Naval/Maritime History 25th of April - Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History

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Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 December 1779 - Combat de la Martinique
French squadron of 3 ships of the line, escorting a 26 ship convoy engaged English squadron of 13 ships of the line and a frigate, blockading Fort Royal, Martinique.10 of the merchant ships were taken and 4 others ran aground and were burnt.


The Combat de la Martinique, or Battle of Martinique, was a naval encounter on 18 December 1779 between a British squadron under Admiral Hyde Parker and a French squadron under Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte near the island of Martinique in the West Indies.


Combat de la Martinique, 1779, by Auguste-Louis de Rossel de Cercy

Background
In the fall of 1779, a British fleet under Admiral Hyde Parker was anchored at St. Lucia (which they had captured a year before), while a French fleet under Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte was undergoing a refit at the nearby island of Martinique in the West Indies. Parker was awaiting the arrival of Admiral George Brydges Rodney, who was to lead the 1780 campaign, and his fleet was largely at rest, with crews ashore and repairs being made to some vessels.

Encounter
Around 8 am on 18 December, HMS Preston, which was stationed in the channel between the two islands, gave a signal indicating the arrival of an unknown fleet. Parker immediately scrambled, and managed to get five ships of the line and a 50-gun frigate out to meet the arriving fleet, which turned out to be a French supply fleet destined for Martinique. Before La Motte was able to muster some of his ships to meet them, Parker managed to capture nine of the convoy ships, forcing four of them ashore. Parker, who has called on all his ships, now has 13 ships of the line, against only three for the French.

La Motte left the anchorage at Fort Royal with his flagship Annibal (74 guns) and two ships of the line, Vengeur (64) and Réfléchi (64). As his arrival was to the windward, he was able to cover the arrival of the remaining convoy ships. The British fleet, with HMS Conqueror in the lead, began beating against the wind to closing with the French fleet. By 5 pm, Conqueror came with the range of Annibal's guns, and battle was engaged between those two, with the other French ships eventually joining in. The defense of La Motte-Picquet is facilitated by the shore batteries firing on the vessels of Parker.

By the time evening arrived, HMS Albion had also come within range, but the action had worked its way toward shoals near Fort Royal, and the French fleet was coming under the protection of the port's guns. Parker finally called his fleet off at 6:45 pm, but one last broadside from the French fleet took the life of Conqueror's captain, Walter Griffith.

Aftermath
The loss to the French convoy was significant with thirteen ships captured or driven ashore. Parker was however satisfied with his squadrons conduct and the prizes captured but was also with the French. La Motte's conduct during the battle impressed Hyde Parker sufficiently to make him send a congratulatory letter to his adversary when they had occasion to communicate via a truce flag:

The conduct of your Excellency in the affair of the 18th of this month fully justifies the reputation which you enjoy among us, and I assure you that I could not witness without envy the skill you showed on that occasion. Our enmity is transient, depending upon our masters; but your merit has stamped upon my heart the greatest admiration for yourself.​

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Martinique_(1779)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 December 1793 - the Siege of Toulon (29 August – 19 December 1793) is ending with the Destruction of the french fleet and Evacuation - Part I


The Siege of Toulon (29 August – 19 December 1793) was a military operation by Republican forces against a Royalist rebellion in the southern French city of Toulon.


Siège de Toulon (1793) - Jean-Antoine-Siméon Fort

Background
After the arrest of the Girondist deputies on the 2 June 1793, there followed a series of insurrections within the French cities of Lyon, Avignon, Nîmes and Marseille. In Toulon, the revolutionaries evicted the existing Jacobin faction but were soon supplanted by the more numerous royalists. Upon the announcement of the recapture of Marseille and of the reprisals which had taken place there at the hands of the revolutionaries, the royalist forces, directed by the Baron d'Imbert, called for aid from the Anglo-Spanish fleet. On 28 August, Admiral Sir Samuel Hood of the Royal Navy and Admiral Juan de Lángara of the Spanish Navy, committed a force of 13,000 British, Spanish, Neapolitan and Piedmontese troops to the French royalists' cause. This was a serious blow to the republic, as the city had a key naval arsenal and was the base for 26 ships of the line (about one third of the total available to the French Navy). Without this port there was no hope for French naval ambitions. As a result, any ambition to challenge the Allies, and specifically the British, for control of the seas would be out of the question. In addition, its loss could set a dangerous precedent for other areas that menaced the republic with revolt. The survival of the Republic was at stake. On 1 October, Baron d'Imbert proclaimed the young Louis XVII to be king of France, and hoisted the French royalist flag of the fleur de lys, delivering the town of Toulon to the British navy.

Siege
The troops of the army said to be of the "Carmagnoles", under the command of General Jean François Carteaux, arrived at Toulon on 8 September, after those troops had recovered Avignon and Marseille, and then Ollioules. They joined up with the 6,000 men of the Alpine Maritime Army, commanded by General Jean François Cornu de La Poype, who had just taken La Valette-du-Var, and sought to take the forts of Mont Faron, which dominated the city to the East. They were reinforced by 3,000 sailors under the orders of Admiral de Saint Julien, who refused to serve the British with his chief, Trogoff. A further 5,000 soldiers under General La Poype were attached to the army to retake Toulon from the Army of Italy.


Map of the forts constructed during the siege

The Chief of Artillery, commander Elzéar Auguste de Dommartin, having been wounded at Ollioules, had the young captain Napoleon Bonaparte imposed upon him by the special representatives of the Convention and Napoleon's friends —Augustin Robespierre and Antoine Christophe Saliceti. Bonaparte had been in the area escorting a convoy of powder wagons en route to Nice and had stopped in to pay his respects to his fellow Corsican, Saliceti. Bonaparte had been present in the army since the Avignon insurrection (July, 1793), and was imposed on Dommartin in this way despite the mutual antipathy between the two men.


Bonaparte at the Siege of Toulon

Despite the mutual dislike between Bonaparte and the chief of artillery, the young artillery officer was able to muster an artillery force that was worthy of a siege of Toulon and the fortresses that were quickly built by the British in its immediate environs. He was able to requisition equipment and cannon from the surrounding area. Guns were taken from Marseille, Avignon and the Army of Italy. The local populace, which was eager to prove its loyalty to the republic which it had recently rebelled against, was blackmailed into supplying the besieging force with animals and supplies. His activity resulted in the acquisition of 100 guns for the force. With the help of his friends, the deputies Saliceti and Augustin Robespierre, who held power of life and death, he was able to compel retired artillery officers from the area to re-enlist. The problem of manning the guns was not remedied by this solution alone, and under Bonaparte's intensive training he instructed much of the infantry in the practice of employing, deploying and firing the artillery that his efforts had recently acquired. However, in spite of this effort, Bonaparte was not as confident about this operation as was later his custom. The officers serving with him in the siege were incompetent, and he was becoming concerned about the needless delays due to these officers' mistakes. He was so concerned that he wrote a letter of appeal to the Committee of Public Safety requesting assistance. To deal with his superiors who were wanting in skill, he proposed the appointment of a general for command of the artillery, succeeding himself, so that "... (they could) command respect and deal with a crowd of fools on the staff with whom one has constantly to argue and lay down the law in order to overcome their prejudices and make them take steps which theory and practice alike have shown to be axiomatic to any trained officer of this corps".

After some reconnaissance, Bonaparte conceived a plan which envisaged the capture of the forts of l'Eguillette and Balaguier, on the hill of Cairo, which would then prevent passage between the small and large harbours of the port, so cutting maritime resupply, necessary for those under siege. Carteaux, reluctant, sent only a weak detachment under Major General Delaborde, which failed in its attempted conquest on 22 September. The allies now alerted, built "Fort Mulgrave", so christened in honour of the British commander, Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave, on the summit of the hill. It was supported by three smaller ones, called Saint-Phillipe, Saint-Côme, and Saint-Charles. The apparently impregnable collection was nicknamed, by the French, "Little Gibraltar".


Admiral Sir Samuel Hood who commanded the British naval forces defending the city.

Bonaparte was dissatisfied by the sole battery—called the "Mountain", positioned on the height of Saint-Laurent since 19 September. He established another, on the shore of Brégallion, called the "sans-culottes". Hood attempted to silence it, without success, but the British fleet was obliged to harden its resolve along the coast anew, because of the high seabed of Mourillon and la Tour Royale. On the first of October, after the failure of General La Poype against the "Eastern Fort" of Faron, Bonaparte was asked to bombard the large fort of Malbousquet, whose fall would be required to enable the capture of the city. He therefore requisitioned artillery from all of the surrounding countryside, holding the power of fifty batteries of six cannon apiece. Promoted to Chief of Battalion on 19 October, he organised a grand battery, said to be "of the Convention", on the hill of Arènes and facing the fort, supported by those of the "Camp of the Republicans" on the hill of Dumonceau, by those of the "Farinière" on the hill of Gaux, and those of the "Poudrière" at Lagoubran.

On 11 November, Carteaux was dismissed and replaced by Doppet, formerly a doctor, whose indecision would cause an attempted surprise against Fort Mulgrave to fail on the 16th. Aware of his own incompetence, he resigned. He was succeeded by a career soldier, Dugommier, who immediately recognized the virtue of Bonaparte's plan, and prepared for the capture of Little Gibraltar. On the 20th, as soon as he arrived, the battery "Jacobins" was established, on the ridge of l'Evescat. Then, on the left, on 28 November, the battery of the "Men Without Fear", and then on 14 December, the "Chasse Coquins" were constructed between the two. Two other batteries were organized to repel the eventual intervention of the allied ships, they were called "The Great Harbour" and the "Four Windmills".

Pressured by the bombardment, the Anglo-Neapolitans executed a sortie, and took hold of the battery of the "Convention". A counter-attack, headed by Dugommier and Bonaparte, pushed them back and the British general, Charles O'Hara, was captured. He initiated surrender negotiations with Robespierre the Younger and Antoine Louis Albitte and the Federalist and Royalist battalions were disarmed.

Following O'Hara's capture, Dugommier, La Poype, and Bonaparte (now a colonel) launched a general assault during the night of 16 December. Around midnight, the assault began on Little Gibraltar and the fighting continued all night. Bonaparte was injured in the thigh by a British sergeant with a bayonet. However, in the morning, the position having been taken, Marmont was able to place artillery there, against l'Eguillette and Balaguier, which the British had evacuated without confrontation on the same day. During this time, Lapoype finally was able to take the forts of Faron and Malbousquet. The allies then decided to evacuate by their maritime route. Commodore Sydney Smith was instructed by Hood to have the delivery fleet and the arsenal burnt.


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

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 December 1793 - the Siege of Toulon (29 August – 19 December 1793) is ending with the Destruction of the french fleet and Evacuation - Part II - French fleet at the Siege of Toulon


The fate of the French fleet at the Siege of Toulon marked one of the earliest significant operations by the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. In August 1793, five months after the National Convention declared war on Great Britain, thus drawing Britain into the ongoing War of the First Coalition, the government of the French Mediterranean city of Toulon rose up against the Republican national government in favour of the Royalist faction. Toulon was the principal French naval port on the Mediterranean and almost the entirety of the French Mediterranean Fleet was anchored in the harbour. After negotiations the British commander in the Mediterranean, Admiral Lord Hood, the city's Royalists seized control and British forces, alongside allies from Spain, Naples and Sardinia entered the city, seizing the fleet and preparing defences against the inevitable Republican counterattack.

Although powerfully fortified against attack by sea, Toulon's extensive defences on the landward side of the city had been designed to be held by substantial numbers of troops, something the allies conspicuously lacked. This weakness would be ruthlessly exposed by a highly effective Republican artillery campaign commanded by Captain Napoleon Bonaparte. Political disputes with the Italian allies prevented reinforcements reaching the defenders and the defeat of Royalist forces elsewhere in France gave strength to the besieging army. On 17 December the Republican forces captured heights overlooking the harbour and the defenders' situation became untenable. Hood ordered an evacuation and as the Allied forces staged a fighting withdrawal British Captain Sir Sidney Smith and Spanish Don Pedro Cotiella volunteered to lead boat parties into the harbour to destroy the French fleet, which remained at anchor.

The boat parties came under heavy fire from the shore as they used fireships to ignite the anchored warships, Smith concentrating on those ships in the New Arsenal while the Spanish were instructed to burn the warehouses and Old Arsenal. For reasons that remain unclear, but which British historians have sometimes attributed to treachery, the Spanish failed to destroy the ships they were tasked with, and as the force withdrew detonated two powder hulks they were instructed to sink dangerously close to Smith's men, killing several. By morning of 19 December, eight French ships of the line and three frigates had been destroyed, while Hood had successfully removed three ships of line and six frigates which were distributed to the Allied navies. As Smith burnt the fleet, ships from the British squadron at Toulon successfully removed the Allied garrison as well as more than 14,000 Royalist refugees. The remainder of the French Mediterranean Fleet survived and was repaired during 1794, participating in many of the battles which followed.


Geometrical Survey of the Environs of Toulon (18 Dec 1793) (PAH7846)

http://www.maproom.org/00/13/present.php?m=0008


Capture of Toulon
Royalist control of Toulon was not assured, particularly since there was a strong Republican faction in the fleet, led by Contre-amiral Saint-Julien [fr], and to establish which faction controlled the city Hood sent Lieutenant Edward Cooke into the harbour on 24 August with instructions to meet with the Royalist leader in Toulon. Cooke was forced to approach the harbour in darkness to avoid Republican boat patrols, but was successful in bypassing them, having visited the harbour under during temporary truce in July, and sending a message to the Royalist party. Julien learned of Cooke's presence and spread word that if he should capture Cooke he was to have him hanged, but Cooke, who had sheltered on shore overnight, returned to the city the following day to meet with the Royalist delegates. During the discussions he was able to negotiate for the seizure and disarmament of the French fleet by he British in exchange for protection for the city of Toulon, on the understanding that when the Republicans had been defeated and the French monarchy restored all would be returned to France. On his return to the British fleet, his boat was intercepted by a French frigate, and it was only by careful manoeuvres in shallow water under fire from the frigate's boats that he returned safely. On 26 August Cooke returned to the port with a Royalist naval officer, to discover that Julien had seized control of the fleet and promised to resist the British if they entered the port. To this end, Republican sailors had occupied Fort Lamalgue and other defensive positions on the western bluffs overlooking the harbour. On 27 August Hood landed a small expeditionary force under Captain George Elphinstone and drove the Republican forces off, Julien and more than 5,000 French sailors retreating inland.

With British forces controlling the batteries overlooking the harbour, the remaining Republicans capitulated. On 28 August those ships of the French fleet still anchored in the roads were moved into the arsenals as Hood brought the British fleet, supported by 17 Spanish ships of the line under Admiral Juan de Lángara into port. Command of the city was granted to Rear-Admiral Samuel Goodall and command of the defences to Spanish Admiral Don Federico Gravina. During early September French Republican armies slowly advanced on Toulon under the command of General Jean François Carteaux to the west and General Jean François La Poype to the east. Concerned by the lingering Republican faction in Toulon, most strongly represented by 5,000 discharged sailors, Hood ordered that four ships and a corvette be released from the seized French fleet, disarmed, and used as cartels to convey the sailors to Republican ports on the Atlantic. These ships, Apollon, Entreprenant, Orion, and Patriote, plus the corvette Pluvier, sailed on 14 September, arriving at their destinations in mid-October.

Fighting on the heights
In late September heavy fighting began for control of the high ground which overlooked the harbour. Republican shore batteries exchanged fire with Royal Navy ships during which HMS Princess Royal suffered heavy casualties in an ammunition explosion, and on 30 September Republican troops under Captain Napoleon Bonaparte captured the hill of Pharon, only to be driven off the following day by a combined force of British, Spanish, Neapolitan and Sardinian soldiers under Lord Mulgrave. In early October Neapolitan reinforcements encouraged a series of successful assaults on the Republican held heights, but later in the month Hood and Lángara had a serious disagreement over command of the siege, Lángara going so far as to threaten Hood's flagship Victory before ultimately backing down. At the end of the month the allies mustered more than 16,000 men, including 6,000 Spanish troops. The British contribution was just over 2,000 men, reduced by the Royal Navy's commitments elsewhere in the Mediterranean. A substantial body of Austrian reinforcements was expected from Genoa, but were prevented from embarking by a combination of Austrian intransigence and Genoese anger at the British violation of their neutrality during the Action of 5 October 1793. So short of troops were the Allies that Hood hired 1,500 mercenaries from the Knights of Malta, although they did not arrive before the conclusion of the siege. Republican forces were growing rapidly during this period as reinforcements released by the conclusion of the Siege of Lyon reached the besiegers at Toulon, the Republican army mustering approximately 33,000 soldiers under General Jacques François Dugommier.

Fall of Toulon
A major Republican attack was repulsed on 15 November but an Allied counterattack on 30 November was also defeated.[16] After further reinforcement, Dugommier ordered a three-pronged assault on the defences of Toulon on 14 December. On 17 December the Spanish-held redoubt of Fort Mulgrave and the heights of Pharon were taken and Republican batteries mounted. The French cannon now covered the harbour and city, forcing the Allied fleets to withdraw from the roads to avoid bombardment. With the British and Spanish fleets traveled those French ships which remained in the roads crewed by French Royalist volunteers, including three ships of the line Pompée, Puissant and the huge 120-gun Commerce de Marseille, six frigates and eight corvettes.

With the defences now fatally undermined, a council of the senior officers concluded that evacuation was the only option for the Allied forces. The defenders would conduct a fighting withdrawal to the docks while Lángara undertook to destroy the seized French fleet. The plan was almost immediately undermined by a panic among the Neapolitan contingent, who abandoned their posts and fled into the city. By the evening of 18 December however all of the Allied troops had retreated to the waterfront in preparation for embarkation.


Destruction of the French fleet at Toulon

Destruction of the French fleet
Lángara ordered Don Pedro Cotiella to take three boats into the arsenal to destroy the French fleet, and the recently arrived Sir Sidney Smith volunteered to accompany him with his ship Swallow and three British boats. The flotilla was augmented by the fireships HMS Vulcan and San Luis Gonzago. Cotiella was tasked with sinking Toulon's powder hulks, one a disarmed former British frigate captured during the American Revolutionary War, Montréal, and the other the frigate Iris. These ships contained the gunpowder stores for the entire fleet and due to the danger of explosion were anchored in the outer roads, some distance from the city. He was then instructed to enter the Old Arsenal and destroy the ships there. Smith's boats approached the dock gates, which had been barred against attack and manned by 800 former galley slaves freed during the retreat whose sympathies were with the advancing Republicans. To ensure that they did not interfere, Smith kept his boat's guns trained on them throughout the operation. Dockyard workers, rapidly abandoning Royalist insignia, also attempted to block Smith's operation but were successfully locked out of the Arsenal. In addition, Smith's boats had been spotted by the Republican batteries on the heights and cannonballs and shells rained into the arsenal, although none struck Smith's men. As darkness fell Republican troops reached the shoreline and contributed musketry to the fusillade, Smith replying with grape shot from his boat's guns.

At 20:00 Captain Charles Hare brought Vulcan into the New Arsenal, Smith halting the ship across the row of anchored French ships of the line. The fuses were lit at 22:00, although Hare was badly wounded by an early detonation as he attempted to leave the ship. Simultaneously, fire parties set alight to the warehouses and stores ashore, including the mast house and the hemp and timber stores, creating a blazing inferno across the harbour as Vulcan's cannons fired a last salvo at the French positions on the shore. With the fires spreading through the dockyards and New Arsenal Smith began to withdraw, his force illuminated by the flames as an inviting target for the Republican batteries. As his boats passed the Iris however the powder ship suddenly and unexpectedly exploded, blasting debris in a wide circle and sinking two of the British boats. On Britannia all of the crew miraculously survived, but on Union the master and three men were killed.

With the New Arsenal in flames, Smith realised that the Old Arsenal appeared intact, only a few small fires marking the inefficient Spanish efforts at destroying the French ships anchored within. He immediately led Swallow back towards the arsenal but found that Republican soldiers had captured it intact, their heavy musketry driving him back. The gun batteries defending the Arsenal, reported sabotaged by French Royalist troops, had been taken intact and opened a heavy fire on the boat parties. Instead he turned to two disarmed ships of the line, Héros and Thémistocle, which lay in the inner roads as prison hulks. The French Republican prisoners on board had initially resisted British efforts to burn the ships, but with the evidence of the destruction in the arsenal before them they consented to be safely conveyed to shore as Smith's men set the empty hulls on fire. The nearby frigate Courageusewas also set on fire, but it failed to spread and the ship survived.

Once the British and Spanish boat parties had departed, the galley slaves opened the dockyard gates, allowing dock workers and Republican troops to enter the Arsenal. Forming improvised fire-fighting teams, these men worked to extinguish the blaze, saving a number of burning ships, moving unburnt ships away from the inferno and putting-out fires in the grain store, rope house and gun store among other shore installations.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_fleet_at_the_Siege_of_Toulon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Toulon

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 December 1793 - the Siege of Toulon (29 August – 19 December 1793) is ending with the Destruction of the french fleet and Evacuation - Part III - French fleet at the Siege of Toulon


Evacuation
With all available targets now on fire or in French hands, Smith withdrew once more, accompanied by dozens of small watercraft packed with Toulonnais refugees and Neapolitan soldiers separated during the retreat. As he passed the second powder hulk, Montréal, it too unexpectedly exploded. Although his force was well within the blast radius, on this occasion none of Smith's men were struck by falling debris and his boats were able to retire to the waiting British fleet without further incident. As Smith's boats had gone about their work Hood had ordered HMS Robust under Elphinstone and HMS Leviathan under Captain Benjamin Hallowell to evacuate the allied troops from the waterfront. The allied troops embarked in good order, protected by the rearguard of Sardinian soldiers under Major George Koehler and fire from the frigate HMS Romulus.


Evacuation of Toulon 1793 (showing many ships on fire). For key see PAH3231 (PAH3230)

They were joined by HMS Courageux under Captain William Waldegrave, which was undergoing repairs in the Arsenal to replace a damaged rudder. Despite this handicap, Courageux was able to participate in the evacuation and warp out of the harbour with the replacement rudder following behind suspended between two ship's boats. The fireship HMS Conflagration, also undergoing repairs, was unable to sail and was destroyed during the evacuation. By the morning of 19 December Elphinstone's squadron had retrieved all of the Allied soldiers from the city without losing a single man.

In addition to the soldiery, the British squadron and their boats took on board thousands of French Royalist refugees, who had flocked to the waterfront when it became clear that the city would fall to the Republicans; as many as 20,000 thronged the waterfront in search of a vessel. Among the evacuees was Trogoff and other senior French leaders of the garrison. Robust, the last to leave, carried more than 3,000 civilians from the harbour and another 4,000 were recorded on board Princess Royal out in the roads. In total the British fleet reported rescuing 14,877 Toulonnais from the city; witnesses on board the retreating ships reported scenes of panic on the waterfront as stampeding civilians were crushed or drowned in their haste to escape the advancing Republican soldiers, who fired indiscriminately into the fleeing populace. A host of small craft carried refugees out of the harbour to the waiting British ships or safe harbours in Italy or Spain. Hundreds drowned. Modern historian Bernard Ireland estimates that the actual number of civilians evacuated was approximately 7,000.


The British evacuation of Toulon in December 1793

Aftermath
In the aftermath of the fall of Toulon, Deputies Moyse Bayle and Louis-Marie Stanislas Fréron conducted a campaign of ideological terror against the population, executing an estimated 6,000 civilians and recruiting an army of 12,000 masons from across Southern France to destroy much of the city as punishment for the rebellion. The damage done to the French fleet were extensive, although by no means as comprehensive as might have been achieved had the Spanish boat parties fulfilled their orders: not one of the eight ships of the line in the Old Arsenal had been more than lightly damaged by the fires, while on shore, although many small warehouses and stores had been burnt, the grand magazine had escaped destruction and was seized intact by the Republicans. The only targets the Spanish parties had successfully destroyed were the powder hulks Iris and Montréal, both of which had been unexpectedly blown up, rather than sunk as instructed. Moreover, the two separate explosions each occurred just as Sir Sidney Smith's British boats passed by the hulks, the first blast swamping two boats and killing three men. British historian William Laird Clowes noted wryly that "the excitement and danger of the situation seem to have proved too much for the Spaniards", later accusing them directly of "jealousy and treachery". Smith himself was less condemnatory, praising Cotiella and his men for their "zeal and activity", and historian Noel Mostert consideried that the failure of the Allies to draw up contingency plans, urged but not acted on by Lángara as early as 3 October, was the principal factor in the failure to eliminate the entire French fleet.

Smith's parties had been much more successful than their Spanish counterparts, the burning Vulcan contributing to the total destruction of six ships of the line in the New Arsenal and damaging five more. His boarding parties also seized and destroyed the prison ships Héros and Thémistocle without unnecessary loss of life and caused considerable damage to shore installations. Among the material destroyed on shore was the fleet's timber stores, a blow which historian N.A.M. Rodger described as "the single most crippling blow suffered by the French Navy since [the Battle of] Quiberon Bay" in 1759. Smith was entrusted with Hood's dispatches and on his return to Britain given command of his own frigate, but despite his actions an opportunity to permanently cripple French power in the Mediterranean had been lost, a fact for which some contemporaries blamed Smith. Smith's Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry notes however that "The British had indeed missed an unprecedented opportunity to weaken French naval power. However, Smith was only partly to blame: more advance planning and preparation might have avoided last-minute delegation to one who was regarded as a maverick volunteer." Among the 15 French ships of the line which survived the last days of the siege were eight ships that would fight at the Battle of the Nile in 1798.

The Royalist ships which participated in the withdrawal were subsequently seized by the Allies. One frigate, Alceste, was gifted to the Sardinan Navy in appreciation of their contribution, but was recaptured by the French six months later. The Spanish Navy took possession of the corvette Petite Aurore, and the rest were taken into the Royal Navy. Of the large prizes, only Pompée went on to see full service, fighting at the First Battle of Algeciras in 1801. Puissant spent the remainder of the war on harbour duties and the huge Commerce de Marseille, although described as "the most beautiful ship that had hitherto been seen" proved to be wildly unstable when employed in the Atlantic and she too spent the rest of her career in port. Of the captured frigates only Aréthuse, Perle and Topaze were considered to be valuable acquisitions, the others only deployed on local service in the Mediterranean.

During 1794, as the French fleet underwent repairs in Republican Toulon, the British Mediterranean fleet concerned itself with the invasion of Corsica, particularly the sieges of Bastia and Calvi. In March 1795 the French fleet again put to sea suffering a minor defeat at the Battle of Genoa and another in July at the Battle of Hyères Islands. These engagements marked the only encounters between the British fleet and the French fleet they so briefly held before the Royal Navy was forced to withdraw from the Mediterranean by the 1796 Treaty of San Ildefonso at which the Spanish changed sides, allying with France against Britain.









https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_fleet_at_the_Siege_of_Toulon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Toulon

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 December 1793 - the Siege of Toulon (29 August – 19 December 1793) is ending with the Destruction of the french fleet and Evacuation - Part IV - French fleet at the Siege of Toulon - destroyed ships


The Triomphant was an 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.
Laid down in Toulon in March 1778 by the designer-builder Joseph-Marie-Blaise Coulomb, she was launched on 31 March 1779 and completed in June 1779. She took part in the Battle of Martinique with the Comte de Guichen's fleet in 1780 and served in the American War of Independence where she took part in the Battle of the Saintes. She was captured at Toulon by the Anglo-Spanish forces in August 1793, and was burnt there on 18 December 1793 during the evacuation of the port. Her remains were refloated in 1805 and broken up.


Duguay-Trouin was a Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy
In 1791, Duguay-Trouin ferried troops from Brest to Martinique and Saint Domingue, along with Amphitrite, Danaé, Éole, Apollon, Didon and Jupiter. The next year, she patrolled off Bretagne.



In 1793, Duguay-Trouin took part in the operations in Sardinia, and ran aground off Cagliari on 12 February, although she managed to break free on 19.
Present at Toulon when the city was surrendered to the British by a rebellion of Royalists, she was scuttled by fire at the end of the Siege of Toulon. The wreck was raised in 1807 and broken up.


Commerce de Marseille was a Téméraire class of the French Navy. She was funded by a don des vaisseaux donation from Marseille.
She was renamed Lys in July 1786 and Tricolore in October 1792. She was one of the ships in Toulon when the city was surrendered to the protection of a British force under Admiral Lord Hood in August 1793. Tricolore was subsequently burnt by the British in their withdrawal from the port in December that year.


The Suffisant was a 74-gun Pégase-class ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1782. She served during the last months of the American War of Independence, and survived to see action in the French Revolutionary Wars.
Suffisant was laid down at Toulon Dockyard in July 1781 to a design by Antoine Groignard. Launched on 6 March 1782, she had entered service by August of that year.
She was handed over by French Royalists at Toulon to the Anglo-Spanish occupying forces during the occupation of Toulon in August 1793, but was burnt at the subsequent evacuation of that port in December to avoid her being taken back into French service.


Héros was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, known mostly for being the flagship of Pierre André de Suffren de Saint Tropez during the Anglo-French War.
She was built in 1778 at Toulon on a design by Joseph-Marie-Blaise Coulomb.


Stern of Héros

Suffren died in December 1788 and Héros remained stationed at Toulon with the Levant squadron. Early in 1793 war broke out again between France and Britain and Héros was seized by the British as she was moored at Toulon when a Royalist cabale surrendered the city to them on 29 August. As the Siege of Toulon ended in the liberation of the city, Captain Sidney Smith had her scuttled by fire on 18–19 December along with Thémistocle and six other ships of the line which he was unable to take with him as prize ships


Thémistocle was a Téméraire-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.
Built in Lorient, Thémistocle was transferred to the Mediterranean soon after her commissioning to reinforce the squadron under Admiral Truguet. Seized by the British at the surrendering of Toulon by a Royalist cabale, she was used as a prison hulk during the Siege of Toulon. At the fall of the city, Captain Sidney Smith had her scuttled by fire, along with Héros.
The wreck was refloated in 1804 to be broken up.


HMS Montreal was a 32-gun Niger-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1761 and served in the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence. The French captured her in 1779 and she then served with them under the name Montréal. An Anglo-Spanish force destroyed her during the occupation of Toulon early in the French Revolutionary Wars.
Montreal was ordered from Sheerness Dockyard on 6 June 1759, one of an eleven ship class built to a design by Thomas Slade. She was laid down on 26 April 1760, launched on 15 September 1761, and was completed by 10 October 1761. She had been named Montreal on 28 October 1760, and was commissioned under her first commander, Captain William Howe, in September 1761, having cost £11,503.17.11d to build, including money spent fitting her out.
The French later used Montréal as a powder hulk. The British captured her when they occupied Toulon in August 1793 in support of the monarchists there. The French Revolutionary forces besieged Toulon and on 16 December 1793 the British decided to evacuate the port while destroying as much as possible of the materials that they could not take away. Montréal was one of two powder hulks in the port, the other being the French frigate Iris. An Anglo-Spanish force was sent to scuttle them on the night of 18 December. Instead, the Spanish troops decided to set fire to the two powder hulks; the subsequent explosions destroyed both


The French frigate Iris was a Magicienne-class frigate, one of seven, launched at Toulon in 1781 for the French Navy. Note: Between 1781 and 1784, there were two French frigates Iris, this newly launched frigate, and the former USS Hancock, which the British had captured in 1781 in the American theatre and renamed Iris, and which the French had captured in 1781 and sold in 1784. The British captured the new Iris at Toulon on 28 August 1793, and burned her on their evacuation of the city in December.



When the Royalist French surrendered Toulon to Lord Hood in 1793, they found Iris dismantled and being used as a powder hulk. As the republicans advanced on the town, the Anglo-Spanish forces evacuated, destroying the arsenal and as many ships as they could of those that they could not sail out of the port. Captain Sidney Smith took charge of a small squadron of three English and three Spanish gunboats and went into the inner harbour to scuttle the ships. Against orders, instead of sinking one of the frigates, the Spanish crew of one gunboat set the frigate alight. The vessel, possibly Iris, was being used to store one thousand barrels of gunpowder. The resulting explosion blew the British gun boat Terrible, commanded by Lieutenant Patey, to pieces; however, the men were picked up alive. Another British gunboat, Union, which was nearest to Iris, too was blown to pieces; her commander, Mr Young, was killed, together with three of his men. At least one other powder hulk, French frigate Montréal, was also destroyed in the evacuation, and Iris was recorded as being one of those burnt in the retreat.





https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Triomphant_(1778)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Duguay-Trouin_(1788)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Commerce_de_Marseille_(1785)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Suffisant_(1782)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Héros_(1778)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Thémistocle_(1791)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Montreal_(1761)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Iris_(1781)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 December 1810 - HMS Nymphe (36), Cptn. Clay, and HMS Pallas (32), Cptn. G. P. Monke, wrecked near Dunbar in the Firth of Forth after the pilots mistook the light from a lime kiln on the coast for the light on the Isle of May and the light on the island for that on the Bell Rock.



HMS Nymphe was a fifth-rate frigate of the British Royal Navy, formerly the French La Nymphe. HMS Flora, under the command of Captain William Peere Williams, captured Nymphe off Ushant on 10 August 1780. Indiscriminately referred to as Nymph, Nymphe, La Nymph or La Nymphe in contemporary sources, she served during the American, French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. On 19 May 1793, while under the command of Captain Edward Pellew, she captured the frigate Cléopâtre, the first French warship captured in a single-ship action of the war. After a long period of service in which she took part in several notable actions and made many captures, Nymphe was wrecked off the coast of Scotland on 18 December 1810.


Two British frigates were reconnoitring the French fleet at Brest on the morning of 9 March 1797 when they met with a large French frigate and a corvette. They were part of a French squadron of four returning from an unsuccessful attempt to land troops on the Welsh coast at Fishguard in an abortive attempt to destroy Bristol and attack Liverpool. The two British frigates were prizes captured from the French, the ‘San Fiorenzo’ commanded by Captain Sir Harry Burrand Neale and ‘La Nymph’ commanded by Captain John Cooke the French ships they encountered were the ‘Resistance’ and ‘Constance’. Hostilities broke out between them and the ‘Resistance’ soon struck, to be followed by the surrender of the ‘Constance’. There were no casualties on the British side, although the French lost 18 killed and 15 wounded. In the centre of the picture is the French ship ‘Resistance’ with her ensign and pendant being lowered as she surrenders. To the port of her the British ‘San Fiorenzo’ is still firing her starboard guns. To the right and beyond this pair is ‘La Nymph’ partly masking the French ‘Constance’ which is still fighting. The copper liberty caps on the main-trucks of the Frenchmen are plainly shown. In the background is the French coast around Brest.

Construction
La Nymphe was built as a 32-gun frigate of the fourth rate (Quatrième Rang) at Brest, designed and constructed by Pierre-Augustin Lamothe. She was laid down in April 1777, launched on 18 August, and commissioned in November. She carried a complement of 290 men, and was armed with twenty-six French 12-pounder guns and six French 6-pounders.


Lines & Profile (ZAZ2506)

Type: Fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen: 937 72⁄94 (bm)
Length:

• 141 ft 5 1⁄2 in (43.12 m) (gun deck)
• 120 ft 4 1⁄2 in (36.69 m) (keel)

Beam: 38 ft 3 1⁄4 in (11.66 m)
Depth of hold: 11 ft 9 in (3.58 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement: 240
Armament:

• 1777
• UD: 26 × French 12-pounder guns
• QD: 4 × French 6-pounder guns
• FC: 2 × French 6-pounder guns
• 1780
• UD: 26 × 12-pounder guns
• QD: 8 × 6-pounder guns
• FC: 2 × 6-pounder guns
• 1790
• UD: 26 × 12-pounder guns
• QD: 12 × 32-pounder carronades
• FC: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades

On the evening of 18 December 1810 Nymphe and Pallas, were wrecked off Dunbar at the mouth of the Firth of Forth. All the crew except nine were saved. Captain Clay and his officers were cleared of blame at the subsequent court martial with the exception of Mr G. Scott, the master, and C. Gascoigne, the pilot, who were judged to have mistaken fires from a lime kiln on shore for the light on the Isle of May.


HMS Pallas was a 32-gun fifth rate Thames-class frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1804 at Plymouth.

Class and type: 32-gun fifth rate Thames-class frigate
Tons burthen: 657 bm
Length:

• 127 ft (39 m) (overall)
• 107 ft 4 in (32.72 m) (keel)

Beam: 34 ft 6 in (10.52 m)
Depth of hold: 11 ft 9 in (3.58 m)
Complement :220
Armament:

• Upper deck: 26 x 12-pounder guns
• QD: 8 x 24-pounder carronades
• Fc: 4 x 24-pounder carronades

sheer (ZAZ2984)


Lines (ZAZ2983)


Frame (ZAZ2985)

Pallas was under the command of Captain G.P. Monke when she was wrecked in the Firth of Forth near Dunbar on the night of 18 December 1810. The pilot mistook the light on a lime kiln at Broxmouth for that kept burning on the Isle of May, and the light on the island for that on the Bell Rock. Dunbar Lifeboat saved 45 men from HMS Pallas in two trips and, in attempting a third, was ‘upset and drowned nearly all’. Pallas lost 11 men in the sinking.

The subsequent court martial severely reprimanded Monke and the pilot, James Burgess, for the loss. It also dismissed the master, David Glegg, and ordered that he never serve as master again.

Pallas had been in company with Nymphe, which also wrecked that night, though without loss of life. Nymphe wrecked on a rock called the Devil's Ark near Skethard on Tor Ness Dunbar.



Inboard profile plan (ZAZ2986)






https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Nymphe_(1780)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...1;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=N;start=0
http://www.musees-honfleur.fr/musee-de-la-marine/la-nymphe.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Pallas_(1804)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-337323;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=P

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 December 1812 - HMS Alban (1806 - 10), Lt. William Sturges Key, wrecked off Aldeborough, Suffolk


HMS Alban was one of twelve Adonis-class schooners of the Royal Navy and was launched in 1805. She served during the Napoleonic Wars. During the Gunboat War she took part in two engagements with Danish gunboats, during the second of which the Danes captured her. The British recaptured her seven months later, but she was wrecked in 1812.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with half stern board ourtline, sheer lines with some inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for the Lady Hammond (fl.1804), a single-masted Bermudan Sloop, and for building the Adonis Class consisting of Adonis (1806); Alban (1806); Alphea (1806); Bacchus (1806); Barbara (1806), later a two-masted Schooner; Cassandra (1806); Claudia (1806), Laura (1806); Olympia (1806); Sylvia (1806); Vesta (1806); Zenobia (1806), all 10-gun Cutters.

Design
Like the rest of her class, Alban was made of Bermudan or pencil cedar and to a design copied from that of the Lady Hammond, a Bermudan sloop. The Admiralty ordered the class as cutters, but they were completed as schooners. Even so, most references to Alban refer to her as a cutter. She had a crew of 35 men and carried an armament of ten 18-pounder carronades.

Class and type: Adonis-class schooner
Tons burthen: 110 75⁄94 (bm)
Length:

• 68 ft 2 in (20.8 m) (overall);
• 50 ft 4 5⁄8 in (15.4 m) (keel)

Beam: 20 ft 4 in (6.2 m)
Depth of hold: 10 ft 3 in (3.1 m)
Complement: 35
Armament: 10 × 18-pounder carronades


Scale: 1:48. Plan hsowing the inboard profile, upper deck, and lower deck with platforms for the Adonis Class consisting of Adonis (1806); Alban (1806); Alphea (1806); Bacchus (1806); Barbara (1806); Cassandra (1806); Claudia (1806), Laura (1806); Olympia (1806); Sylvia (1806); Vesta (1806); Zenobia (1806), all 10-gun Cutters (or single-masted Sloops) to be built at Bermuda, similar to the Lady Hamond. The plan has modifications relating to how the magazines on Cutters were fitted at Plymouth in 1806. Copies were sent to Mr Shedden on 1 May 1804, and again on 6 September 1804 for these vessels.


Initial service
She was commissioned in May 1805 under Lieutenant James Stone. On 27 July she was under the command of Lieutenant Henry Wier and in company with Hazard, Conflict, Growler, and the hired armed brig Colpoys, when they captured nine French chasse marees. On 27 October she recaptured Favourite.

On 17 January 1808 Alban captured the American ship Active.[4] Then on 8 April she sailed for Rio de Janeiro.


sail (ZAZ6196)

Gunboat War
In 1809 Alban sailed to the Baltic. On 5 November she captured the Prussian sloop Gute Bothe.

On 23 May 1810 Alban was in company with Raleigh and the hired armed cutter, Princess of Wales, when they encountered seven Danish gunboats off The Skaw. In the subsequent engagement one gunboat blew up and the British succeeded in damaging and dispersing the other six.

On 13 June 1810, Alban captured the Regina Doreatha. Almost two weeks later, on 13 June, she captured the Danish galliot Catharina Augusta. Weir was promoted to the command of Calypso on 28 June 1810, but he was still captain of Alban on 12 July when she captured another Danish galliot, the Caroline. At some point command transferred to Lieutenant Samuel Thomas.

On 12 September 1810, Alban was off Læsø island when she saw six Danish gunboats coming towards her from the direction of the Skaw. Wind conditions were calm so Alban had to resort to her sweeps to try to escape the Danes. She was unsuccessful and by early afternoon an engagement had commenced. After about three hours, a cannon shot took off the back of Thomas's skull. His second in command, Midshipman Alexander Hutchinson, continued the resistance for another hour, but then struck. Alban had lost two men killed (including Thomas), and had three wounded,[10] out of a crew of some 25. She also had five feet of water in her hold, and her rigging and sails were entirely shot away. The subsequent court martial honourably acquitted Hutchinson and the surviving officers and men, and recommended Hutchinson for promotion. The Danish gunboat flotilla was under the command of Lieutenant Jørgen Conrad de Falsen.

Danish service
The Alban was under the command of Lieutenant Thøger Emil Rosenørn when she encountered Rifleman on 11 May 1811 near the Shetland Islands. Rifleman chased The Alban for twelve hours before she succeeded in capturing the Dane. She was armed with 12 guns and had a crew of 58 men. She was three days out of Farsund, Norway, but had not captured anything.

According to Danish sources, Rosenørn fought bravely and when he saw that defeat was inevitable, he hacked away rigging and created holes in the hull before he surrendered. Even so, The Alban did not sink and the British took her back into service as Alban.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan with stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Laura (1806), a 10-gun single-masted Cutter as taken off at Plymouth Dockyard in 1806. Signed Joseph Tucker [Master Shipwright, Plymouth Dockyard, later Surveyor of the Navy, 1813-1831]. Note that the pencil names are of the other ships in the class, and the annotation has been added at a later date.

British service and loss
The Admiralty had Alban fitted at Sheerness between July and November 1811. She was recommissioned in October under Lieutenant William Sturges Key.

Alban was wrecked on 18 December 1812 at Aldeburgh, Suffolk. A contemporary newspaper report suggested she had run against an offshore sandbank on the evening of 17 December, and become stuck fast. The crew immediately lightened the ship by throwing the guns overboard and cutting away the mast. This freed the vessel but left her drifting helplessly towards the Aldeburgh shore, where she was beached at 8am on the following morning.

Townsfolk from Aldeburgh reached the ship by mid-morning to discover the ship firmly beached with the stern still partly submerged in the surf. The crew were alive, other than ship's surgeon, Mr Thompson, who jumped overboard when the rescue party arrived and was drowned in the waves by the stern. It appeared that the vast majority of those on board were drunk and made no effort to escape the vessel despite ready access to the shore. By 9am the tide had risen through the ship and drowned all but two on board. The survivors, a seaman and a female servant of Lieutenant Key's wife, were brought away in safety.


The Adonis class was a Royal Navy class of twelve 10-gun schooners built under contract in Bermuda during the Napoleonic War. The class was an attempt by the Admiralty to harness the expertise of Bermudian shipbuilders who were renowned for their fast-sailing craft. The Admiralty ordered twelve vessels on 2 April 1804.

Winfield reports, based on Admiralty records, that although all twelve were ordered as cutters, all were completed as (or converted to) schooners. An article in the Bermuda Historical Quarterly reports that eight were built as cutters (Alban, Bacchus, Barbara, Casandra, Claudia, Laura, Olympia, and Sylvia), and three as schooners (Adonis, Alphea, and Vesta). The account does not mention Zenobia, but does mention that Laura and Barbara (at least) were re-rigged as schooners. The discrepancy lies in the poor communications between the Navy Board in Britain and the builders in Bermuda, as well as in deficiencies of record-keeping. Alterations in the masting and rigging of small (unrated) combatants were not infrequent at this time.

Construction
The Navy Board ordered the vessels on 2 April 1804. Goodrich & Co acted as the main contractor to the Navy Board, and contracted out the actual building to different builders in different yards. In many cases the actual builder is unrecorded. All twelve vessels were apparently laid down in 1804 (but documentary evidence is lacking). Each vessel was launched and commissioned during 1806 (precise dates unrecorded).

The vessels were all constructed of Bermuda cedar. This durable, native wood, abundant in Bermuda, was strong and light, and did not need seasoning. Shipbuilders used it for framing as well as planking, which reduced vessel weight. It was also highly resistant to rot and marine borers, giving Bermudian vessels a potential lifespan of twenty years and more, even in the worm-infested waters of the Chesapeake and the Caribbean.

Operational lives
Of the twelve vessels in the class, seven were wartime losses. Only five were not lost during the war, surviving to be sold in between 1814 and 1816.




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Alban_(1806)
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-289374;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=A

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 December 1867 – Transport Sir George Seymour burnt and abandoned during her voyage to Bombay


Sir George Seymour was built in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear in 1844 by Somes Brothers. She made one voyage transporting convicts to Australia and at least one carrying emigrants to Australia and one to New Zealand. A fire at sea in her cargo in December 1867 forced her crew to abandon her.


Ship Sir George Seymour sailing down the Channel with other shipping with the coast in the background. W.T. Howard, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

Convict transport
On 4 November 1844 Sir George Seymour, John Young Clarke, master, set sail from England, bound for Van Diemen's Land, Australia; she arrived at Hobart on 27 February 1845. She had embarked 345 male convicts and she landed 175 at Port Phillip and 169 at Hobart; one convict died on the voyage.[4] She sailed for Calcutta on 27 June with 132 horses, and other cargo and passengers.

1849 emigrant voyage to Australia
Sir George Seymour sailed from Plymouth on 9 January 1849, bound for Geelong, Victoria. She was carrying 302 assisted immigrants and assorted cargo. (Ten vessels, carrying over 1000 immigrants to Australia, left that week.) She anchored off Port Henry on 14 May; she arrived at Melbourne 1 June. On 3 July she sailed from Sydney, bound for Singapore and Calcutta.

1850 emigrant voyage to New Zealand
In 1850 Sir George Seymour was one of the First Four Ships to carry emigrants from England to the new colony of Canterbury in New Zealand on behalf of the Canterbury Association. The other three ships were Cressy, Charlotte Jane, and Randolph.

Sir George Seymour left Plymouth Sound, England around 11am on Sunday, 8 September 1850, with about 227 passengers. She arrived in Lyttelton at 10am on Tuesday, 17 December 1850. The passengers aboard the first four ships were referred to as "The Pilgrims". Their names are inscribed on marble plaques in Cathedral Square in the centre of Christchurch.

The ship is remembered in the name of a road, George Seymour Quay, in the port town of Lyttelton.

Notable passengers

• John Anderson (1820–1897), second mayor of Christchurch
• John Anderson (1850–1934), his son
• Guise Brittan (1807–1876), first Commissioner of Crown Lands for Canterbury
• Emily Foster (1842–1897), teacher and school principal; daughter of Guise Brittan
• Richard James Strachan Harman (1826–1902), politician and businessman
• Henry Jacobs (1824–1901), first Dean of Christchurch
• Elizabeth Watts-Russell (1833–1905), community leader and wife of John Charles Watts-Russell
• John Charles Watts-Russell (1825–1875), politician and runholder

Later career and fate
In 1865 Sir George Seymour underwent repairs for damages. At the time her master was M'Ewen, her owner Higgins & Co., her homeport London, and her trade "Brs".

A fire destroyed Sir George Seymour in 1867. She was carrying a cargo of coal from Liverpool to Bombay when the cargo suffered spontaneous combustion on 18 December 1867 at 25°S 25°W. Her crew abandoned her. Leda, which was on her way to Calcutta, rescued 15 crew members.

Her entry in Lloyd's Register for 1867 carried the annotation B"URNT". The listing gave her master as M'Ewen, but her homeport now was Glasgow, and her owner D. Law.


A portrait of the 850 tons ship, Sir George Seymour, built in Sunderland in 1844, owned by Somes Brothers and registered in London. She is shown sailing down the Channel with other shipping with the coast in the background. The ship may have been named for the admiral Sir George Francis Seymour 1787-1870. She was involved in taking emigrants to Australia and New Zealand in the middle of the 19th century. The Sir George Seymour, set sail from Plymouth on January 9, 1849 carrying 302 assisted immigrants and assorted cargo to Port Henry off Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The immigrants were predominantly English with a few Irish also on board. The Sir George Seymour was one of 10 vessels simultaneously preparing to take 1000 English women to Australia departing in the same week. While preparing for the departure the ship’s mail, including the ship’s “bills of lading” was stolen from the train delivering it. Consequently consignees of cargo were significantly inconvenienced when the ship arrived in Geelong. After 5 days of extremely rough weather the ship's surgeon advised the captain to pull in at Falmouth, around 60 miles from Plymouth. In this early stage there were deaths mainly amongst the children. The passengers housed during the layover in the Emigration Depot before the ship resumed its voyage to Australia. It anchored off Port Henry on May 14, 1849 - a voyage taking in total 105 days. While 9 babies were born during the voyage there were also 20 deaths on board mostly resulting from the extreme weather at the start of the voyage. Otherwise the passengers arrived in Geelong in good health. When the ship anchored off Port Henry a steamer Thames ferried the immigrants to the pier in Geelong. After leaving Geelong the Sir George Seymour sailed into Melbourne on June 1, 1849. It left Sydney on July 3 bound for Singapore and Calcutta on its homeward voyage. (Information supplied by Mr Robyn McCormick, taken from the newspaper reports and the Land and Immigration Commissioner's (Mr. Addis') report on the ship's arrival, Victorian Public Records Office, VPRS115, P0000, 1849/72) The Sir George Seymour was one of four chartered ships leaving England in September 1850 for Canterbury, with the Randolph, the Cressy, and the Charlotte Jane. They were under the auspices of the Canterbury Association which envisioned the founding of a church settlement in New Zealand. It was hoped that a cross-section of English society including bishops and gentry, artisans and labourers, would journey to this new colony together. They hoped they could take traditions and loyalties to colonial soil, to start a new England that would resemble every good feature of old England. Before they left, a public banquet and dance took place on board the Randolph for the families who were buying land in the new settlement and a church service was held on 1 September in St Paul's Cathedral for all the Pilgrims. The two main groups of Pilgrims were the colonists and emigrants. Colonists were men who were able to afford to buy land in the new settlement. These men and their families travelled as cabin passengers. They would be the leaders of Canterbury for the first years. The emigrants were farm workers, labourers and tradesmen, travelling in steerage. Their passage was either paid for by the Canterbury Association, or by their future employers, travelling in the same ship. Life on board ship was a dramatic change in lifestyle for these intending settlers and accommodation below decks, for the steerage passengers, was particularly cramped, the Sir George Seymour carried 227 on this trip. [updated 19/09/2014]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_George_Seymour_(1844_ship)
http://canterburypilgrims.nz/the-summer-ships/sir-george-seymour/

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 December 1891 – SS Abyssinia (1870) was a British mail liner, Caught fire and sank, in the North Atlantic off Nova Scotia.


Abyssinia (1870) was a British mail liner originally operated by the Cunard Line on the Liverpool–New York route. She later served the Guion Line on the same route and the Canadian Pacific Line in the Pacific. In December 1891, Abyssinia was destroyed mid-Atlantic without loss of life by a fire that started in her cargo of cotton, further highlighting the danger in carrying both cotton and passengers on the same ship.


SS Abyssinia at Vancouver, June 1887

Development and design
With the success of Russia (1867), Cunard ordered a new fleet of iron express liners for the New York mail route. Abyssinia was the fourth of the five liners required for a weekly service. Abyssinia and her sister, Algeria were the first Cunard express steamers built to carry steerage passengers, a concept that was proved profitable four years earlier by the Inman Line. As completed in 1870, Abyssinia carried 200 first class passengers and 1050 steerage. She had a service speed of 12.5 knots and was a full knot slower than Russia. Both Abyssinia and Algeria were larger than their near sister, Parthia. Unlike Abyssinia and Algeria which were built in Glasgow, Parthia had been constructed in Dumbarton.



Service history
Cunard employed Abyssinia on the Liverpool, Queenstown, New York service. All five of the new Cunarders on this route were quickly rendered out of date by White Star's revolutionary Oceanic of 1871. For example, Abyssinia and her sister burned 90 tons of coal per day as compared to 58 tons for Oceanic. While Inman and other rivals quickly installed compound machinery and modified passenger quarters to match White Star's new fleet, Cunard did not. Finally, in 1879 the privately owned Cunard line was reorganised as a public stock corporation to raise the capital needed to rebuild the fleet. On the other hand, Abyssinia's near sister, Parthia did utilise compound machinery. Due to such, Parthia only burned 47 tons of coal per day.

In 1880, Cunard sold Abyssinia to the Guion Line when that company needed a mail liner to replace the wrecked Montana. Two years later, Abyssinia finally received compound machinery. In 1884, she was transferred to the John Elder shipyard to partly finance Guion's new Blue Riband winner, the Oregon. Unable to make the payments, Guion returned its new record breaker to Elders and continued to operate Abyssinia. At the same time, Elders also acquired the former Cunarders Batavia and Parthia(Abyssinia's near sister)[3] as trade ins for the sale of Oregon to Cunard. In 1885, Stephen Guion himself died and his firm was reorganised with Sir William Pierce of Elders as the new chairman.

In 1887, Pierce chartered Guion's Abyssinia along with Elder's two other former Cunarders to Sir William Van Horne to begin steamship service in the Pacific, extending the Canadian Pacific Railway's transportation services from England, across the Atlantic to Canada by steamship, across Canada by railroad, and finally across the Pacific to Japan, China and India by steamship. Abyssinia opened the new Pacific service, with 22 first-class and 80 steerage passengers. She required only 13 days to reach Vancouver from Yokohama, arriving there on 13 June 1887, establishing a new trans-Pacific record. Abyssinia's freight shipment of silk and tea was transferred to rail, arriving in New York (via Montreal) on 21 June, and loaded onto another ship arriving in London on 29 June. Abyssinia was returned to Guion when Canadian Pacific took delivery on the three new "Empress" liners.



Guion placed Abyssinia back on the Liverpool-Queenstown-New York route. Her first eastbound return trip cleared New York on 13 December with 57 passengers and 88 crew with various cargo including cotton. At 12:40 pm on 18 December 1891 off the coast of Newfoundland a fire broke out in her cargo hold which quickly overpowered her crew's firefighting efforts. Captain G.S. Murray ordered the ship to be abandoned. Lookouts on board the eastbound Norddeutscher Lloyd liner Spree spotted the smoke from Abyssinia and removed all passengers and crew by 4:15 pm. Abyssinia sank shortly after. Spree made port with the survivors in Southampton on 21 December.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Abyssinia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_merchant_cruiser_Ural_(1904)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
18 December 1944 - Typhoon Cobra, also known as the Halsey's Typhoon struck the United States Pacific Fleet
Adm. Halsey's 3rd Fleet encounters a typhoon northeast of Samar. Destroyers USS Hull (DD 350), USS Spence (DD 512), and USS Monaghan (DD 354) capsized and went down with practically all hands, while a cruiser, five aircraft carriers, and three destroyers suffered serious damage.
Approximately 790 officers and men were lost or killed, with another 80 injured.



Typhoon Cobra, also known as the Typhoon of 1944 or Halsey's Typhoon (named after Admiral William 'Bull' Halsey), was the United States Navy designation for a powerful tropical cyclone that struck the United States Pacific Fleet in December 1944, during World War II.


Structure of a typhoon captured by a Navy ship's radar. This storm was the second tropical storm to ever be observed on radar. East of Philippine Islands.

Task Force 38 (TF 38) had been operating about 300 mi (260 nmi; 480 km) east of Luzon in the Philippine Sea, conducting air raids against Japanese airfields in the Philippines. The fleet was attempting to refuel its ships, in particular the lighter destroyers, which had small fuel tanks. As the weather worsened, it became increasingly difficult to refuel, and the attempts had to be discontinued. Despite warning signs of worsening conditions, the ships remained in their stations. Worse, the information given to Halsey about the location and direction of the typhoon was inaccurate. On December 17, Halsey unwittingly sailed the Third Fleet into the centre of the typhoon.

Because of 100 mph (87 kn; 45 m/s; 160 km/h) winds, high seas, and torrential rain, three destroyers capsized and sank with 790 lives were lost. Nine other warships were damaged, and over 100 aircraft were wrecked or washed overboard. The aircraft carrier Monterey was forced to battle a serious fire that was caused by a plane hitting a bulkhead.

"Planes went adrift, collided, and burst into flames. Monterey caught fire at 0911 (18 December) and lost steerageway a few minutes later. The fire, miraculously, was brought under control at 0945, and the C.O., Captain Stuart H. Ingersoll, wisely decided to let his ship lie dead in the water until temporary repairs could be effected. She lost 18 aircraft burned in the hangar deck or blown overboard and 16 seriously damaged, together with three 20-mm guns, and suffered extensive rupturing of her ventilation system. Cowpens lost 7 planes overboard and caught fire from one that broke loose at 1051, but the fire was brought under control promptly; Langley rolled through 70 degrees; San Jacinto reported a fighter plane adrift on the hangar deck which wrecked seven other aircraft. She also suffered damage from salt water that entered through punctures in the ventilating ducts."Captain [Jasper T.] Acuff's replenishment escort carriers did pretty well. Flames broke out on the flight deck of Cape Esperance at 1228 but were overcome; Kwajalein made a maximum roll of 39 degrees to port when hove-to with wind abeam. Her port catwalks scooped up green water, but she lost only three planes which were jettisoned from the flight deck; it took one hour to get them over the side. Three other escort carriers lost in all 86 aircraft but came through without much material damage."

USS Tabberer — a small John C. Butler-class destroyer escort — lost her mast and radio antennas. Though damaged and unable to radio for help, the ship remained on the scene and recovered 55 of the 93 total sailors who were rescued from capsized ships. Captain Henry Lee Plage earned the Legion of Merit, while the entire crew earned the Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon, which was presented to them by Halsey.

In the words of Admiral Chester Nimitz, the typhoon's impact "...represented a more crippling blow to the Third Fleet than it might be expected to suffer in anything less than a major action." The events surrounding Typhoon Cobra were similar to those the Japanese navy itself faced some nine years earlier in what they termed the "Fourth Fleet Incident."

This typhoon led to the establishment of weather infrastructure of the U.S. Navy, which eventually became the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

Meteorological history
On December 17, the typhoon was first observed, surprising a fleet of ships in the open western Pacific Ocean. Barometric pressures as low as 26.8 inHg (907 mbar) and wind speeds up to 120 kn (140 mph; 62 m/s; 220 km/h) in gusts were reported by some ships. The storm was last seen on the 18th.

Task Force 38


An oiler struggles to maintain position, 17 December 1944.

TF 38 consisted of seven fleet carriers, six light carriers, eight battleships, 15 cruisers, and about 50 destroyers. The carriers had been conducting raids against Japanese airfields in the Philippines and ships were being refueled, especially many destroyers running low on fuel. When the storm hit, the procedure had to be aborted.

Damage to the fleet was severe. Some ships rolled more than 70 degrees. Three destroyers, Spence, Hickox, and Maddox, had nearly empty fuel stores (10-15% of capacity) and therefore lacked the stabilizing effect of the extra weight and thus were relatively unstable. Additionally, several other destroyers, including Hull and Monaghan, were of the older Farragut-class and had been refitted with over 500 long tons (510 t) of extra equipment and armament which made them top-heavy.

Spence, Hull, and Monaghan either capsized or were sunk after water flooded down their smokestacks and disabled their engines. Without power, they were unable to control their heading and were at the mercy of the wind and seas. Hickox and Maddox pumped seawater into their empty fuel tanks, adding enough stability to ride out the storm with relatively minor damage.

Many other ships of TF 38 suffered various degrees of damage, especially to radar and radio equipment which crippled communications within the fleet. Several carriers suffered fires on their hangars and 146 aircraft were wrecked or blown overboard. Nine ships — including one light cruiser, three light carriers, and two escort carriers — suffered enough damage to be sent for repairs.

The carrier Monterey was nearly taken down in flames by its own airplanes as they crashed into bulkheads and exploded during violent rolls. One of those fighting the fires aboard Monterey was then Lt. Gerald Ford, later President of the United States. Ford later recalled nearly going overboard when 20° and greater rolling caused aircraft below decks to careen into each other, igniting a fire. Ford, serving as General Quarters Officer of the Deck, was ordered to go below to assess the raging fire. He did so safely, and reported his findings back to the ship's commanding officer, Captain Stuart Ingersoll. The ship's crew was able to contain the fire, and the ship got underway again.






USS Cowpens during Typhoon Cobra
18 December 1944.


USS Langley (CVL-27) rolling heavily during Typhoon Cobra, 18 December 1944.

3rd Fleet damage

• USS Hull - with 70% fuel aboard, capsized and sunk with 202 men drowned (62 survivors)
• USS Monaghan - capsized and sunk with 256 men drowned (six survivors)
• USS Spence - rudder jammed hard to starboard, capsized and sunk with 317 men drowned (23 survivors) after hoses parted attempting to refuel from New Jersey because they had also disobeyed orders to ballast down directly from Admiral Halsey. The fuel tanks had to be deballasted (empty of sea water) to accept needed fuel. Ship had insufficient fuel to weather the storm. This was the common problem shared by all the so-called "little boys (DDs, DEs, etc.)
• USS Cowpens - hangar door torn open and RADAR, 20mm gun sponson, whaleboat, jeeps, tractors, kerry crane, and 8 aircraft lost overboard. One sailor (ship's air officer Robert Price) lost.
• USS Monterey - hangar deck fire killed three men and caused evacuation of boiler rooms requiring repairs at Bremerton Navy yard
• USS Langley - damaged
• USS Cabot - damaged
• USS San Jacinto - hangar deck planes broke loose and destroyed air intakes, vent ducts and sprinkling system causing widespread flooding. Damage repaired by USS Hector
• USS Altamaha - hangar deck crane and aircraft broke loose and broke fire mains
• USS Anzio - required major repair
• USS Nehenta - damaged
• USS Cape Esperance - flight deck fire required major repair
• USS Kwajalein - lost steering control
• USS Iowa - propeller shaft bent and lost a seaplane
• USS Baltimore - required major repair
• USS Miami - required major repair
• USS Dewey - lost steering control, RADAR, the forward stack, and all power when salt water shorted main electrical switchboard
• USS Aylwin - required major repair
• USS Buchanan - required major repair
• USS Dyson - required major repair
• USS Hickox - required major repair
• USS Maddox - damaged
• USS Benham - required major repair
• USS Donaldson - required major repair
• USS Melvin R. Nawman - required major repair
• USS Tabberer - lost foremast
• USS Waterman - damaged
• USS Nantahala - damaged
• USS Jicarilla - damaged
• USS Shasta - damaged "one deck collapsed, aircraft engines damaged, depth charges broke loose, damaged "

Rescue efforts
The fleet was scattered by the storm. One ship, the destroyer escort Tabberer, encountered and rescued a survivor from Hull while itself desperately fighting the typhoon. This was the first survivor from any of the capsized destroyers to be picked up. Shortly thereafter, many more survivors were picked up, in groups or in isolation. Tabberer's skipper — Lieutenant Commander Henry Lee Plage — directed that the ship, despite its own dire condition, begin boxed searches to look for more survivors.

Tabberer eventually rescued 55 survivors in a 51-hour search, despite repeated orders from Admiral Halsey to return all ships to port in Ulithi. She picked up 41 men from Hull and 14 from Spence before finally returning to Ulithi after being directly relieved from the search by two destroyer escorts.

After the fleet had regrouped (without Tabberer), ships and aircraft conducted search and rescue missions. The destroyer Brown rescued the only survivors from Monaghan, six in total. She additionally rescued 13 sailors from Hull. Eighteen other survivors from Hull and Spence were rescued over the three days following Typhoon Cobra by other ships of the 3rd Fleet. The destroyer USS The Sullivans (DD-537) emerged from the storm undamaged and began looking for survivors before returning to Ulithi on Christmas Eve. In all, 93 men were rescued of the over 800 men presumed missing in the three ships, and two others who had been swept overboard from the escort carrier Anzio.

Despite disobeying fleet orders, Plage was awarded the Legion of Merit by Admiral Halsey, and Tabberer's crew each were awarded Navy Unit Commendation ribbons (the first ever awarded).

Investigation
While conducting refuelling operations off the Philippines, the Third Fleet remained on station rather than breaking up and seeking shelter from the storm. This led to a severe loss of men, ships, and aircraft. A Court of Inquiry was convened on board the USS Cascade at the Naval base at Ulithi, in the Caroline Islands, with Admiral Nimitz, CINCPAC, in attendance at the court. Forty-three-year-old Captain Herbert K. Gates was the Judge Advocate for the court. The Court found that though Halsey had committed an "error of judgement" in sailing the Third Fleet into the heart of the typhoon, it stopped short of unambiguously recommending sanction. In January 1945, Halsey passed command of the Third Fleet to Admiral Spruance.


USS Hull (DD-350) was a Farragut-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was named for Isaac Hull.



Hull was launched by New York Navy Yard 31 January 1934; sponsored by Miss Patricia Louise Platt; and commissioned 11 January 1935, Commander R. S. Wentworth in command.
Hull received 10 battle stars for World War II service, having sailed to Europe, and serving in the Pacific before and during the war in combat. After addition of equipment that made her more top-heavy, she was one of three destroyers sunk by heavy seas encountered in Halsey's Typhoon. 11 officers of the Hull, including the executive officer, and 191 enlisted sailors perished in the sea, while 7 officers and 55 enlisted men were recovered


USS Monaghan (DD-354) was the last ship built of the Farragut-class destroyer design. She was named for Ensign John R. Monaghan. Monaghan was laid down on November 21, 1933 at the Boston Navy Yard, and launched on January 9, 1935. She was sponsored by Miss Mary F. Monaghan, niece of Ensign Monaghan, and commissioned on 19 April 1935, with Commander R. R. Thompson in command.



During the next few years Monaghan operated primarily in the North Atlantic, training US Navy personnel who served in World War II. Monaghan was present during the Pearl Harbor raid on December 7, 1941. She participated in the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway in 1942. Monaghan was sunk in a typhoon east of the Philippines in 1944.


USS Spence (DD-512), a Fletcher class destroyer, was laid down on 18 May 1942 by the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine; launched on 27 October 1942; sponsored by Mrs. Eben Learned; and commissioned on 8 January 1943, Lieutenant Commander H. J. Armstrong in command. The ship was named for Robert T. Spence, superintendent of the construction of USS Ontario (1813), and captain of USS Cyane (1815).



Spence conducted her shakedown cruise out of Guantanamo Bay from 8 to 28 February. She then served as an escort in the Atlantic and Caribbean and had convoy duty in the Casablanca area in April. She was routed to the west coast and, on 25 July, got underway from San Francisco for Pearl Harbor, to serve in the Pacific against the Japanese in World War II.

On 17 December, Spence prepared to refuel and pumped out all of the salt water ballast from her tanks; but rough seas caused the fueling operation to be cancelled. The next day, the weather worsened and the storm turned into a major typhoon. As the ships wallowed in canyon-like troughs of brine, Spence's electrical equipment got wet from great quantities of sea water taken on board. After a 72-degree roll to port, all of the lights went out and the pumps stopped. The rudder jammed; and, after a deep roll to port about 11:00, Spence capsized and sank. Only 24 of her complement survived. One of the 24 survivors was David Moore, an African American who floated at sea for two days and also was responsible for saving the lives of two other men. Spence was struck from the Navy list on 19 January 1945.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Cobra
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Hull_(DD-350)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Monaghan_(DD-354)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Spence_(DD-512)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
Other Events on 18 December


1679 – Launch of french Courageux 50, later 60 guns (designed and built by François Pomet) at Rochefort – deleted 1705.


1760 – HMS Levant (1758 – 28) captured privateer L'Union

HMS Levant was a 28-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Coventry class, which saw Royal Navy service against France in the Seven Years' War, and against France, Spain and the American colonies during the American Revolutionary War. Principally a hunter of privateers, she was also designed to be a match for small French frigates, but with a broader hull and sturdier build at the expense of some speed and manoeuvrability. Launched in 1758, Levant was assigned to the Royal Navy's Jamaica station from 1759 and proved her worth in defeating nine French vessels during her first three years at sea. She was also part of the British expedition against Martinique in 1762 but played no role in the landings or subsequent defeat of French forces at Fort Royal.



The frigate was decommissioned following Britain's declaration of peace with France in 1763, but returned to service in 1766 for patrol duties in the Caribbean. Decommissioned for a second time in 1770, she was reinstated at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War and sent to the Mediterranean as part of a small British squadron based at Gibraltar. Over the next three years she captured or sank a total of fourteen enemy craft including an 18-gun American privateer. In 1779 she brought home news of an impending Spanish assault on Gibraltar, ahead of Spain's declaration of war on Great Britain.

The ageing frigate was finally removed from Navy service later that year, and her crew discharged to other vessels. She was broken up at Deptford Dockyard in 1780, having secured a total of 31 victories over 21 years at sea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Levant_(1758)


1804 - HMS Starling (1804 - 12), Lt. George Shotton, went ashore near Calais during a thick fog and blown up to prevent capture.

HMS Starling (1801) was a 12-gun gun-brig launched in 1801 and wrecked in 1804.


1828 - HMS Kangaroo Steam-vessel (6), Anthony de Mayne, wrecked South-east of Reef of Hogsties.

HMS Kangaroo (1818), a survey brig purchased in 1818 in the West Indies. Re-rigged as a ship in 1823 and wrecked off Cuba in 1828.


1832 – Launch of HMS Monarch, an 84-gun second rate Canopus-class ship of the line of the Royal Navy

HMS Monarch was an 84-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 18 December 1832 at Chatham Dockyard.
She was used as a target ship from 1862, and broken up in 1866


Monarch at Sheerness, December 1850

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Monarch_(1832)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canopus-class_ship_of_the_line


1839 - Commerce de Paris 110 (launched 8 August 1806 at Toulon) – razeed by one battery 1822–1825, renamed Commerce on 11 August 1830, then Borda on 18 December 1839, then Vulcain on 10 August 1863. Broken up at Brest 1885,

The Commerce de Paris was a 110-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class.
She was offered to the French Republic by a subscription of merchants from Paris on 27 May 1803 and started as Ville de Paris. She was renamed Commerce de Paris on 21 November 1804.


The Commerce de Paris under construction in Toulon in 1806

In 1808, she served as flagship of the Mediterranean squadron under Vice-Amiral Ganteaume[2] and Contre-Amiral Cosmao, with Captain Violette as her flag officer. In 1809, Ganteaume transferred on Majestueux. In June 1809, command of Commerce de Paris was transferred to Captain Brouard.
On 29 August 1814, after the Hundred Days, she was transferred from Toulon to Brest, along with Austerlitz and Wagram, where she was decommissioned.
From 1822 to 1825, she was razeed by one battery. In 1830, she was renamed Commerce, then Borda in 1839. She was used as a school ship from 1840, replacing Orion. Renamed Vulcain in 1863, she was eventually scrapped in 1885.


Commerce de Paris in tow of Magnanime, by Ange-Joseph Antoine Roux, 1809.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Commerce_de_Paris_(1806)


1878 - The French passenger steamer Byzantin foundered during a gale, after a collision with british steamer Rinaldo in the Dardanelles. Only fourteen of the crew were save, all the rest including 150 passengers were drowned

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantin


1927 - Chief Gunners Mate Thomas Eadie dives under adverse conditions to help Chief Torpedoman Fred Michels, who had problems connecting an air line to USS S 4 as she is sinking. After two hours of extremely dangerous work, Eadie succeeds in his mission and brings Michels safely to the surface. For his extraordinary heroism Eadie is awarded the Medal of Honor. Michels receives his second Navy Cross for his rescue efforts on USS S 4.

USS S-4 (SS-109) was an S-class submarine of the United States Navy. In 1927, she was sunk by being accidentally rammed by a Coast Guard destroyer with the loss of all hands but was raised and restored to service until stricken in 1936.



On 17 December 1927, while surfacing from a submerged run over the measured-mile off Cape Cod near Provincetown, Massachusetts, she was accidentally rammed and sunk by the Coast Guard destroyer Paulding on Rum Patrol.


S-4 is towed to the Boston Navy Yard after being salvaged, 1928.

Paulding stopped and lowered life boats, but found only a small amount of oil and air bubbles. Rescue and salvage operations were commenced led by Rear Admiral Frank Brumby, Captain Ernest J. King, Lieutenant Henry Hartley and Commander Edward Ellsberg, only to be thwarted by severe weather. Heroic efforts were made to rescue six known survivors trapped in the forward torpedo room, who had exchanged a series of signals with the rescue force, by tapping on the hull. As the trapped men used the last of available oxygen in the sub, they sent a morse-coded message, “Is there any hope?” The response, composed by Captain King was: "There is hope. Everything possible is being done." But thwarted by the weather, the rescue force could not rescue the six men.

The six men who were trapped were:

• Lieutenant Graham N. Fitch
• Torpedoman's Mate Russell A. Crabb
• Seaman Joseph L. Stevens
• Seaman George Pelnar
• Torpedoman's Mate Roger L. Short
• Torpedoman's Mate Frank Snizek

Despite the best efforts of the rescue team, all 40 men aboard were lost.

During the course of the rescue operation Chief Gunner's Mate Thomas Eadie rescued, at the risk of his own life, a fellow diver, Fred Michels, who became fouled in the wreckage while attempting to attach an air hose to the S-4. For his heroism Eadie was awarded the Medal of Honor.

S-4 was finally raised on 17 March 1928, by a salvage effort commanded by Captain Ernest J. King. Several of the salvage divers, including Eadie and previous Medal of Honor recipient Frank W. Crilley, were awarded the Navy Cross for their actions during the operation. Another Medal of Honor recipient, Chief Boatswain George Cregan, received the Navy Cross for his service as commander of the tugboat Sagamore during the rescue attempt.

The submarine was towed to the Boston Navy Yard for dry-docking and was decommissioned on 19 March 1928.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_S-4_(SS-109)


1943 - USS Aspro (SS 309) attacks a Japanese convoy in Sakishima Gunto, damaging fleet tankers Sarawak Maru and Tenei Maru, and escapes counter attacks by destroyer Shoikaze. Meanwhile, USS Grayback (SS 208) sinks Japanese freighter Gyokurei Maru east-northeast of Naha, Okinawa and escapes counter attacks by destroyer Numakaze.

USS Aspro (SS/AGSS-309), a Balao-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the aspro, a fish found abundantly in the upper Rhône River. According to legend, the aspro comes to the surface only in bad weather, when other fishes take refuge near the bottom. This trait gave rise to its nickname, "Sorcerer."



Aspro was laid down on 27 December 1942 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine; launched on 7 April 1943; sponsored by Mrs. William L. Freseman; and commissioned on 31 July 1943, Lieutenant Commander Harry Clinton Stevenson in command.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Aspro_(SS-309)

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 December 1606 – The ships Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery depart England carrying settlers who founded, at Jamestown, Virginia, the first of the thirteen colonies that became the United States.


Late in 1606, English colonizers set sail with a charter from the London Company to establish a colony in the New World. The fleet consisted of the ships Susan Constant, Discovery, and Godspeed, all under the leadership of Captain Christopher Newport. They made a particularly long voyage of four months, including a stop in the Canary Islands and subsequently Puerto Rico, and finally departed for the American mainland on April 10, 1607. The expedition made landfall on April 26, 1607 at a place which they named Cape Henry. Under orders to select a more secure location, they set about exploring what is now Hampton Roads and an outlet to the Chesapeake Bay which they named the James River in honor of King James I of England. Captain Edward Maria Wingfield was elected president of the governing council on April 25, 1607. On May 14, he selected a piece of land on a large peninsula some 40 miles (64 km) inland from the Atlantic Ocean as a prime location for a fortified settlement. The river channel was a defensible strategic point due to a curve in the river, and it was close to the land, making it navigable and offering enough land for piers or wharves to be built in the future. Perhaps the most favorable fact about the location was that it was not inhabited by nearby Virginia Indian tribes, who regarded the site as too poor and remote for agriculture. The island was swampy and isolated, and it offered limited space, was plagued by mosquitoes, and afforded only brackish tidal river water unsuitable for drinking.



The Jamestown settlers arrived in Virginia during a severe drought, according to a research study conducted by the Jamestown Archaeological Assessment (JAA) team in the 1990s. The JAA analyzed information from a study conducted in 1985 by David Stahle and others, who obtained borings of 800 year-old baldcypress trees along the Nottoway and Blackwater rivers. The lifespan of these trees is up to 1,000 years and their rings offer a good indication of an area's annual amount of rainfall. The borings revealed that the worst drought in 700 years occurred between 1606 and 1612. This severe drought affected the Jamestown colonists and Powhatan tribe's ability to produce food and obtain a safe supply of water.


Salt marshes along Jamestown Island. The ample wetlands on the island proved to be a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

The settlers also arrived too late in the year to get crops planted. Many in the group were either gentlemen unused to work or their manservants, both equally unaccustomed to the hard labor demanded by the harsh task of carving out a viable colony. One of these was Robert Hunt, a former vicar of Reculver, England who celebrated the first known Eucharist in the territory of the future United States on June 21, 1607.

In a few months, 80% of the party were dead; some of the survivors were deserting to the Indians whose land they had colonized. Virginia Native Americans had established settlements long before the English settlers arrived, and there were an estimated 14,000 in the region who were politically known as Tsenacommacah and who spoke an Algonquian language. They were the Powhatan Confederacy, ruled by their paramount chief known as Wahunsenacawh or "Chief Powhatan". Wahunsenacawh initially sought to resettle the English colonists from Jamestown, considered part of Paspahegh territory, to another location known as Capahosick where they would make metal tools for him as members of his Confederacy, but this never happened.

The first explorers had been welcomed by the Indians with dancing, feasting, and tobacco ceremonies. Despite the hospitality of Wahunsenacawh, the presence of the English settlers and perhaps a further expedition up the James River by Captain Christopher Newport provoked the Paspahegh, Weyanock, and other groups to mount a series of attacks on the fort during a period of violence lasting from May 27 to July 14, 1607.


Detail of the map made by Pedro de Zúñiga, depicting the fort in about 1608

Two-thirds of the settlers died before ships arrived in 1608 with supplies and German, Polish, and Slovak craftsmen, who helped to establish the first manufactories in the colony. As a result, glassware became the foremost American products to be exported to Europe at the time. Clapboard had already been sent back to England beginning with the first returning ship.


Names of those on the Second Supply - Page 445 (or Page 72)"The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles", by Capt. John Smith -

The delivery of supplies in 1608 on the First and Second Supply missions of Captain Newport had also added to the number of hungry settlers. It seemed certain at that time that the colony at Jamestown would meet the same fate as earlier English attempts to settle in North America, specifically the Roanoke Colony (Lost Colony) and the Popham Colony, unless there was a major relief effort. The Germans who arrived with the Second Supply and a few others defected to the Powhatans, with weapons and equipment. The Germans even planned to join a rumored Spanish attack on the colony and urged the Powhatans to join it. The Spanish were driven off by the timely arrival in July 1609 of Captain Samuel Argall in Mary and John, a larger ship than the Spanish reconnaissance ship La Asunción de Cristo. Argall's voyage also prevented the Spanish from gaining knowledge of the weakness of the colony. Don Pedro de Zúñiga, the Spanish ambassador to England, was desperately seeking this (in addition to spies) in order to get Philip III of Spain to authorise an attack on the colony.

The investors of the Virginia Company of London expected to reap rewards from their speculative investments. With the Second Supply, they expressed their frustrations and made demands upon the leaders of Jamestown in written form. They specifically demanded that the colonists send commodities sufficient to pay the cost of the voyage, a lump of gold, assurance that they had found the South Sea, and one member of the lost Roanoke Colony. It fell to the third president of the Council Captain John Smith to deliver a bold and much-needed wake-up call in response to the investors in London, demanding practical laborers and craftsmen who could help make the colony more self-sufficient.


The ships:
At the time of the voyage, the Susan Constant was about one year old and was leased from Dapper, Wheatley, Colthurst and other partners. The origins of the Godspeed and Discovery are uncertain. The Susan Constant and Godspeed returned to England in June 1607, while the Discovery remained in Virginia and was used for Chesapeake Bay and coastal exploration.



Susan Constant, captained by Christopher Newport, was the largest of three ships of the English Virginia Company (the others being Discovery and Godspeed) on the 1606 - 1607 voyage that resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia.

Tons burthen: 120
Length: est. 116 ft (35 m)
Sail plan: fully rigged ship

History
Susan Constant was rated at 120 tons. Its keel length is estimated at 55.2 feet (16.8 meters). The overall length from tip to stern is estimated at 116 feet.
On the 1606–1607 voyage, it carried 71 colonists, all male, including John Smith. On June 22, 1607, Christopher Newport sailed back for London with Susan Constant and Godspeed carrying a load of supposedly precious minerals, leaving behind the 104 colonists and Discovery (to be used in exploring the area).
Susan Constant, which had been a rental ship that had customarily been used as a freight transport, did not return to Virginia again. She later served as a merchant ship through at least 1615. Its fate is unknown.

Name
The alternative name Sarah Constant has been cited, and is shown as being the name noted on the earliest document, leading to a belief that Samuel Purchas had the name wrong in his Pilgrims book. There is growing support for the name Sarah Constant The article that cites Sarah Constant is as follows:

He told me of three barques on route to the New World, those whose names are, as he told me thereon, be consisted of "Godspeed", "Discoverie" or "Discovery", and one whose name split twice, I think ´was "Sarah Constant". — presumably written by Sir Walter Raleigh.

Replica

The stern of the replicated Susan Constant, located in Jamestown Settlement.

Replicas of Susan Constant and her sisters, Godspeed and Discovery, are docked in the James River at Jamestown Settlement (formerly Jamestown Festival Park), adjacent to Historic Jamestowne.


Discovery or Discoverie was a small 20-ton, 38 foot (12 m) long "fly-boat" of the British East India Company, launched before 1602. It was one of the three ships (along with Susan Constant and Godspeed) on the 1606-1607 voyage to the New World for the English Virginia Company of London. The journey resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia.


Discovery on Stained glass window in St Sepulchre-without-Newgate

Tons burthen: 20 tons
Length:3 8 ft (12 m) on deck
Propulsion: Sails

History
In 1602, George Weymouth became the first European to explore what would later be called Hudson Strait when he sailed Discovery 300 nautical miles into the Strait. Weymouth’s expedition to find the Northwest Passage was funded jointly by the East India Company and the Muscovy Company.

Discovery, captained by John Ratcliffe, was the smallest of three ships that were led by Captain Christopher Newport on the voyage that resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia in 1607. According to a 17th-century source, a total of 21 passengers were aboard during its initial expedition. When Captain Newport returned to London, England, he left Discovery behind for the use of the colonists.

In the summer of 1608, in the months between the first and second supply missions, Captain John Smith left Jamestown on the ship to explore the Chesapeake Bay region and search for badly needed food, covering an estimated 3,000 miles (4,828 km), producing a map that was of great value to explorers for more than a century. These explorations were commemorated in the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, established in 2006.

In 1610, Admiral Sir George Somers (of Sea Venture fame), proposed a trip to Bermuda aboard Patience accompanied by Captain Samuel Argall on Discovery with the intention of gathering more local supplies for Jamestown. Blown north towards Newfoundland, the ships became separated in fog. Argall attempted fishing before turning back.

She then took part in six expeditions in search of the Northwest Passage. During the 1610-1611 expedition in the Canadian arctic, the crew of Discovery mutinied, and set their captain Henry Hudson adrift in a small boat; he was not seen again, and the crew returned to England.



Replicas
Replicas of Discovery and her sisters, the larger Susan Constant and Godspeed, are docked in the James River at Jamestown Settlement (formerly Jamestown Festival Park), adjacent to the Jamestown National Historic Site. A new Discovery, built in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, was launched in September 2006.

The previous replica, built in 1984 in Jamestown, was shipped to the United Kingdom for a tour of the UK as part of the celebrations of the 400th anniversary of Virginia's founding. After its tour, which finished in September 2007, the ship was laid up in Ipswich Marina awaiting a move to a more permanent home. On 19 December 2008, 402 years to the day she left London Docks bound for Virginia, she was officially handed to Westenhanger Castle by the Jamestown UK Foundation, who had brought the replica vessel to the UK. The ship is currently on permanent display at the castle.


Godspeed, under Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, was one of the three ships (along with Susan Constant and Discovery) on the 1606-1607 voyage to the New World for the English Virginia Company of London. The journey resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia.


Replica of Godspeed in New York City in 2006

Tons burthen: 40
Length: est. 68 ft (21 m)
Sail plan: fully rigged ship


History
The 40-ton Godspeed was a fully rigged ship estimated to have been 68 feet (21 m) in length.

She is Thy Ruler of the seas, with her mightyfulle velocitie moure veloce than the wynd, and mightyer than the rocke, she is, my Deare Godspeed​

— this, Diary of Bartholomew Gosnold​

As part of the original fleet to Virginia, leaving on December 20, 1606, she carried 39 passengers, all male, and 13 sailors. The route included a stop in the Canary Islands and Puerto Rico and, with better wind, would have taken about two months to traverse; instead, the voyage lasted 144 days. On June 22, 1607, Newport sailed back for London with Susan Constant and Godspeed carrying a load of supposedly precious minerals, leaving behind the 104 colonists and Discovery (to be used in exploring the area).

Replicas
In 1985, a replica of Godspeed (rigged as a barque, only 48 feet on deck) sailed from London back to Virginia. She had a crew of 14 and stopped at many places that the original Godspeed visited including the Canary Islands and various places in the Windward Islands before sailing to Jamestown.

The most recent replica was built at Rockport Marine in Rockport, Maine, and completed in early 2006. Its length over all is 88 feet (27 m), with the deck 65.5 feet (20.0 m) long, and the main mast 71.5 feet (21.8 m) tall, carrying 2,420 square feet (225 m2) of sail. Replicas of Godspeed and her sisters in the 1607 voyage, the larger Susan Constant and the smaller Discovery, are docked in the James River at Jamestown Settlement (formerly Jamestown Festival Park), adjacent to the Jamestown National Historic Site.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Constant
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godspeed_(ship)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_(1602_ship)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamestown,_Virginia

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 December 1739 – Launch of French Terrible, a 74 gun ship of the line, at Toulon,


Terrible was originally a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy launched in 1739. Captured on 14 October 1747, she was taken into Royal Navy service as the third rate HMS Terrible.

Class and type: 74-gun second rank ship of the line
Tons burthen: 1,500 French tons (2,800 displacement)
Length:

• 156 French feet (overall)
• 131 French feet (keel)

Beam: 44 French feet 4 inches
Depth of hold: 21 French feet
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement: 620 wartime, 550 peacetime; + 6 officers
Armament:

• Lower deck: 28 x 36 pdrs
• Upper deck: 30 x 18 pdrs
• Quarter deck: 10 x 8 pdrs
• Forecastle: 6 x 8 pdrs
• Poop: 4 x 4 pdrs (until removed 1744)

The Terrible and the Monarch. Rear view of two vessels captured in 1747 at the Battle of Cape Finisterre (October 1747). The two ships of 74 guns were integrated into the Royal Navy.

Design and construction
Terrible was laid down at Toulon in November 1736 to a design by François Coulomb the Younger. This ship significantly modified the existing 74-gun concept with a longer hull, enabling the fitting of an extra pair of guns on both the lower and upper decks, compared with previous 74s. This initially raised the number of guns to 78 in wartime (70 in peacetime), but in 1744 the four small 4-pounder guns on the poop were deleted (as ineffective). This ordnance layout was to become the standard pattern for all French 74-gun ships for the next half century. Launched on 19 December 1739, she was completed the following year.





Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for 'Terrible' (1747), a captured French Third Rate, possibly prior to fitting as a 70-gun Third Rate two-decker. Reverse: Scale: 1:96. Plan showing the topgallant roundhouse, roundhouse (poop), quarterdeck, forecastle, upper deck, gun deck (lower deck), orlop deck, and fore and aft platforms for 'Terrible' (1747).

French career and capture
Terrible took part in the Battle of Toulon on 22 February 1744, as the flagship of Capitaine de Vaisseau Charles-Élisée Court de la Bruyère. On 17 October 1746 she captured the British 50-gun HMS Severn in the English Channel. She served with the French fleet at the Second Battle of Cape Finisterre, under Chef d'Escadre Henri-François des Herbiers, Marquis de l'Étenduère, on 25 October 1747, and was one of the French ships captured by the British fleet, under Admiral Sir Edward Hawke.

British career


to the Rt Honble Dunk Earl of Hallifax... This Plate... the Stern Views of the Terrible and Neptune..., also that of the Severn..., three of the six French Men of War taken by the British Fleet under the Command of Sir Edward Hawke... Octr 14 1747 (PAH9598)
Terrible (center) flying the British flag after her capture.

Terrible was brought into Portsmouth and surveyed there in June 1748. The Navy Board authorised her purchase on 30 September 1748, paying a total of £11,211.11.0d, once a sum had been abated for repairs. A small repair was carried out at Portsmouth for £7,024.18.6d between April and August 1750, and she was fitted out for service in 1753. She was commissioned in May that year as the Portsmouth guardship, under the command of Captain Robert Pett. and with Samuel Hood as an officer. She passed to Captain Philip Durell in March 1755, and later was under Captain William Holborne, while serving as the flagship of Rear-Admiral Francis Holburne. Terrible was sent as a reinforcement for Vice-Admiral Edward Boscawen in May 1755, and was despatched again in April 1756, this time to reinforce Vice-Admiral Edward Hawke. Captain Richard Collins took command of her later in 1756, and in the summer of that year Terrible went out to join Boscawen's fleet.

She went out to North America in April 1757, and was present at the Siege of Louisbourg in 1758. She returned to North America in early 1759, being at the assault on Quebec in 1759. She returned to Britain after this, and was surveyed on 1 April 1760. An admiralty order was issued on 31 December 1762, instructing her to be broken up. She was broken up at Chatham, a process completed by 16 February 1763



From the Terrible (of 1739) onwards, the lengthened hulls of new ships meant that they could mount an extra pair of guns on the lower deck and another extra pair on the upper deck; the 4 small guns on the dunette were henceforth abolished. The consequent armament of 28 guns (36-pounders) in their lower deck battery and 30 guns (18-pounders) in their upper deck battery, with 16 guns on the gaillards, thus became the standard for the next 75 years.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Terrible_(1747)#French_career_and_capture
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=Terrible_1747

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 December 1744 – Launch of french Renommée, a 30-gun Sirène class frigate at Brest


La Renommée was one of the first 8-pounder armed frigates (frégates du deuxième ordre)
– captured by British Navy 27 September 1747 by HMS Dover , becoming HMS Renown and broken up in 1771. .



Sirène class (30-gun design of 1744 by Jacques-Luc Coulomb, with 26 x 8-pounder and 4 x 4-pounder guns).
Sirène, (launched 24 September 1744 at Brest) – captured by British Navy 1760, but not added to RN.
Renommée, (launched 19 December 1744 at Brest) – captured by British Navy 27 September 1747, becoming HMS Renown.


Scale 1:48. A body plan showing the stern board outline, sheer lines with some inboard detail, longitudinal half breadth for Renown (1747), a captured French Frigate prior to fitting as a 30-gun Sixth Rate Frigate. Reverse: Scale 1:48. A plan showing the body plan outlines, individual waterline plans, for comparing the underwater shape of Renown (1747) and 20-gun gunships. Note that the dimensions for the 20-gun ship relate to the 1745 Establishment 24-gun ship of 113 foot. NMM, Progress Book, volume 2, folio 294, states that Renomme arrived at Plymouth Dockyard on 12 November 1747 and was docked on 5 February 1748. She was undocked on 7 February and graved 23 March. She was undocked again on 4 April 1748, and sailed on 14 May 1748. Renomme was originally named 'Fame' by Admiralty Order on 23 November 1747, only to be renamed 'Renown' on 28 January 1748.




Scale 1:48. A body plan showing the stern board outline and sheer lines with some inboard detail, incomplete longitudinal half breadth (no waterline) for Renown, captured French Frigate before renaming, and fitted as a 30-gun, Fifth Rate Frigate. On reverse: Body plan with outlines and individual waterlines plans with termination points for comparing the underwater shape through the water on Renown (1747) and Ranger (1747) and the new 20-gun gunship. The dimensions for the 20-gun ship actually relate to the 1745 Establishment 24-gun ships of 113 feet and explanation of the plan. Both Ships at Plymouth from November 1747 to 5 March 1748 being fitted.




There is a wonderfull planset of the Renommee by Jean Boudriot from ancre available. See our Planset Review:

https://www.shipsofscale.com/sosfor...frégate-de-viii-1744-1-48-jean-boudriot.2696/

A wonderful model in scale 1:48, I was able to see in Rochefort, was the model built by Dominique MAGNEN, a friend of Patrick



Based on this monographie from Jean Boudriot, our member Patrick Jouffrin aka @Péji is building a beautiful scratch built model in scale 1:48.

Please take a look at
https://www.shipsofscale.com/sosforums/index.php?threads/la-renommée-french-frigate-1744-1-48-based-on-monographie-from-j-boudriot.2677/#post-45919

for the detailed building log .

Here some photos of his model (in actual status of October 2018) which I made during my visit of the INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION OF MODEL SHIPBUILDING in Rochefort, France



A detailed report of the INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION OF MODEL SHIPBUILDING, also with other models (f.e. Le Saint Philippe ) you can find here:
https://www.shipsofscale.com/sosfor...nce-18-th-21-st-october-2018.2050/#post-42667


https://ancre.fr/en/monograph/20-monographie-de-la-renommee-fregate-de-8-1744.html

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 December 1778 - French frigate Iphigénie (32) captured sloop HMS Ceres (18), Cdr. James Richard Dacres, off St. Lucia
named Cérès by french but in 1782 recaptured and renamed HMS Raven, in 1783 once more captured by french and named Cérès


HMS Ceres was an 18-gun sloop launched in 1777 for the British Royal Navy that the French captured in December 1778 off Saint Lucia. The French Navy took her into service as Cérès. The British recaptured her in 1782 and renamed her HMS Raven, only to have the French recapture her again early in 1783. The French returned her name to Cérès, and she then served in the French Navy until sold at Brest in 1791.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with some midship section framing, longitudinal half-breadth for Ceres (1777), an 18-gun Ship Sloop. The plan states that she was based on the sheer of the captured French Pomona (captured 1761). Signed by John Williams [Surveyor of the Navy, 1765-1784].

Displacement: 450 tons (French)
Tons burthen: 361 26⁄94(bm)
Length:

• 108 ft 0 in (32.9 m) (gundeck)
• 90 ft 11 1⁄4 in (27.7 m) (keel)

Beam: 27 ft 4 in (8.3 m)
Depth of hold: 12 ft 5 in (3.8 m)
Sail plan: Sloop
Complement:

• HMS Ceres:125
• Cérès:
• HMS Raven:125
• Cérès: 150

Armament:

• HMS Ceres
• Gundeck: 18 × 6-pounder guns
• QD: 8 × ½-pounder swivel guns
• Fc:4 × ½-pounder swivel guns
• Cérès: 18 guns
• HMS Raven
• Gundeck: 14 × 6-pounder guns
• QD: 8 × ½-pounder swivel guns
• Fc:4 × ½-pounder swivel guns
• Cérès: 18 × 6-pounder guns

HMS Ceres
Ceres was the only ship-sloop of her design. The British Admiralty ordered her in 1774 with the requirement that her design follow that of HMS Pomona, the 18-gun French sloop-of-war Cheveret, which the Royal Navy had captured on 30 January 1761 and that had disappeared, presumed foundered, during a hurricane in 1776.

Commander Samuel Warren commissioned Ceres in March 1777. In September, Commander James Dacres replaced Warren. Dacres sailed to the West Indies, arriving in December.

On 9 March 1778, near Barbados, Ariadne and Ceres encountered two vessels belonging to the Continental Navy, Raleigh and Alfred. When the American ships attempted to flee, Alfred fell behind her faster consort. Shortly after noon the British men-of-war caught up with Alfred and forced her to surrender after a half an hour's battle. Her captors described Alfred as being of 300 tons and 180 men, and under the command of Elisha Hinsman.
On 18 October 1778, Ceres captured the French privateer Tigre.

A little over a month later, on 17 December 1778, the French captured Ceres off St Lucia. Ceres was escorting a convoy of transport at the time, and Dacres acted to decoy the French 50-gun ship of the line Sagittaire and frigate Iphigénie away from the convoy, which Dacres sent on to Saint Lucia. After a chase of 48 hours, Dacres was forced to strike to Iphigénie as Sagittaire was only three miles astern and closing.

The British fleet under Admiral Barrington that had captured St Lucia, captured the American privateer Bunker Hill on 22 December 1778. Barrington decided to take her into service as HMS Surprize as she was a fast sailer and he had just been informed that the French had captured Ceres. Barrington also arranged an exchange of prisoners with the French, the crew of Bunker Hill for the crew of Ceres. Dacres subsequently returned to England.

Cérès
The French Navy coppered Cérès after they captured her. She came to be known as Petite Cérès to distinguish her from the French 32-gun frigate Cérès launched in 1779 (and broken up in 1797).

In 1779 Cérès was under the Marquis de Traversay. Under his command she seized numerous British transports. In October, Ceres participated in the attempt by French and Continental Army to retake Savannah. Despite the assistance of a French naval squadron commanded by Comte d'Estaing, the effort was a spectacular failure,
In 1780 Cérès was part of the fleet under Admiral the comte de Guichen. She participated in the battle of Martinique on 17 April, and in two subsequent fleet engagements on 15 and 19 May.
In September, Cérès arrived at Cadiz as a member of a squadron under Guichen that escorted 95 merchant vessels back from the West Indies. On 7 November, Admiral the Comte d'Estaing sortied from Cadiz with the Franco-Spanish fleet there. Cérès, under the command of Traversay, was in the Van Division. The fleet soon returned to port, not having accomplished anything.

Main article: Battle of the Mona Passage
Rodney's fleet recaptured Cérès in the Mona Passage in April 1782. The actual captor was Champion, under the command of Captain Alexander Hood. Champion was part of a squadron under Alexander Hood's brother, Sir Samuel Hood, which Rodney detached in the wake of the battle of the Saintes.
Cérès departed Guadeloupe on 15 April 1782.) On 19 April the British sighted five small French warships and gave chase to them, capturing four. Cérès was under the command of Baron de Peroy, who became friends with his captor, Alexander Hood. After the war Alexander Hood visited Peroy in France.

Because the Royal Navy had a new HMS Ceres, a 32-gun Fifth Rate launched in 1781, the Royal Navy renamed their capture HMS Raven.

HMS Raven
Between June and September 1782, Raven was at Plymouth, undergoing fitting. This included coppering.
In July 1782, Commander William Domett commissioned Raven. On 9 September Commander John Wells replaced Domett. At some point Wells sailed Raven to the West Indies.
On 5 January 1783, Raven was in company with the 74-gun Hercules off Montserrat when they sighted a strange sail. Raven sailed to investigate, but the strange vessel turned out to be a British merchantman, as did another. By this time Raven was well out of sight of Hercules.
That evening and the next day there was no wind. At about 10a.m. on the morning of 7 January, Raven sighted two frigates sailing towards her from the direction of Guadeloupe. Raven initially sailed towards them until she realized that they were not British frigates.

An all-day chase ensued until about 9p.m. when one of the frigates got within pistol-shot and fired a broadside that shot away Raven's main topgallant-mast. The chase continued until about 10:30 p.m. when one of the frigates was again in range, with the other coming up rapidly. At this point Raven, which was under the command of Commander John Wells, struck. The French Navy took Raven into service under the name Cérès. Wells and his crew remained prisoners of war until the end of the war a few months later.

Cérès
The French Navy returned Raven to her earlier name, Cérès.


Iphigénie was a 32-gun Iphigénie-class frigate of the French Navy, and the lead ship of her class. She was briefly in British hands after the Anglo-Spanish capture of Toulon in August 1793 but the French recaptured her December. The Spanish captured her in 1795 and her subsequent fate is unknown.

Class and type: Iphigénie-class frigate
Displacement: ~1150 tonnes
Length: 134 ft 0 in (40.8 m)
Beam: 34 ft 6 in (10.5 m)
Draught: 17 ft 6 in (5.3 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement: 270-290
Armament:

• 1778-92: 26 × 12-pounder long guns + 6 × 6-pounder long guns
• 1792:As above + 1 or 2 mortars
• 1794-5:As above, but with 2 × 36-pounder howitzers instead of the mortar(s)

Career
On 10 July 1777 Iphigénie, Captain Kersaint de Coëtnempren was part of the French fleet, under Louis Guillouet, comte d'Orvilliers. The fleet was in a fog and when the fog lifted, the French realised that a British vessel was among them. The French cutter Curieuse, of 10 guns and under the command of Captain Trolong du Rumain, chased HMS Lively and ordered her to lie to, which order Biggs declined. However, Iphigénie came up and ordered Biggs to sail Lively to the French admiral. Biggs was still arguing when Iphigénie fired a broadside. The broadside killed 12 British sailors; thereupon, Biggs struck. The French took Lively into service.

Between June and July 1778, Iphigénie was at Brest, being coppered. In December, Iphigénie captured the 18-gun sloop HMS Ceres off Saint Lucia. One year later Iphigénie took part in the Battle of Grenada.

In January–February 1782, French captain Armand de Kersaint led a squadron in Iphigénie that included two more frigates, four brigs, and a large cutter to recapture Demerara and Essequibo. The naval opposition consisted of a British squadron of three sloops and two brig sloops under the command of Commander William Tarhoudin in HMS Oronoque. The French were sighted on 30 January and Tarhoudin moved his squadron downriver. However, the French landed troops and as these moved towards Demerara, the British forces facing them retreated, forcing Tarhoudin to pull back his vessels also. On 1 February the British asked for terms of capitulation, with the actual capitulation taking place on 3 February.

Between November 1783 and January 1784, Iphigénie underwent repair and refitting at Martinique.

In August 1793 the British captured her at Toulon. In September they added mortars to her armament. When they left Toulon she was in the harbour awaiting repairs. They set fire to her, or at least believed that they had. However, the French returned her to service. Between January 1794 and May she underwent refitting and repair.

Fate
On 14 February 1795, she was captured in the Gulf of Roses by a Spanish fleet under Admiral Juan de Lángara. The Spanish sailed her to Cartagena and brought into the Spanish Armada as Ifigenia



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Iphigénie_(1777)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Ceres_(1777)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_14_February_1795
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Mona_Passage

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 December 1782 – Launch of HMS Diadem, a 64-gun Intrepid-class third rate ship of the line


HMS Diadem was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 19 December 1782 at Chatham. She participated in the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797 under Captain George Henry Towry.


Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed (and approved) for Magnanime (1780), and in 1776 approved for Sampson (1781), and in 1778 for Diadem (1782), all 64-gun Third Rate, two-deckers. Signed by John Williams [Surveyor of the Navy, 1765-1784].

Class and type: Intrepid-class ship of the line
Tons burthen: 1375½ bm
Length: 159 ft 10 in (48.72 m) (gundeck)
Beam: 44 ft 5 in (13.54 m)
Depth of hold: 19 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Complement: 500
Armament:

• Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns
• Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns
• QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns
• Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Diadem at the capture of the Cape of Good Hope (Thomas Whitcombe)

In 1798 she was converted to serve as a troopship. On 7 April 1799 she left Portsmouth together with Trompe. They were carry the West York militia to Dublin.

In 1800 under the command of Post Captain Sir Thomas Livingstone she was employed in the expedition to Quiberon and Belle Île under Sir Edward Pellew, subsequently she was employed in the expedition to Cádiz under Admiral Lord Keith.

Because Diadem served in the navy's Egyptian campaign between 8 March 1801 and 2 September, her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorised in 1850 to all surviving claimants.

Between April and July 1810 Diadem was at Chatham being fitted for service as a troopship of 28 guns. In June Captain John Phillimore (or Philmore) commissioned her for Lisbon. She then spent some time working with the Spanish anti-French forces on the north coast of Spain.[6] In January 1812 she carried released Danish prisoners of war from Plymouth to Chatham. Later, she sailed to the Halifax station. Phillimore transferred to command of HMS Eurotas on 4 May 1813





Scale: 1:48. A contemporary ful hull skeleton model of the Intrepid (1770), a third rate 64 gun two-decker ship of the line. Numerous hand written labels attached to inner and outer surfaces of frame identifying specific parts. The ‘Intrepid’ model was almost certainly the one referred to in the following letter from King George III to Lord Sandwich in September 1773: ‘I shall be very curious to receive the model you mean to send tomorrow, and doubt not from the ingenuity of Mr Williams that it will thoroughly explain the construction of a ship, which the more I reflect on it the more it shows the perfection to which mechanics has arrived.’

The Intrepid-class ships of the line were a class of fifteen 64-gun third rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir John Williams. His design, approved on 18 December 1765, was slightly smaller than Sir Thomas Slade's contemporary Worcester class design of the same year, against which it was evaluated competitively. Following the prototype, four more ships were ordered in 1767–69, and a further ten between 1771 and 1779.

• Intrepid class (Williams)
  • Intrepid 64 (1770) – sold for breaking 1828.
  • Monmouth 64 (1772) – broken up 1818.
  • Defiance 64 (1772) – sank 1780.
  • Nonsuch 64 (1774) – broken up 1802.
  • Ruby 64 (1776) – broken up 1821.
  • Vigilant 64 (1774) – broken up 1816.
  • Eagle 64 (1774) – broken up 1812.
  • America 64 (1777) – broken up 1807.
  • Anson 64 (1781) – razéed to 44-gun frigate 1794, wrecked 1807
  • Polyphemus 64 (1782) – broken up 1827.
  • Magnanime 64 (1780) – razéed to 44-gun frigate 1794, broken up 1813.
  • Sampson 64 (1781) – sold for breaking 1832.
  • Repulse 64 (1780) – wrecked 1800.
  • Diadem 64 (1782) – broken up 1832.
  • Standard 64 (1782) – broken up 1816.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Diadem_(1782)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrepid-class_ship_of_the_line
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-307121;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=D

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 December 1783 - Launch of French Heureux, a Centaure class 74-gun ship of the line, at Toulon


The Heureux was a Centaure class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.

Class and type: Centaure class ship of the line (first batch)
Displacement: 1530 tonnes
Length: 54.6 m (179 ft)
Beam: 14.3 m (47 ft)
Draught: 7 m (23 ft)
Propulsion: Sail
Armament: 74 guns

She cruised in the Mediterranean in 1794 and 1795.

Captured by the British at Toulon in August 1793, retaken there by the French in December 1793,

Under Captain Jean-Pierre Etienne, she took part in the Expedition to Egypt, and in the Battle of the Nile. The first ship to spot the British fleet on 1 August 1798, Heureux fought the next day and was forced to strike her colours. Too badly damaged for repairs, she was burnt by the British.


On 19 May 1798, Napoleon sailed from Toulon on his hazardous adventure to Egypt, capturing Malta on the way. On 1 August, Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson sighted Alexandria, with its harbour full of shipping and saw French flags, although none belonged to ships of the line. The French battle fleet was subsequently sighted anchored in Aboukir Bay, 15 miles east of Alexandria, by the British ship 'Zealous', 74 guns. Nelson, in his flagship 'Vanguard', 74 guns, immediately headed there and launched an immediate, late-afternoon attack on the anchored enemy in what subsequently became a devastating night action. The painting shows the scene at 6.30 p.m., with the French fleet in starboard-quarter view, anchored and visible across the left half of the picture. They can be identified from left to right as the bow of the 'Généreux', 74 guns, the 'Guillaume Tell', 80 guns, 'Mercure', 74 guns, 'Heureux', 74 guns, 'Tonnant', 80 guns, Admiral Brueys's flagship 'L'Orient', 120 guns, 'Franklin', 80 guns, 'Peuple Souverain', 74 guns, 'Aquilon', 74 guns, 'Spartiate', 74 guns, 'Conquérant' 74 guns, and 'Guerrier', 74 guns. The last seven are firing to starboard at the approaching British ships. The leading one, the 'Goliath', 74 guns under Captain Thomas Foley, is about to round the head of the French line. Astern of her and strung out across the right side of the picture, in port-quarter view are the 74-gun ships of the British fleet. The 'Goliath' is followed and partly obscured by the 'Zealous', which is followed by the 'Orion', 'Theseus', 'Minotaur' and 'Bellerophon' in the extreme right foreground. To starboard and beyond her bows can be seen the bows of the 'Defence', while to starboard of the 'Vanguard' is the 'Audacious'. Whitcombe was born in London in about 1752 and painted ship portraits, battle scenes, harbour views and ships in storms. Although his output was vast, little is known about him. He produced a large number of subjects from the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1793-1815, and exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1783 and 1824. His depiction of ships implies specific knowledge of life at sea, although he probably spent most of his career in London. Many of his works were engraved and they included 50 plates to James Jenkins's account of 'The Naval Achievements of Great Britain', published in 1817. The painting is one of a pair with BHC0516, which shows the end of the action.


The Centaure class was a class of 74-gun ships of the line of the French Navy, comprising four ships, all of which built at Toulon Dockyard to a design dated 28 March 1782 by Joseph-Marie-Blaise Coulomb in the year following the close of the American Revolutionary War. The first pair were ordered on 15 February 1782, and were named on 13 April. After the first two ships were begun, the design was amended for the second pair (which were 5¼ feet longer, and also had slightly less breadth and depth in hold) – which are accordingly often described as the Séduisant Class. This second pair were ordered on 1 June 1782 and named on 21 August. All four ships were destroyed or captured by the British navy during the French Revolutionary War.

Displacement:

• 1,530 tonnes (first pair);
• 1,550 tonnes (second pair)

Length:

• 54.57 m (179.0 ft) (first pair);
• 56.28 m (184.6 ft) (second pair)

Beam:

• 14.29 m (46.9 ft) (first pair);
• 14.16 m (46.5 ft) (second pair)

Draught:

• 7.04 m (23.1 ft) (first pair);
• 7.37 m (24.2 ft) (second pair)

Complement:

• 705 in wartime;
• 495 in peacetime

Armament:

• 74 guns, comprising:
• Lower deck (1st battery)
• 28 × 36pdr guns;
• Upper deck (2nd battery)
• 30 × 18pdr guns;
• Gaillards (quarter deck & forecastle)
• 16 × 8pdr guns.

74 canons - 1780 - échelle 1/72ème - type de navire avec coque doublée au cuivre - par Jacques FICHANT

Ships in class

• Centaure

She was surrendered to the Anglo-Spanish forces at Toulon on 29 August 1793. When Toulon was evacuated by the Allies, the British burnt this ship (among others) on 18 December 1793. The remains were refloated in 1805 and taken to pieces in the following year.

Builder: Toulon
Ordered: 15 February 1782
Begun: 12 May 1782
Launched: 7 November 1782
Completed: December 1782
Fate: Burnt by the British Navy during the evacuation of Toulon on 18 December 1793.

• Heureux

Builder: Toulon
Ordered: 15 February 1782
Begun: 12 May 1782
Launched: 19 December 1782
Completed: April 1783
Fate: Burnt by the British after the Battle of the Nile, 2 August 1798.

• Séduisant

She was renamed Pelletier on 30 September 1793, in honour of Louis Michel le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau. Under Savary, she was one of the last ships of the line at the Glorious First of June.
On 30 May 1795 her name was changed back to Séduisant. She sank accidentally on 16 December 1796 while leaving Brest for the Expédition d'Irlande. Out of 600 crew and 610 soldiers, only 60 survived.
Other sources speak of 650-680 survivors. The wreck was rediscovered in 1986

Builder: Toulon
Ordered: 1 June 1782
Begun: August 1782
Launched: 5 July 1783
Completed: 1783
Fate: Wrecked while sailing from Brest, 16 December 1796

• Mercure

She took part in the Battle of the Nile under Captain Cambon. She fought against HMS Majestic and was captured by HMS Alexander. Damaged beyond repair and aground, she was burnt.

Builder: Toulon
Ordered: 1 June 1782
Begun: August 1782
Launched: 4 August 1783
Completed: 1783
Fate: Burnt by the British after the Battle of the Nile, 2 August 1798



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Heureux_(1782)
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heureux_(1782)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaure-class_ship_of_the_line

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 December 1793 – Launch of french Seine, lead ship of the 42-gun Seine-class frigates


Seine was a 38-gun French Seine-class frigate that the Royal Navy captured in 1798 and commissioned as the fifth rate HMS Seine. On 20 August 1800, Seine captured the French ship Vengeance in a single ship action that would win for her crew the Naval General Service Medal. Seine's career ended in 1803 when she hit a sandbank near the Texel.

Class and type: 38-gun Seine-class fifth rate
Tons burthen: 1,145 87⁄94 (bm)
Length:

• 156 ft 9 in (47.8 m) (overall)
• 131 ft 9 in (40.2 m) (keel)

Beam: 40 ft 6 in (12.3 m)
Depth of hold: 12 ft 4 1⁄4 in (3.8 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement: 284
Armament:

• Upper deck: 28 x 18-pounder guns
• QD: 8 x 9-pounder guns
• Fc: 4 x 9-pounder guns

Revolutionaire 1799, portside view, hull only (PAF5793)

French career
Seine was a 40-gun frigate built between May 1793 and March 1794 at Le Havre, having been launched on 19 December 1793. Seine's career with the French Navy lasted less than five years.

On 14 July 1794 she and Galathée captured the 16-gun sloop-of-war HMS Hound in the Atlantic. In late 1794, L'Hermitte's squadron sailed for Norway. It comprised the frigates Seine, under L'Hermitte, Galathée, under Labutte, and Républicaine, under Le Bozec.

The squadron found itself blocked by cold and damage in a Norwegian harbour during the entire winter of 1794-95, sustaining over 250 dead from illness out of a total complement of 880. In spring, Seine and Galathée returned to France, leaving Républicaine to care for the untransportable sick. They eventually were rescued by the corvette Subtile.

Seine then sailed for Île de France.

çOn 15 May 1796 Forte , Vertu, Seine, and Régénérée were cruising between St Helena and the Cape of Good Hope hoping to capture British East Indiamen when they encountered the British whaler Lord Hawkesbury on her way to Walvis Bay. The French took off her crew, except for two seamen and a boy, and put Forte's fourth officer and 13-man prize crew aboard Lord Hawkesbury with orders to sail to Île de France. On her way there one of the British seamen, who was at the helm, succeeded in running her aground on the east coast of Africa a little north of the Cape, wrecking her. There were no casualties, but the prize crew became British prisoners.

Seine reached Île de France where she joined the squadron under Sercey. She took part in the Action of 8 September 1796. In March 1798, she sailed from Île de France and was on her way to Lorient when she encountered a British frigate squadron in the Breton Passage on 30 June 1798.

HMS Jason and HMS Pique chased her down and captured her at the Action of 30 June 1798. Seine was commanded by Capitaine Bigot and was armed with forty-two 18 and 9-pounder guns. She had a crew of 610 men, including troops.


A Representation of the Jason 38 guns, capturing the La Seine a French Frigate of 42 Guns near the Penmark Rocks, June 30th 1798 (PAF4693)

In the engagement Seine lost 170 men killed and some 100 men wounded, many mortally (with a crew complement of 287 people, it means that 95% were dead or wounded!!!). Jason had seven men killed and 12 wounded. Pique lost one man killed, six wounded, and one man missing. In the fight Jason, Pique and Seine grounded; Pique was lost, but San Fiorenzo, which had arrived on the scene, was able to get Seine off. Although the casualties aboard Seine had been high she was not badly damaged and Captain David Milne, who had been captain of Pique, and his crew transferred to her. Her captors sailed her into Portsmouth, arriving there on 18 July; Milne commanded Seine for the rest of her career.

British career
The Royal Navy took Seine into service under an Admiralty order dated 14 September 1798. She then spent several months fitting out at Portsmouth for the sum of £14,755. She was re-rated as a 38-gun frigate and Milne commissioned her in November.

On 13 February 1799 Seine captured Graff Bernstoff. Roughly a month later, on 18 March, Seine and Sea Gull recaptured Industry. That same day, in a probably related encounter, Seine was in sight when the hired armed brig Telegraph captured the French privateer Hirondelle in a notable action.

In 1800 Seine was at West Africa before she sailed for Jamaica in July. On 20 August 1800 Seine attacked the French ship, Vengeance, which had just finished refitting at Curaçao. The vessels broke off action and Seine was unable to resume the engagement until 25 August. Then, after an hour and a half of hard fighting, Seine captured the French frigate. Both ships had sustained heavy casualties; 13 crew were killed aboard the Seine, 29 were wounded, and the ship was cut up. However, Vengeance sustained worse; almost cut to pieces, many considered her beyond repair. Nevertheless Vengeance was repaired in Jamaica and taken into British service under her existing name. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issue of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Seine 20 Augt. 1800" to all surviving claimants from this action.


Depiction of the capture of Vengeance

The naval historian William James subsequently exaggerated Vengeance's earlier engagement with the Constellation in favour of the French. He declared that as Seine had done what Constellation could not, British naval forces were "more potent than American thunder". That said, Vengeance had been heavily armed with twenty-eight 18-pounder guns (main deck), sixteen 12-pounder guns and eight 42-pounder carronades (QD and Fc), brass swivel guns on the gunwales, with shifting guns on the main and quarter decks.

By March 1801 Seine was at Jamaica, as part of the fleet under Lord Hugh Seymour. She was then paid off in 1802.

Fate
Seine underwent a refit at Chatham Dockyard between June and July 1803, with Milne recommissioning her in May for the North Sea. However, shortly after her return to service she grounded on a sandbank to the northward of Terschelling on 21 July 1803. That evening Milne had ordered the pilots to keep her out of shallow water and they had assured him that she was safe; forty minutes later she struck. The crew labored all night and well into the morning, with the assistance of two passing merchant vessels to pull her off and to lighten her, but to no avail. At about 11:30am the crew abandoned Seine; they set fire to her as they left to prevent the French recapturing her.

A court martial on 4 August 1803 honourably acquitted Captain Milne, his officers and crew for the loss of the vessel. However, it found the pilots guilty of ignorance. The court martial sentenced them to be mulcted of all their wages for two years and to be imprisoned in the Marshalsea for two years.




Scale: 1:96. A full hull model of the ‘Révolutionnaire’ (1794), a French frigate. The model is decked. The origins of the model are obscure, but French prisoners of war may have made it. It shows the ship unrigged and on a building slip before launch, with the wooden treenails that hold it together featured prominently. ‘Révolutionnaire’ was built at Le Havre in 1793 as a 40-gun ship. Although French ships tended to be bigger than British ones at this time, it was captured by the British frigate ‘Artois’ and others on its first cruise in 1794. It was then received into the British navy as a 38-gun frigate. It took part in Bridport’s action against the French at the Ile de Groix in 1795, and Sir Richard Strachan’s action against some of the French ships that survived Trafalgar in 1805. It was broken up in 1822.

The Seine class was a class of four 42-gun frigates of the French Navy, designed in 1793 by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait. A fifth vessel, Furieuse, was originally ordered at Cherbourg in February 1794 to Forfait's Romaine class design, but was actually completed to the design of the Seine class.

The ship builder Charles-Henri Le Tellier produced a further two vessels, the Valeureuse-class, which were about 8 inches longer than earlier Seine-class vessels.

The vessels were originally designed to carry a main armament of 24-pounder guns, but in the event all were completed at Le Havre with 18-pounders.

Seine-class

• Seine

Builder: Le Havre
Begun: May 1793
Launched: 19 December 1793
Completed: March 1794
Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy on 30 June 1798, becoming HMS Seine.

• Révolutionnaire

Builder: Le Havre
Begun: October 1793
Launched: 28 May 1794
Completed: July 1794
Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy on 21 October 1794, becoming HMS Revolutionnaire.

• Spartiate

Builder: Le Havre
Begun: May 1794
Launched: late November 1794
Completed: December 1794
Fate: Renamed La Pensée May 1795. Converted to a breakwater in November 1804, deleted 1832.

• Indienne

Builder: Le Havre
Begun: December 1794
Launched: 2 September 1796
Completed: October 1797
Fate: Burnt to avoid capture by the Royal Navy in April 1809.

• Furieuse

Builder: Cherbourg
Begun: March 1795
Launched: 22 September 1796
Completed: May 1798
Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy on 6 July 1809, becoming HMS Furieuse.


La Furieuse is shown on the left of the picture having been captured and taken in tow by the British ship Bonne Citoyenne, 20 guns; Furieuse was captured in 1809 after she had escaped from Basse-Terre in June, having taken refuge there following the defeat of the French commander Commodore Troude.

Valeureuse-class

• Valeureuse

Builder: Le Havre
Begun: July 1797
Launched: 29 July 1798
Completed: March 1800
Fate: Sold in September 1806 at Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania for breaking up following condemnation as irreperable at Philadelphia.

• Infatigable

Builder: Le Havre
Begun: July 1797
Launched: 6 April 1799
Completed: March 1800
Fate: Captured by the Royal Navy on 24 September 1806, becoming HMS Immortalité; never commissioned and sold in January 1811 at Plymouth for breaking up.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Seine_(1798)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seine-class_frigate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_30_June_1798
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections.html#!csearch;searchTerm=Revolutionaire

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 December 1793 – Launch of HMS Pallas, lead ship of the Pallas class frigates


The second HMS Pallas (1793) was a 32-gun fifth rate launched at Woolwich Dockyard in 1793 and wrecked in 1798 on Mount Batten Point, near Plymouth.

Type: Frigate
Tons burthen: 776 77⁄94 bm (as designed)
Length:

• 135 ft 0 in (41.1 m) (gundeck)
• 112 ft 8 1⁄4 in (34.3 m) (keel)

Beam: 36 ft 0 in (11.0 m)
Depth of hold: 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement: 257 (altered in 1796 to 254)
Armament:

• Upper deck: 26 x 18-pounder guns
• Qd: 4 x 6-pounder guns + 4 x 32-pounder carronades
• Fc:2 x 6-pounder bow chasers + 2 x 32-pounder carronades

Capture of the French Frigate La Tribune byThe Unicorn

The Pallas-class frigates were a series of three frigates built to a 1791 design by John Henslow, which served in the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

The trio were all dockyard-built in order to use spare shipbuilding capacity. The orders were originally assigned in December 1790 to the Royal Dockyards at Plymouth and Portsmouth, but in February 1791 the orders were transferred to Chatham and Woolwich Dockyards respectively. They were the first and only 32-gun Royal Navy frigates designed to be armed with the eighteen-pounder cannon on their upper deck, the main gun deck of a frigate.


Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines, longitudinal half-breadth as proposed (and approved) for building Pallas (1793), Stag (1793), Unicorn (1734), all 32-gun, Fifth Rate Frigates.

Ships in class

• HMS Stag
  • Builder: Chatham Royal Dockyard
  • Ordered: 9 December 1790
  • Laid down: March 1792
  • Launched: 12 July 1794
  • Completed: 5 October 1794
  • Fate: Wrecked in a storm in Vigo Bay 6 September 1800, and burnt the next day.
• HMS Unicorn
  • Builder: Chatham Royal Dockyard
  • Ordered: 9 December 1790
  • Laid down: March 1792
  • Launched: 12 July 1794
  • Fate: Broken up March 1815 at Deptford Dockyard.
• HMS Pallas
  • Builder: Woolwich Royal Dockyard
  • Ordered: 9 December 1790
  • Laid down: May 1792
  • Launched: 19 December 1793
  • Completed: 5 March 1794.
  • Fate: Wrecked in a storm in Cawsand Bay, Cornwall on 4 April 1798

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallas-class_frigate
http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-337322;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=P

 

[Uwek]

Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
19 December 1796 – French Revolutionary Wars: Two British frigates under Commodore Horatio Nelson and two Spanish frigates under Commodore Don Jacobo Stuart engage in battle off the coast of Murcia.

Action of 19 December 1796 - HMS Minerve (38), Cptn. George Cockburn, Commodore Horatio Nelson, captured Spanish frigate Santa Sabina (40), Cptn. Don Jacob Steuart, and HMS Blanche (32) engaged Ceres which struck but could not be secured. An approaching Spanish squadron drove them off and the prize was retaken.


The Action of 19 December 1796 was a minor naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought in the last stages of the Mediterranean campaign between two British Royal Navy frigates and two Spanish Navy frigates off the coast of Murcia. The British squadron was the last remaining British naval force in the Mediterranean, sent to transport the British garrison of Elba to safety under the command of Commodore Horatio Nelson. The Spanish under Commodore Don Jacobo Stuart were the vanguard of a much larger squadron. One Spanish frigate was captured and another damaged before Spanish reinforcements drove the British off and recaptured the lost ship.

The action came just two months after the Spanish declaration of war. Having previously been an ally of Britain, Spain had been forced to sign a peace treaty with the French Republic in August 1795 and subsequently to declare war on Britain under the terms of the Treaty of San Ildefonso on 5 October 1796. Outnumbered and isolated, the British Mediterranean Fleet under Vice-Admiral Sir John Jervis had been forced to withdraw to Lisbon and was enacting a blockade of the Spanish naval base at Cádiz. By December 1796 the only remaining British forces in the Mediterranean were the garrison on the island of Elba, seized from the Grand Duchy of Tuscany by the British earlier in the year after the French occupation of Tuscany. Jervis determined to evacuate the island and sent Nelson with the frigates HMS Minerve and HMS Blanche to retrieve the garrison.

During his passage to Elba, Nelson's squadron encountered Stuart's Spanish frigates off Murcia on 19 December and attacked, Nelson taking Minerve against Sabina and sending Blanche to attack Ceres. For three hours the frigates fought, Nelson's Minerve shattering the Spanish ship and inflicting heavy casualties. Eventually Sabina surrendered as Blanche attacked and drove off Ceres. As Blanche pursued, a larger Spanish squadron, including two more frigates and the huge 112-gun first rate ship of the line Principe de Asturias appeared. Recognising the superiority of his opponents, Nelson briefly engaged the leading frigate Matilde, before abandoning Sabina and sailing away to the east. The captured Spanish ship was swiftly recaptured. Nelson was able to reach Elba and remove the garrison without further engagements, reconnoitering French and Spanish naval bases on his route back to Gibraltar, returning to Jervis' fleet immediately before the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, at which he played a key part in the decisive defeat of the main Spanish fleet.

Background
Great Britain and Spain had become reluctant allies in 1793, despite a history of antagonism in the Mediterranean, against the newly formed French Republic in the War of the First Coalition. The Spanish refused to allow British officers to command Spanish forces, and tensions between the fleets were still high following the 1790 Nootka Crisis. While supposedly co-operating at the Siege of Toulon, the Spanish Admiral Juan de Lángara engaged in such a heated argument with his British counterpart Vice-Admiral Lord Hood over strategy that he threatened to open fire on the British flagship HMS Victory. while the disastrous failure of the allied defense of the city was marked by accusations that Spanish forces had deliberately sabotaged a combined operation to destroy the French Mediterranean Fleet.

During 1794 and 1795 the Spanish suffered a series of defeats in the War of the Pyrenees, and in August 1795 they signed a peace treaty with France, removing their forces from the Mediterranean campaign. Inconclusive fighting that year between British and French fleets at the Battle of Genoa and the Battle of the Hyères Islands led to a stalemate, the French under blockade at Toulon sending raiding squadrons against British trade. During 1796 the Italian campaigns of Napoleon Bonaparte eliminated Britain's Italian allies, while diplomatic negotiations brought Spain into an alliance with France in August, through the Treaty of San Ildefonso. On 5 October Spain declared war on Britain and a large Spanish fleet united with the French at Toulon.

Under threat from this much larger combined force, Vice-Admiral Sir John Jervis ordered the British Mediterranean Fleet to withdraw from the Mediterranean. Gibraltar, at the mouth of the sea, was too small to support a fleet and so Jervis withdrew all the way to the Tagus at Lisbon. During the summer and early autumn of 1796 French forces had seized Leghorn and invaded and recaptured Corsica, denying the British safe anchorages in the Western Mediterranean. As a temporary base Jervis ordered the seizure of the Tuscan island of Elba, to which all of the remaining British personnel in the Mediterranean withdrew. Ashe pulled his main fleet to the Tagus, Jervis ordered Commodore Horatio Nelson of HMS Captain to leave his ship and take a small frigate squadron to Elba and collect the remaining personnel as the final evacuation of the Mediterranean.

Action
Nelson's force comprised HMS Minerve and HMS Blanche. Minerve was a 38-gun former French ship captured at the Action of 24 June 1795, commanded by Captain George Cockburn, the crew augmented by a detachment from the 18th Regiment of Foot. Blanche was a 32-gun 12-pounder ship commanded by Captain D’Arcy Preston, which had seen extensive action in the West Indies in the early years of the war. Preston had recently replaced Captain Charles Sawyer, known to his crew as "that Man fucking Bugger Sawyer", who had been court-martialed and dismissed from his command for a series of homosexual assaults on young midshipmen and sailors. As Jervis sailed for Lisbon from Gibraltar with his fleet on 16 December, Nelson's small squadron departed in the opposite direction, towards Elba.

At 22:00 on 19 December Nelson's squadron was off the coast of Murcia off Cartagena when he sighted a squadron of two Spanish frigates, the 40-gun Sabina and 34-gun Ceres. This squadron was commanded by Captain Don Jacobo Stuart of the House of FitzJames, a descendant of King James IIand his mistress Arabella Churchill and "reputed the best officer in Spain." Nelson ordered Blanche to engage Ceres and took Minerve against Sabina, coming alongside at 22:40. Reportedly, as he came up, Nelson hailed the Spanish captain and was told "this is a Spanish frigate, and you may begin as soon as you please."

Nelson ordered Minerve to open fire, to which Stuart responded. At close range the battle continued for two hours and 50 minutes, the Spanish ship losing its mizenmast and having its fore and main masts severely damaged. Nelson repeatedly called on Stuart to surrender during the action, but was rebuffed, the Spanish captain responding in English "No Sir, not whilst I have the means of fighting left." Only at 01:20, when casualties had reach unsustainable levels, did Stuart hail Nelson to declare his surrender and call for a cease-fire. Nelson brought the Spanish captain on board Minerve, where he was impressed by his opponent's royal ancestry and returned his sword in a gesture of respect for his resistance. Nelson later recounted losses of 164 on the Spanish ship and seven killed and 34 wounded on his own, although Spanish reports record 12 killed and 43 wounded on Sabina. Although the British frigate was structurally intact, the rigging and sails of Minerve were badly cut up.

As Nelson fought, Preston attacked Ceres opening a heavy fire on the retreating Spanish frigate. Ceres was badly damaged, losing seven killed and 15 wounded in the attack; Preston, who had not suffered a single casualty, reported that the Spanish captain struck his colours during the battle, but Ceresdid not stop the withdrawal until it came within sight of a larger Spanish squadron. This force included frigates Matilde and Perla and the 112-gun first rate ship of the line Principe de Asturias. Outnumbered, Preston pulled back as the squadron advanced on Minerve and Sabina.

Spanish reinforcement
Nelson had sent his first and second lieutenants, John Culverhouse and Thomas Hardy aboard Sabina to command a prize crew of 40 petty-officers and sailors, the British frigate towing the disabled Spanish prize when the larger squadron appeared at 04:00. Abandoning the tow rope, Nelson sailed to meet Matilde, substantially ahead of the rest of the squadron as his lieutenants took Sabina away to the south. Minerve and Matilde fought a sharp half-hour engagement, inflicting enough damage to force the captain to wear away from the action. Minerve suffered another 10 sailors wounded. By 04:30 Principe de Asturias, with Perla and the recaptured Ceres was closing the range and threatening Minerve. Unable to oppose such overwhelming force, Nelson turned away towards the distant Blanche, the Spanish in pursuit.

At dawn on 20 December the entire Spanish squadron, rejoined by Matilde, was strung out behind Minerve, the British ship hampered by its damaged rigging. To prevent the damaged Minerve being overrun, Culverhouse took the prize into the path of the Spanish, prominently displaying the British flag over the Spanish. Through careful manoeuvres Sabina was able to distract and delay the Spanish enough to allow Nelson to escape, refusing to surrender until the remaining masts had fallen overboard. Sabina was recaptured and the prize crew taken as prisoners of war.



Aftermath
Nelson reached Portoferraio on Elba on 27 December, three days ahead of Blanche. There Nelson argued with General John de Burgh, trying to persuade him to remove most of the garrison from the island. De Burgh refused and Nelson left to liaise with the former viceroy of the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom, Sir Gilbert Elliot. Elliot was ashore in Naples, and Nelson had to collect him there, finally sailing for Gibraltar with his passengers and stores on 29 January 1797. As a final service in the Mediterranean, Nelson split his force, sending Blanche directly back to Gibraltar and sailing Minerve to reconnoitre Toulon, Barcelona and Cartagena, confirming in each place that the French and Spanish fleets were at sea.

Nelson arrived at Gibraltar on 9 February, disembarking his passengers. On 29 January Culverhouse, Hardy and the seamen in the prize crew from the Sabina were taken to Gibraltar aboard the Spanish ship of line Terrible and were part of a prisoner exchange which included Stuart. This complete, Nelson sailed onwards to join with Jervis off Cádiz. On 11 February he was chased by Terrible and Neptuno in the Straits of Gibraltar, almost losing Hardy a second time when his boat was cut off. To ensure his subordinate's safety Nelson backed his sails in the face of the Spanish force, a move which unnerved the Spanish who retreated, assuming that a British fleet was in the vicinity. Passing directly through the main Spanish fleet under José de Córdoba y Ramos in heavy fog, Nelson rejoined Jervis on 13 February off Cape St. Vincent and notified the admiral that the Spanish were at sea. Nelson resumed command of Captain and when Jervis attacked Córdoba the following day at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, Nelson was instrumental in inflicting a serious defeat on the Spanish. More than five decades after the battle the Admiralty recognised the action with a clasp attached to the Naval General Service Medal, awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847.


Minerve was a 40-gun Minerve-class frigate of the French Navy. The British captured her twice and the French recaptured her once. She therefore served under four names before being broken up in 1814

• Minerve, 1794–1795
• HMS Minerve, 1795–1803
• Canonnière, 1803–1810
• HMS Confiance, 1810–1814

Capture of Minerve off Toulon

HMS Blanche was a 32-gun Hermione-class fifth rate of the Royal Navy. She was ordered towards the end of the American War of Independence, but only briefly saw service before the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793. She enjoyed a number of successful cruises against privateers in the West Indies, before coming under the command of Captain Robert Faulknor. He took the Blanche into battle against a superior opponent and after a hard-fought battle, forced the surrender of the French frigate Pique. Faulknor was among those killed on the Blanche. She subsequently served in the Mediterranean, where she had the misfortune of forcing a large Spanish frigate to surrender, but was unable to secure the prize, which then escaped. Returning to British waters she was converted to a storeship and then a troopship, but did not serve for long before being wrecked off the Texel in 1799.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_19_December_1796
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Blanche_(1786)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Minerve_(1794)