Naval/Maritime History 22nd of March - Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

21 August 1883 - USS Trenton (1876) get Pioneer in Electricity for US Naval Vessels


USS Trenton was the first U.S. Navy ship to have electric lights. A dynamo, engine, and lights were installed in the summer of 1883. The successful use of electricity on this ship led to the installation of electricity on the first ships of the New Steel Navy.

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USS Trenton making sail, probably while in New York Harbor in the mid-1880s.

The first USS Trenton was a wooden-hulled screw steamer in the United States Navy. She was named for Trenton, New Jersey.
Trenton was laid down by the New York Navy Yard in 1875; launched on 1 January 1876; sponsored by Ms. Katherine M. Parker; and commissioned on 14 February 1877, Captain John Lee Davis in command.

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USS Trenton ready for launching at New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York, on or about 1 January 1876.


Service History
Mediterranean, 1877-1881
Trenton departed New York on 8 March 1877 and reached Villefranche, France on 18 April. The following day, Rear Admiral John L. Worden broke his flag in her, and she became flagship of the European Station. A week after, she reached the Mediterranean, Russia declared war on Turkey. Consequently, Trenton and the other ships of the squadron alternated tours of duty in the eastern Mediterranean protecting U.S. citizens and other foreign nationals resident in or visiting Turkish possessions. On 9 May, she departed Villefranche for Smyrna, Turkey, and — but for a run to Salonika from 9–13 June with Marion — remained there until 25 August, when the flagship left the eastern Mediterranean behind to return to Villefranche. Next, Trenton visited Marseilles for two weeks in mid-September; then steamed back to Villefranche on the 18th and remained there until Christmas Day, when she put to sea to return to the eastern Mediterranean. Reentering Smyrna on the second day of 1878, she showed the flag there until 16 March, when she sailed for Piraeus, the port-city for Athens, Greece. On 2 April, she got underway again for Villefranche, touching at La Spezia and Leghorn in Italy en route.

On 17 July 1878, she headed for Gibraltar, and on the 24th exited the Mediterranean. She cruised north, visited Lisbon, Portugal; Cherbourg, France; and Yarmouth, England; and then returned to the Mediterranean, reaching Villefranche in mid-October. Trenton resumed her cruises between Mediterranean ports, adding Genoa, Naples, and Tangiers to her itinerary in the spring of 1879. In June, she again headed out through the Strait of Gibraltar to visit Portsmouth, England; Terneuzen, Netherlands; Antwerp, Belgium; and Copenhagen, Denmark. She was back at Villefranche late in September. In mid-November, she sailed to Gibraltar and waited there until 7 December for Constellation to arrive with Trenton's replacement crew. The warship remained in the western Mediterranean until early April 1880.

James_jouett_trenton_1886.jpg
The Navy's Board of Inspection and Survey visits the USS Trenton in 1886. From left to right: Captain Robert F. Bradford; Rear Admiral James E. Jouett, President of the Board; Commander Henry C. Taylor; Chief Engineer Philip Inch; and Naval Constructor Philip Hichborn..

On 3 April 1880, she headed east once more. After stops at Naples and at Alexandria, Egypt, the warship began cruising the Aegean again. She visited Smyrna, Tenedos, and Chamak Kelessi in Turkey as well as Piraeus before returning to Villefranche on 25 May. After a visit to Marseilles on 7 June, the flagship left the Mediterranean for the third time during this deployment and made another cruise to English, Belgian, and Dutch ports. Four of Trenton's crew rescued fellow sailors from drowning during this period, for which they were awarded the Medal of Honor: Seamen Philip Moore and John Russell at Genoa, Italy, on 21 September 1880, and Ordinary Seaman John Davis and Seaman Alexander Haure Turvelin at Toulon, France, in February 1881.

Trenton returned to the western Mediterranean in August and operated there until 7 September 1881, when she sailed for the U.S. She arrived in Hampton Roads on 12 October, and three days later moved up the York River for the Yorktown centennial celebration. On 22 October, the warship departed Yorktown and the following day arrived in the New York Navy Yard. There, she was decommissioned on 9 November 1881.

Far East, 1883-1886

USS_Trenton.png
USS Trenton with the Asiatic Squadron.

Reactivated on 18 September 1883, Trenton departed New York in November for duty on the Asiatic Station. Steaming via the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal, Ceylon, and Singapore, she arrived at Hong Kong on 1 May 1884 to begin two years of cruising in the Far East. She visited ports in China, Korea, and Japan, carrying out various diplomatic missions. On occasion, Trenton sent landing parties ashore in China and Korea to protect American nationals and other foreigners during periods of internal unrest. The warship completed this tour of duty in the spring of 1886; departed Yokohama, Japan on 9 May; retraced her voyage back across the Indian Ocean, through the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, and across the Atlantic to reach Hampton Roads on 2 September. She entered the Norfolk Navy Yard on 9 September and was decommissioned for repairs on 17 September 1886.

Pacific, 1887-1889
On 16 May 1887, she was placed in commission once again. On 25 July, she exited Hampton Roads and headed south for Brazil. En route, Trenton stopped at St. Vincent in the Windward Islands and entered Rio de Janeiro on 10 September for a fortnight visit. After touching at St. Thomas on the return voyage, she dropped anchor in New York harbor on 3 November.

Almost three months later, on 30 January 1888, Trenton sailed for the Pacific. The voyage took her more than a year to complete, for she had to steam around Cape Horn at the southern end of South America. After stops at Panama and Tahiti, the warship reached Apia, Samoa, on 10 March 1889 and joined other units of the Pacific Squadron. Six days later, on 16 March 1889, a cyclone struck Apia and the thirteen ships anchored in her harbor.

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Wrecked ships in Apia Harbor, Upolu, Samoa, soon after the storm. The view looks about northward, with Trenton and the sunken Vandalia at left, the German corvette Olga beached in the center distance and Nipsic beached in the right center. Trenton's starboard quarter gallery has been largely ripped away.

For thirty-six hours the storm ravaged the harbor. The Trenton, having lost steam and rudder, was in imminent danger of foundering on the reef. An unusual maneuver suggested by Lieutenant Robert M. G. Brown, Trenton's navigator, is credited for saving the flag ship from complete destruction. Trenton's commander, Norman von Heldreich Farquhar, ordered every man into the port rigging. With the wind striking against the compact mass of bodies, which acted as a sail, the vessel was steered away from the reef and into the bay. Trenton collided with the SMS Olga and then floated toward the sinking Vandalia. With her crew still in the rigging, the approach was slowed and another collision avoided with the Trenton safely maneuvered alongside the Vandalia. The Vandalia's crew escaped to deck of the Trenton, saving many lives that otherwise might have been lost. Both ships were later abandoned.

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Wrecked ships in Apia Harbor, Upolu, Samoa soon after the storm of 15-16 March 1889. The view looks northwestward, with the shattered bow of the German gunboat Eber on the beach in the foreground. The stern of USS Trenton is at right, with the sunken USS Vandalia alongside. The German gunboat Adler is on her side in the center distance. Trenton's starboard quarter gallery has been largely ripped away.

Out of 450 men on the crew of Trenton, only one life (Landsman J. Hewlett) was lost. Trenton was declared a total loss, and her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 13 April 1891.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Trenton_(1876)
http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/86/86001.htm
 
Other Events on 21 August


1671 - Victoire, 28 guns, a Arrogant class, designed by Laurent Hubac, launched at Brest

probably with similar armament to Tourbillon class, renamed Arrogant on 24 June 1671; expended as fireship at Texel on 21 August 1673.

1781 - HMS Minorca (18), Lt. Lawson, scuttled to block the entrance to the harbour at Port Mahon.

1797 - HMS Penguin (16) captured two French brigs.

1801 - British cutting-out operations at Corunna. Boats of HMS Boadicea (1797 - 38), Cptn. Charles Rowley, HMS Fisgard (1796 – 44, ex French Restance), Capt. T. Byam Martin, and HMS Diamond (38), Cptn. Griffith, attacked enemy vessels in Corunna harbour and brought out Neptune (20) a gunboat (1) and a merchant ship.

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Capture of Immortalité by HMS Fisgard, 20 October 1798

On 20 August, the boats of Fisgard, Diamond, and Boadicea carried out a cutting-out expedition at A Coruña. The boats went in at night and brought out Neptune, a new ship belonging to the Spanish Navy and pierced for 20 guns, a gunboat armed with a long 32-pounder gun, and a merchant vessel. The Spanish vessels were anchored close to the batteries that protected the fort and sentinels challenged the British. The Spaniards commenced fire, but the cutting-out party was able to bring the vessels out without having suffered any casualties. One of the vessels was the packet ship Reyno Duno. She came into Plymouth on September and the Naval Chronicle described her as "Beautiful,... of four suits of sails and other naval stores". She had apparently been on her way to Havana.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Boadicea_(1797)

1801 - Boats of HMS Jamaica (26), Cptn. Jonas Rose, HMS Gannet (16), Isaac Cotgrave, HMS Hound (14), HMS Tigress (12), W. Aldus, and HMS Mallard (12) cut out 3 flat boats also near Etaples.

1810 - Boats of HMS Sirius (36), Capt. Samuel Pym, cut out a French prize, the Windham, a British East Indiaman.

1813 - HMS Laurestinus, ex HMS Laurel (1806 -22) Sixth Rate post ship, wrecked North end of the Island of Abaco, Halifax.

The Laurel-class sailing sixth rates were a series of six post ships built to an 1805 design by Sir John Henslow. The first three were launched in 1806, two more in 1807, and the last in 1812. The vessels of the class served in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic War. Ships in class were HMS Boreas (1806), HMS Laurel (1806), HMS Comus (1806), HMS Garland (1807), HMS Perseus (1812) and HMS Volage (1807)

HMS Laurel (1806) was a 22-gun post ship launched in 1806. Captured by the French on 12 September 1808. The French named her Esperance. Unicorn recaptured her on 12 April 1810 off the Île de Ré. She was armed en flute and was carrying a cargo of colonial produce from Île de France while under the command of a lieutenant de vaisseau. The Royal Navy took her back into service as HMS Laurestinus. She wrecked in the Bahamas in August 1813.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurel-class_post_ship

1821 – Jarvis Island is discovered by the crew of the ship Eliza Frances.

The island's first known sighting by Europeans was on August 21, 1821 by the British ship Eliza Francis (or Eliza Frances) owned by Edward, Thomas and William Jarvis and commanded by Captain Brown. The US Exploring Expedition surveyed the island in 1841. In March 1857 the island was claimed for the United States under the Guano Islands Act and formally annexed on February 27, 1858

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarvis_Island

1858 - The brig, USS Dolphin, captures the slave ship, slaver Echo, with 318 Africans on board off the north coast of Cuba. She is taken to Charleston, S.C., and those saved from slavery are later sent back to Africa.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Dolphin_(1836)

1861 – Launch of Steam Frigate Victoire at Lorient

steam frigate – deleted 13 February 1880. / Vengeance class (60-gun first rate type, 1829 design by Mathurin-François Boucher, with 30 x 30-pounder guns, 28 x 30-pounder carronades and 2 x 18-pounder guns):

1910 – HMS Bedford (1901), a Monmouth-class armed cruiser wrecked

HMS_Bedford.jpg

HMS Bedford was one of 10 Monmouth-class armoured cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 20th century. She was assigned to the 1st Cruiser Squadron of the Channel Fleet upon completion in 1903 before she was briefly reduced to reserve in 1906. Bedford was recommissioned the following year for service with China Station and ran aground in 1910. Her wreck was sold for scrap later that year after being partially salvaged.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Bedford_(1901)

2017 - The guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) is involved in a collision with the merchant vessel Alnic MC while underway east of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. Ten Sailors lose their lives and the ship suffers significant damage to the hull resulting in flooding to nearby compartments, including crew berthing, machinery, and communications rooms.

USS_John_S._McCain_DDG-56.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_John_S._McCain_(DDG-56)
 
Ottima idea di ricordare la storia giornaliermente,complimenti allo storico che ha dato queste notizie

google Translation:
Excellent idea to remember the story every day, congratulations to the historian who gave this news

Many thanks for your kind words - It is also for me very interesting to research for all these data and events - learning every day /
google Translation:
Molte grazie per le tue parole gentili - È anche per me molto interessante ricercare per tutti questi dati ed eventi - imparare ogni giorno
 
22 August 1638 - The Battle of Getaria or the Battle of Guetaria, Action of 22 August 1638


are the names given to a battle in the Franco-Spanish War (1635–59), which took place on 22 August 1638 at Getaria, northern Spain, when a French fleet under de Sourdis attacked and destroyed a Spanish fleet under Lope de Hoces.

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The Battle of Guetaria, by Andries van Eertvelt

The battle
In June 1638 a large French army crossed the Pyrenees to besiege Fuenterrabía. The French army was accompanied by a fleet between 27 and 44 French warships under Henri de Sourdis, who had to stop any help reaching Fuenterrabia over the sea.

De Hoces was ordered to attack the French fleet, but had only 12 galleons and some smaller ships at his disposal. The Spanish fleet sailed into the harbor of Getaria on 17 August and took up defensive positions close to the shore. This had several advantages: The largest French ships could not approach because of the shallow waters, the usual French tactics of close combat followed by boarding was impossible and the Spanish fleet had supporting fire from the shore.
De Sourdis decided to first batter the Spanish fleet with his superior fire power, then send in his fireships and cut off any escape route with his smaller vessels.

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Henri de Sourdis, as depicted in 1845 /

But first the wind had to blow towards the shore, which happened on 22 August. The French plan works extremely well. De Hoces had made no precautions against fireships, because this weapon was normally not used by the French, and de Sourdis had his fireships disguised as normal war vessels. The entire Spanish fleet caught fire, except the Santiago. Only 1,000 Spanish survivors reached the shores alive, including Lope de Hoces.

Chevalier Paul distinguished himself during this action.

Consequences
The battle was a first important victory for the new French navy built under Cardinal Richelieu, who was very excited and thankful towards the French commanders.
The victory gave the French temporary naval control of the Bay of Biscay.

Despite this naval victory, the French effort at the Siege of Fuenterrabía (1638) was a failure for the combined French sea and land forces, which had to withdraw on 8 September, only 3 weeks after the victory at sea.

The destruction of the Spanish fleet by fireships had made a deep impression on Abraham Duquesne, who successfully used the same tactics at the Battle of Palermo in 1676.

Ships involved from French Navy
  • La Couronne, 72 cannons, 500 men vice-admiral, Claude de Launay-Razilly
  • Navire du Roi, (52) 300 men, flag, Philippe des Gouttes
  • Vaisseau de la Reine, (38), 245 men, capitain Danerac
  • La Vierge, (34), 245 men, Jacques du Mé
  • Le Cardinal,(30), 245 men, capitain de Coypeauville.
  • Le Triomphe, (30), 205 men, capitain de Caen
  • La Victoire, (30), 205 men, capitain Contenaut
  • Saint-Louis de Hollande, (24), 205 men, capitain Treillebois
  • Trois-Rois: (30), 205 men, capitain Baptiste
  • La Fortune, (30), 205 men, capitain de Casenac
  • L'Europe, (34), 205 men, Chevalier Jules de Montigny
  • Le Triton, (30), 155 men, capitain Villemoulin
  • Le Faucon, (30), 155 men, capitain Dumenillet
  • Le Cygne, (30), 205 men, Chevalier de Cangé
  • Le Cocq, (30), 205 men, capitain De Chastelus
  • La Licorne, (30), 205 men, capitain La Chesnaye
  • Le Corail, (30), 205 men, capitain de Porte-Noire
  • L'Emerillon, 125 men, capitain de Morsay
  • Le Saint-Charles, (28), 155 men, Saint-Etienne
  • Le Dauphin du Havre, (28), 155 men, Boisjoly
  • La Perle, (24), 125 men, capitain La Roullerie
  • La Renommée, (24), 125 men, capitain Daniel
  • L'Intendant, (24), 125 men, capitain de Conflans
  • Le Saint-Jean, (24), 125 men, Abraham Duquesne
  • La Magdelaine de Brest, (24) 125 men, Louis de Senantes
  • Turc, 100 men, Jean Guiton
  • Saint-Francois, (16) 100 men, capitain Regnier
  • Marguerite, (14), 100 men, capitain La Treille
  • Hermine, (14), 100 men, capitain de Lignieres
  • Neptune, (16), 100 men, Chevalier Paul
  • Esperance-en–Dieu, (24) 100 men, Chevalier Garnier
  • Petit-Saint-Jean, (16) 100 men, capitain Razet / De Broq
  • Fregate du Havre, 66 men, capitain Clerisse
  • Royale, (8), 82 men, capitain Savigny
  • Cardinale, (8), 92 men, capitain Baronnie
  • Lion
  • Nassau
  • Licorne
  • Grande Fregate de Brest, (8), 92 men
  • Flibot de Brest
  • 7 or 8 fireships

Couronne (French for "crown") was an emblematic ship of the French Navy built by order of Richelieu.

The Couronne was the first major warship to be designed and built by the French themselves in accordance with Richelieu's plans to renew the French Navy, after a series of warships had been built by the Dutch. The construction was supervised by Isaac de Launay Razilly (died in Arcadia 1635), and overseen by the famous carpenter Charles Morieu, from Dieppe. She was being constructed at La Roche-Bernard and was one of the most advanced units of her time. After launch in 1632 or 1633, she was moved to Brouage in September 1634 where she was completed around 1635 by Mathieu Casteau. She carried up to heavy guns, most on her two-deck broadsaide but also 8 firing forwards from the bow and 8 firing aft, an unusual feature until Dupuy de Lôme redesigned naval artillery.

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Couronne took part in the Battle of Guetaria on 22 August 1638, and another expedition to Spain in 1639 under Henri de Sourdis.

The ship was disarmed in 1641 and scrapped between 1643-1645.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Getaria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Couronne_(1636)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_de_Sourdis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lope_de_Hoces
 
22 August 1696 - Battle of Andros - Venetians under Contarini vs Turks and their allies under Mezzo Morto near island Andros


The Battle of Andros took place on 22 August 1696 southeast of the Greek island of Andros between the fleets of the Republic of Venice and the Papal States under Bartolomeo Contarini on the one side and the Ottoman Navy, under Mezzo Morto Hüseyin Pasha, and allied Barbary forces on the other. The encounter was indecisive, and no vessels were lost on either side.

Background
Contarini, with 22 sailing ships, left Porto Poro on 28 July and arrived at Port Gavrion, on the west coast of Andros, on 3 August, while a galley force, under Molin, went to Kekhrios, on mainland Greece, ready for an attack on Thebes.

On 6 August the Muslim fleet of 20 Ottoman and 15 African ships was sighted north of Andros. It sailed around to Gavrion and tried to tempt Contarini out, but the wind was from the north (possibly this should be south), and Contarini had orders not to engage unless he had the weather gauge, and even after the Ottomans sent galliots in and landed troops all he did was send a small craft to drive them off. The Ottomans left and anchored to the west. For ten days nothing happened, except for a French merchantman entering the harbor being fired on by the Venetians, who mistook it for a fireship.

The battle
On 20 August the north wind dropped and at 5:00 pm the Ottoman fleet appeared again off the town and opened fire, with little result, before becoming becalmed to the south during the night. On 21 August the wind was from the north again and Contarini, seeing his chance, sailed, but the wind dropped at about 12:00 pm and he made for the southeast end of Andros with what wind there was, being joined there by the galley force that had just arrived from the west, early on 22 August. A slight easterly wind gave Contarini another chance and he sailed west, the galleys towing the sailing ships, toward the south end of the Ottomans, who were arranged vaguely in an easterly Ottoman line and a westerly African line but mainly in a group formation, and turned north, coming alongside them with his first seven ships (Tigre, Rosa, San Andrea, San Lorenzo Giustinian (flag), San Domenico, Fede Guerriera and San Sebastiano) and attacking at about 12:00 am. At about 2:00 pm the rowing vessels detached and formed a line abreast to the south of the Ottomans. Both sides' sailing ships formed themselves more or less into lines, and the Ottoman fleet gradually bore away. At 4:00 pm the wind dropped and the Venetian galleys, which had cut back through the line, then re-emerged and attacked the Ottomans in a line abreast. The Turks withdrew after about two hours, eventually making their way south to near the island of Syros, while the Venetians eventually sailed back to Port Gavrion. Until 1 December the Venetians sailed around looking for the Ottoman fleet, when they heard that it had sailed back into the Dardanelles almost a month earlier.

Christian casualties were 56 killed and 125 wounded in the sailing ships and about 19 casualties in the rowing vessels.

Fleets with their ships

Venice (Contarini)
  • San Lorenzo Giustinian 80 (flag)
  • Tigre 66
  • Rosa 60
  • San Andrea 60
  • San Domenico 60
  • Fede Guerriera 56
  • San Sebastiano 68
  • 15 other sailing ships
  • some galleasses
  • some galleys
  • unknown number of Papal ships
Ottoman Empire (Mezzo Morto)
  • 20 Ottoman sailing ships
  • 15 or 16 Barbary ships
  • some galliots


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Andros_(1696)
 
22 August 1711 - Britain´s Quebec Expedition, or the Walker Expedition to Quebec, was ending with a disaster with the loss of eight ships and almost nine hundred soldiers, sailors and women to rocks at Pointe-aux-Anglais

The beginning of the Quebec Expedition was described in detail already at the day of the beginning:
See herefore:
https://www.shipsofscale.com/sosfor...ime-events-in-history.2104/page-12#post-36365

Disaster


The approximate site of the disaster is marked in red on this 1733 map detail.

On 30 July, the fleet set sail from Boston. It consisted of a mix of British and colonial ships, including nine ships of war, two bomb vessels, and 60 transports and tenders. It carried 7,500 troops and about 6,000 sailors. By 3 August the fleet reached the coast of Nova Scotia, and Samuel Vetch piloted the fleet around Cape Breton and Cape North and into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

On the morning of the 18 August, just as the expedition was about to enter the Saint Lawrence River, the wind began to blow hard from the northwest, and Walker was forced to seek shelter in Gaspé Bay. On the morning of the 20th, the wind veered to the southeast, and he was able to advance slowly past the western extremity of Anticosti Island before it died down and thick fog blanketed both shore and fleet. By the 22nd, the wind had freshened from the southeast, and there were intermittent breaks in the fog, but not sufficient to give sight of land. At this point the fleet was west of Anticosti at a point where the Saint Lawrence was about 70 miles (110 km) wide, but it narrowed noticeably at a point where the river's North Shore made a sharp turn, running nearly north-south. This area, near what is now called Pointe-aux-Anglais, includes a number of small islands, including Île-aux-Oeufs (Egg Island), and numerous rocky shallows. After consulting his pilots, Walker gave the signal to head the fleet roughly southwest at about 8:00 pm.

Walker had thought he was in mid-stream when he issued the order. In fact, he was about seven leagues (about 20 miles (32 km)) north of his proper course, and in the grasp of strong currents which steered his ships towards the northwest. Propelled by an easterly wind, the fleet was gradually closing on the north-south shore near Île-aux-Oeufs. When Captain Paddon reported to Walker that land had been sighted around 10:30 pm, presumably dead ahead, Walker assumed that the fleet was approaching the south shore, and ordered the fleet to wear, and bring-to on the other tack, before he went to bed. This manoeuvre put the fleet onto a more northerly heading. Some minutes later, an army captain named Goddard roused Walker, claiming to see breakers ahead. Walker dismissed the advice and the man, but Goddard returned, insisting that the admiral "come upon deck myself, or we should certainly be lost".

Walker came on deck in his dressing gown, and saw that the ship was being driven toward the western lee shore by the east wind. When the French navigator came on deck, he explained to Walker where he was; Walker immediately ordered the anchor cables cut, and beat against the wind to escape the danger. Two of the warships, Montague and Windsor, had more difficulty, and ended up anchored for the night in a precarious situation, surrounded by breakers. Throughout the night, Walker heard sounds of distress, and at times when the fog lifted, ships could be seen in the distance being ground against the rocks. One New Englander wrote that he could "hear the shrieks of the sinking, drowning, departing souls." Around 2:00 am the wind subsided, and then shifted to the northwest, and most of the fleet managed to stand away from the shore.

It took three days to discover the full extent of the disaster, during which the fleet searched for survivors. Seven transports and one supply ship were lost. Walker's initial report was that 884 soldiers perished; later reports revised this number down to 740, including women attached to some of the units. Historian Gerald Graham estimates that about 150 sailors also perished in the disaster. After rescuing all he could, Walker and Hill held a war council on 25 August. After interviewing a number of the pilots, including Samuel Vetch, the council decided "that by reason of the Ignorance of the Pilots abord the Men of War", the expedition should be aborted. Vetch openly blamed Walker for the disaster: "The late disaster cannot, in my humble opinion, be anyways imputed to the difficulty of navigation, but to the wrong course we steered, which most unavoidably carried us upon the north shore."

The fleet sailed down the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and came to anchor at Spanish River (now the harbour of Sydney, Nova Scotia) on 4 September, where a council was held to discuss whether or not to attack the French at Plaisance. Given the lateness of the season, insufficient supplies to overwinter in the area, and rumours of strong defences at Plaisance, the council decided against making the attack, and sailed for England.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_Expedition
http://silverhawkauthor.com/ticonde...er-in-the-french-and-indian-war-book_301.html
https://minerdescent.com/2012/04/27/battle-of-quebec-1690/
 
22 August 1770 – James Cook names and lands on Possession Island, and claims the east coast of Australia for Britain as New South Wales.


During his first voyage of discovery, British explorer, then Lieutenant James Cook sailed northwards along the east coast of Australia, landing at Botany Bay. Reaching the tip of Queensland, he named and landed on Possession Island, just before sunset on 22 August 1770, and declared the coast British territory in the name of King George III.

Captain_Cook_takes_formal_possession_of_New_South_Wales_1770.jpg
Captain Cook raises the Union Flag on Possession Island, 22 August 1770

Cook wrote in his journal:

"I now once more hoisted English Coulers and in the Name of His Majesty King George the Third took possession of the whole Eastern Coast...by the name New South Wales, together with all the Bays, Harbours Rivers and Islands situate upon the said coast."

In 2001 the Kaurareg people successfully claimed native title rights over the island (and other nearby islands).

Endeavour_replica_in_Cooktown_harbour.jpg
Endeavour replica in Cooktown, Queensland harbour — anchored where the original Endeavour was beached for seven weeks in 1770

800px-Captainjamescookportrait.jpg
James Cook, portrait by Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, c. 1775, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

Possession Island is a small island in the Torres Strait Islands group off the coast of far northern Queensland, Australia. It is known as Bedanug or Bedhan Lag by the one of the indigenous Australian inhabitants, the Kaurareg though the Ankamuti were also indigenous to the island.

Possession Island is located at the centre of the Possession Island National Park, an area of 5.10 km² established as a Protected Area in 1977 and managed by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possession_Island_(Queensland)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cook
 
22 August 1778 - Launch of french frigate Bellone (1778 - 32 - Iphigenie-class)


Bellone was an Iphigénie-class 32-gun frigate of the French Navy. She was one of the French ships with a copper-covered hull.

1280px-Bellone-vs-foudroyant.png
Fight between Bellone and HMS Foudroyant at the Battle of Tory Island

French service
In 1782, she fought against HMS Coventry. In June she captured a British "both", in the roads of Negapatnam that the French took into service as Negapatnam. The next month Negapatnam was at Pondicherry with the French squadron under Admiral Suffren, but her subsequent disposition is unknown.

Bellone took part in the Glorious First of June and in the Expédition d'Irlande.

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His Majesty's Ship Melampus of 36 guns.... in charge of Resolue & Bellone two French frigates of 40 guns each, off the coast of Ireland, October 13th 1798 (PAH5223)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/145170.html#bt9tklZzDVbjR1CG.99

Capture and fate
She was captured on 12 October 1798 at the Battle of Tory Island by HMS Melampus (1785 - 38) and HMS Ethalion (1797 - 38 - Artois-class), and was commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Proserpine. Although officially 'under repair' at Plymouth, she was never more than a hulk, and in 1806 she was broken up.

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Lines of HMS Melampus 1785

The Iphigénie class was a group of nine 32-gun/12-pounder frigates of the French Navy, built during the late 1770s at Lorient (2 ships) and Saint Malo (7 ships). They were designed by Léon Guignace. The seven built at Saint Malo were initially numbered Nos. 1 – 7 respectively, and not given names until October 1777 (for Nos 1 – 4) and the start of 1778 (Nos. 5 – 7); all seven were captured by the British Navy between 1779 and the end of 1800. Of the two built at Lorient, the Spanish captured one, and a storm wrecked the other.

Launched: 16 October 1777
Fate: Captured by the Spanish in February 1795, becoming Spanish Ifigenia.
Launched: 26 March 1778
Fate: Wrecked in a storm in Bantry Bay, January 1797
Launched: 16 March 1778
Fate: Captured by the British 14 October 1798, becoming HMS Resolue.
Launched: 18 June 1778
Fate: Captured by the British 11 April 1795, becoming HMS Gentille.
Launched: 11 May 1778
Fate: Captured by the British 29 July 1782, but retaken by a French squadron the following day; wrecked off the Penmarch Islands January 1797.
Launched: late March 1778
Fate: Captured by the British 2 June 1779, becoming HMS Prudente.
Launched: 9 July 1778
Fate: Captured by the British 10 April 1795, becoming HMS Gloire.
Launched: 2 August 1778
Fate: Captured by the British 12 October 1798, becoming HMS Proserpine.
Launched: 23 September 1778
Fate: Captured by the British 5 August 1800, becoming HMS Medee.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Bellone_(1778)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Melampus_(1785)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Ethalion_(1797)
 
22 August 1796 - HMS Galatea (1794 - 32) drove the frigate L'Andromaque (1778 – 48 (mounted 40) – Nymphe-class), on shore near Arcasson, where she was completely destroyed by HMS Sylph (18) on the 23rd.


Career and fate of french L'Andromaque
Andromaque was commissioned in Brest in 1778 and took part in the American War of Independence. After an overhaul in which she was coppered in April 1780, she captured the British 20-gun post shipHMS Unicorn on 4 October 1780, off Tortuga. The French Navy took Unicorn into service as La Licorne.

On 21 April 1781, Andromaque landed troops for the Siege of Pensacola, in the squadron under Monteil.

On 20 April 1782, a 10-ship convoy departed Brest escorted by the 74-gun Protecteur and Pégase, and the frigates Indiscrète and Andromaque. At sunset, at the mouth of the English Channel, the convoy met a British force of three 74-gun ships of the line under John Jervis; in the ensuing Action of 20–21 April 1782, Pégase and the 64 Actionaire, armed en flûte, were captured.

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Capture of the Thétis (a sister ship) by HMS Amethyst on 10 November 1808.

Andromaque was decommissioned in November 1791 and lied in reserve at Rochefort, until June 1793, when she was armed again. Then was then tasked with convoy escort duty between Rochefort and La Rochelle, under Captain Renaudin. She had a battle against a ship of the line and four Spanish frigates.

In 1794, Andromaque cruised in the Bay of Biscay under Lieutenant Guillotin. Lieutenant Farjenel took command later that year. In 1795, she crossed the Atlantic to Guadeloupe, and Lieutenant Morel took command.

On 22 August 1796, while cruising with a naval division, she sprang a leak and has to detach. She was then chased by the frigate HMS Galatea and the brig Sylph and beached herself in Arcachon Bay to avoid capture.[6] The crew jumped overboard and swam to the shore, 20 men drowning to death. The British launched boats whose parties boarded took prisoner Andromaque's captain, Lieutenant Morel, and four officers, and rescued a number of Portuguese prisoners who had been the crews of two Brazilian ships that her squadron had captured. A boarding party from Sylph set fire to Andromaque as they left and she was completely burnt. There are reports that after seizing the entire crew, the British kept only the officers and released the seamen, only to open fire on them as they attempted to return ashore.


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.

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HMS Galatea, by Thomas Whitcombe


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Galatea_(1794)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Andromaque_(1778)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nymphe-class_frigate
 
22 August 1851 – The first America's Cup is won by the yacht America


The regatta, held on 22 August 1851, raced clockwise around the Isle of Wight in a fleet race. The course was called "The Queen's Course". The course was near Cowes Castle on the Isle of Wight, where the Royal Yacht Squadron headquarters are located. The race took place as part of the 1851 Royal Yacht Squadron Regatta. The signal gun for sailing was fired at 10am, and the winner saluted by a gun from the flag-ship at 8:34pm (8:37pm railway time).

Birth of a Legend Yacht America 1851 America's Cup History Movie 720p


18 yachts were entered for the race, but only 15 yachts started the race. The yacht Fernande did not make the start, while Strella and Titania both got to the starting line, though did not start the race. Those yachts that raced were America, Alarm, Arrow, Aurora, Bacchante, Beatrice, Brilliant, Constance, Eclipse, Freak, Gipsy Queen, Ione, Mona, Volante, and Wyvern.

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The America, schooner yacht. To John C Stevens, esq Commodore of the New York Yacht Club

America (yacht)
America's origins
A syndicate of New York Yacht Club members, headed by NYYC charter member Commodore John Cox Stevens, with members Edwin A. Stevens, George Schuyler, Hamilton Wilkes, and J. Beekman Finley, would build a yacht to sail to England. The purpose of this visit was twofold: to show off U.S. shipbuilding skill and make money through competing in yachting regattas. Stevens employed the services of the shipyard of William Brown and his chief designer, George Steers.

Designer

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America 1851, by James Bard.

America was designed by James Rich Steers and George Steers (1820–1856) (See George Steers and Co). Traditional "cod-head-and-mackerel-tail" design gave boats a blunt bow and a sharp stern with the widest point (the beam) placed one-third of the length aft of the bow. George Steers' pilot boat designs, however, had a concave clipper-bow with the beam of the vessel at midships. As a result, his schooner-rigged pilot boats were among the fastest and most seaworthy of their day. They had to be seaworthy, for they met inbound and outbound vessels in any kind of weather. These vessels also had to be fast, for harbor pilots competed with each other for business. In addition to pilot boats, Steers designed and built 17 yachts, some which were favourites with the New York Yacht Club.

Captain
America was captained by Richard Brown, who was also a skilled member of the Sandy Hook Pilots group, renowned worldwide for their expertise in manoeuvering the shoals around New York Harbor. They were highly skilled racers as a result of impromptu races between pilots to ships in need of pilot services. Brown had sailed aboard a pilot boat designed by George Steers, of whom he was a personal friend. He chose as first mate Nelson Comstock, a newcomer to yacht racing.

Events leading to the race

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America model in Musee de la marine.

Crewed by Brown and eight professional sailors, with George Steers, his older brother James, and James' son George as passengers, America left New York on June 21, 1851 and arrived at Le Havre on July 11. They were joined there by Commodore Stevens. After drydocking and repainting America left for Cowes, Isle of Wight, on July 30. While there the crew enjoyed the hospitality of the Royal Yacht Squadron while Stevens searched for someone who would race against his yacht.[7]

The British yachting community had been following the construction of America with interest and perhaps some trepidation. When America showed up on the Solent on July 31 there was one yacht, Laverock, that appeared for an impromptu race. The accounts of the race are contradictory: a British newspaper said Laverock held her own, but Stevens later reported that America beat her handily. Whatever the outcome, it seemed to have discouraged other British yachtsmen from challenging America to a match. She never raced until the last day of the Royal Yacht Squadron's annual members-only regatta for which Queen Victoriacustomarily donated the prize. Because of America's presence, a special provision was made to "open to all nations" a race of 53 miles (85 km) 'round the Isle of Wight, with no reservation for time allowance.

The race
The race was held on August 22, 1851, with a 10:00 AM start for a line of seven schooners and another line of eight cutters. America had a slow start due to a fouled anchor and was well behind when she finally got under way. Within half an hour however, she was in 5th place and gaining.

The eastern shoals of the Isle of Wight are called the Nab Rocks. Traditionally, races would sail around the east (seaward) side of the lightship that marked the edge of the shoal, but one could sail between the lightship and the mainland if they had a knowledgeable pilot. America had such a pilot and he took her down the west (landward) side of the lightship. After the race a contestant protested this action, but was overruled because the official race rules did not specify on which side of the lightship a boat had to pass.

This tactic put America in the lead, which she held throughout the rest of the race. At one point the jib boom broke due to a crew error, but it was replaced in fifteen minutes. On the final leg of the race the yacht Aurora closed but was 18 minutes behind when America finished shortly after 6:00 PM. Legend has it that while watching the race, Queen Victoria asked who was second, and received the famous reply: "There is no second, your Majesty."

History after the race
John Cox Stevens and the syndicate from the New York Yacht Club owned the America from the time she was launched on May 3, 1851 until ten days after she won the regatta that made her famous.

On September 1, 1851, the yacht was sold to John de Blaquiere, 2nd Baron de Blaquiere, who raced her only a few times before selling her in 1856 to Henry Montagu Upton, 2nd Viscount Templetown, who renamed the yacht Camilla but failed to use or maintain her. In 1858, she was sold to Henry Sotheby Pitcher.

Pitcher, a shipbuilder in Northfleet, Kent, rebuilt Camilla and resold her in 1860 to Henry Edward Decie, who brought her back to the United States. Decie sold the ship to the Confederate States of America the same year for use as a blockade runner in the American Civil War. Decie remained aboard as captain. During this time she may have been renamed Memphis but the details are unclear. In 1862, she was scuttled in Dunns Creek, north of Crescent City, when Union troops took the city of Jacksonville.

She was raised, repaired and renamed America by the Union, and served the United States Navy on the blockade for the remainder of the war. America was armed with three smooth bore bronze cannon designed by John A. Dahlgren and cast at the Washington Navy Yard. A 12-pounder was located on the bow and two 24-pounders were placed amidships.[2] Each 24-pounder weighed 1,300 pounds (590 kg) and had a range of 1,140 yards (1.04 km) at an elevation of four degrees.

Assigned to the federal blockading squadron off Charleston, South Carolina, she was on patrol the night of 19 March 1863, when she spotted the smoke of a blockade runner near Dewees Inlet, South Carolina. She immediately launched colored signal flares to alert the rest of the fleet. The runner proved to be the CSS Georgiana, which was described in contemporary documents as the most powerful Confederate cruiser then afloat. America's action ultimately resulted in the Georgiana's wreck and destruction. Georgiana was undoubtedly the most important vessel to be captured or destroyed by the federal blockade.

After the war, America was used as a training ship at the U. S. Naval Academy. On August 8, 1870, America was entered by the Navy in the America's Cup race at New York Harbor, where she finished fourth.

Schooner_America.jpg
America with 1887 rig

America remained in the U.S. Navy until 1873, when she was sold to Benjamin Butler for US$5,000. Butler raced and maintained the boat well, commissioning a rebuild by Donald McKay in 1875 and a total refit of the rig in 1885 by Edward Burgess to keep her competitive. Upon Butler's death in 1893, his son Paul inherited the schooner, but had no interest in her, and so gave her to his nephew Butler Ames in 1897. Ames reconditioned America and used her occasionally for racing and casual sailing until 1901, when she fell into disuse and disrepair.

America was sold to a company headed by Charles Foster in 1917, and in 1921 was sold to the America Restoration Fund, who donated her to the U. S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. She was not maintained there either, and by 1940 had become seriously decayed. On March 29, 1942, during a heavy snowstorm, the shed where America was stored collapsed. Three years later, in 1945, the remains of the shed and ship were finally scrapped and burned.

Replicas
The first replica of America was built by Goudy & Stevens Shipyard in Boothbay, Maine and launched in 1967. She was built for Rudolph Schaefer, Jr., owner of F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Co. Construction was supervised by her first skipper, Newfoundland born Capt. Lester G. Hollett.


A second replica of America was built in 1995 by Scarano Boatbuilding of Albany, NY for Ray Giovanni and was operated by him for commercial events until his death. The replicas had several modifications from the original design including widening the beam by 4 feet to accommodate interior layouts. The original design had only one lantern (skylight) so three were added to bring light into the interior of the yacht. The yacht spent several years in Key West Florida and now operates whale watching and racing tours out of San Diego. She was exhibited in June 2011 in San Francisco Bay in concert with exploratory preparations by the Oracle Racing team for the 2013 America's Cup race, to be held within the bay. She is now owned by Troy Sears's company Next Level Sailing, and sails around the world as an official licensed partner for the America’s Cup Tour.

A third replica was built in Varna, Bulgaria in 2005. Christened Skythia, the boat's home port today is Rostock, Germany, where she is used for commercial charter.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_(yacht)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1851_America's_Cup
 
22 August 1942 - Destroyer USS Ingraham collided with the oil tanker USS Chemung in heavy fog off the coast of Nova Scotia and Ingraham sank almost immediately. Only 11 survived from 200.


USS Ingraham (DD-444), a Gleaves-class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Captain Duncan Ingraham (1802–1891), who was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal following his actions regarding Martin Koszta, a Hungarian who had declared in New York his intention of becoming an American citizen, and who had been seized and confined in the Austrian ship Hussar.

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USS Ingraham

Ingraham was launched on 15 February 1941 by the Charleston Navy Yard; sponsored by Mrs. George Ingraham Hutchinson, granddaughter of Captain Ingraham; and commissioned on 19 July 1941, Lieutenant Commander William M. Haynsworth, Jr., in command.

After shakedown and local operations along the East Coast, Ingraham commenced duties as a convoy escort in December 1941 as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor drew America into World War II. In 1942, she escorted convoys between the U.S., Iceland, and the United Kingdom, bringing supplies desperately needed by the Allies to stem Hitler's advance and to take the offensive. Under constant threat from German U-boats, Ingraham continued her escort duty to Europe and as far south as the Panama Canal.

Ingraham was guarding Scotland-bound convoy T-20 out of Halifax. After an erroneous report of enemy submarine, convoy escorts maneuvered to locate the enemy in heavy fog. On the night of 22 August, as she was investigating a collision between the destroyer Buck and a merchant vessel, Ingraham collided with the oil tanker Chemung in heavy fog off the coast of Nova Scotia and Ingraham sank almost immediately. Depth charges on her stern exploded. Only 11 men survived the collision. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 11 September 1942.


USS Chemung (AO-30), a Cimarron-class fleet replenishment oiler serving in the United States Navy, was the second ship named for the Chemung River in New York State.

Chemung was launched 9 September 1939 as Esso Annapolis by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation at Bethlehem Sparrows Point Shipyard, Sparrows Point, Maryland, under a Maritime Commission contract; sponsored by Miss Howard; acquired by the Navy 5 June 1941; and commissioned 3 July 1941, Commander E. T. Spellman in command.

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USS Chemung (AO-30) refueling USS Boyd (DD-544), 1969

From 13 July 1941 until the entry of the United States into World War II, Chemung operated between east coast ports and the oil ports of Texas and Louisiana transporting fuel oil.

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USS Chemung (AO-30) refueling USS Alaska (CB-1), date and location unknown

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USS Chemung (AO-30) refueling USS Hooper (DE-1026) in rough seas, date unknown

World War II
From 20 December 1941 to 3 January 1942 she issued fuel at NS Argentia, Newfoundland. Reloading at Norfolk, Virginia, she steamed to Hvalfjörður, Iceland carrying fuel (19 February–25 March), then operated between Norfolk and ports in the Gulf of Mexico from 1 April to 16 May. Following another tour as fuel station ship at Hvalfjörður (30 May–26 June), Chemung departed from New York City 20 August with a convoy bound for the United Kingdom. Two days later Ingraham collided with her at night. The destroyer sank almost immediately when the depth charges on her stern exploded. Chemung, although heavily damaged by the explosion and resulting fires, reached Boston, Massachusetts 26 August for repairs.

Steaming 1 October 1942 to Beaumont, Texas, to load fuel, Chemung accompanied the North African assault force to sea, remained off the coast during the landings, then returned to Norfolk 30 November to resume coastwise fuel runs. From 15 February 1943 to 11 June 1945 Chemung alternated five convoy voyages to United Kingdom ports and five to North Africa with coast-wise and Caribbean cargo duty and station duty at Bermuda and in the Azores.

Post-war service
An assignment to occupation duty in the Far East found Chemung circumnavigating the globe as she cleared Norfolk 18 July 1945, passed through the Panama Canal for service at Okinawa 17 September to 13 October, and returned by way of the Cape of Good Hope to Norfolk 6 December. She operated with the US Atlantic Fleet, serving the US 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean (12 November 1948—1 April 1949), until 17 March 1950, when she sailed for San Diego, where she was decommissioned and placed in reserve 3 July 1950.

Recommissioned 1 December 1950, Chemung steamed to the Far East 28 January 1951 for a brief tour refueling forces engaged in the Korean War. During her second tour of duty (7 July 1951—20 April 1952), she supported United Nations troops in Korea, served on the Formosa Patrol, then transported oil from Ras Tanura, Arabia, to Guam. She again sailed from San Pedro 24 June 1952 to support the US 7th Fleet off Korea until returning to Mare Island for overhaul on 24 February.

In nine succeeding tours of duty in the Western Pacific from her home port at San Pedro California between 1953 and 1960, Chemung supported many of the 7th Fleet's most notable contributions to the keeping of peace in the Far East. During her 1954—1955 tour she provided fuel for the ships carrying out the evacuation of the Tachen Islands. During each of the tours she has served as station tanker at Kaohsiung, Taiwan, fueling the ships of the Taiwan Patrol.

Chemung served through the 1960s, including service in support of the Vietnam War, until she was decommissioned on 18 September 1970. She was transferred to the Maritime Administration and ultimately scrapped.

Chemung received two battle stars for World War II service, and four for service in the Korean War.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Ingraham_(DD-444)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Chemung_(AO-30)
http://www.navsource.org/archives/09/19/19030.htm
 
Other Events on 22 August


1553 Death of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, English admiral and politician, Lord President of the Council (b. 1504)

AnthonyRoll-1_Great_Harry.jpg
In 1545 Lord Admiral John Dudley, Viscount Lisle welcomed King Henry VIII on board the Henri Grace a Dieu, popularly called Great Harry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dudley,_1st_Duke_of_Northumberland

1767 - Launch of french Renommee (Boudeuse class 40 gun)

Renommée, (one-off 40-gun design by Antoine Groignard, with 30 x 12-pounder and 10 x 8-pounder guns, launched 22 August 1767 at Brest) – deleted 1783.
1778 – Launch of French Magicienne class 32 gun frigate Precieuse in Toulon

Précieuse, (launched 22 August 1778 at Toulon) – hulked November 1794, then deleted October 1814. / Magicienne class, (32-gun design by Joseph-Marie-Blaise Coulomb, with 26 x 12-pounder and 6 x 6-pounder guns).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magicienne-class_frigate

1779 - Death of Captain Charles Clerke (22 August 1741 – 22 August 1779)

He was an officer in the Royal Navy who sailed on four voyages of exploration, 3 with Captain James Cook. For Cook's third expedition, Clerke was placed in command of HMS Discovery, receiving this command on 26 August 1775. When Cook was killed in a skirmish with Hawaiians on 14 February 1779, Clerke took command of the expedition and of HMS Resolution. He continued the expedition's exploration of the Northern Pacific coast, searching for a navigable Northwest Passage. The expedition then proceeded to the Pacific coast of Siberia. Lieutenant James King, one of his subordinates, wrote that Clerke's illness had reduced him to skeletal thinness. On 10 August 1779, Clerke wrote in a letter to Sir Joseph Banks that, "The disorder I was attacked with in the King's bench prison has proved consumptive, with which I have battled with various [unclear] although without one single days health since I took leave of you ... it has now so far got the better of me that I am not able to turn myself in bed, so that my stay in this world must be of very short duration."[5] Clerke died from tuberculosis on his 38th birthday (22 August 1779) en route to Kamchatka from the Bering Strait. He was buried in Kamchatka on 29 August 1779. Clerke's second in command, Lieutenant John Gore took command of the expedition as captain of Resolution, appointing King as captain of Discovery. The expedition then sailed via China and the Sunda Strait to Cape Town, returning to England in August 1780.

Charles_Clerke.jpg
Charles Clerke, by Nathaniel Dance-Holland, 1776

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Clerke

1780 – James Cook's ship HMS Resolution returns to England (Cook having been killed on Hawaii during the voyage).

1280px-Hodges,_Resolution_and_Adventure_in_Matavai_Bay.jpg
Resolution and Adventure with fishing craft in Matavai Bay, painted by William Hodges in 1776, shows the two ships of Commander James Cook's second voyage of exploration in the Pacific at anchor in Tahiti.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_voyage_of_James_Cook
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Resolution_(1771)

1789 – Launch of The Fidèle was a 32-gun Félicité class frigate of the French Navy.

In 1791, Fidèle took part in Girardin's Expedition to Martinique, under Captain François Étienne de Rosily-Mesros. In November, she served as a troopship and in Brest harbour. Fidèle took part in the Croisière du Grand Hiver and in the Battle of Groix, under Lieutenant Bernard. In 1802, she was condemned, and used as a hulk and barracks in Brest until 1816, when she was scrapped.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Fidèle_(1789)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Félicité-class_frigate

1794 - Montagne, (one-off design by Joseph-Marie-Blaise Coulomb) – launched at Rochefort; renamed Volontaire on 10 July 1794; wrecked 22 August 1794 to avoid capture by the Royal Navy, and destroyed the following day.

1795 - Engagement of British light squadron under Cptn. James Alms with Dutch squadron in the North Sea, off the coast of Norway. HMS Stag (32), Cptn. Joshua Sydney Yorke, took Alliance (36) but her consorts, Argo (36) and Nelly (16), escaped after a running fight with the rest of the squadron.

1797 – Launch of Muiron, (launched 22 August 1797 at Venice) – hulked 1807, deleted 1850. / Carrère class, (40-gun design by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait, with 28 x 18-pounder and 12 x 8-pdr guns, plus 4 x 36-pounder obusiers).

Muiron was a frigate of the French Navy, famous for ferrying Bonaparte on the 22 August 1799 under the flagship of Admiral Ganteaume from Egypt to France after the Battle of the Nile.

Muiron-IMG_8665.jpg

The Muiron was one of two 18-pounder armed frigates that were building on the stocks in Venice in November 1796, when Bonaparte took Venice during the Campaign of Italy. The two frigates were launched in August 1797 under the names Carrère and Muiron, and completed during November by the orders of Pierre-Alexandre Forfait. Muiron was named to honour Colonel Jean-Baptiste Muiron, an aide-de-camp of Bonaparte who had covered Bonaparte with his body during the Battle of the Bridge of Arcole.

The Muiron was armed with 28 × 18-pounder guns on the upper deck, and 12 × 6-pounder guns on the quarterdeck and forecastle, and manned with a complement of 340. She was incorporated in the fleet that invaded Egypt, and after the Battle of the Nile, Bonaparte departed for France aboard. She later took part in the Battle of Algeciras Bay. In 1807, Napoleon ordered that the Muiron be preserved as a monument; to this effect, he wrote a letter to the Ministry of the Navy, stating "I wish that the Muiron on which I came back from Egypt be kept as a monument and placed in such a way that it be preserved, if possibly, several hundreds years". She was repaired and docked in Toulon, which a golden inscription on her hull stating "The Muiron, taken in 1797 in Venice arsenal by the conqueror of Italy. She brought back the saviour of France from Egypt in 1799". Napoléon also had a finely crafted scale model made for his study in Malmaison in 1803. This model is now on display at the Musée national de la Marine in Paris.

At the Bourbon Restoration, Muiron was decommissioned, and she was eventually destroyed in 1850, in circumstances that remain unclear. Conflicting theories have it that she was either sold for material and broken up, or destroyed by fire after being struck by lightning.

The British captured her sister ship in August 1801 and added her to the British Navy as HMS Carrere.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Muiron

1798 – French troops land at Kilcummin, County Mayo, Ireland to aid the rebellion.

Kilcummin is noted as the site where a French expedition commanded by General Humbert landed on 22 August 1798, in an attempt to assist Irish rebels during the 1798 rebellion. Humbert commanded three frigates, the Concorde, Franchise, and the Médée altogether carrying 1070 French forces, three cannon, and approximately 3000 muskets.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilcummin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Joseph_Amable_Humbert

1844 Birth of George W. De Long, American Naval officer and explorer (d. 1881)

George Washington De Long (August 22, 1844 – October 31, 1881) was a United States Navy officer and explorer. He led the ill-fated Jeannette Expedition in search of the Open Polar Sea.

GeorgeWashingtonDeLong_original.jpg
Image taken from the US Navy historical image library (www.history.navy.mil).

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The Jeannette in Le Havre, France, 1878

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._De_Long
.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeannette_Expedition

1944 - Submarines Haddo (SS 255) and Harder (SS 257) encounter three Japanese escort vessels off the mouth of Manila Bay. Haddo sinks Sado 35 miles west of Manila; Harder sinks Matsuwa and Hiburi about 50 miles west-southwest of Manila.

Japanese_escort_ship_Matsuwa_1943.jpg
Japanese escort ship Matsuwa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_escort_ship_Matsuwa
 
Today in Naval History
23 August 1766 - Launch of HMS Carysfort, 28-gun Coventry-class frigate


HMS Carysfort was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars in a career that spanned over forty years.

She had a number of notable commanders during this period, and saw action in several single-ship actions against French and American opponents. She took several privateers during the American War of Independence, though one of her most notable actions was the recapture of Castor, a Royal Navy frigate that a French squadron had captured nearly three weeks earlier and a French prize crew was sailing to France. Carysfort engaged and forced the surrender of her larger opponent, restoring Castor to the British, though not without a controversy over the issue of prize money. Carysfort spent the later French Revolutionary and early Napoleonic Wars on stations in the East and later the West Indies. Carysfort returned to Britain in 1806 where she was laid up in ordinary. The Admiralty finally sold her in 1813.

Carysfort.jpg

Construction and commissioning
HMS Carysfort was a 9pdr armed, 28 gun, sixth-rate frigate of the Coventry Class, built by the Royal Dockyard at Sheerness.

The 28 gun, sixth rate frigate was the smallest vessel of the Royal Navy to meet the definition of a Frigate. Vessels carrying 20 or more guns, but less than 28 guns were classed as sixth rate Post Ships.

The Coventry Class was a group of 19 small frigates designed by Sir Thomas Slade, Co-Surveyor of the Navy at the time, of which nine were built in Kent shipyards. The Coventry Class were built in four batches. The first batch of four ships were all ordered in 1756. The second batch of five ships were all built from fir rather than oak for speed of construction and all had short service careers. They were all ordered in 1757. The third batch of nine ships, of which HMS Carysfort was a part, eight of which were also ordered in 1757. They were all oak-built. Although a batch three ship, HMS Carysfort was the last to be ordered, with Sheerness Dockyard not being ordered to build her until 1761. The fourth batch, of two ships was not ordered until 1782, though in the end only one was built. This is because the order for the second ship was cancelled after the shipyard contracted to build her went bust and the contract was not re-placed with anyone else. Sir Thomas Slade is now more famous for what is widely regarded as his masterpiece, the first rate ship HMS Victory.

HMS Carysfort was ordered from the Royal Dockyard at Sheerness by the Navy Board on 20th February 1761. At the time the ship was ordered, the Seven Years War was at it's height and the naval element of the war was going very well for the British. HMS Carysfort was fitted with her guns, masts and rigging at Sheerness and was commissioned into the Royal Navy under Captain George Vandeput in June 1767.

On completion, HMS Carysfort was a ship of 586 tons. She was 118ft 4in long on her gundeck, 97ft 3in long at her keel and 33ft 8in wide across her beams. Her hold below the orlop was 10ft 6in deep. HMS Carysfort was armed with 24 9pdr long guns on her gundeck, 4 3pdr long guns on her quarterdeck and in addition to those there were a dozen half-pounder swivel guns attached to her upper deck handrails and in her fighting tops. She was manned by a crew of 200 officers, men, boys and Royal Marines.

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Early years and American War of Independence
Carysfort commissioned under her first commander, Captain George Vandeput in June 1767, and sailed for the Mediterranean in September that year. Vandeput remained in command until 1770, when in February Captain William Hay replaced him. Hay continued in the Mediterranean until May, when he sailed to Jamaica. On that trip she ran aground in the Straits of Florida. Carysfort Reef there is named for her.

Hay and Carysfort briefly returned to Britain in 1771, before journeying back to Jamaica in April 1772. She was paid off in July 1773 and spent some time laid up.

Carysfort began to be fitted for foreign service at Chatham Dockyard in September 1775, a process that had been completed by February 1776. She was then recommissioned in December 1775 under Captain Robert Fanshawe. Fanshawe sailed to North America in April 1776, but returned the following year where she was again fitted out, this time at Plymouth.

In 1778, again in service in North America with Captain Fanshawe, she transported troops on a raiding expedition led by Major General Charles Grey.[3] She paid off again in late 1778, but in late 1779 she was reactivated and began to be fitted for service in the English Channel. She joined the Downs squadron under her new captain, William Cumming, and on 13 June 1780 she captured the privateer Espérance. Cumming was replaced in November 1780 by Captain William Peacock, and in December Carysfort returned to operate in North American waters. On 24 May 1782 she captured the American privateer General Galvez. Captain John Markham briefly took command in December 1782, and next month Carysfort was paid off again.

HMS Guadeloupe (1763) from the same class
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Scale: 1:48. A contemporary full hull model of the sixth-rate sloop 'Guadeloupe' (1763), 28 guns, built in the Georgian style. The model is decked and equipped. The unfinished appearance of the head and stern suggests that the model was built for design purposes but the measurements are correct for the frigate ‘Guadeloupe’ of 1763. The deck layout is typical of the early frigates. The raised forecastle shows the position of the foremast with bitts either side and the galley funnel and belfry at the break of the forecastle. Below, in the waist, are the riding bitts, the hatchways and by the mainmast position, the gallows bitts, freshwater and bilge pumps. The quarterdeck carries the main capstan and steering wheel. The mizzenmast was situated just abaft the wheel.

Interwar period and French Revolutionary Wars
Carysfort underwent a great repair in mid-1785, and returned to service in January 1787, having commissioned the previous month under Captain Matthew Smith. She served in the Mediterranean for three years, paying off in 1790. After a further period spent laid up, Carysfort was prepared for active service again after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, and recommissioned in August 1793 under Captain Francis Laforey.

Carysfort and Castor
Main article: Frigate action of 29 May 1794
While off Land's End on 29 May 1794 she came across Castor, sailing under French colours. The Castor, originally under Captain Thomas Troubridge, had been captured twenty days earlier by a French squadron under Joseph-Marie Nielly during the Atlantic campaign of May 1794. Castor was being sailed back to France by a French prize crew at the time she was discovered, and was towing a Dutch brig. The French cast off the brig and fought Carysfort for an hour and a quarter, before surrendering. Carysfort's casualties amounted to one dead and four wounded, while the French in Castor had 16 killed and nine wounded. One master's mate and eighteen seaman of the original crew were released after the recapture, but Troubridge and most of the British crew had been taken aboard Nielly's flagship, Sans Pareil, and would have to wait for the defeat of the French fleets at the Glorious First of June and the capture of Sans Pareil before they could be freed.

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Capture of the Castor May 29th 1794

Carysfort towed Castor to a British port, but a dispute then arose over the matter of prize money. The naval commissioners decided that since Castor was being taken to a French port, she was not yet a French warship, and that Carysfort had merely recovered the British ship. This meant Laforey and his crew were entitled to some salvage rights, but not the more lucrative bounty of prize money. Laforey protested and the case went to Sir James Marriott, the judge of the High Court of Admiralty. The captured French captain was called upon to give evidence, and reported that Nielly was empowered to 'condemn, arm, fit-out, and equip, all such prizes as he might think calculated for the service of the French republic.' Marriott determined that Castor fulfilled the criteria of such a ship, and therefore awarded her full value to Laforey and the men of Carysfort. Also, in 1847 the men of Carysfort were authorized the Naval General Service Medal with the clasp "Carysfort 29 May 1794"; however, none came forward to claim theirs.

French Revolutionary Wars
Captain John Murray took command of Carysfort in 1795, and left Britain for the East Indies in February 1796. Carysfort remained in the East Indies for the next few years, passing under the command of Captain Thomas Alexander in March 1796. On 19 August that year Alexander captured the 16-gun French corvette Alerte, a privateer requisitioned by the French government. She sailed from France for the East Indies with the squadron under Admiral Sercey. There Sercey sent her to visit the Danish post at Trinquebar to gather information about the disposition of the British navy in the East Indies. On his way the captain encountered Carysfort in the dark, and mistaking her for a merchant vessel, attacked. Carysfort captured Alerte, and with her, papers describing Sercey's plans and route. This led on 9 September to an indecisive action between Sercey's squadron and Arrogant and Victorious.

In December Captain John Turnor succeeded Murray. Turnor was replaced by Captain William Hills in 1798, and he by Captain Volant Vashon Ballard in December 1798. He remained with her until mid-1800. Between April and June 1801 Carysfort was at Portsmouth undergoing fitting.

Captain Adam Drummond (later Vice Admiral of the Red) assumed command of Carysfort in 18 May 1801. Carysfort and Argo escorted five transports carrying the 85th Regiment of Foot and forty artillerymen from Cowes on 24 June. They arrived in Portsmouth on 28 June and then sailed again on a "secret mission". They had to put back into Torbay on 11 July.

The secret mission saw Carysfort spending several months off Madeira during the British occupation. She returned from Madeira on 2 September.

Carysfort sailed again on 26 January 1802 on an anti-smuggling patrol and returned on 26 February. Drummond paid Carysfort off in May 1802. His replacement was Captain George Mundy in May 1802.

In June she participated in a small anti-smuggling squadron under the command of Captain King of Sirius. The other vessels in the squadron were Rosario, Imogen, and Peterell. On the 11th, the vessels were ordered to embark victuals for two months. They were cruise from Berry Head to Mount's Bay, an area "infested with smugglers".

Captain Robert Fanshawe replaced Mundy in September 1802, only to be superseded by Captain John Woolcombe.

Napoleonic Wars
On 26 March 1804, she sailed from Cork with a convoy of sixty-seven merchantmen, together with Apollo. The convoy immediately encountered a strong gale. At 3:30 in the morning of 2 April Apollo unexpectedly ran aground about nine miles south of Cape Mondego on the coast of Portugal. Soon after 25 or 26 of the vessels in the convoy, traveling closely behind due to the low visibility and bad weather, were also wrecked. Next day some more vessels were wrecked. In all, 29 vessels ran aground. Carysfort had shifted course on the evening of 1 April and so escaped grounding. She gathered the 38 surviving vessels and proceeded with the convoy.

Carysfort sailed to Jamaica in March 1804, and came under Captain Kenneth McKenzie in March 1806. In July 1806 Captain Philip Carteret of Scorpion helped McKenzie save sixty-five deeply laden merchantmen from destruction at St. Kitts. Carteret sent a letter to the Governor at Nevis who warned McKenzie that a French squadron under Admiral Willaumez had arrived at Martinique. Carysfort and the armed storeship Dolphin sailed leeward with their charges and so escaped the French, who had sailed from Fort Royal on 1 July. The French squadron succeeded in capturing three merchantmen at Montserrat and another three and a brig at Nevis; the fort on Brimstone Hill (St. Kitt's) and a battery on the beach protected nine others that had missed the convoy, though the French did attack them.

McKenzie took the Lutine in the West Indies on 24 March after a 30-hour chase, after Edward Berry's Agamemnon came up and blocked her escape. Lutine was a new French navy brig with a crew of 100 men under the command of M. Croquet Dechauteurs. She was 33 days out of Lorient and on her way to Martinique, but had captured nothing on her way. She was armed with 18 guns but had thrown two overboard during the chase. Berry reported that "she is a remarkably fine Vessel, quite new,... , is well appointed in every Respect; sails uncommonly fast, and is, in my Opinion, well calculated for His Majesty's Service." The Navy concurred and took Lutine into service as HMS Hawk.

Fate
Carysfort returned to Britain later in 1806 and was laid up at Deptford in August. Five years later she was sold for £1,800 on 28 April 1813.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Carysfort_(1766)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coventry-class_frigate
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-316783;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=G
http://www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=18737.0
 
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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
23 August 1774 – Launch of HMS Boreas, a 28 gun Mermaid-class frigate - H. Nelson commanded her 1784 to 1787


HMS Boreas was a modified Mermaid-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was first commissioned in August 1775 under Captain Charles Thompson.

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Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines and longitudinal half breadth as proposed and approved for Triton (1773), Greyhound (1773), Boreas (1774), all 28-gun, Sixth Rate Frigates, with later modifications to the bowspirit. Alterations shown to the bow and stern for Triton (1773), Greyhound (1773), Boreas (1774) as fitted.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/83031.html#f7CMk68MCUEuF3X7.99



On 31 August 1779 Boreas, under the command of Captain Charles Thompson, captured the French corvette Compas, of eighteen 6-pounder guns, which was carrying a cargo of sugar. Compas, which was armed en flute, put up resistance for about 20 minutes, with the result that she suffered nine men killed and wounded before she struck. Boreas was part of a squadron under the command of Rear Admiral of the Red Hyde Parker on the Jamaica station.

Horatio Nelson (who was created 1st Viscount Nelson 1801) was Senior Naval Officer of the Leeward Islands from 1784 to 1787 on the Boreas.

In 1784 he received command of the frigate HMS Boreas with the assignment to enforce the Navigation Acts in the vicinity of Antigua. The Acts were unpopular with both the Americans and the colonies. Nelson served on the station under Admiral Sir Richard Hughes, and often came into conflict with his superior officer over their differing interpretation of the Acts. The captains of the American vessels Nelson had seized sued him for illegal seizure. Because the merchants of the nearby island of Nevis supported the American claim, Nelson was in peril of imprisonment; he remained sequestered on Boreas for eight months, until the courts ruled in his favour.

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NELSON'S BOREAS OFF NEVIS, CARIBBEAN signed 'DEREK G. M. GARDNER' (lower right) - watercolour

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In the interim, Nelson met Frances "Fanny" Nisbet, a young widow from a Nevis plantation family. Nelson developed an affection for her and her uncle, John Herbert, offered him a massive dowry and both uncle and niece hid the fact that the famed riches were a fiction, and that Fanny was infertile and also rather nervous. Once engaged, Herbert offered nowhere near the money he had promised. Breaking an engagement was dishonourable, so Nelson and Nisbet were married at Montpelier Estate on the island of Nevis on 11 March 1787, shortly before the end of his tour of duty in the Caribbean. The marriage was registered at Fig Tree Church in St John's Parish on Nevis. Nelson returned to England in July, with Fanny following later.

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The Boreas was used as a slop ship from 1797 until its breakup.

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The Mermaid-class frigates were a group of six 28-gun sailing frigates of the sixth rate designed in 1760 by Sir Thomas Slade, based on the scaled-down lines of HMS Aurora (originally a French prize, L'Abénaquise, which had been captured in 1757).

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Sir Thomas Slade, naval architect for Boreas in 1760

The contract for the prototype was agreed on 12 May 1760, for a ship to be launched within twelve months, and her name was assigned as Mermaid on 28 October 1760. The contract for the second ship was agreed on 10 March 1762, for a ship to be launched within thirteen months, and the contract for the third ship was agreed on 2 April 1762, for a ship to be launched within fourteen months; both names were assigned on 30 April 1763.

Some ten years after the design was first produced, it was re-used for a second batch of three ships which were ordered on Christmas Day, 1770. While the design differences from the first batch were minor (the keel was a few inches longer), the second batch were normally designated the Modified Mermaid class.

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Ships in class
First batch
  • HMS Mermaid
    • Launched: 6 May 1761
    • Fate: Run ashore to avoid capture by the French 8 July 1778.
  • HMS Hussar
    • Launched: 26 August 1763
    • Fate: Wrecked in Hell's Gate passage, New York, on 24 November 1779.
  • HMS Solebay
    • Launched: 9 September 1763
    • Fate: Wrecked off Nevis Island and burnt to avoid capture 25 January 1782.
Second batch
  • HMS Greyhound
    • Launched: 20 July 1773
    • Fate: Wrecked off Deal 16 August 1781.
  • HMS Triton
    • Launched: 1 October 1773
    • Fate: Taken to pieces at Deptford Dockyard in January 1796.
  • HMS Boreas
    • Launched: 23 August 1774
    • Fate: Sold at Sheerness Dockyard May 1802.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Boreas_(1774)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaid-class_frigate
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-297133;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=B
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Solebay_(1763)
https://www.rountreetryon.com/artists/216-derek-george-montague-gardner,-rsma/works/9997-derek-george-montague-gardner-rsma-nelson-s-boreas-off-nevis-caribbean/
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
23 August 1785 – Birth of Oliver Hazard Perry, American commander (d. 1819) and "Hero of Lake Erie"


Oliver Hazard Perry (August 23, 1785 – August 23, 1819) was an American naval commander, born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. He was the son of Sarah Wallace Alexander and United States Navy Captain Christopher Raymond Perry and the older brother of Commodore Matthew C. Perry.

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Portrait of Oliver Hazard Perry, painted by Gilbert Stuart, 1818.

Perry served in the West Indies during the Quasi War of 1798–1800 against France, in the Mediterranean during the Barbary Wars of 1801–1815, and in the Caribbean fighting piracy and the slave trade, but is most noted for his heroic role in the War of 1812 during the 1813 Battle of Lake Erie. During the war against Britain, Perry supervised the building of a fleet at Erie, Pennsylvania. He earned the title "Hero of Lake Erie" for leading American forces in a decisive naval victory at the Battle of Lake Erie, receiving a Congressional Gold Medal and the Thanks of Congress. His leadership materially aided the successful outcomes of all nine Lake Erie military campaign victories, and the victory was a turning point in the battle for the west in the war. He is remembered for the words on his battle flag, "Don't Give Up the Ship", which was a tribute to the dying command of his colleague Captain James Lawrence of the USS Chesapeake. He is also known for his message to General William Henry Harrison which reads in part, "We have met the enemy and they are ours; ..."

Perry became embroiled in a long-standing and bitter controversy with the commander of USS Niagara, Captain Jesse Elliott, over their conduct in the Battle of Lake Erie, and both were the subject of official charges. In 1815, he successfully commanded Java in the Mediterranean during the Second Barbary War. So seminal was his career that he was lionized in the press (being the subject of scores of books and articles). He has been frequently memorialized, and many places, ships and persons have been named in his honor.

Hero of Lake Erie

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Perry (standing) after abandoning Lawrencein a 1911 painting by Edward Percy Moran

On September 10, 1813, Perry's command fought a successful fleet action against a squadron of the Royal Navy in the Battle of Lake Erie. It was at the outset of this battle that Perry famously said, "If a victory is to be gained, I will gain it." Initially, the exchange of gunfire favored the British. Perry's flagship, USS Lawrence, was so severely disabled in the encounter that the British commander, Robert Heriot Barclay, thought that Perry would surrender it, and sent a small boat to request that the American vessel pull down its flag. Faithful to the words of his battle flag, "DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP" (a paraphrase of the dying words of Captain James Lawrence, the ship's namesake and Perry's friend), Perry, with Lawrence's chaplain and purser as the remaining able crew, personally fired the final salvo, and then had his men row him a half-mile (0.8 km) through heavy gunfire to transfer his command to USS Niagara. Once aboard, Perry dispatched Niagara's commander, Captain Jesse Elliott, to bring the other schooners into closer action while he steered Niagara toward the damaged British ships. Like Nelson's Victory at Trafalgar, Niagara broke the opposing line. Perry's force pounded Barclay's ships until they could offer no effective resistance and surrendered. Although he had won the battle aboard Niagara, he received the British surrender on the deck of the recaptured Lawrence to allow the British to see the terrible price his men had paid. Perry's battle report to General William Henry Harrison was famously brief: "We have met the enemy and they are ours; two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop."

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Perry's battle flag

This was the first time in history that an entire British naval squadron had surrendered, and every captured ship was successfully returned to Presque Isle.

Although the engagement was small compared to Napoleonic naval battles such as the Battle of Trafalgar, the victory had disproportionate strategic importance, opening Canada up to possible invasion, while simultaneously protecting the entire Ohio Valley. The loss of the British squadron directly led to the critical Battle of the Thames, the rout of British forces by Harrison's army, the deaths of Tecumseh and Roundhead, and the breakup of his Indian alliance. Along with the Battle of Plattsburgh, it was one of only two significant fleet victories of the war.

In fact, Perry was involved in nine battles that led to and followed the Battle of Lake Erie, and they all had a seminal impact. "What is often overlooked when studying Perry is how his physical participation and brilliant strategic leadership influenced the outcomes of all nine Lake Erie military campaign victories:

Capturing Fort George, Ontario in the Battle of Fort George; Destroying the British munitions at Olde Fort Erie (see Capture of Fort Erie); Rescuing five vessels from Black Rock; Building the Erie fleet; Getting the ships over the sandbar; Blocking British supplies for a month prior to battle; Planning the Thames invasion with General Harrison; Winning the Battle of Lake Erie; and Winning the Battle of Thames.​
The Battle Flag
"Don't give up the ship", a phrase repeated by Captain James Lawrence during his dying days after being wounded by enemy fire aboard the Chesapeake on June 1, 1813, became the battle cry of Oliver Hazard Perry. Perry learned of Lawrence's demise upon arrival at Presque Isle and commanded that Lawrence would be honored with the name of a brig, which would simply be called Lawrence. A battle flag would also be needed, and the words of Perry's good friend Lawrence would be just the battle cry suited for the coming days. A seamstress named Margaret Foster Steuart, a resident of Erie Pennsylvania, was enlisted to make the battle flag. With the help of her two daughters, three nieces, and a cousin, she had the flag ready for Perry within just a few days.[28] As of July 2009, Perry's flag, Steuart's work, and Lawrence's dying words can still be seen today, as the flag has been placed on display at the United States Naval Academy Museum.

Perry–Elliott controversy

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Mural: Battle of Lake Erie, 10 September 1813.(1959) by Charles Robert Patterson and Howard B. French, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland. Niagara joins the battle. Detroit and Queen Charlotte at right.

While Nelson had Collingwood, Perry had Jesse Elliott, and was considerably less well served. Elliott, while serving with Isaac Chauncey at Lake Ontario, was tasked to augment Perry's squadron with 11 officers and 91 men, "and none were sent but the worst."[29] Subsequently, detailed by Chauncey to command Niagara, Elliott stated "that if he could have foreseen that he himself should be sent to Lake Erie, his selections would have been different." Elliott then appropriated the "best of the worst" for Niagara; and Perry "in the interest of harmony" accepted the situation, though with growing ill-will.

In his initial post-action report, Perry had praised Captain Elliott's role in the American victory at Lake Erie; and as news of the battle spread, Perry and Elliott were both celebrated as national heroes. Soon after, however, several junior officers publicly criticized Elliott's performance during the battle, charging that Elliott allowed Lawrence to suffer the brunt of the British fire while holding Niagara back from the fight. William Vigneron Taylor, Perry's sailing master, in a letter to Taylor's wife, put it thus:

The Lawrence alone rec'd the fire of the whole British squadron 2 1/2 hours within pistol shot—we were not supported as we ought to have been. Captain Perry led the Lawrence into action & sustained the most destructive fire with the most gallant spirit perhaps that was ever witnessed under similar circumstances.[30]
— William Taylor, 15 September 1813​
The meeting between Elliott and Perry on the deck of Niagara was terse. Elliott inquired how the day was going. Perry replied, "Badly." Elliott then volunteered to take Perry's small boat and rally the schooners, and Perry acquiesced. As Perry turned Niagara into the battle, Elliott was not aboard. Elliott's rejoinder to history's criticism of inaction was that there had been a lack of effective signaling. Charges were filed, but not officially acted upon. Attempting to restore his honor, Elliott and his supporters began a 30-year campaign that would outlive both men and ultimately leave his reputation in tatters.

In Perry's report to Secretary of the Navy William Jones, written three days after the battle, he mentioned Elliott in what, at first, seem to be complimentary terms, but, when read carefully, betray his disdain for Elliott.[citation needed] Perry wrote, "In this action he evinced his characteristic bravery and judgement; and, since the close of the action, has given me the most able and essential assistance."

Congressional Gold Medal
On January 6, 1814, Perry was honored with a Congressional Gold Medal, the Thanks of Congress, and a promotion to the rank of Captain. This was one of 27 Gold Medals authorized by Congress arising from the War of 1812.


  • Obverse – bust of Perry facing right surrounded by Oliverus H. Perry Princeps Stagno Eriense. ~ Classam Totam Contudit.
  • Reverse depicts a sea battle scene with inscriptions:
Viam Invenit Virtus Aut FacitInter Class. Ameri.Et Brit Die X. Sep.MDCCCXIII(Valor finds or makes a way. Between the Fleets of America and Britain September 10, 1813.)

Elliott was also recognized with a Congressional Gold Medal and the Thanks of Congress for his actions in the battle. This recognition would prove to fan the flames of resentment on both sides of the Elliott–Perry controversy.

In recognition of his victory at Lake Erie, in 1813 Perry was elected as an honorary member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Hazard_Perry
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
23 August 1813 - HMS Colibri Sloop (16), John Thomson, wrecked in crossing the bar of Port Royal, Jamaica.


HMS Colibri was the French naval Curieux-class brig Colibri, launched in 1808, that the British captured in 1809 and took into the Royal Navy under her existing name. She spent her time in British service on the North American station based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. During the War of 1812, Colibri served mostly in blockading the American coast and capturing privateers and merchant ships. She foundered in 1813 in Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, but without loss of life.

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Model by Berhard Frölich! More photos here: http://modelisme.arsenal.free.fr/artdumodelisme/Le Cyclope/indexgb.html
A brig is a two masted ship which wears a square rigging, that is to say with square sails. LE CYCLOPE was built in Genova in 1804, and striked off the navy lists in 1810. Well then she is a modest war ship commissioned with 16 small calibre guns, whose short career took place during the first empire under Napoleon the first. She was part of a series of 20 brigs built from 1800 to 1808 on the same draught established by engineer Pestel for the brig LE CURIEUX. Starting from these plans and a very fine genuine model namely LE CYGNE, belonging to the collection presented in the MNM in Paris, J. BOUDRIOT, famous historian, architect and naval archaeologist established a monograph of LE CYGNE, which constitute for the model maker a first class documentation as complete and accurate as possible on the historical point of view.
From this documentation and after some further researches in the navy archives at Vincennes, the model maker has chosen to built a slightly different model, but according to the same original plans. It was enough for this to install the artillery and the décor of the CYCLOPE, which had been picked out among various possibilities. Le CYCLOPE is commissioned with 16 caliber 6 guns, instead of the "carronades" of LE CYGNE.
The model here showed is that of the brig LE CYCLOPE of 1804. It is at the scale of 1/48, namely 2 cm for 1 m, which was at this time a very common scale for plans of ships. Based on the feet and inches system, this scale corresponds to one inch by foot. The model is presented under full sail, head wind, starboard tack. The nearly entire sail is set up, including the staysails. The hull is covered with copper, in order to protect it from the attack upon shipworms, a kind of sea worms which ate the wood. The various woods used for the building of this model are pear tree wood, boxwood for wood carving, and sycamore for the decks. Some parts are painted in black, yellow-ochre, or white. Some others stay in their natural wood colour. The model as been built in 1982-1983 and required about 1600 hours of work.



French service
Between 1 October and 14 December 1808, Colibri was under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Deslandes, who sailed her from Havre to Cherbourg. In December or January he then left Cherbourg for San Domingo.

Capture
On 16 January 1809 Melampus, under Captain Edward Hawker, captured Colibri off Barbuda, after her captain had the "temerity" to put up a fight as Melampus was sailing alongside. Colibri was armed with fourteen 24-pounder carronades and two 8-pounder guns, and had a crew of 92 men. In the engagement, Colibri had three men killed and 11 wounded before she struck. She was sailing from Cherbourg with a cargo of 570 barrels of flour and a great quantity of gunpowder intended for the relief of San Domingo. On her way she had captured and sunk two British brigs that had been sailing from Newfoundland to Lisbon, the Hannibal and the Priscilla, both of Dartmouth. The Royal Navy took Colibri into service under her existing name.

British service
The British commissioned Colibri in October under Lieutenant Henry Jane. He received his promotion to Commander, a rank more in keeping with the size of his vessel, on 10 May 1810. In October 1809, Commander John Thomson replaced Jane. He remained in command until her loss in August 1813 apart from a short period between December 1812 and February 1813 when he acted as Port Captain in Halifax and George Brooke-Pechell held acting command.

Colibri was in company with Melampus on 9 October 1810 when she captured the Fortuna. On 15 March 1811, Colibri captured the American slaver Carolina (alias Atrevido) off Amelia Island with some 200 slaves. Atrevido, de Leon, master, was sailing from Loanga to Amelia Island; Colibri sent her into Nassau. Later, the Vice Admiralty Court in Bermuda appears to have decided that the vessel’s putative Spanish nationality was fraudulent and that she was, in fact, American. The number of slaves freed at Nassau turned out to be 204

On 25 March 1811, Little Belt captured the Spanish vessel Empressa. Colibri was either accompanying Little Belt or in sight of the capture and so shared in the prize money.

On 28 June 1812 Colibri was despatched from Halifax under a flag of truce to New York, carrying news that the Orders in Council had been repealed. On 9 July she anchored off Sandy-Hook, and three days later sailed on her return with a copy of the declaration of war, the British ambassador, Mr. Foster, and consul, Colonel Barclay. She then arrived in Halifax eight days later.

On 23 July Colibri captured the U.S. privateer sloop Gleaner, of Kennebunk, Maine, off Cape Sable. Gleaner was armed with six guns and had a crew of 40 men under the command of Captain N. Lord. She was on her first cruise.

On 24 July 1812, Colibri sighted three vessels off Cape Sable and gave chase to one, a schooner. When Colibri got close she exchanged signals with the schooner, which turned to be Bream. Colibri then chased and took two other vessels, which turned out to be an American privateer and a bark, her prize. The privateer was the Catherine; eight days out of Boston; she had taken only the bark. Catherine, under the command of Francis A. Burnham, was pierced for 16 guns but mounted fourteen 6-pounder guns and had a crew of 88 men. She had suffered one man killed and one wounded before she surrendered after a 15-minute action. Her casualties were low as the crew had taken refuge below decks. In contrast to Thomson’s official report, one American newspaper reported that the action had lasted one and a half hours and that Colibri had six men killed and several wounded.

On 2 August 1812 Colibri met up with Emulous and reported that an American privateer was said to be sheltering nearby. The two set out together and as they approached the coast Emulous suddenly grounded. During the efforts to get her off, Colibri took off all non-essential crew and the prisoners she had on board. Shortly thereafter Emulous fell over onto her beam-ends and became unsalvageable. Her position was some 19 miles from Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia. This incident coincidentally foreshadowed Colibri's own fate the following year.

On 11 August 1812 Colibri captured the American privateer schooner Polly in the Bay of Fundy. Polly was armed with four guns and had a crew of with 35 men. That same day, Colibri was in company with Statira for the capture of the American privateer Buckskin. The next day Colibri captured two more small American privateers, both off Cape Sable. One was the schooner Regulator. She was armed with just one gun and had a crew of 40 men. The second was the Dolphin, for which Colibri shared the capture with Maidstone. Dolphin had two guns and a crew of 48 men. On 13 August Colibri shared with Maidstone, Spartan and Indian in the capture of the American vessel John.

Ten days later, Colibri captured the ship Monk, of 253 tons. She was sailing from Rio de Janeiro to Salem with a cargo of sugar, hides, and horns. San Domingo, Dragon, Statira and Colibri shared the capture of three vessels at the beginning of 1813. These were the American schooners Scyron (16 January) and American Eagle (18 January), and the Swedish brig Hanosand (13 February). On 10 February Statira shared with five other warships in the capture of the St. Michael. However, Statira had to divide up her portion because she was in a prize-money sharing agreement with Colibri, Dragon, and San Domingo. Then Colibri captured 10 small merchantmen, most of them American.
  • Brig Commerce, of 120 tons and 11 men, carrying lumber, from Rhode Island to Havana, captured on 14 March and burnt.
  • Schooner Female, of 95 tons and six men, carrying flour, butter, and lard, from Baltimore to La Guira, captured 27 March and sent to Bermuda.
  • Swedish schooner Minerva, of 130 tons and 13 men, carrying molasses and sugar from Charleston to St. Bartholomew, captured on 29 March and sent to Providence.
  • Schooner Portsmouth, carrying lumber, from Cuba to Rhode Island, captured on 16 April and sent to Providence.
  • Schooner Eliza, of 95 tons, carrying sundries from Wilmington to Savannah,' captured 1 May and sent to Bermuda.
  • Schooner Nancy carrying sundries from Georgetown to Savannah, captured 1 May, burnt after the transfer of her cargo to the Eliza.
  • Schooner Sampit, carrying sundries from Georgetown to Savannah, captured 1 May and burnt after the transfer of her cargo to the Eliza.
  • Schooner Wingaw, carrying sundries from Georgtown to Savannah, captured 1 May, burnt after the transfer of her cargo to the Eliza.
  • Spanish ship El de Padato in Cortes, of 160 tons and 14 men, carrying molasses, sugar, etc. from New York to Matanza’s, captured 27 May and sent to Providence.
  • Swedish schooner Gustava, of 140 tons and 8 men, carrying flour, meal, &c. from Carthagena to Savannah, captured 17 June and sent to Providence.
Colibri shared with Morgiana in the capture of the American vessel Minerva on 2 April.

Fate
In August 1813, Colibri and Moselle were blockading the U.S. coast between Charleston and Georgetown. There was little shipping so the pair conducted a number of boat raids along the coast. They then decided to sail south of Charleston and on August they entered Port Royal Sound, South Carolina (not Port Royal, Jamaica as stated in some sources),. They anchored, but resistance by the local militia, which had erected shore batteries, forestalled any raids. Colibri and Moselle then decided to return to sea on August 23. However, the weather was poor and Colibri grounded on a sandbar as she led Moselle out. Attempts to lighten her and get her off were unsuccessful and as the tide went out she fell over to larboard. Her crew cut away her masts, but she was stuck fast. Moselle then rescued Colibri's crew, who abandoned the wreck. A hurricane on 27 August 1813 destroyed Colibri and her boats. Moselle was able to find a passage and navigate across the bar to the open sea on 29 August. Thomson and his officers and crew were subsequently acquitted of any wrongdoing at the court martial into the loss of Colibri.


Planset of the CYGNE - Brick -1806 from ancre by Jean Boudriot and Hubert Berti:

This monograph of the brig LE CYGNE (The Swan) represents a ship's type of the imperial navy. Armed with two 8-pdr guns and fourteen 24-pdr carronades, construction of LE CYGNE was begun in Le Havre at the end of April 1806. She was launched on 12 September of the same year by the builder Jamez, based on the engineer Pestel's plans. 90 feet in length, with a midship beam measuring 26 feet, 6 inches, a depth of 13 feet, 6 inches, this ship is one of the most representative of the brig called a 24-pdr in the French Navy (the caliber of the carronades in the main armaments). Approximately 60 such ships were built during the period 1801-1813.
A very fine model of LE CYGNE in the Musée de la Marine in Paris (MG13) enabled us to illustrate our work with vivid details that only a period ship's model could provide.
Moreover, we were able to choose from the extremely rich documentation (plans of the hull, superstructure and rigging).


dsc_0600.jpg
Model by Jean-Claude Buchaillard based on the Boudriot planset
More photos here: http://modelisme.arsenal.free.fr/artdumodelisme/Le Cygne/indexgb.html

The original model from the Muesse de la Marine you can find a very good description in the book
HISTORIC SHIP MODELS - The Musée de la Marine Collection – (Volume 1) (for book review click on title)
IMG_40151.jpg


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Colibri_(1809)
https://ancre.fr/en/monograph/35-monographie-du-cygne-brick-1806.html
http://modelisme.arsenal.free.fr/artdumodelisme/galeriegb.html
https://www.shipsofscale.com/sosfor...e-la-marine-collection-by-jean-boudriot.2192/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Melampus_(1785)
 

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
23 August 1819 - Commodore Oliver H. Perry, the hero of the Battle of Lake Erie, dies on board the schooner USS Nonsuch on his 34th birthday


Mission to Venezuela and death
In 1818 Perry purchased a large house on Washington Square in Newport which was built in 1750 for merchant Peter Buloid. The house remained in the Perry family until 1865 and now serves as the headquarters for Oliver Hazard Perry, a sail training ship.

In 1819, Perry sailed for the Orinoco River, Venezuela, aboard of the frigate John Adams with the frigate Constellation and the schooner USS Nonsuch, arriving on July 15 to discourage piracy, while still maintaining friendly relations with Republic of Venezuela and the Republic of Buenos Aires. Shifting his flag to USS Nonsuch, due to its shallower draft, Perry sailed upriver to Angostura to negotiate an anti-piracy agreement with President Simón Bolívar. A favorable treaty was signed on August 11 with Vice-President Francisco Antonio Zea in the absence of Bolivar (who was engaged in the liberation of New Granada), but when the schooner started downriver, many of her crew including Perry had been stricken with yellow fever.

Despite the crew's efforts to reach Trinidad for medical assistance, the commodore died on board USS Nonsuch on August 23, 1819, his 34th birthday, as the ship entered the Gulf of Paria and was nearing Port of Spain. He was buried in Port of Spain with great honors while the Nonsuch's crew acted as honor guard.


"Perry's Victory" Quarter

His remains were later taken back to the United States and interred in Newport, Rhode Island. Originally interred in the Old Common Burial Ground, his body was eventually moved to Newport's Island Cemetery, where his brother Matthew C. Perry is also interred.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Hazard_Perry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Nonsuch_(1813)
 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
23 August 1884 - The Battle of Fuzhou, or Battle of Foochow,

also known as the Battle of the Pagoda Anchorage (French: Combat naval de Fou-Tchéou, Chinese: , 馬江之役 or 馬尾海戰, literally Battle of Mawei), was the opening engagement of the 16-month Sino-French War (December 1883 – April 1885). The battle was fought on 23 August 1884 off the Pagoda Anchorage in Mawei (馬尾) harbour, 15 kilometres to the southeast of the city of Fuzhou (Foochow). During the battle Admiral Amédée Courbet's Far East Squadron virtually destroyed the Fujian Fleet, one of China's four regional fleets.

Background
On 11 May 1884 French and Chinese negotiators concluded the Tientsin Accord, an agreement designed to end several months of undeclared hostilities between France and China in Tonkin. On 23 June 1884, French troops advancing to occupy Lạng Sơn, in accordance with the terms of this agreement, clashed near the small town of Bắc Lệ with a detachment of the Chinese Guangxi Army. The Chinese opened fire on the advancing French, precipitating a two-day battle in which the French column was seriously mauled. This incident, the Bắc Lệ ambush, was the proximate cause of the Sino-French War.


The Foochow Navy Yard, built under the direction of the French administrator Prosper Giquel

When news of the Bắc Lệ ambush reached Paris, there was fury at what was perceived as blatant Chinese treachery. Jules Ferry's government demanded an apology, an indemnity, and the immediate implementation of the terms of the Tianjin Accord. The Chinese government agreed to negotiate, but refused to apologise or pay an indemnity. The mood in France was against compromise, and although negotiations continued throughout July, Admiral Courbet was ordered to take his squadron to Fuzhou (Foochow).

Courbet was instructed to prepare to destroy the Foochow Navy Yard, fifteen kilometres downriver from Fuzhou at Mawei, and to attack the Chinese fleet in Mawei harbour. Ironically, the Foochow Navy Yard represented a substantial French investment in China's future, having been built several years earlier under the direction of the French administrator Prosper Giquel. During the second half of July and the first half of August Courbet gradually concentrated his squadron in Mawei harbour, at the Pagoda Anchorage—named for a conspicuous Chinese pagoda, the Luoxingta (羅星塔), which stood on a hill above the harbour.

Negotiations between France and China broke down in mid-August, and on the evening of 22 August Courbet was authorised by the French government to commence hostilities. He duly notified the foreign consuls, the governor-general of Fujian and Zhejiang, and the commanders of several neutral warships moored at the Pagoda Anchorage (the British gunboats HMS Vigilant, Champion and Sapphire and the American corvette USS Enterprise).

Order of battle
Only a fraction of the Far East squadron was present off the Pagoda Anchorage on the morning of 23 August. In particular, none of the Far East squadron's four ironclads was immediately available. Bayard, Courbet's flagship, was at Sharp Peak near the island of Matsu, guarding a vital telegraph station. Atalantewas hunting down pirate ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. Courbet had summoned the ironclads Triomphante from Shanghai and La Galissonnière from Jilong to join him off Fuzhou, but La Galissonnière had been detained at Jilong by bad weather, and although Triomphante was approaching the Min River, it was not clear whether she would be able to cross the bar at its entrance.

Triomphante.jpg
Triomphante

Courbet had under his immediate command the first-class cruisers Duguay-Trouin, Villars and d'Estaing, the third-class cruiser Volta (which he chose as his flagship during the engagement), the gunboats Lynx, Aspic and Vipère and Torpedo Boats No. 45 and No. 46. The second-class cruiser Châteaurenault and the troopship Saône had been left at the Jinpai pass, at the entrance to the Min River, to stop the Chinese from laying a barrage to prevent the squadron's escape.

The Chinese Fujian fleet consisted of the wooden corvette Yangwu (the flagship), the scout-transports Chenhang, Yongbao, Fupo, Feiyun and Ji'an, the paddle steamer Yixin, the wooden gunboats Zhenwei and Fuxing, and the Rendel flatiron gunboats Fusheng and Jiansheng. Twelve large junks were nearby, but did not take part in the battle. The French squadron displaced 14,500 tons and included 1,780 men, while the eleven warships in the Chinese fleet displaced 8,000 tons, and included 1,040 men. The French squadron was much better-led and better-armed than the Chinese fleet. Only a few of the Chinese ships were capable of offering serious resistance to Courbet's attack. The Chinese defence was under the command of the imperial commissioner Zhang Peilun (張佩綸), one of the leading members of China's war party.

Galissonniere.jpg
Galissonniere

Fleet deployments
The Chinese fleet was deployed into a northern group of eight ships and a southern group of three ships, with the French squadron lying in between. The wooden corvette Yangwu, the wooden gunboat Fuxing, the armed transport Fupo, the Rendel flatiron gunboats Jiansheng and Fusheng and the small paddle steamer Yixin were deployed on the northwest curve of the river, between the French ships and the Foochow Navy Yard. A little behind them lay the unarmed transports Yongbao and Chenhang, anchored just off the dockyard. The role of this northern group of ships was obviously to prevent the French from attacking the Navy Yard. Meanwhile, the armed wooden transports Ji'an and Feiyun and the wooden gunboat Zhenwei lay downstream of the French squadron, dangerously isolated on the southwesterly leg of the river, in front of the Customs building. Their job seems to have been to protect the Customs building and to block Courbet's exit from the Min River.

Chinese_fleet_at_anchor_the_night_before_the_battle_of_Fuzhou_1884.jpg
The Chinese flagship Yangwu and the gunboat Fuxing at anchor off the Foochow Navy Yard on the eve of the battle

Courbet's plan provided for overwhelming firepower to be deployed against the Chinese fleet. He had noticed that the Chinese ships swung with the tide, and determined to make his attack just before the top of the tide at 2 p.m. on the following afternoon, Saturday 23 August, when with luck the Chinese ships would have swung away from the French ships and would be presenting their vulnerable sterns to the attackers. This timing was also important for another reason. If Triomphante successfully ascended the Min River, it was about then that she would be making her appearance.

Battle_of_Fuzhou.jpg
Fleet positions off the Pagoda Anchorage

Assuming that the Chinese fleet did not change its position, Courbet's orders provided for the French ships to be at action stations at 1.45 p.m. and to go into action at around 2 p.m., on his signal. The battle would begin with an attack by Torpedo Boats No. 45 and No. 46 on Yangwu and Fuxing, the two closest Chinese ships of the main Chinese concentration. This attack would be supported by cannon and rifle fire from Volta. Volta would then concentrate on destroying a line of war junks and fireships drawn up just to the west of Losing Island. Once the attack by the torpedo boats had cleared the way, the gunboats Aspic, Vipère and Lynx would sail upriver towards the Navy Yard and take on the other ships of the Chinese northern group. Four steam launches under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Augustin Boué de Lapeyrère, the future French admiral, were given the job of protecting Volta and the three French gunboats from attack by the Chinese mineboats. To the east Duguay-Trouin, Villars and d'Estaing were to reduce the three ships of the Chinese southern group, to engage the war junks from the flank, and to engage a battery armed with three Krupp cannon near the Pagoda, and three other batteries armed with Krupp cannon which protected the Arsenal. Their launches would be deployed to give protection against Chinese torpedo attacks.

The battle of Fuzhou
On the morning of Saturday 23 August, although the Chinese commanders knew that the French would launch their attack at around 2 p.m., the sailors in both fleets went about their routine business. The ships of the Fujian Fleet made no attempt to redeploy or to anticipate the French attack by opening fire first. The French crews went to their action stations at 1.30 p.m., after eating their midday meal. The Chinese did not react to this obvious threat, and at 1.45 p.m. the flurry of activity aboard the French ships died down. For the next ten minutes the tension grew aboard the French ships as the minutes ticked away towards 2 p.m. At 1.55 p.m. a Chinese mineboat advanced towards the French squadron. Courbet immediately ordered the attack to begin, only five minutes short of his original timetable.

800px-Bombardment_of_foutcheou.jpg
The Chinese flagship Yangwu and the corvette Fuxing under attack by French torpedo boats No. 46 and No. 45. Combat naval de Fou-Tchéou ('The naval battle at Foochow'), by Charles Kuwasseg, 1885

At the outset of the battle the Chinese flagship Yangwu was successfully attacked with a spar torpedo by Torpedo Boat No. 46 (lieutenant de vaisseau Douzans) and grounded. The French torpedo boat suffered damage to her boiler during this attack. The despatch vessel Fuxing was attacked less successfully by Torpedo Boat No. 45 (lieutenant de vaisseauLatour), and was subsequently crippled by Volta's torpedo launch and carried by boarding by Boué de Lapeyrère's sailors. She had already been set alight by French shellfire, and was eventually abandoned by the French prize crew and sank in the middle of the Min River.

Their spar torpedoes expended, the two French torpedo boats drifted downriver after making their attack, towards the anchorage of the neutral vessels off Losing Island. Lieutenant Latour had been seriously wounded in the eye during the attack, but he refused an offer of medical assistance from American officers on USS Enterprise, explaining that he could not leave his post while the battle was still in progress.

VoltaBridge.jpg
Admiral Courbet on the bridge of Volta during the battle

Meanwhile, the French cruisers and the ironclad Triomphante, which joined the French squadron only minutes before the battle began, were making short work of the rest of the Chinese fleet. Chenhang, Yongbao, Feiyun, Ji'an, Fusheng and Jiansheng were either sunk or set alight by shellfire from the cruisers Duguay-Trouin, Villars and d'Estaing. Only Fupo and Yixin survived the battle without serious damage, by escaping upriver before the gunboats Lynx, Aspic and Vipère had a chance to engage them. Zhenwei was blown up by a single shell from Triomphante.

Before they were put out of action the outgunned Chinese vessels concentrated their fire on the French flagship Volta, hoping to kill Courbet and the officers of his entourage. Several sailors aboard the French cruiser were killed or wounded, and shortly after the start of the battle a roundshot ploughed through Courbet's command group on the flagship's bridge, killing the British pilot Thomas and only narrowly missing capitaine de frégate Gigon, Volta's captain. A few minutes later splinters from an exploding Chinese shell wounded lieutenant de vaisseau Ravel, Courbet's aide-de-camp.

The fighting ended at 5 p.m., but during the night of 23 August the Chinese made a number of unsuccessful attacks with fireships on the French warships, obliging some of them to shift their anchorages to evade them.

Bombardment of the Foochow Navy Yard


Bombardment of the Foochow Navy Yard, 24 August 1884

On the morning of 24 August Courbet issued orders for his ships' landing companies to go ashore with the naval engineers to destroy the Foochow Navy Yard. Preparations were made for a landing, but Courbet then changed his mind, after observing that the Navy Yard was defended by organised groups of Chinese infantry. The attack was cancelled as the French sailors were on the point of climbing into their launches.

Instead, the French bombarded the Foochow Navy Yard, damaging a number of outbuildings and holing the sloop Henghai, still under construction and lying on the slips. A certain amount of damage was inflicted, but without the support of the heavy guns of Triomphante and Duguay-Trouin or the slightly lighter guns of the cruisers Villars and d'Estaing, which drew too much water to enter the shallows off the Navy Yard except around high tide, Courbet was unable to destroy the Yard completely. He himself admitted in his official report that the damage done 'was not as much as I had hoped for'.

The French squadron remained off Fuzhou during the night of 24 August. Once again the Chinese tried to make a night attack. At 4 a.m. two Chinese torpedo launches tried to attack the gunboat Vipère, anchored at the head of the French line. Both launches were lit up by searchlights on the French ships and attacked with Hotchkiss fire by Duguay-Trouin. One launch was sunk instantly, while the crew of the other abandoned ship and swam for the shore.

Descent of the Min River

The descent of the Min River

On 25 August, after receiving the congratulations of the captains of the neutral warships on the professionalism displayed by the French squadron during the action of 23 August, Courbet began to lead his ships back down the Min River. The squadron's two heaviest ships, Triomphante and Duguay-Trouin, led the way.

On 27 and 28 August the French squadron bombarded and destroyed the Chinese defences at the Jinpai pass near the entrance to the Min River. The Jinpai (金牌) and Changmen (長門) batteries, known to the French as Fort Kimpai and the White Fort (Fort Blanc), were put out of action, and the French also inflicted heavy casualties on a number of Chinese field batteries and infantry formations. However, before its guns were destroyed the White Fort was able to inflict moderate damage on the French ironclad La Galissonnière, which had sailed up from Jilong to join Courbet's squadron and attempted unsuccessfully to fight its way into the Min River. Chinese infantry at the Jinpai pass also killed and wounded several French sailors aboard the gunboat Vipère on 27 August.

Losses
The losses of the French squadron in the course of the operations before Fuzhou and in the Min River were relatively light (10 dead and 48 wounded). Most of these casualties were inflicted not by shellfire during the engagement of 23 August but by sniper fire from Chinese infantry during the squadron's descent of the Min River. The French dead included lieutenant de vaisseau Bouët-Willaumez, second-in-command of the gunboat Vipère and son of the noted French admiral Louis-Édouard Bouët-Willaumez (1809–71), who was shot dead on Vipère's bridge during an exchange of fire with the defenders of Fort Kimpai on 27 August. With the exception of La Galissonnière and Torpedo Boat No. 46, none of Courbet's vessels suffered serious damage.

The Chinese lost nine of the eleven ships of the Fujian Fleet. Some of the Chinese ships foundered where they were struck, sinking off the Pagoda anchorage and the Foochow Navy Yard. Others drifted downriver and either ran aground or sank between Losing Island and the Min'an pass. French officers aboard Châteaurenault, anchored near the entrance to the Min River, saw three Chinese warships drifting downriver on the evening of 23 August, abandoned by their crews and blazing from stem to stern. One of the Chinese ships exploded in front of their eyes.

Courbet estimated Chinese casualties at between 2,000 and 3,000 dead. The commemorative tablets in a shrine erected shortly after the war at the Pagoda Anchorage to honour the Chinese dead list the names of 831 sailors and soldiers killed on 23 August, but this list does not include the hundreds of Chinese soldiers killed by the French during their descent of the Min River.

The Cantonese naval officer Zhang Cheng (張成), a graduate of the Foochow naval college and captain of the Chinese flagship Yangwu, abandoned ship as soon as the battle started and was later beheaded for cowardice.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fuzhou#cite_note-2
 
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