notes.[28]
HMS Indefatigable was one of the Ardent-class 64-gun third-rate ships-of-the-line designed by Sir Thomas Slade in 1761 for the Royal Navy. She was built as a ship-of-the-line, but most of her active service took place after her conversion to a 44-gun razee frigate. She had a long career under several distinguished commanders, serving throughout the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. She took some 27 prizes, alone or in company, and the Admiralty authorised the issue of four clasps to the Naval General Service Medal in 1847 to any surviving members of her crews from the respective actions. She was broken up in 1816.
HMS Lively was a 32-gun fifth-rate Alcmene-class frigate of the British Royal Navy launched on 23 October 1794 at Northam, Devon. She took part in three actions one a single-ship action, one a major battle, and one a cutting-out boat expedition – that would in 1847 qualify her crews for the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal. Lively was wrecked in 1798.
Révolutionnaire, was a 40-gun Seine-class frigate of the French Navy, launched in May 1794. The British captured her in October 1794 and she went on to serve with the Royal Navy until she was broken up in 1822. During this service Revolutionnaire took part in numerous actions, including three for which the Admiralty would in 1847 award clasps to the Naval General Service Medal, and captured several privateers and merchant vessels.
Psyché was a 36-gun vessel built between February 1798 and 1799 at Basse-Indre (Nantes) as a privateer. As a privateer she had an inconclusive but bloody encounter with HMS Wilhelmina of the Royal Navy, commanded by Commander Henry Lambert, off the Indian coast in April 1804. The French then brought her into service in June 1804 as the frigate Psyché. In February 1805 she encountered HMS St Fiorenzo, under the command of the same Henry Lambert, now an acting captain. After a sanguinary engagement of over three hours, Psyché surrendered. The British took her into service as HMS Psyche. In British service she captured several prizes and took part in the capture of Mauritius and in an operation in Java. She was broken up at Ferrol in 1812.
HMS Amethyst was a Royal Navy 36-gun Penelope-class fifth-rate frigate, launched in 1799 at Deptford. Amethyst served in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, capturing several prizes. She also participated in two boat actions and two ship actions that won her crew clasps to the Naval General Service Medal. She was broken up in 1811 after suffering severe damage in a storm.
HMS Cleopatra was a 32-gun Amazon-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had a long career, seeing service during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. During the latter wars she fought two notable engagements with larger French opponents. In the first engagement she was forced to surrender, but succeeded in damaging the French ship so badly that she was captured several days later, while Cleopatra was retaken. In the second she forced the surrender of a 40-gun frigate. After serving under several notable commanders she was broken up towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars.
Gracieuse was a 32-gun Charmante-class frigate of the French Navy. Renamed to Unité in 1793, she took part in the French Revolutionary Wars. The Royal Navy captured her in 1796 off Île d'Yeu and brought her into British service as HMS Unite. She was sold in 1802
HMS Moucheron was a French privateer, built in 1799, that the British captured in 1801. The British government purchased her in 1802 for the Royal Navy. She foundered in 1807 in the Mediterranean without leaving a trace.
HMS Hawk was an 18-gun sloop-of-war, previously the French privateer Atalante, that HMS Plantagenet captured in 1803. The Royal Navy took Atalante into service as HMS Hawk; she foundered in 1804.
HMS Hyaena was a 24-gun Porcupine-class post-ship of the Royal Navy launched in 1778. The French captured her in 1793, took her into service as Hyène, and then sold her. She became a privateer that the British captured in 1797. The Royal Navy took her back into service as Hyaena and she continued to serve until the Navy sold her in 1802. The shipowner Daniel Bennett purchased her and renamed her Recovery. She made seven voyages as a whaler in the Southern Whale Fishery and was broken up 1813.
HMS Alert was launched in 1793 for the Royal Navy. In May 1794 the French Navy captured her and took her into service as Alerte. A few months later the Royal Navy destroyed her.
Éole was an 18-gun corvette of the French Navy, launched, captured, and later commissioned in the Royal Navy in 1799 as HMS Nimrod after her capture by HMS Solebay. She was then "the finest and most handsome ship-sloop in the British navy". She was sold in 1811. Nimrod made three whaling voyages between 1811 and 1819. On her first she captured several American whalers. Nimrod was last listed in 1820.
HMS Rosario was a 20-gun sixth rate of the British Royal Navy. She was previously the French privateer Hardi, which HMS Anson captured in 1800. The navy took her into service as HMS Hardi but renamed her HMS Rosario later in 1800. She was sold in 1809.
Diamond was launched in 1798 at Quebec. French privateers captured her three times, the third time retaining her. In between she carried slaves. Her third capture occurred while she was on a whaling voyage. Her last voyage took her from Île de France to Bordeaux where she was decommissioned in January 1809.
Esther was launched in 1783 and entered British hands as a French prize of 1793. She took part in a notable single-ship action in 1794 in which she repelled a French privateer. Between 1801 and 1805 she made four slave trading voyages. A French privateer captured her in a sanguinary single-ship action in 1805.
Otway was a French or Spanish vessel built in 1799 that became a Liverpool-based slaver in 1800. She made four voyages delivering slaves from West Africa to the West Indies before the French Navy captured her in 1806. She became the Guadeloupe-based privateer Alerte and captured a number of British merchantmen before the Royal Navy captured her i October 1807.
Crescent was launched at Rotherhithe in 1790. She initially traded with the Levant, particularly Smyrna. After the outbreak of war with France she may have tried her hand as a privateer. In 1796–1798 she made a voyage to the East Indies, almost surely on behalf of the British East India Company (EIC). A French privateer captured her but the British Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. In 1802-1804 she made one voyage as a slave ship carrying slaves from West Africa to Jamaica. In 1805 she became a whaler. She was lost in 1807 off Patagonia while homeward bound from her first whaling voyage.
John Bull was a French vessel that from 1800 to circa 1805 sailed as a British privateer operating out of Jersey. Her master was plaintiff in a notable case involving the law of salvage. She returned to mercantile trading and was wrecked in 1810.
Vaillant was a privateer corvette launched in 1801 at Bordeaux. She made several cruises before the British Royal Navy captured her in June 1805. The Navy took her into service as HMS Barbette but never commissioned her or fitted her for sea. It sold her for breaking up in 1811.
HMS Barbadoes was originally a French privateer and then slave ship named Brave or Braave. A British slave ship captured her in September 1803. In 1803–1804 she became the British privateer Barbadoes for a few months. In 1804 the inhabitants of Barbados purchased her and donated her to the Royal Navy, which took her into service as HMS Barbadoes. She wrecked on 27 September 1812.
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Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours. Vol.1. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. ISBN978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC165892922. (1671-1870)
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