HMS Albacore (1793)
Plans of the Albacore
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History | |
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Great Britain | |
Name | HMS Albacore |
Namesake | Albacore |
Ordered | 18 February 1793 |
Builder | John Randall & Co., Rotherhithe |
Laid down | April 1793 |
Launched | 19 November 1793 |
Commissioned | November 1793 |
Fate | Sold 1802 |
General characteristics [1] | |
Class and type | Pylades-class ship–sloop |
Tons burthen | 36578⁄94 (bm) |
Length |
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Beam | 28 ft 2 in (8.6 m) |
Depth of hold | 13 ft 6 in (4.1 m) |
Complement | 125 (121 later) |
Armament |
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HMS Albacore (or Albicore) was launched in 1793 at Rotherhithe. She captured several privateers and a French Navy corvette before she was sold in 1802.
Career
Commander
On 7 January 1796 Albacore sailed for Jamaica.
She and
On 3 May Albacore captured the French corvette Athénienne off Barbados at 14°42′N 47°39′W / 14.700°N 47.650°W after a 14-hour long chase. Athénienne was armed with 14 guns and had a crew of 83 men under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Gervais. She had thrown 10 of her guns overboard during the chase. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Athenienne.[4] Next, Albacore was at the capture of St. Lucia on 24 May. She shared in the prize money paid in June 1800.[5]
Winthrop sailed to join Albacore as a passenger on
On 17 January 1797 Albacore sailed for Jamaica again. In February she was under the command of Commander Samuel Forster.[1]
On 7 October she arrived at Jamaica with the 3-gun privateer Nantaise.[b][c] Albicore had brought in one or two other small privateers. One was a copper-bottomed schooner of three guns and 56 men (possibly Nantaise), and the other was a row-boat armed with swivel guns and small arms.[9]
In November 1798 she was under the command of Commander Thomas White, on the Jamaica Station. He remained in command until June 1799. Sometime before 11 May, 1799 she seized American brigantine "Neptune" that was returning to the U.S. in ballast after being a flag of truce vessel transporting French passengers to St. Domingo.[10] Also in May 1799 Albacore's boats chased a Spanish settee into a bay east of Santiago de Cuba, and onshore.[11] However, their quarry repelled them and they returned to their ship. There, Lieutenant Robert Ramsey, the senior lieutenant, received Captain White's permission to take charge of the force and to renew the attack. He succeeded in landing, driving away the enemy with the loss of only two men, and in bringing out the settee.[12] The settee had a crew of 30 men armed with small arms.[11]
Lieutenant John Chilcott replaced White in Jamaica in October.[1] Albacore returned to Portsmouth on 10 September 1801.[13]
Fate
The "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered the "Albacore Sloop, 336 Tons, Copper-fastened, lying at Sheerness" for sale on 20 January 1802.[14]
Notes
Citations
- ^ a b c d Winfield (2008), p. 252.
- ^ Demerliac (1999), p. 257, n°2229.
- ^ "No. 13894". The London Gazette. 21 May 1796. p. 491.
- ^ "No. 13912". The London Gazette. 16 July 1796. p. 682.
- ^ "No. 15265". The London Gazette. 7 June 1800. p. 623.
- ^ "No. 13928". The London Gazette. 6 September 1796. p. 844.
- ^ Demerliac (1999), p. 260, n°2258.
- ^ "No. 18677". The London Gazette. 30 April 1830. p. 860.
- ^ "No. 14067". The London Gazette. 21 November 1797. p. 1113.
- ^ "Naval Documents related to the Quasi-War Between the United States and France Volume 3 Part 2 of 4 Naval Operations April 1799 to July 1799, May, 1799 Pg. 168" (PDF). U.S. Government printing office via Imbiblio. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
- ^ a b Naval Chronicle, Vol. 2, p.347.
- ^ O'Byrne (1849), p. 951.
- ^ Naval Chronicle, Vol. 6, p.257.
- ^ "No. 15444". The London Gazette. 12 January 1802. p. 49.
References
- Demerliac, Alain (1999). La Marine de la Révolution: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1792 à 1799 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 2-906381-24-1.
- A Naval Biographical Dictionary. London: John Murray. p. 951.
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 1-86176-246-1.
External links
- Media related to HMS Albacore (ship, 1793) at Wikimedia Commons