HCS Grappler (1804)

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

History
United Kingdom
NameGrappler
OwnerEast India Company
BuilderA. Wadell, Kiddapore Dockyards, Calcutta
Launched1804
CapturedAugust or September 1806
French Navy EnsignFrance
AcquiredAugust or September 1806 by capture
CapturedSeptember 1809
United Kingdom
CapturedSeptember 1809 by capture
FatePossibly an anchor vessel on the Hooghly River
General characteristics
Tons burthen150 tons
Armament8 x 12-pounder carronades + 2 x 6-pounder bow chasers (originally)

Grappler was a 14-gun brig (though pierced for 16 guns), that belonged to the East India Company's navy - the Bombay Marine. Grappler was launched in 1804. The French captured her in 1806, but the British recaptured her in 1809. She then disappears from readily available records.

Capture by the French (1806)

The

Quilon. Grappler, under the command of Captain Ramsay, was carrying 14 cases containing 312,000 piastres.[1]

The French granted Grappler's crew and passengers "paroles" as prisoners of war and placed them on an Arab-owned ship called the Allamany. The Allamany arrived at

Calcutta
.

Recapture during the raid on Saint-Paul (1809)

The British eventually recaptured Grappler from the French in September 1809 in the daring

Caroline, and recovered Grappler as well as the East Indiamen Streatham (850 tons (bm) and pierced for 30 guns) and Europe (820 tons (bm) and pierced for 26 guns).[6] The expedition also captured three small merchant vessels (Fanny of 150 tons, and Tres Amis and Creole of 60 tons each), destroyed three others, and burnt one ship that was building on the stocks. The British did not sustain any loss on board the squadron or to their vessels. The British completed the demolition of the different gun and mortar batteries and of the magazines by evening and the whole of the troops, marines, and seamen returned on board their ships.[2]

When the British captured Grappler, they noted that although she was pierced for 16 guns, she only had 11 on board. The enumeration however, listed only nine, six 18-pounder carronades mounted and three 6-pounder guns in the hold.[2]

Lloyd's List (LL) reported on 9 January 1811 that the captured vessels, except for Europe, which had been sent to Bombay, had all arrived at the Cape of Good Hope.[7]

Fate

Details of the subsequent fate of Grappler are currently unknown. In 1835 Captain Lloyd of the Bombay Marine became the "river surveyor" for the Hooghly River. He took over all functions and had a fleet of a brig, a schooner, the anchor vessel Grappler, and four rowboats.[8] Whether this was the same Grappler is an open question.

Citations

  1. ^ Austen (1935), p. 95.
  2. ^ a b c "No. 16341". The London Gazette. 10 January 1810. pp. 213–219.
  3. ^ James 2002, p. 197
  4. ^ Woodman (2001), p. 283.
  5. ^ Cannon (1844), pp. 30 and 33.
  6. ^ Malleson (1884), p. 123.
  7. ^ LL №4421.
  8. ^ Bhattacharya (2003), p. 60.

References

  • Shipping and Ship Building in India 1736-1839: a checklist of ship names. (London: India Office Records), 1995 p. 36.
  • Bombay Courier, 1806-1807.
  • Calcutta Gazette, 1806.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HCS_Grappler_(1804)&oldid=1167386284"