| Builder | Amsterdam [1] |
| Launched | 1781 [1] |
| Fate | Sold c.1785 |
 Great Britain | |
|---|---|
| Name | Roselle |
| Acquired | c.1785 by purchase |
| Captured | 8 January 1798 |
| Fate | Last listed in 1798 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen | 320, [1] or 351 [2] (bm) |
| Complement |
|
| Armament |
|
Roselle was launched in 1781 in Amsterdam, probably under another name. She entered British records in 1786. She spent much of her career as a West Indiaman, sailing between Leith and Jamaica. A Spanish warship captured her in 1798.
Roselle first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1786. [1]
On 21 October 1786, an advertisement appeared in the Edinburgh Evening Courant announcing that Roselle was planning to sail to Jamaica. The Scottish poet Robert Burns had been offered a position as a bookkeeper on a slave plantation in Jamaica that he was considering accepting. Roselle was one of three vessels on which he booked passage, though in the end he did not accept the position. The artist Graham Fagen used the sketch in the advertisement as inspiration of his own print of Roselle for the National Galleries of Scotland. [4]
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source & notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1786 | T.Hogg | Sims & Co. | London–Quebec | LR |
| 1790 | T.Hogg T.Liddle | Sims & Co. Sibbald & Co. | Jamaica–Leith | LR |
| 1793 | T.Liddle | Sibbald & Co. | London–Jamaica | LR; repairs 1791 & 1792 |
War with France had broken out in early 1793. Captain Robert Liddell acquired a letter of marque on 15 November 1793.
Captain John Stables acquired a letter of marque on 11 February 1796.
| Year | Master | Owner | Trade | Source & notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1796 | T.Liddle J.Stables | Sibbald & Co. | Leith–Jamaica | LR; repairs 1791 & 1792, & good repair 1795 |
On 13 June 1797, Lloyd's List (LL) reported that Roselle, Liddle, master, had arrived at Jamaica from Leith with an American brig that she had recaptured. The brig had been sailing from Martinique to Boston. [5] The brig was Neptune, of 138 tons burthen, of Boston, William Blanchard, master. The French privateer schooner Trippone had captured her on 7 April, and had put a prize crew aboard. Neptune delivered Blanchard and his crew to St Thomas. She then proceeded on her way to Curacao, on which journey Roselle recaptured her. The Vice admiralty court at St. Jago de la Vega, Jamaica, awarded Roselle, John Staples, master, one-sixth of the value of the brig, plus costs and expenses to the captors. [6]
On 8 January 1798, a Spanish warship of 64-guns, captured Roselle and took her into Havana. Roselle had been on her way from Jamaica to Norfolk. [7] The Spanish warship was Juno, of twenty-six 12-pounder guns, eight 6-pounder guns, and four "pedreros" of 3-pounds. She had a crew of 294 men. Lieutenant of frigates Vicente Lago sailed her to Havana, on the way outsailing two large British vessels that tried to recapture Roselle. Roselle and another British vessel, Henry, also taken in prize, were worth 100,000 pesos. [3]
The Spanish took Roselle into service under the command of Vicente Lago. Later, while captain of the schooner Aragonesa, he beat another English schooner of much superior force on the coast of Cartagena de Indias. [8]
Roselle was last listed in LR in 1798. In 1798 Sibbald & Co., acquired a second Roselle.
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HMS Reindeer was a Royal Navy 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, built by Samuel & Daniel Brent at Rotherhithe and was launched in 1804. She was built of fir, which made for more rapid construction at the expense of durability. Reindeer fought in the Napoleonic Wars before succumbing in 1814 to the guns of USS Wasp during the War of 1812.
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On Thursday 21st inst launched off the stocks at Mr Isaac Skinner's shipyard his Majesty's Schooner "Haddock". The above schooner is said to be the completest vessel ever built in Bermuda
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HMS Diligent was the French naval brig Diligent, launched in 1800, that HMS Renard captured in 1806. The Royal Navy took her into service under her existing name, which it later changed, first to Prudente, and then to Wolf. During her two years of active duty with the Royal Navy she captured two small privateers. Wolf was laid up in 1808 and sold in 1811.
The French corvette Bacchante was launched in 1795 as the second of the four-vessel Serpente class of corvettes. She served for almost two years as a privateer, before returning to the service of the French Navy. After HMS Endymion captured her in 1803, the Royal Navy took her in under her existing name as a 20-gun post ship. Bacchante served in the West Indies, where she captured several armed Spanish and French vessels before the Navy sold her in 1809.
The French brig Amarante, was launched in 1793 at Honfleur for the French Navy. The British Royal Navy captured her at the end of 1796 and took her into service as HMS Amaranthe. She captured one French vessel in a single-ship action before she was wrecked near Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 1799.
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 Echo, launched in 1797 at Dover, was a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy. She served on the Jamaica station between 1799 and 1806, and there captured a small number of privateers. The Navy sold her in 1809 and she became a whaler. She made four complete whale-hunting voyages but was wrecked in the Coral Sea in April 1820 during her fifth whaling voyage.
HMS Swallow was an 18-gun Albatross-class brig-sloop of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1795 and sold in 1802. During her naval career she captured a number of French privateers while on the Jamaica station. After her sale she became an armed whaler sailing under a letter of marque. As a privateer she captured two French whaling vessels but then is no longer listed after 1810.
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HMS Snake was a British Royal Navy ship launched in 1797 as the only member of her class of brig-sloops. She captured or destroyed two French privateers and one Danish privateer. She also captured numerous small merchantmen, but spent time escorting convoys to and from the West Indies. She was sold in 1816.
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