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.
Windsor Castle first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1804 with R. Sutton, master, Sutton, owner, and trade Yarmouth-Falmouth.[1] R. Sutton was Robert Shuttleworth Sutton, who had been appointed her captain on 20 June 1804.[2]
On 15 September 1804 Windsor Castle sailed from Falmouth for Jamaica.[3]
1805Windsor Castle arrived at Falmouth on 6 January 1805 after a 46-day journey from Jamaica.[4] She then sailed for Jamaica on 12 February; she arrived at Barbados on 14 April.
On 15 April Windsor Castle left Jamaica. She arrived at Falmouth on 9 June, after a voyage of 56 days.[5]
Captain Sutton sailed from Falmouth on 8 July 1805 and arrived at Halifax on 6 August. Windsor Castle apparently sailed the same day and arrived a New York on 21 August. She remained in New York until 3 October. She then arrived in Halifax on 5 October, left shortly thereafter, and returned to Falmouth on 8 November.[6]
While Windsor Castle was on this voyage LL reported on 27 August that Windsor Castle had been captured while outward bound and taken to Corruna.[7] On 24 September LL reported that Windsor Castle had in fact arrived at Halifax.[8]
On 11 December Windsor Castle sailed from Falmouth to Barbados and Jamaica.
1806 On 20 January 1806 Windsor Castle arrived at Jamaica.[9]
Captain Sutton sailed from Falmouth on 12 May 1806. Windsor Castle left Halifax on 7 June and arrived at New York in June. She left New York on 7 August and left at Halifax on 19 August. She arrived back at Falmouth on 4 September.[6]
On 7 October Captain Sutton sailed from Falmouth, bound for Halifax and New York. She arrived at Halifax on 24 November and New York on 13 December.[6]
1807Windsor Castle sailed from New York on 27 January 1807 and arrived at Falmouth on 4 February.[6]
On 12 March Windsor Castle sailed from Falmouth, bound for Jamaica. She was off Jamaica by 28 April, and arrived back at Falmouth on 11 July, after a voyage of 55 days.[10]
On 28 August Windsor Castle sailed from Falmouth, bound for the Leeward Islands. Sutton remained at Falmouth on this occasion and her master, William Rogers, sailed her as acting captain.
Jeune Richard
Lloyd's List reported on 10 November 1807 that Windsor Castle, of eight guns and 28 men and boys, had on 2 October captured the privateer Jeune Richard, of 14 guns and 96 men, after a two-and-a-half hour engagement. Jeune Richard had 56 men killed and wounded; Windsor Castle four killed and eight wounded. Windsor Castle carried her prize into Barbadoes.[11]
The encounter had taken place at 13°53′N58°1′W / 13.883°N 58.017°W / 13.883; -58.017. The French tried to board Windsor Castle, but her crew repelled the boarding attempt while inflicting heavy casualties on the French attackers. Eventually, the British were able to board Jeune Richard, drive her crew below deck, and capture her.
Captain William Rogers Capturing the 'Jeune Richard', 1 October 1807, by Samuel Drummond
When Windsor Castle arrived at Carlisle Bay, Barbados, Rogers wrote an after-action letter to Admiral Alexander Cochrane, the commander of the Leeward Islands Station. Rogers listed his casualties as amounting to three killed and ten wounded. He gave French casualties as 21 killed and 33 wounded. He described Jeune Richard as having a crew of 92 men, and an armament of one 18-pounder gun and six 6-pounder guns. After he had captured Jeune Richard, Rogers had her crew come on deck one by one and placed irons on them as the survivors still outnumbered his own men. Cochrane wrote a highly complementary letter of transmission to the Admiralty.[12] The victory was widely reported in contemporary papers and journals, and Rogers and his crew were hailed as heroes and lavishly rewarded for their valour.
Windsor Castle arrived at Barbados on 3 October. She arrived back at Falmouth on 20 December, after a voyage of 42 days from Tortola.[13]
1808 On 26 January 1808 Windsor Castle sailed for the Leeward Islands.
Captain Sutton sailed from Falmouth on 7 June 1808. Windsor Castle arrived at Halifax on 26 July and left on 1 August. She arrived at New York on 10 August and left on 10 September. She left Halifax on 27 September and arrived back at Falmouth on 18 October.[6]
1809 Captain Sutton sailed from Falmouth on 15 June 1809. Windsor Castle arrived at Halifax on 13 July and left on 16 July. She arrived at New York on 26 July and left on 18 September. She arrived at Halifax on 27 September and left on 30 September. She arrived back at Falmouth on 29 October.[6]
On 6 November Windsor Castle sailed from Falmouth, bound for Jamaica. She arrived there on 14 December and sailed that day for Barbados.[14]
1810Windsor Castle arrived at Falmouth on 13 February 1810, having sailed from Jamaica on 8 January.
On 22 March she sailed for Jamaica. On 23 April she arrived at Barbados. She sailed from Jamaica on 11 June and arrived off Falmouth on 20 July.
She sailed for Jamaica on 8 August. LL has her arriving at Antigua on 6 August, which is surely a typographical error for September as she arrived at Barbados on 9 September. Windsor Castle left Jamaica on 8 October.
1811 On 28 January 1811 Windsor Castle sailed from Plymouth, bound for Demerara. On 10 March she arrived at Falmouth from Demerara.
On 22 April she sailed from Falmouth to Cadiz and Malta. On 4 August she returned to Falmouth, having left Malta on 12 June and Gibraltar on 11 July.[16]
Windsor Castle arrived at Madeira on 16 September and sailed on the 17th for the Brazils.[17] She arrived at Rio de Janeiro on 25 October.
1812Windsor Castle arrived back at Falmouth on 7 February 1812, having left Rio on 7 November and Bahia on 10 December.[18]
On 1 March she sailed from Falmouth to Jamaica. She returned, and then on 17 June sailed for Malta. On 30 June she was at Gibraltar. She sailed again from Falmouth for Malta on 22 November.
1813Windsor Castle reached Malta and returned to Falmouth on 14 February 1813. On 10 March she sailed from Falmouth, bound for the Leeward Islands. On 5 April she arrived at Barbados after a voyage of 26 days.[19] She arrived back at Falmouth on 31 May. She sailed from Barbadoes on the 7th, St. Lucia on the 8th, Martinique on the 12th, Dominica on the 15th, Guadaloupe on the 18th, Antigua on the 24th, Montserrat on the 25th, Nevis on the 26th, and St. Kitt's on the 29th. She was at Tortola on 2 May and St. Thomas on 6 May.[20]
On 9 August Windsor Castle sailed for Cadiz, Gibraltar, and Malta. She arrived at Cadiz on 24 August. On 19 November Windsor Castle was off Falmouth and proceeded to Stangate Creek. On 28 December she arrived at Falmouth from Stangate Creek.
1814 On 6 February she arrived at Madeira, and on the 8th she sailed for Teneriffe and the Brazils.[21] On 19 March she arrived at Rio de Janeiro.
Windsor Castle sailed on 25 June from Falmouth for the Leeward Islands. She arrived at Barbados on 25 July. On 28 August she left St Thomas, and on 27 September arrived at Falmouth.[22]
On 8 November she sailed from Falmouth, bound for Lisbon and the Mediterranean. She arrived at Lisbon on the 15th, and sailed that same day for the Mediterranean.
Fate
Windsor Castle arrived at Falmouth on 28 January 1815. She had left Malta on 15 December 1814, and Gibraltar on 12 January 1815.[23]
Captain Sutton sailed Windsor Castle from Falmouth on 28 February 1815.[6]
She was on her way to Halifax when she encountered the American privateer Roger, Roger Quarles, master, on 15 March at 36°20′N20°10′W / 36.333°N 20.167°W / 36.333; -20.167. Roger was a schooner of 10 guns and 120 men.[24] Another account gives Roger's armament as ten 12-pounder carronades, two 6-pounder guns, one 51⁄2" howitzer, and one 18-pounder gun on a pivot mount.[25]Windsor Castle had two 9-pounder guns and eight 9-pounder carronades.
During the subsequent action Roger had one man killed and Windsor Castle had four wounded: Sutton, the surgeon, a passenger, and a seaman.[26] Sutton sank the mails before he struck.[27]
The Americans put Sutton, the mate, the carpenter, and a boy on a merchant vessel which took them back to England. The rest of Windsor Castle's crew were confined below deck on her.[25]
Quarles put a prize crew on board Windsor Castle and she and Roger sailed together until 21 March, when they parted. Still, both reached Norfolk about 25 April.[28] After Windsor Castle arrived at Norfolk some members of her crew attacked their guards and attempted to recapture her. Two of her crew were killed in the altercation.[25][27]
Although the capture occurred after the war had ended, a prize court declared Windsor Castle a lawful prize. A Mr. William Taylor purchased her for $7000 at auction on 1 June.[28]
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.
The capture of the Jeune Richard was the result of a naval engagement that took place in the Caribbean on 1 October 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars between the British packet ship Windsor Castle and the French privateer Jeune Richard. In an unequal battle, Windsor Castle, under the command of her acting captain William Rogers, not only defended repeated attacks from the privateer, but finally engaged her, boarded her and after overpowering the much larger crew, forced them below decks, and took the privateer as its prize. The victory was widely reported in contemporary papers and journals, and Rogers and his crew were hailed as heroes and lavishly rewarded for their valour.
HMS Epervier was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, built by Ross at Rochester, England, and launched on 2 December 1812. USS Peacock captured her in 1814 and took her into service. USS Epervier disappeared in 1815 while carrying dispatches reporting the signing of a treaty with the Dey of Algiers.
HMS Surinam was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Obadiah Ayles at Topsham, Exeter and launched in 1805. She captured one privateer during her twenty-year career and took part in two campaigns before she was broken up in 1825.
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 Nimrod was a brig-sloop of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1812. She spent her war years in North American waters, where she captured one small privateer, assisted in the capture of another, and captured or destroyed some 50 American vessels. After the war she captured smugglers and assisted the civil authorities in maintaining order in Tyne. She was wrecked in 1827 and so damaged that the Navy decided she was not worth repairing. A private ship-owner purchased Nimrod and repaired her. She then went on to spend some 20 years trading between Britain and Charleston, the Mediterranean, Australia, and India. She was last listed in 1851.
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.
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.
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.
Hinchinbrook was built in America in 1812. By 1814 she was carrying mails for the Post Office Packet Service from Falmouth, Cornwall. In May 1814 she repelled an attack by an American privateer in a single-ship action. She was wrecked in May 1816.
Bona was launched in 1809 at Baltimore. 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.
Defiance was launched in Hamburg in 1790, probably under another name. She started sailing out of London in 1795 as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She made three voyages as a slave ship between 1795 and 1800. She then left that trade but a French privateer captured her late in 1800.
Grace was launched in New York in 1812. She was taken in prize circa 1814. She then became a Falmouth, Cornwall, packet, sailing for the Post Office. She primarily sailed to New York via Halifax and Bermuda, but also sailed to the Mediterranean and Brazil. She twice encountered American privateers, repelling one and outpacing the other. In 1821 she sailed on a seal and whale hunting voyage to the South Shetland Islands and the coast of Chile. She foundered in the South Atlantic circa May 1823 while homeward bound.
Townshend Packet was launched at Falmouth in 1800 as a packet for the Post Office Packet Service. She made numerous voyages between Falmouth and Lisbon and also sailed to the West Indies, Brazil, and the Mediterranean. She had two engagements with American privateers. In the first the Americans captured her, but then released her. In the second she repelled her attacker. A French frigate captured her in 1814 and then sank her.
Hinchinbroke, of 180 tons (bm), was a packet for the Post Office Packet Service, launched near Falmouth and operating out of Falmouth, Cornwall. She was launched on 6 November 1812 at Mr. Bligh's Yard, near Falmouth. She was under the command of Captain James, whom the Postmaster General had promoted for his "uniformly good and successful conduct while Master of the Marlborough."
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.
Tartar was launched on the River Thames in 1787. Initially, she traded between London and Smyrna. Between 1792 and 1794 she made one voyage to Bengal and back carrying dispatches for the British East India Company (EIC). On her return she became a packet for the Post Office Packet Service, sailing from Falmouth, Cornwall. In June 1796 she was bringing mail from New York back to Falmouth when a French privateer captured her.
HMS Barbadoes was originally a French privateer and then a slave ship named Brave or Braave. A British slave ship captured her in September 1803. From 1803 to 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.
Prince Regent was launched at Falmouth, Cornwall in 1821 as a Post Office Packet Service packet. The Royal Navy purchased her in 1826 and renamed her HMS Cynthia. She was wrecked off Barbados on 6 June 1827.
References
Emmons, George Foster (1853). The navy of the United States, from the commencement, 1775 to 1853; with a brief history of each vessel's service and fate ... Comp. by Lieut. George F. Emmons ... under the authority of the Navy Dept. To which is added a list of private armed vessels, fitted out under the American flag ... also a list of the revenue and coast survey vessels, and principal ocean steamers, belonging to citizens of the United States in 1850. Washington: Gideon & Co.
Howat, J.N.T. (1984). South American packets: the British packet service to Brazil, the River Plate, the West Coast (via the Straits of Magellan), and the Falkland Islands, 1808-80. York, England: Postal History Society in Association with William Sessions. ISBN0900657952.
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