HMS Aurora (1777)
Plan of an Enterprise-class frigate, similar to Aurora
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History | |
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Great Britain | |
Name | HMS Aurora |
Ordered | 3 July 1776 |
Builder | John Perry & Co, Blackwall |
Laid down | July 1776 |
Launched | 7 June 1777 |
Completed | 9 August 1777 (at Woolwich Dockyard) |
Commissioned | July 1777 |
Fate | Sold to break up 3 November 1814 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate |
Tons burthen | 595 86⁄94 (bm) |
Length |
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Beam | 33 ft 7 in (10.2 m) |
Depth of hold | 11 ft 0 in (3.35 m) |
Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
Complement | 200 officers and men |
Armament |
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HMS Aurora was a 28-gun
Launched in June 1777, she was commissioned the following month and sent to the West Indies where she formed part of a squadron under Vice-admiral Clark Gayton, attacking American shipping interests in the area. On 13 January 1778, under command of Capt. Harmon Courter, she captured the American privateer "St. Peter".[1] Her tender, schooner Libra, captured sloop Fly on 21 February, 1778.[2]
At the beginning of 1794 Aurora was among the British vessels assisting
Returning to the West Indies in 1808, she joined Charles Dashwood's squadron which took possession of the town of Samaná in November and in July 1809, escorted a large force under Hugh Lyle Carmichael sent to expel the French from the city of Santo Domingo. In December 1810, Aurora was laid up, then on 3 November 1814, she was sold.
Design and construction
HMS Aurora was one of a second run of Enterprise-class frigates, designed by John Williams in 1770.[3] She was built at Woolwich by John Perry and Co and was 120 ft 6 in (36.73 m) along the gun deck, 99 ft 4 in (30.28 m) at the keel, and had a beam of 33 ft 7 in (10.24 m). With a depth in the hold of 11 ft 0 in (3.35 m), she was 595 86⁄94 (bm).[4]
The keel was laid down in July 1776 and she was launched in June the following year. Her initial build cost was £6,595.7.5d, at the time, plus a further £4,283.7.5d for fitting.[4] Designed to take a complement of 200 men, her armament consisted of a 24-gun main battery of 9-pounders on the upper deck with four 3-pound guns on the quarterdeck. Initially, she also carried twelve swivel guns.[5]
In February 1780, an
Career
Aurora was first commissioned in July 1777 under the command of Captain James Cumming. She was sent to the West Indies where she served under Vice-admiral Clark Gayton. Gayton's squadron had, by 15 January 1778, taken 219 American prizes and Aurora contributed to that tally when on 13 January she captured the 18-gun rebel privateer, St Peter.[6]
In April 1778, Aurora was part of
On 20 July 1780, Aurora captured Union, a Franco-American cutter; then on 5 August, assisted by two others, she captured the privateer Fleur de May. The discovery of ransom bills on board both vessels showed that they had been successfully plundering merchant shipping.
Campbell and Aurora remained in home waters, retaking the brig, Providence, in February 1782.
In August 1784, Aurora went into Portsmouth to undergo a small repair which took until December to complete. She returned to Portsmouth between July and October 1787 for a refit, being recommissioned under John Sutton in the September.[4] In May 1788, Sutton took Aurora back to the West Indies, setting sail for Jamaica on the third.[4] While there, her carpenter Nicholas Rodgers was court martialled on charges of drunkenness. First Lieutenant Crofton and a midshipman, Thomas Vanderdussen, presented evidence that Rodgers would regularly drink himself into a stupor in his cabin or one of the ship's boats, and would refuse, whilst drunk, to let any of the crew carry out carpentry tasks in his absence. On 23 July Rodgers had gone ashore at Bluefields and failed to return until arrested by the marines. Later he ascended the quarterdeck to shout abuse at the boatswain.[b] Rodgers denied all charges other than one of abusive language, for which he said he was provoked by others.[c] Rodgers was found guilty on all counts and he was dismissed from naval service.[17]
Aurora remained on the North America and West Indies Station until sometime in 1790 when she paid off.[4]
French Revolutionary war
In June 1792, Aurora was back at Portsmouth undergoing another, much larger repair, which took around 18 months to complete.
In March 1797, Digby's ship was off Cape Finisterre when she ran into a French privateer, Neptune, out of Nantes. After an eight-hour chase, in which six of her sixteen guns were thrown overboard, Neptune was brought to action and captured.[21]
Whilst cruising off the coast of Portugal on 13 August 1797, Aurora encountered and captured the Marie Anne, a 14-gun privateer, 21 days out of Nantes.[22] By 17 September 1797, Aurora had arrived in the river Tagus at Lisbon, having captured two more French privateers on the way: the 12-gun L’Aigle and the 14-gun L’Espiegle, both out of Rochelle.[23] Aurora captured two Spanish brigs on 16 October but one was in such poor condition that two days later, Digby ordered her sunk. On 28 October, she captured the French ship, L'Amiable Sophie, then the following day, Digby was again forced to sink one of his prizes when, off Cape Ortegal, he captured three Spanish coasting vessels, one of which was deemed unfit to sail. In November, Aurora was involved in a nine-hour chase off Cape Roxent, Madiera, which resulted in the capture of a French schooner, L'Aventure.[24]
On 17 January 1798, the Aurora, still under Digby, captured a Spanish schooner, La Casualided, off Cape Finisterre. The six-gun privateer had left Caracas 47 days previous with a cargo of cocoa.[25] On her return from escorting a Newfoundland convoy, Aurora captured, on 8 May, a Spanish brig out of Havana which had on board government dispatches.[26] While cruising off the north-west coast of Spain, on 6 June 1798, Aurora spotted and chased an unidentified, armed vessel which sought shelter in the fog, in the bay of Curmes. With Aurora providing covering fire, two of her boats were sent in to investigate and, on discovering a brigantine and a schooner, burned the former and scuttled the latter, before returning with three of their number wounded.[27][28]
On 19 June 1798, Aurora chased an 18 or 20-gun ship and five merchant vessels past Cape Prior, east into Cedeira harbour. Entering the harbour at 16.30, Aurora came under immediate fire from the fort on the north-east of the town, which was returned. After damaging the fort and driving two of the convoy ashore, the wind dropped and Digby, fearing the ship would become trapped, had the ship's boats launched in order to tow her to safety.
Capture of Minorca
On 7 November, a squadron under John Thomas Duckworth arrived off Minorca, comprising the seventy-fours, Leviathan and Centaur, the forty-fours, Argo and Dolphin, Aurora, captained by Thomas Gordon Caulfield, the 20-gun, HMS Cormorant, the 16-gun, Peterel, three armed transports, a cutter, and a number of merchant transports.[33]
Initially the plan was to land troops, under
On returning to Fournella, it was discovered that the defending garrison had left. Supplies were left for the army which, having driven the enemy from Addaya, then marched to Mercadal which it entered without resistance. On 9 November, a detachment of 300 British troops captured Mahón and removed a boom across the harbour which had been preventing access to Aurora and Cormorant. On the evening of 11 November, Duckworth heard of a small squadron of Spanish ships seen heading towards the island.[34] He immediately left Fournella to investigate, taking with him Leviathan, Centaur, Argo, and three armed transports. On 13 November, just off Ciudadella, Duckworth caught up with the five Spanish ships which included Peterel, captured the previous day.[35] Chase was given and Peterel was recaptured but the remainder escaped. On returning to Fournella on 16 November, Duckworth learnt that the whole island had capitulated the previous day and was under British control.[36]
Napoleonic wars
In July 1805, Aurora was commissioned under George Elliot, who returned with her to the Mediterranean. George Seymour became her captain in June 1806 then in 1808, command passed to John Duer who sailed her to Jamaica that April, where she became part of Charles Dashwood's squadron that took possession of the town of Samaná in November 1808.[4] The action was carried out, partly in a bid to protect British merchant shipping in the area and partly to aid the Spanish, who were by then allies of Britain, in their siege of Santo Domingo through a naval blockade of the city.[37][38] Dashwood in the 36-gun La Franchise was accompanied by Aurora, Daedalus, Reindeer and the brig, Port Mahon, when they captured the town of Samaná, on the east end of the island, against minimal resistance on 11 November. Aurora took two 5-gun privateers, Guerriere and Exchange found in the port. Three merchant vessels were also taken and some partially erected French batteries discovered.[4][37][38] The French garrison at Santo Domingo held out until 2 July 1809 however, when a large force under Hugh Lyle Carmichael was sent to expel them.[39] William Pryce Cumby in the 64-gun Polyphemus assisted by Aurora, escorted the squadron of sloops and transports that carried the troops and artillery for these operations. Shortly after the British troops were landed, the city capitulated.[40][41]
Lloyd's List reported in February 1809 that Aurora had captured the French schooner Venus and the merchant vessel Caroline. Venus was sailing from Guadaloupe to Bordeaux; Aurora sent her into Jamaica. Caroline, captured on 12 December 1808, of 400 tons (bm), 10 guns, and 26 men, was on her way from Guadaloupe to Rochefort when Aurora captured her and sent her into Jamaica. Caroline was carrying a cargo of sugar, oil, copper, etc.[42]
Fate
In December 1810, Aurora returned to Chatham where she was laid up, then on 3 November 1814, she was sold for £1,620.[4]
In popular culture
- The frigate features in a contemporary work of naval fiction Mr Midshipman Easy by Captain Frederick Marryat.
Notes
Citations
- ^ "NAVAL DOCUMENTS OF The American Revolution" (PDF). history.navy.mil. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
- ^ "Naval Documents of The American Revolution Volume 11 European THEATRE: Jan. 1, 1778–Mar. 31, 1778 American: Jan. 1, 1778–Mar. 31, 1778" (PDF). U.S. Government printing office via Imbiblio. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
- ^ Winfield pp.233–234
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Winfield p.235
- ^ a b Winfield p.233
- ^ "No. 11862". The London Gazette. 31 March 1778. p. 2.
- ^ "No. 11867". The London Gazette. 18 April 1778. p. 1.
- ^ "No. 12039". The London Gazette. 11 December 1779. p. 3.
- ^ "No. 12325". The London Gazette. 24 August 1782. p. 1.
- ^ "No. 12241". The London Gazette. 10 November 1781. p. 3.
- ^ "No. 12286". The London Gazette. 9 April 1782. p. 3.
- ^ Lloyd's List, n° 1318.
- ^ "No. 12378". The London Gazette. 8 October 1782. p. 3.
- ^ "No. 12459". The London Gazette. 19 July 1783. p. 2.
- ^ Lavery (ed.) 1998, pp. 377–378.
- ^ Lavery (ed.) 1998, pp. 378–379.
- ^ Lavery (ed.) 1998, pp. 371–372
- ^ "No. 14026". The London Gazette. 8 July 1797. p. 646.
- ^ "No. 13744". The London Gazette. 17 January 1795. p. 63.
- ^ "No. 13895". The London Gazette. 24 May 1796. p. 511.
- ^ "No. 14003". The London Gazette. 8 April 1797. p. 364.
- ^ "No. 14048". The London Gazette. 23 September 1797. p. 925.
- ^ "No. 14063". The London Gazette. 7 November 1797. p. 1066.
- ^ "No. 14070". The London Gazette. 2 December 1797. p. 1150.
- ^ "No. 14090". The London Gazette. 10 February 1798. p. 130.
- ^ "No. 15035". The London Gazette. 23 June 1798. p. 572.
- ^ a b c "No. 15043". The London Gazette. 21 July 1798. p. 691.
- ^ a b James p.206
- ^ James pp.206–207
- ^ "No. 15061". The London Gazette. 15 September 1798. p. 879.
- ^ "No. 15083". The London Gazette. 24 November 1798. p. 1128.
- ^ "No. 15091". The London Gazette. 24 December 1798. p. 1231.
- ^ James p.195
- ^ a b c James p.196
- ^ James pp.196–197
- ^ James p.197
- ^ a b "No. 16223". The London Gazette. 24 January 1809. p. 109.
- ^ a b Brenton p.253
- ^ Brenton pp.271–272.
- ^ Brenton p.272
- ^ "No. 16294". The London Gazette. 2 September 1809. p. 1418.
- . Retrieved 22 January 2022.
References
- OCLC 4599420.
- Gardiner, Robert (1992). The First Frigates. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-601-9.
- Heathcote, T.A. (2005). Nelson's Trafalgar Captains and Their Battles. Barnsley, Yorks.: Pen and Sword Books. ISBN 1-84415-182-4.
- ISBN 0-85177-906-9.
- Lavery, Brian, ed. (1998). Shipboard Life and Organisation, 1731–1815. Vol. 138. Ashgate. ISBN 1840142286.
- Lyon, David (1993). The Sailing Navy List. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-617-5.
- Winfield, Rif (2007). ISBN 978-1-84415-700-6.
External links
- Media related to HMS Aurora (ship, 1777) at Wikimedia Commons