Anson was wrecked on 29 December 1807. Trapped by a lee shore off Loe Bar, Cornwall, England, she hit the rocks and between 60 and 190 men were killed. The subsequent treatment of the recovered bodies of drowned seamen caused controversy, and led to the Burial of Drowned Persons Act 1808.
The Intrepid-class design had been originally approved in 1765, so by the time Anson was launched it was over 15 years old. During that period, the design of ships-of-the-line had evolved, with the standard size and layout now being the seventy-four. Anson was therefore rather small and less solidly built than most of her contemporaries.
Anson fought at the battle of Les Saintes on 12 April 1782 under the flag of Admiral Sir George Rodney against Admiralde Grasse. She was in the rear division, which was under the command of Rear-Admiral Francis Samuel Drake. In this engagement, CaptainWilliam Blair was one of the two Royal Navy post captains killed. Captain Blair was struck at waist level by a French cannonball and horrifically sliced in two.[2]
In all Anson lost three men killed (including Blair), and 13 men wounded.[3]
Conversion to a frigate
Experience with 64-gun ships throughout the navy, at the Battle of the Saintes and elsewhere, had shown that they were now too poorly armed and weakly built to stand in the line of battle against larger ships-of-the-line. Rather than dispose of the ships entirely, the Royal Navy subjected some ships to a razee – removing the uppermost deck (and its armament) to produce a large frigate. The subsequent razee frigate was more heavily armed and built than a typical purpose-built frigate, though was not as fast and easy to handle in strong winds.
Anson was chosen for this process and in 1794 the ship was razeed. The original forecastle and quarterdeck were removed, and the former upper deck (now weather or spar-deck) was partially removed and restructured to provide a new forecastle and quarterdeck. The result was a frigate of 44 guns, with a primary gun deck armament of twenty-six 24-pounder cannon (most frigates of the time were too lightly built to handle such heavy guns, so were armed with 18-pounders). The new quarterdeck and forecastle also allowed the armaments stationed there to be substantially strengthened from the original design, including adding carronades. Anson was thus heavily armed for a frigate, and retained the stronger construction (and ability to absorb damage) of a ship-of-the-line.
French Revolutionary Wars
At the action of 16 July 1797, Anson and Sylph drove the French corvetteCalliope on shore, where Sylph proceeded to fire on her. When Pomone checked a week later, Calliope was wrecked; her crew were camped on shore trying to salvage what stores they could. Pomone confirmed that the fluteFreedom and a brig that had also been driven ashore too were wrecked.[4]
On 29 December 1797 Anson recaptured Daphne, which the French had captured three years earlier in December 1794 and taken into service under her existing name. Daphné was under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Latreyte and transiting between Lorient and Bordeaux on her way to Guadeloupe when Anson captured her at the mouth of the Gironde.[6]Anson fired several shots before Daphnestruck. She was armed with 30 guns and had 276 men aboard, including 30 passengers. Two of the passengers were Civil Commissioners Jaiquelin and La Carze, who succeeded in throwing their dispatches for Guadeloupe overboard. Daphne had five men killed and several wounded.[7]
On 7 September 1798, after a 24-hour long chase, Anson and Phaeton captured Flore.[8] Captain Stopford, of Phaeton, in his letter described Flore as a frigate of 36 guns and 255 men. She was eight days out of Boulogne on a cruise.[9] She had also served the Royal Navy in the American Revolutionary War.
Anson off Tory Island, 12 October 1798
Anson was unable to take part in the Battle of Tory Island on 12 October 1798, because she had sustained damage during poor weather and was unable to keep up with the rest of the British squadron. In the aftermath of the original engagement, on 18 October she joined the brig HMS Kangaroo and fought a separate action, capturing the damaged French frigate Loire. Anson was then under the command of Captain Philip Charles Durham, who struggled to manoeuvre his ship after having lost her mizzen mast, main lower and topsail yards during the earlier pursuit.
Anson sailed from Plymouth on 26 January 1799, and on 2 February, in company with Ethalion, captured the French privateer cutter Boulonaise. Boulonaise, of Dunkirk, was armed with 14 guns and had been preying on shipping in the North Sea.
On 9 September 1799 Captain Durham hosted a fête for King George III. During the course of the evening, the king was found on the lower deck surrounded by the ship's company and talking to an old sailor.
On 27 April Anson captured the letter of marque brig Vainquer. Vainquer was pierced for 16 guns but only mounted four. When captured she had been on her way from Bordeaux to San Domingo with a cargo of merchandise.[10]
Two days later, at daybreak, Anson encountered four French privateers: Brave (36 guns), Guepe (18), Hardi (18), and Duide (16). As soon as the French vessels realized that Anson was a British frigate they scattered. As Anson passed Brave going in the opposite direction Anson fired a broadside into her; Durham believed that the broadside did considerable damage, but he was unable to follow up as Brave had the wind in her favour and so outsailed Anson. Durham then set off after one of the other French vessels, which he was able to capture. She was Hardi, of 18 guns and 194 men. Durham described her as "a very fine new Ship just of the Stocks." The Royal Navy took Hardi into service, first as HMS Hardi, before shortly thereafter renaming her HMSRosario. Lastly, Durham reported sending into port for adjudication a very valuable ship that had been sailing from Batavia to Hamburg with the Governor of Batavia as passenger.[10] (This may have been Catherine & Anna.)
On 27 June Anson and Constance came across some 40 or 50 Spanish merchant vessels on the Straits of Gibraltar. They were protected by some 25 gunboats. Two row boats came out from Gibraltar to assist Anson and the British were able to capture eight Spanish merchantmen, though the Spanish recaptured one.[11]
These included:
The misticoJesus & Aminas, from Algeziras to Gibraltar and Barcelona, carrying 125 bags of sumac, ten chests of liquorice, and 250 bundles of wooden hoops.
The feluccaVirgen de Boyar, from Malaga to Cadiz, carrying five pipes of red wine and 300 bundles of "boss".
The "lland" Virgen del Socous, from Malaga to Cadiz, carrying 61 casks of pitch and 60 casks and 13 chests of tar.
The tartanNostra Signora del Rosario, from Barcelona to Vera Cruz, carrying paper, brandy, oil, and cotton.
The lland Saint Francisco de Paulo, carrying wine.
The mistico San Antonio, alias El Vigilante, coming to Gibraltar, carrying 60 quarter-casks of wine and 313 quintals of barilla.
The mistico San Joseph y Aminas, carrying 250 deal boards 4' long, 600 deal boards 4'10" long, 20 water jars, and 30 "alcarasses", with the assistance of the privateer Felicity.
The lland Saint Francisco de Paulo, carrying wine, was cut out from the prizes in sight of Anson and Constance.
On 29 June Anson and Constance captured two privateer misticos: Gibraltar and Severo (or Severino). Gibraltar was armed with four guns and had a crew of 50 men. Severo was armed with two guns and ten swivel guns, and had a crew of 26 men.[12][Note 1]
On 30 June Anson cut off two Spanish gun boats that had been annoying the convoy she was escorting. The two proved to be Gibraltar and Salvador. They each mounted two 18–pounder guns in their bow, and each had eight guns of different dimensions on their sides. They were each manned by 60 men and probably sustained heavy casualties in resisting Anson.[11][13]
In 1801 Captain W. E. Cacraft assumed command and Anson joined the Channel station, cruising from Portsmouth. In 1802 she was in the Mediterranean, and in November she sailed from Malta for Egypt. She went in for repairs in 1805 at Portsmouth.
Napoleonic Wars
In December 1805 Captain Charles Lydiard was appointed to command Anson.[14][15] She was driven ashore in a gale at Portsmouth on 16 January 1806,[16] but was refloated later the same day, undamaged.[17] Under Lydiard's command, Anson sailed to the West Indies in early 1806.
On 23 August while sailing in company with Captain Charles Brisbane's HMSArethusa when they came across the 38-gun Spanish frigate Pomona off Havana, guarded by a shore battery and twelve gunboats.[18]Pomona was trying to enter the harbour, whereupon Lydiard and Brisbane bore up and engaged her.[19] The gunboats came out to defend her, whereupon the two British frigates anchored between the shore battery and gunboats on one side, and Pomona on the other. A hard-fought action began, which lasted for 35 minutes until Pomona struck her colours.[19] Three of the gunboats were blown up, six were sunk, and the remaining three were badly damaged.[20] The shore battery was obliged to stop firing after an explosion in one part of it.[19] There were no casualties aboard Anson, but Arethusa lost two killed and 32 wounded, with Brisbane among the latter.[19] The captured Pomona was subsequently taken into the Navy as HMSCuba.[21][22]
Anson and Foudroyant
Anson remained cruising off Havana, and on 15 September sighted the French 84-gun Foudroyant.[23]Foudroyant, carrying the flag of Vice-Admiral Jean-Baptiste Willaumez, had been dismasted in a storm and was carrying a jury-rig. Despite the superiority of his opponent and the nearness of the shore Lydiard attempted to close on the French vessel and opened fire.[23]Anson came under fire from the fortifications at Morro Castle, while several Spanish ships, including the 74-gun San Lorenzo, came out of Havana to assist the French.[24] After being unable to manoeuvre into a favourable position and coming under heavy fire, Lydiard hauled away and made his escape.[24]Anson had two killed and 13 wounded during the engagement, while its sails and rigging had been badly damaged. Foudroyant meanwhile had 27 killed or wounded.[24]
The ships were despatched in November 1806 by Vice-Admiral James Richard Dacres to reconnoitre Curaçao.[20][25] They were joined in December by HMSFisgard and Brisbane decided to launch an attack.[25] The British ships approached early in the morning of 1 January 1807 and anchored in the harbour.[25] They were attacked by the Dutch, at which Brisbane boarded and captured the 36-gun frigate Halstaar, while Lydiard attacked and secured the 20-gun corvette Suriname.[26] Both Lydiard and Brisbane then led their forces on shore, and stormed Fort Amsterdam, which was defended by 270 Dutch troops.[26] The fort was carried after ten minutes of fighting, after which two smaller forts, a citadel and the entire town were also taken.[26] More troops were landed while the ships sailed round the harbour to attack Fort République. By 10 am the fort had surrendered, and by noon the entire island had capitulated.[26]
Anson had seven men wounded. In all, the British lost three killed and 14 wounded. On the ships alone, the Dutch lost six men killed, including Commandant Cornelius J. Evertz, who commanded the Dutch naval force in Curaçao, and seven wounded, of whom one died later. With the colony, the British captured the frigate Kenau Hasselar, the sloop Suriname (a former Royal Naval sloop), and two naval schooners.
Anson was sent back to Britain carrying the despatches and captured colours.[27] The dramatic success of the small British force carrying the heavily defended island was rewarded handsomely. Brisbane was knighted, and the captains received swords, medals and vases.[28]
In 1847 the Admiralty authorised the issue of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Curacoa 1 Jany. 1807" to any surviving claimants from the action; 65 medals were issued.[29]
Wreck
'Loss of the Anson Frigate, off Cornwall', in an 1808 depiction by William Elmes
After a period refitting in Britain Anson was assigned to the Channel Fleet and ordered to support the blockade of Brest by patrolling off Black Rocks.[20] She sailed from Falmouth on 24 December, and reached Ile de Bas on 28 December 1807. With a severe storm developing from the south west, Lydiard decided to return to port.[30] He made for the Lizard, but in the poor weather, came up on the wrong side and became trapped on a lee shore off Mount's Bay near Penzance, in Cornwall with breakers ahead and insufficient room to sail out to the open seas.[30]Anson rolled heavily in rough seas, having retained the spars from her days as a 64-gun ship after she had been razeed.[20] Lydiard's only option was to anchor off Loe Bar. The storm caused the first anchor cable to snap at 4 am on the morning of 29 December. Anson's smaller anchor cable broke at 7 am and she was soon being driven onto the shore. With no anchors, Lydiard, in the hope of saving as many lives as possible, attempted to beach her on what he thought was a suitable beach. It was only upon impact that he discovered that it was a sandbar that covered rocks dividing Loe Pool from the open sea.[31] The wind and waves caused the ship to roll broadside on and her mainmast snapped.[32] a sheet anchor was let out, which righted the ship only before it snapped at 8 am.
As hundreds of spectators watched from nearby settlements the pounding surf prevented boats from being launched from the ship or the shore, and a number of the crew were swept away. Some managed to clamber along the fallen main-mast to the shore.[33] Captain Lydiard remained aboard to oversee the evacuation.[20][34][35] About 2 pm the ship began to break up, which allowed a few more men to emerge from the wreck, with one being saved. By 3 pm no trace of the ship remained.[36]
Survivors were taken to Helston, two miles away and later sent on to Falmouth.[37]
Estimates of the number of lives lost vary from sixty[38] to 190.[33] Captain Lydiard and Anson's first-lieutenant was among the casualties; Lydiard's body was recovered on 1 January 1808 and taken to Falmouth for burial with full military honours.[39] Most of the other victims were buried in pits dug on unconsecrated ground on the cliffs with no burial rites. The death toll is uncertain as some of the survivors had been press ganged and took the opportunity to desert.[33]
HMS Anson monument at Loe Bar
Post script
The loss of Anson caused controversy at the time, because of the treatment of the dead sailors washed ashore. In those days it was customary to bury drowned seamen unceremoniously, without shroud or coffin in unconsecrated ground, with bodies remaining unburied for long periods of time. This controversy led to a local solicitor, Thomas Grylls, drafting a new law to provide drowned seamen more decent treatment. John Hearle Tremayne, Member of Parliament for Cornwall, introduced the bill which was enacted as the Burial of Drowned Persons Act 1808. A monument to the drowned sailors, and to passing of the Grylls Act, stands at the eastern end of Loe Bar, on the cliff above the beach, about 1.5 miles from Porthleven Harbour[40][41]
Two of her cannon now guard the entrance of Porthleven Harbour
Henry Trengrouse, a Cornish resident of the area, witnessed Anson's wreck. Distressed by the loss of life caused by the difficulties in attaching lines to the wreck, he developed a rocket apparatus to shoot lines across the surf to shipwrecks enabling the rescue of survivors in cradles. This was an early form of the breeches buoy.[42] An example of his life-saving apparatus is on display at Helston Folk Museum.[43] Two of her cannon now guard the entrance of Porthleven Harbour; they were recovered in 1961 from the sands at Loe Bar, the site of the wreck.[44][45]
Notes
↑ A later prize money notice suggests that this capture and the one below are actually the same, and actually refer to the gunboats Cervero and Trois Hermanos.[13]
HMS Galatea was a fifth-rate 32-gun sailing frigate of the British Royal Navy that George Parsons built at Bursledon and launched in 1794. Before she was broken up in 1809 she captured numerous prizes and participated in a number of actions, first in the Channel and off Ireland (1794–1803), and then in the Caribbean (1802–1809), including one that earned her crew the Naval General Service Medal.
HMS Arethusa was a 38-gun Minerva-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy built at Bristol in 1781. She served in three wars and made a number of notable captures before she was broken up in 1815.
HMS Apollo, the fourth ship of the Royal Navy to be named for the Greek god Apollo, was a fifth-rate frigate of a nominal 36 guns. She was the name ship of the Apollo-class frigates. Apollo was launched in 1799, and wrecked with heavy loss of life in 1804.
Vestale was a Blonde-class 30-gun frigate of the French Navy. The Royal Navy captured her in 1761, but had to scuttle her in 1778 to avoid having the French recapture her. She was refloated and sold to the French in 1784. She returned to wartime service in 1794 as a privateer. The British recaptured her in 1798 and broke her up thereafter.
HMS Phoenix was a 36-gun Perseverance-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. The shipbuilder George Parsons built her at Bursledon and launched her on 15 July 1783. She served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and was instrumental in the events leading up to the battle of Trafalgar. Phoenix was involved in several single-ship actions, the most notable occurring on 10 August 1805 when she captured the French frigate Didon, which was more heavily armed than her. She was wrecked, without loss of life, off Smyrna in 1816.
Loire was a 38-gun frigate of the French Navy. She was captured following the Battle of Tory Island by a Royal Navy frigate squadron and subsequently taken into British service as HMS Loire.
Pomone was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, launched in 1785. The British captured her off the Île de Batz in April 1794 and incorporated her into the Royal Navy. Pomone subsequently had a relatively brief but active career in the British Navy off the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of France before suffering sufficient damage from hitting a rock. Due to this, the ship was taken out of service and then broken up in 1803.
HMS Ethalion was a 38-gun Artois-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built by Joseph Graham of Harwich and launched on 14 March 1797. In her brief career before she was wrecked in 1799 on the French coast, she participated in a major battle and in the capture of two privateers and a rich prize.
The Atlantic campaign of 1806 was a complicated series of manoeuvres and counter-manoeuvres conducted by squadrons of the French Navy and the British Royal Navy across the Atlantic Ocean during the spring and summer of 1806, as part of the Napoleonic Wars. The campaign followed directly from the Trafalgar campaign of the year before, in which the French Mediterranean fleet had crossed the Atlantic, returned to Europe and joined with the Spanish fleet. On 21 October 1805, this combined force was destroyed by a British fleet under Lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar, although the campaign did not end until the Battle of Cape Ortegal on 4 November 1805. Believing that the French Navy would not be capable of organised resistance at sea during the winter, the First Lord of the Admiralty Lord Barham withdrew the British blockade squadrons to harbour. Barham had miscalculated – the French Atlantic fleet, based at Brest, had not been involved in the Trafalgar campaign and was therefore at full strength. Taking advantage of the reduction in the British forces off the port, Napoleon ordered two heavy squadrons to sea, under instructions to raid British trade routes while avoiding contact with equivalent Royal Navy forces.
HMS Romney was a 50-gun fourth rate of the Royal Navy. She served during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in a career that spanned forty years. Five ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Romney. The origins of the name are from the town of New Romney, although it may be that the name entered the Royal Navy in honour of Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney.
Charles Lydiard was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
HMS Magnet was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop built at Robert Guillaume’s yard at Northam and launched in 1807. She served in the Baltic, where she took two prizes, one an armed privateer, before wrecking in 1809.
The action of 23 August 1806 was a minor naval battle of the Napoleonic wars, fought off the coast of Spanish Cuba near the port of Havana. The Spanish frigate Pomona was captured by the frigates HMS Anson and HMS Arethusa under the commands of Captain Charles Lydiard and Charles Brisbane respectively. As well as the frigate being captured, a shore battery was silenced and a fleet of gunboats was defeated.
Rear-Admiral James Macnamara was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
HMS Lizard was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, in service from 1757 to 1828. Named after the Lizard, a peninsula in southern Cornwall, she was a broad-beamed and sturdy vessel designed for lengthy periods at sea. Her crewing complement was 200 and, when fully equipped, she was armed with 24 nine-pounder cannons, supported by four three-pounders and twelve 1⁄2-pounder swivel guns. Despite her sturdy build, she was plagued with maintenance problems and had to be repeatedly removed from service for repair.
HMS Brilliant was a 36-gun Venus-class fifth-rate frigate of the British Royal Navy that saw active service during the Seven Years' War with France. She performed well against the French Navy in the 1760 Battle of Bishops Court and the 1761 Battle of Cape Finisterre, but was less capable when deployed for bombardment duty off enemy ports. She also captured eight French privateers and sank two more during her six years at sea. The Royal Navy decommissioned Brilliant in 1763. The Navy sold her in 1776 and she became an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). Brilliant was wrecked in August 1782 on the Comoro Islands while transporting troops to India.
Rear-Admiral Edward Sneyd Clay was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
HMS Barbuda was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1780 after having briefly served as an American privateer. Barbuda was one of the two sloops that captured Demerara and Essequibo in 1781, but the French Navy captured her there in 1782 and took her into service as Barboude. The French Navy sold her to private owners in 1786, and she served briefly as a privateer in early 1793 before the French Navy purchased her again and named her Légère. She served them until mid-1796 when the Royal Navy captured her and took her into service as HMS Legere. She was wrecked off the coast of Colombia, without loss of life, in February 1801.
HMS Sylph was a 16-gun Albatross-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy designed by William Rule and launched in 1795 at Deptford Dockyard. Her namesake was the air spirit sylph. She commissioned in August 1795 under Commander John Chambers White, who would have her until the end of 1799. She was later commanded by Charles Dashwood.
HMS Artois was a fifth-rate Artois-class frigate of the Royal Navy, designed by Sir John Henslow and launched in 1794 at Rotherhithe as the lead ship of her class. She served for the majority of her career in the English Channel under the command of Edmund Nagle in the squadrons of Edward Pellew and John Borlase Warren, notably taking part in the action of 21 October 1794 where she captured the 44-gun frigate La Révolutionnaire almost singlehandedly. She participated in a number of other actions and events including the attempted invasion of France in 1795. Artois continued to serve actively on the coast of France in blockade and patrolling roles, taking a large number of ships as prizes, until she was wrecked with no loss of life off Île de Ré on 31 July 1797 while attempting to reconnoitre the harbour of La Rochelle.
Adkins, Roy; Adkins, Lesley (2007). The War for All Oceans (Paperback). London: Abacus. ISBN978-0-349-11916-8.
Allen, Joseph (1852). Battles of the British Navy. Vol.2. Henry G. Bohn.
Archives nationales (2000). onds Marine. Campagnes (Opérations; Divisions et Stations Navales; Missions Diverses). Inventaire de la sous-série Marine BB4. Tome deuxième: BB4 1 à 482 (1790–1826). France: Centre historique des archives nationales. ISBN2-11-004231-1.. In French.
Campbell, John; Stockdale, John Joseph (1818). The Naval History of Great Britain: Commencing with the Earliest Period of History, and Continued to the Expedition Against Algiers, Under the Command of Lord Exmouth, in 1816. Including the History and Lives of British Admirals. Vol.8. Baldwyn and co.
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