Career
Lloyd's Register (LR) only started carrying Falmouth packets in 1813. She was listed as having been built at Falmouth in 1800. [1]
Richard Dodd was appointed her master on 26 April 1800. In September 1806 it was reported that Townshend Packet, Dodd, master, had been captured by a French privateer off the Isle of Scilly. [3] [4] She sailed from Lisbon for Falmouth on 7 October and arrived on 16 October.
Roger P. Western was appointed master of Townshend Packet on 24 February 1809.
Townshend Packet was driven from her moorings and onto the ashore at Falmouth on 24 January 1809 but it was expected that she would be gotten off. [5]
At some point between 1809 and 1811 Townshend Packet stopped at Cagliari, Sardinia. She had as passengers to Malta Lord Byron and his companion John Cam Hobhouse. [6]
James Cock was appointed master of Townshend Packet on 30 July 1810.
On 4 May 1811, Townshend Packet was on her way to the Mediterranean when she captured a Batavian government brig, of six guns and 30 men. and sent her into Falmouth. The brig was a rich cargo of spices and dispatches; the Batavian captain sank the dispatches before his vessel was captured. Townshend Packet sent her prize to Falmouth but on the way at the Isle of Scilly HMS Orestes boarded her and then took her into Plymouth, arriving on 14 May. [7] [8]
On 22 November 1812 Townshend Packet, Cock, master, was a few miles short of arriving at Barbados when she encountered two American privateer schooners, Tom, Captain Tom Wilson, and Bona, Captain John Dameron. Though greatly outgunned, Cock resisted.
In the table below, "K" indicates data from Kert; N indicates data from Norway.
| Vessel | Burthen | Armament | Crew |
|---|
| Tom | 227 | 140 (K); 130 (N) | 10 guns (K); 14 × 12&18-pounder carronades + 2 × 9-pounder guns |
| Bona | 112 | 70 (K); 90 (N) | 5 guns (K); 6 × 18-pounder carronades + 1 × 24-pounder gun on a traverse |
| Townshend Packet | 189 | 24 men, 4 boys, and four passengers that assisted (N) | 8 × 9-pounder carronades + 1 × 9-pounder gun (N) |
|
The battle commended at 7:30am with the American fire destroying Townshend Paket's rigging and holing her so that water started to accumulate in her hold. She repelled several attempts by the Americans to board, despite their greatly superior numbers. Finally at about 10am, Cock struck. Her master had been killed and 10 men were wounded, some severely. The Americans took possession of her with Captain Wilson giving Captain Cock a note attesting to his fierce resistance and giving the number of men and armament reported in Norway. Townshend Packet was sinking and the Americans proposed to put Cock into her boats to send the ashore while the Americans set fire to the prize. Cock protested that the boats too were in damaged states and that with many of his men wounded, the boats might well not reach shore. The Americans accepted a bill of exchange for £1200, plundered Townshend Packet, and turned her over to Cock and his men. Cock and his unwounded men repaired her sufficiently to be able to sail her into Barbados at 7pm. [Note 1]
Townshend Packet underwent sufficient repairs to render her seaworthy. She sailed from Barbados early in January 1813. On 18 January she encountered another American privateer schooner. At 3pm the American fired on Townshend Packet and gave chase. Cock fired his 9-pounder stern chasers. At 3:30 he succeeded in bringing down his pursuer's foreyard. Seeing confusion on the pursuer's deck, Cock yawed and fired a broadside that did further damage to his pursuers rigging. Cock then set off again while firing his stern guns. At 4pm the American schooner fell behind and a squall at 4:15pm separated the vessels, enabling Townshend Packet to escape.
Fate
Townshend Packet sailed from Rio de Janeiro on 19 December 1813, bound for Falmouth. On 18 February 1814 the French frigate Clorinde captured Townshend Packet, Captain James Cock, at 48°30′N9°00′W / 48.500°N 9.000°W / 48.500; -9.000 . Although Captain Denis Lagarde flew Portuguese colours in an attempt to trick Cock, Cock surmised that the frigate was French, not Portuguese, and threw his mails overboard before the Frenchmen boarded Townshend Packet. While the French were plundering her, two sails appeared in the distance. The French cut their activities short and sank her.
Clorinde took Cock and his crew on board and they were present, below deck, during the battle on 25 February when HMS Eurotas captured Clorinde. Cock died a few months later. Shortly before Cock's death, the Prince Regent of Portugal presented Cock with a gold medal of honour and the Military Order of the Sword for Cock's services carrying mail between Lisbon and Falmouth.
HMS Belvidera was a 36-gun Royal Navy Apollo-class fifth-rate frigate built in Deptford in 1809. She saw action in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 and continued a busy career at sea into the middle of the 19th century. In 1846 she was reduced to harbour service, in 1860 she became a receiving ship, and she was finally disposed of in 1906.
Liverpool Packet was a privateer schooner from Liverpool, Nova Scotia, that captured 50 American vessels in the War of 1812. American privateers captured Liverpool Packet in 1813, but she failed to take any prizes during the four months before she was recaptured. She was repurchased by her original Nova Scotia owners and returned to raiding American commerce. Liverpool Packet was the most successful privateer vessel ever to sail out of a Canadian port.
The Post Office Packet Service dates to Tudor times and ran until 1823, when the Admiralty assumed control of the service. Originally, the Post Office used packet ships to carry mail packets to and from British embassies, colonies and outposts. The vessels generally also carried bullion, private goods and passengers. The ships were usually lightly armed and relied on speed for their security. However, Britain was at war almost continuously during the 18th and early 19th centuries with the result that packet ships did get involved in naval engagements with enemy warships and privateers, and were occasionally captured.
HMS Dryad was a fifth-rate sailing frigate of the Royal Navy that served for 64 years, at first during the Napoleonic Wars and then in the suppression of slavery. She fought in a notable single-ship action in 1796 when she captured the French frigate Proserpine, an action that would later earn her crew the Naval General Service Medal. Dryad was broken up at Portsmouth in 1860.
Clorinde was a 40-gun Pallas-class frigate of the French Navy, designed by Sané. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1814 and renamed her HMS Aurora. After 19 years as a coal hulk she was broken up in 1851.
Young Teazer was a United States privateer schooner that captured 12 British vessels, five of which made it to American ports. A member of her crew blew her up at Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia during the War of 1812 after a series of British warships chased her and after HMS Hogue trapped her. The schooner became famous for this deadly explosion, which killed most of her crew, and for the folklore about the ghostly "Teazer Light."
Sir John Sherbooke of Saint John, New Brunswick was originally the American brig New Orleans Packet that HMS Guerriere detained in August 1811 and that was condemned at Saint John. Local merchants purchased her and named her after Sir John Coape Sherbrooke, Governor of Nova Scotia. After the outbreak of the War of 1812 she acquired a letter of marque. An American privateer captured her in October 1813.
Princess Amelia was launched in 1799 and became a packet for the British Post Office Packet Service, sailing from Falmouth, Cornwall. She sailed to North America, the West Indies, Mediterranean, and Brazil. In 1800 a French privateer captured her, but she returned to the packet service later the same year. Joshua Barney, in the American privateer Rossie , captured her on 16 September 1812, at the start of the War of 1812. The United states Navy took her into service as HMS Georgia, but then renamed her USS Troup. She served as a guardship at Savannah; the Navy sold her in 1815.
HMS Acteon, was the brig Actéon, launched in France in 1804 as the second of the two-ship Lynx-class. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1805 but laid her up. The Navy finally commissioned her in 1809. She was at the British invasion of Île de France and later served in the Channel, the North Sea, the Baltic, and the Chesapeake. She was broken up in 1816.
Little Catherine was launched in 1801 at Bermuda, probably under another name. She was condemned in prize in May 1809 at Barbados and entered British registry that year. At that time she traded between Liverpool and Africa. In 1813 she became a temporary packet sailing for the Post Office Packet Service from Falmouth, Cornwall. In 1813 the French Navy captured her and abandoned her after taking off her crew. The Royal Navy recovered her three days later. In 1814 an American privateer captured her but the Royal Navy recaptured her within two weeks. Her owner refused to pay salvage and turned her over to the Post Office which returned her to use as a Falmouth packet but renamed her Blucher, in honour of Prince Blucher who had helped defeat Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. The government sold Blucher in 1823. New owners returned her to the name Little Catherine and she continued to sail widely until she was last listed in 1845, having been sold to a Chinese owner. She was wrecked in October 1847.
Walsingham, launched in 1795, was a Falmouth packet. Shortly after her launch a French privateer captured her but the British Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. Her recapture gave rise to a court case. In 1815 she successfully repelled an American privateer in a notable single-ship action. She continued to serve the Post Office until 1826 when she was sold. She was wrecked in 1828.
Queen Charlotte was a Falmouth packet boat, launched in 1807 at Falmouth. She was wrecked at Lisbon in 1814.
Manchester was originally built at Falmouth in 1805, and served the Post Office Packet Service. Hence, she was generally referred to as a packet ship, and often as a Falmouth packet. In 1813 an American privateer captured her after a single-ship action, but the British Royal Navy recaptured her quickly. She returned to the packet trade until 1831 when she became a whaler, making one whaling voyage to the Seychelles. From 1835 she was a merchantman, trading between London and Mauritius. She was last listed in 1841.
Windsor Castle was launched at Yarmouth in 1804. She spent her entire 11-year career as a Falmouth packet, primarily on the Falmouth–Halifax–New York–Halifax–Falmouth route and the Falmouth–Leeward Islands–Falmouth route. She also sailed on some other voyages. She was involved in two notable single-ship actions. In the first, in 1807, she captured her attacker, a French privateer schooner, in a sanguinary encounter. In the second, in 1815, an American privateer captured her. A prize crew took her into Norfolk, Virginia, where she was sold at auction.
Duke of Montrose was a Falmouth packet launched in 1804. She participated in six single-ship actions. During the Napoleonic Wars she captured a French naval schooner but a year or so later a French privateer captured her. She returned to British hands some nine months later. During the War of 1812 she was able to drive off American privateers twice. An American frigate captured her in 1813 but gave her up to her crew, also putting onboard the crews of other vessels the frigate had captured. Then a French frigate also captured her and gave her up after disarming her. She was wrecked at Barbados in 1815.
Bona was launched in 1809. After the outbreak of war with the United Kingdom, Bona took to the sea twice. On her first voyage she cruised as a privateer, engaged in two actions, one of which resulted in taking a merchantman that she had to abandon. Her owners next sent her out as a letter of marque. During this voyage the British captured Bona.
Queen Charlotte was built in Emsworth in 1801. She was a regular packet ship for the Post Office Packet Service, sailing out of Falmouth. She made several voyages across the Atlantic between late 1802 and 16 May 1805 when she was captured. She came back into British hands around 1806. The Post Office took her into temporary service between 1812 and 1817. She then became a whaler off Peru in 1818. She remained in the Pacific Coast of South America until she was condemned there in 1820 as unseaworthy; she was last listed that same year. She may have been repaired and have continued to trade on the coast until 1822.
Lady Mary Pelham was launched in 1811 as a packet based in Falmouth, Cornwall for the Post Office Packet Service. She repelled attack by privateers in 1812 and 1813, the latter being a notable and controversial engagement with an American privateer. Another American privateer captured her in February 1815 in the West Indies. New owners retained her name and between 1815 and at least 1824 she continued to sail to the Continent and South America.
Express Packet was built in France in 1807, probably under another name, and taken in prize circa 1808. From 1809 she sailed as a packet for the Post Office Packet Service out of Falmouth, Cornwall. In 1812 an American privateer captured here in a notable single ship action, but then returned her to her captain and crew after plundering her. Express stopped sailing as a packet in 1817 and then made one more voyage to Spain, after which she disappeared from online records.
Ann was launched in America in 1800, possibly under another name. She transferred to the United Kingdom in 1805. Between 1810 and 1813 she became a temporary packet operating out of Falmouth, Cornwall for the Post Office Packet Service. American privateers twice captured her in 1813 in single ship actions.
Great Britain