Mutin was a 14-gun cutter of the French Navy, the lead ship of the Mutin class of five naval cutters. She was launched in 1778 and the Royal Navy captured her the next year, taking her into service as HMS Mutine. The Royal Navy renamed her HMS Pigmy in 1798. She was lost in 1805.
On 17 August 1779 Mutin accepted the surrender of the British cutter Active in the Channel. Active had encountered the combined Franco-Spanish fleet in the English Channel and was unable to escape.[3]
HMS Jupiter captured Mutin, along with her sister Pilote, on 2 October after having dismasted Mutin by gunfire.[4] At the time of her capture Mutin was under the command of Chevalier de Roquefieul.[5]
Royal Navy service
Between 16 November 1779 and 13 December 1780, she was at Portsmouth, being fitted. The Royal Navy named and registered her as HMS Mutine on 22 January 1780.[2] Lieutenant Samuel Cox commissioned her in October 1779 for the North Sea.
Mutine shared with His Majesty's cutters Rambler and Griffin in the capture on 30 December 1780 of the French privateer General Ville Pateaux.[6]
From March 1782 she was under the command of Lieutenant James Hills. On 6 October she captured the French privateer luggerCompte de Valentinois and delivered it to Admiralty control at Spithead.[7]Count de Valentinois was armed with two 3-pounder guns and eight swivel guns. She had a crew of 31 men under the command of Captain Le Dos and had sailed from Cherbourg the previous evening. She had captured nothing prior to encountering Mutine.[8]
In May 1783 Lieutenant Robert Watson replaced Hills. Watson remained in command until Mutine was paid off in 1787 and transferred to Plymouth Dockyard for repairs. There was no work on the ship until 1789, when she underwent an extensive refit at a cost of £3,884.[9][lower-alpha 1]
Mutine was recommissioned in October 1789 under Lieutenant Humphrey West and detailed for Mediterranean service in 1790. From July 1795 she was assigned to the squadron led by Admiral Horatio Nelson, then in position off the coast of Genoa.[9]
French Revolutionary Wars
In January 1797 Lieutenant William Shepheard replaced West. Mutine was renamed Pigmy in 1798. She shared with Arethusa, Netley and the cutter Trial in the proceeds from the detention of two vessels under neutral colours, Federick Molk and Vrow Judith, on 18 and 21 August.[11]
On 8 January 1799, at noon, Pigmy was two miles SE of Durlston Head when she sighted a cutter and two brigs. Pigmy gave chase and at 1:40 succeeded in recapturing the two brigs, Lark and Dion. After securing these two vessels Pigmy continued the chase with the result that at 4pm she succeeded in capturing the French privateer cutter Rancune. Rancune was armed with two swivel guns and had a crew of 21 men under the command of Antoine François Victor Joseph Panpeville. She was 26 hours out of Cherbourg and the two brigs were her sole captures. Lark, Francis Artis, master, was sailing from Cardiff to London with a cargo of bar iron. Dion, Esdras Best, master, was on the same route and with the same cargo.captured the French privateer Rancune.[12] For the remainder of the year, Pygmy operated in Quiberon Bay supporting the Royalist by bringing arms and money.[13]
a brig of unknown name, taken 17 January 1800; and
Anna Louisa, taken 22 January 1800.
In May 1800 Pigmy was part of the Royal Navy squadron assisting at the siege of Genoa. She shared with numerous other British vessels in the proceeds of the row galley cut out by their boats on 21 May,[15] the capture on 23 May of the St Jean Baptiste,[16] the capture of the ketch Albanaise on 4 June that the Royal Navy took into service, and the surrender of the city that same day.[17][lower-alpha 2]
On 20 July 1800, Pigmy was in company Speedy, under the command of Lord Cochrane, in the Mediterranean. They captured the Imperial tartaneMadonna Moseti Petro, which was sailing to Cabrera with a cargo of wood.[19]
On 28 August 1800, the brig Corso, Lieutenant W. Ricketts, commander, and Pigmy were at Cesenatico. Their orders were to destroy the vessels in its harbour, and "make a proper example of the town." The British were unable to approach closely enough so during the night of 30 August Ricketts sent in boats of both vessels under the overall command of Lieutenant James Lucas Yeo, first lieutenant of Corso. The attackers were able to capture the town, sink two boats, and burn 11 others. One of the sunken vessels was deeply laden with copper, money, and bale goods. Four of the vessels sank in the mouth of the harbour, and fire consumed both piers. The British sailors were able to hold off some French infantry, but when Ricketts observed French cavalry approaching he ordered the boats to withdraw.[20]
Afterwards, Ricketts sent the authorities of the town the following note:[20]
To the Inhabitants of Cesenatico.
The Treachery of your Municipality, in causing to be arrested an Officer with Dispatches, has been long known to the British Admiral in these Seas. That Municipality may now sadly know that the Severity of Judgment, long delayed, is always exemplary. That the Innocent suffer with the Guilty, though much to be regretted, is the natural Feature of War; and the more terrible Infliction on this occasion, the more striking the Example should prove to surrounding Municipalities.
(Signed) W. RICKETTS
From September 1800 to June 1801, Pygmy, alone or with Corso, captured several small vessels, some of them armed:[21]
French trabaccolo privateer Bataglia di Marengo, while on a cruise from Ravenna (6 September);
Imperial trabaccalo Divine Providence, sailing from Cesenatriro to France with a cargo of rope (17 September);
Neapolitan polacca brig Madona de Laura, sailing from Trepano to Ponto Gai with a cargo of salt (20 September);
Imperial trabaccolo Divine Providence, sailing from Monopoli to Milan with a cargo of oil (6 October);
Imperial ship Seinge, sailing from Barcelona to Trieste with a cargo of brandy (17 January 1801, with Corso);[lower-alpha 3]
Russian polacca ship Madona Turgliana, sailing from the Morea to Trieste with a cargo of leather (17 January, with Corso);
Danish ship Adonis, detained while sailing from Copenhagen to Trieste with a cargo of stockfish (13 February, with Corso);
Danish brig Madellina Christiana, detained while sailing from Venice to Zante with a cargo of planks (16 February, with Corso);
French trabaccolo Adélaïde (see below);
Imperial trabaccolo Madona del Anunciade, sailing from Trieste to Fiume with a cargo of hemp (27 February, with Corso);
French trabaccolo privateer Achille (15 March, see below, with Corso); and
French brig Prudente, of two guns and 36 men, sailing from Toulon to Alexandria, with a cargo of ammunition, artificers' tools, and "Comedians" (8 June).(Apparently Prudente had some 100 passengers aboard, including troops, and actual comedians.)[13]
The deputies of the Mercantile Insurance Company in Trieste presented Shepheard with a golden snuffbox on 5 January as an expression of their appreciation for his efforts in suppressing "piratical enemies" in the upper Adriatic.[13]
On 18 February 1801, Pigmy captured the French privateer Adélaïde. Adélaïde had been a fishing trabaccolo before her conversion to privateer. She was armed with one 6-pounder and two 12-pounder guns, and had a crew of 51 men under the command of Dominique Cannilla. She was seven days out of Ancona and had taken one small prize.[23] On 26 February Pigmy captured Madona Turliana.[24]
Then on the morning of 16 March Pigmy was on the north side of "Isle Lonzo'" when she sighted and gave chase to another trabaccolo. About two hours later this vessel anchored near the "Isle Molata", hoisted French colours, fired one shot, and then struck. She proved to be the privateer Achille, of four 9-pounder and two brass 6-pounder guns. She had a crew of 44 men and was one day out of Ancona. She had not taken any prizes.[25]
On 17 April Corso and Pigmy captured St Luigi.[26]
Pigmy was among the many vessels that shared in the proceeds of the capture on 9 June of Felicité and Josephine off Alexandria.[27]
The next day, Pigmy spoke with Swiftsure and warned Captain Benjamin Hallowell that a French squadron under Admiral Ganteaume had put to sea. Swiftsure and the French encountered each other on 24 June, with the result that Swiftsure was forced to strike.[28]
Because Pigmy served in the navy's Egyptian campaign between 8 March and 2 September, her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorised in 1850 for all surviving claimants.[1]
On 18 September, Pigmy captured the Ottoman polacca St Michele.[29]Pigmy shared with Pomone, Vincejo, and the privateer Furioso in the proceeds of the capture on 2 October of Bella Aurora.[30]
Shepheard commanded Pigmy until January 1803. He then transferred to take command of Basilisk. His replacement was Lieutenant Martin White, who sailed Pigmy on the Guernsey station.[31] White resigned his command of Pigmy in consequence of ill health,[32] but in March 1804, White transferred to Queen. His replacement on Pygmy was Lieutenant Samuel Burgess.[32] Lieutenant William Smith replaced Burgess in 1805.[2]
Fate
On 10 August 1805 Pigmy was wrecked in Saint Aubin, Jersey, but without loss of life. She was about an hour into her departure to start a cruise when she hit a rock. She was stuck on the rock and repeated attempts to free her were unsuccessful. As the tide ebbed yards were deployed to prevent her healing over, and anchors too with the intent of kedging her off once the tide returned. At the same time boats from other vessels came and took off her stores, guns, and ammunition. Lastly, her crew cut away her masts. As the tide returned it still proved impossible to free her and she started filling with water. Boats took off her crew and by 4pm she had disappeared beneath the water.[33]
The court martial of Smith, his officers, and crew took place in Portsmouth ten days later. The court martial board reprimanded the pilot, but honourably acquitted Smith, his officers, and crew.[34]
Notes
↑ This equates to a relative value of £426,400 in 2014 terms.[10]
↑ A petty officer's share of the prize money for Albanaise was worth 7s 4d; a seaman's share was worth 1s 3d. There was also an allocation of prize money for sundry vessels carrying corn that came into Genoa between 4 and 16 June. A petty officer's share of the prize money was worth 3s 6d; a seaman's share was worth 8d.[18]
↑ Seinge is probably Strange, which Corso captured that day.[22]
HMS Phaeton was a 38-gun, Minerva-class fifth rate of Britain's Royal Navy. This frigate was most noted for her intrusion into Nagasaki harbour in 1808. John Smallshaw built Phaeton in Liverpool between 1780 and 1782. She participated in numerous engagements during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars during which service she captured many prizes. Francis Beaufort, inventor of the Beaufort Wind-Scale, was a lieutenant on Phaeton when he distinguished himself during a successful cutting out expedition. Phaeton sailed to the Pacific in 1805, and returned in 1812. She was finally sold on 26 March 1828.
HMS Meleager was a 32-gun Amazon-class frigate' that Greaves and Nickolson built in 1785 at the Quarry House yard in Frindsbury, Kent, England. She served during the French Revolutionary Wars until 1801, when she was wrecked in the Gulf of Mexico.
Mutine was an 18-gun Belliqueuse-class gun-brig of the French Navy, built to a design by Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait, and launched in 1794 at Honfleur. She took part in the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where the British captured her. She was recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Mutine, and eventually sold in 1803.
HMS Cerberus was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars in the Channel, the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, and even briefly in the Baltic against the Russians. She participated in one boat action that won for her crew a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM). She also captured many privateers and merchant vessels. Her biggest battle was the Battle of Lissa, which won for her crew another clasp to the NGSM. She was sold in 1814.
HMS Mercury was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built during the American War of Independence and serving during the later years of that conflict. She continued to serve during the years of peace and had an active career during the French Revolutionary Wars and most of the Napoleonic Wars, until being broken up in 1814.
The trabàccolo, trabaccalo, trabacalo or trabakul, is a type of Adriatic Sea sailing coaster. The name comes from the word trabacca, which means tent, which in turn recalls the vessel's sails. The trabàccolo was a typical Venetian boat-form that dates back to the first half of the 15th century and that spread throughout the Adriatic. Built of oak and larch, trabàccoli were slow but reliable cargo vessels ranging between 50 and 200 deadweight tons. They had round bows and sterns, and were wide, compact, and with good stowage. Other characteristics included a large rudder that extended below the depth of the keel, two masts with lug sails and rigging, a bowsprit, and a carved and colorfully painted stern. The usual such vessel was about 20 metres long, with a breadth equal to about a third of the length. Typically a trabàccolo would have a crew of 10 to 20 sailors.
The hired armed cutter Black Joke was a cutter that served the Royal Navy from 12 January 1795 to 19 October 1801. In 1799 she was renamed Suworow, and under that name she captured numerous prizes before she was paid off after the Treaty of Amiens.
The Royal Navy used several vessels that were described as His Majesty's hired armed cutter King George. Some of these may have been the same vessel on repeat contract.
His Majesty's Hired armed cutter Lurcher was a 12-gun cutter that served the Royal Navy from 15 August 1795 until 15 January 1801 when a French privateer captured her in the Channel.
HMS Entreprenante, was a 10-gun cutter that the Royal Navy captured from the French in 1798. The British commissioned her in 1799 and she served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, participating in the Battle of Trafalgar. She has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name. She took part in several small engagements, capturing Spanish and French ships before she was sold in 1812 for breaking up.
His Majesty's hired armed cutter Telemachus served the Royal Navy from 17 June 1795 until 15 January 1801. She was of 1285⁄95 tons (bm), and carried fourteen 4-pounder guns. During her five and a half years of service to the Royal Navy she captured eight French privateers as well as many merchant vessels.
HMS Racoon was a brig-sloop built and launched in 1795. She served during the French Revolutionary Wars and in the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars. She had an active career under several captains, working essentially independently while capturing or destroying some 20 enemy privateers and naval vessels. Several of the captures involved engagements that resulted in casualties on Racoon as well as on her opponents. She was broken up early in 1806.
HMS Greyhound was a cutter that the British Admiralty purchased in 1780 and renamed Viper in 1781. Viper captured several French privateers in the waters around Great Britain, and took part in a notable engagement. She was sold in October 1809.
During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the British Royal Navy employed at least two cutters designated His Majesty's hired armedcutterNile.
Salamine was originally the Spanish Navy's Infante 18-gun brig, built in 1787 at Cadiz. The French Navy captured her at Toulon in December 1793 and recommissioned her; they renamed her on 10 May 1798 as Salamine, for the battle of Salamis. On 18 June 1799, HMS Emerald captured her and she was brought into Royal Navy service as HMS Salamine. She served briefly in the Mediterranean, where she captured two French privateers and several merchant vessels before the Royal Navy sold her at Malta in 1802, after the Treaty of Amiens ended the war with France.
HMS Cameleon was a Royal Navy Diligence-class brig-sloop, launched in 1795. She was built of fir, which allowed for rapid construction, but at the expense of durability. She captured some small vessels and a privateer, and served in the Mediterranean before being laid up in 1805, and broken up in 1811.
The French brig Suffisante was launched in 1793 for the French Navy. In 1795 the Royal Navy captured her and took her into service under her existing name. HMS Suffisante captured seven privateers during her career, as well as recapturing some British merchantmen and capturing a number of prizes, some of them valuable. She was lost in December 1803 when she grounded in poor weather in Cork harbour.
His Majesty's hired armed schooner Lady Charlotte served the British Royal Navy on contract between 28 October 1799 and 28 October 1801. She had a burthen of 120 85⁄94 tons (bm), and was armed with twelve 12-pounder carronades. As a hired armed vessel she captured several privateers and recaptured a number of British merchant vessels. After her service with the Royal Navy, she apparently sailed as a letter of marque until the French captured her in 1806.
HMS Pilote was a cutter launched for the French Navy at Dunkirk in 1778. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1779 and took her into service under her existing name. It sold her in 1799.
El Corso was launched in Spain in 1791 as a naval brig. the British Royal Navy captured her in 1796 and took her into service as HMS Corso. She then served in the Mediterranean where she captured numerous small vessels, the great majority of which were merchant vessels. In 1802 she sailed to England. From July 1802 to her sale in September 1814 she served as a receiving ship.
References
Demerliac, Alain (1996). La Marine de Louis XVI: nomenclature des navires français de 1774 à 1792. ISBN978-2-906381-23-0.
Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot. ISBN0-948864-30-3.
Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours. Vol.1. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. p.319. ISBN978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC165892922.
Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships of the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN9781844157006.
Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN978-1861762467.
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