HMS Hazard (1794)
Drawing of the Hazard, 1793
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History | |
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Great Britain | |
Name | HMS Hazard |
Ordered | 18 February 1793 |
Builder | Josiah & Thomas Brindley, Frindsbury |
Laid down | May 1793 |
Launched | 3 March 1794 |
Completed | 8 June 1794 |
Commissioned | April 1794 |
Stricken | sold 30 October 1817 |
Honours and awards |
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General characteristics [3] | |
Class and type | 16-gun Cormorant-class sloop |
Tons burthen | 426 14⁄94 (bm) |
Length | 108 ft 7 in (33.1 m) (overall), 91 ft 5⁄8 in (27.8 m) (keel) |
Beam | 29 ft 9 in (9.1 m) |
Depth of hold | 9 ft (2.74 m) |
Propulsion | Sails |
Sail plan | Sloop |
Complement | 121 |
Armament |
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HMS Hazard was a 16-gun
Construction
The Hazard was one of the initial batch of six ship-rigged
French Revolutionary Wars
She entered service in 1794 under Commander
Under Ruddach she captured the French privateer Terrible on 16 July off Cape Clear Island. Hazard chased the brig for eight hours before she was able to capture Terrible. She carried 14 guns and a crew of 106 men. She was six days out of Brest but had not taken any prizes.[4]
Then on 21 December 1796, Hazard took the privateer Musette about 30 leagues west of Cape Clear.[5] Musette was armed with 22 guns and carried a crew of 150 men. She had taken two vessels, one of which was Abbey, of Liverpool. She had been sailing from Lisbon to Liverpool when Musette captured her. However, Daphne had recaptured Abbey and brought her in.[5] The Navy took Musette in as HMS Musette.[6]
Late in March, Vice-Admiral Lord Kingsmill received intelligence that a French cruiser had been seen off the Skellocks on the coast of Ireland.[7] Kingsmill dispatched Hazard on 28 March, and on 1 April she found the French vessel. After a chase of seven hours, Hazard caught her quarry, but only because the privateer had lost both topmasts. The privateer was the brig Hardi, of 18 guns and 130 men.[7] Hardi had been built at Cowes, about two years earlier, for the Spaniards. Hardi had left Brest on 17 March and during her cruise had escaped two British frigates that had chased her. She had captured only one prize, a small Portuguese vessel of little value.[7] On 8 June Hazard captured the Danish brig Barbara.[8]
Commander William Butterfield took command in July 1798.[3] On 7 August he captured the American snow Two Brothers that a French privateer had taken three days earlier.[8] The master of the snow gave Butterfield information that led Butterfield to try to find the privateer.[9] On 12 August he encountered a French privateer of 24 guns and gave chase. The chase lasted two days before the French vessel jettisoned her guns and escaped. As she escaped, Butterfield sighted another vessel that seemed suspicious and approached her.[9]
The new quarry turned out to be the French warship Neptune, with a crew of 53 and 270 soldiers on board, sailing from Île de France to Bordeaux. She was pierced for 20 guns but only carried 10.[9] In the ensuing two-hour engagement, Neptune fought all ten guns on one side while the soldiers fired their muskets. She also attempted to board Hazard.[9] Eventually Neptune surrendered after she had suffered 20 to 30 killed and wounded; Hazard had 6 men wounded.[9][10][a] During the fight Hazard saw a French privateer in the distance that declined to get involved.[9] As she returned to port with Neptune, Hazard saw a French privateer with an English prize, Britannia, in tow, and directed a British frigate to the scene.
Butterfield and Hazard also performed some rescue services. On one occasion he came across a transport vessel that had lost her masts and that had already run afoul of two other ships. Butterfield was able to bring her into port, thereby saving her cargo of military supplies intended for the British Army serving against the Irish rebels. Sir Robert Kingsmill, the commander in chief at Cork thanked him for his service.[13]
On a second occasion, he rescued the East Indiaman Triton off the coast of Ireland. Severe weather had debilitated the crew of lascars, and several French privateers were in the vicinity. Hazard escorted Triton safely to Portsmouth. Later, Triton's owners, David Scott & Co., of London, presented Butterfield with a piece of plate worth 150 guineas.[13]
In 1800 and 1801, Hazard was employed on the convoy route between Britain and
Between June and August 1802 Hazard was fitted at Portsmouth. Commander Robert I. Neave (or Neve) commissioned her in June 1802, for the Channel.[3]
On 25 August 1802
Napoleonic Wars
In 1803, at the outbreak of the
On 19 May
Later, on 6 August, Hazard sent two prizes into Plymouth - a Danish brig from the West Indies and another brig that she recaptured after a privateer had captured her as she sailed from Livorno to London with a cargo of hemp, marble and oil.[23] Hazard also kept with her as a tender a French privateer of 16 guns that Hazard had taken.[23]
Late in 1803, Hazard returned to Britain and operated along the Northern French coast, capturing small French commercial vessels off Quiberon, Rochefort and Bordeaux.
On 22 December Hazard recaptured Mary of Runcorn, of the Port of Liverpool.[24]
In the spring of 1804 Hazard was stationed off St Ives, Cornwall to intercept French privateers that would loiter there to prey on vessels seeking shelter in the bay. In the summer Hazard's boats cut out a French coasting sloop off Quiberon and sent her into Plymouth on 6 August. She was Colombe and carried a cargo of wheat for the victualing office at Lorient.[25]
On 15 February 1805 Hazard captured the schooner Der Vriede. Naiad was in sight but did not take part.[26]
Neve was promoted to
On 2 October 1807 Hazard's
On 16 November Hazard sailed for the West Indies.
In early 1809, Hazard was sent to the West Indies to operate as part of the squadron under Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane and command passed to Commander Hugh Cameron, late of Achates, while Dilkes removed to the flagship, Neptune.
On 22 January, Hazard spotted the French 40-gun frigate Topaze off Guadeloupe. Hazard was initially unable to catch up with Topaze but eventually took part in the action of 22 January 1809 at which Cleopatra, with the assistance of several other vessels, captured the French ship.[30] The British took Topaze into the navy as Jewel.
Hazard subsequently participated in the Invasion of Martinique. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded all surviving claimants from the campaign the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Martinique".
In April 1809, a
On 14 April British troops from Martinique under Major General Maitland landed in the Saintes and the French squadron made preparations to sail during the night. James Robertson,
On 16 October Hazard and
On 17 December Hazard was part of a squadron that engaged a French reinforcement convoy at
In early 1810, Hazard took part in the Invasion of Guadeloupe. During the invasion, Hazard led the fleet into Anse de Barque, arriving well before the other vessels.[34] There she saw a French schooner anchored under the batteries and on fire. Robertson and a boarding party of marines boarded the burning schooner Mouche despite fire from the shore batteries that were trying either to sink them or the schooner. By the time Robertson was able to board the schooner part of her deck had burnt away; while the boarding party was cutting away her masts the intense heat discharged all her guns. Still the boarding party was able to bring her out and to seize the French "general marine signal book", the signals of France's allies and other important documents that she had just brought out with her from France.[34] This campaign also earned Hazard's crew the clasp "Guadaloupe" to the Naval General Service Medal. Hazard was then sent back to Britain.
On 15 June 1810, Hazard sailed for Newfoundland.[39] Command passed to Commander John Cookesley in December 1810.[3] On 23 March 1811 Hazard again sailed for Newfoundland.[39]
War of 1812
Hazard overwintered in Ferryland, Newfoundland, in the winter of 1811 and 1812. She was scheduled to depart St. John's, Newfoundland, with "the Trade for England" on 10 July 1812.[40]
Cookesley took Hazard to the West Indies during 1812 where reportedly she took a number of American vessels as prizes. These included the Elizabeth and the Nancy on 15 July, the Orient on 19 July 1812.[41] On 7 September 1812 Hazard captured the American ship Enterprize. Prize money was paid in June 1815.[42] At the end of the wars in 1815 Cookesley brought her back to Spithead.
In 1816, Hazard sailed to Newfoundland, but returned the following year.
Fate
Hazard was sold to Mr. Sprately for £1,010 at Portsmouth on 30 October 1817.[3]
Notes
- National Archives (United Kingdom), has no record of an East Indiaman named Laurel. Some records suggest that Neptune sank off Beachy Head later in 1798 due to a collision.[12] However, the Neptune that sank there after a collision was the hired armedcutter or lugger Neptune, of six or eight 3-pounder guns, and 517⁄94 tons (bm). Furthermore, that collision occurred on 18 April 1798, i.e., before Hazard captured the French Neptune.
- ^ The Pertuis Breton is the passage between the Île de Ré and the coast of Brittany.
- ^ The prize agent for a number of the vessels involved, Henry Abbott, went bankrupt. In May 1835 there was a final payment of a dividend from his estate. A first-class share was worth 10s 2+3⁄4d; a sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman, was worth 1d. Seventh-class (landsmen) and eighth-class (boys) shares were fractions of a penny, too small to pay.[32]
Citations
- ^ "No. 20939". The London Gazette. 26 January 1849. p. 242.
- ^ a b "No. 20939". The London Gazette. 26 January 1849. p. 243.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Winfield (2008), p. 254.
- ^ "No. 13914". The London Gazette. 23 July 1796. p. 704.
- ^ a b "No. 13970". The London Gazette. 10 January 1797. p. 31.
- ^ Winfield (2008), p. 266.
- ^ a b c "No. 14000". The London Gazette. 8 April 1797. p. 328.
- ^ a b "No. 15131". The London Gazette. 7 May 1799. p. 440.
- ^ a b c d e f "No. 15054". The London Gazette. 28 August 1798. p. 814.
- ^ James (1837) vol. II, p. 230.
- ^ Roche (2005), p. 448.
- ^ a b Winfield & Roberts (2015), p. 247.
- ^ a b c Marshall (1825), pp. 613–9.
- ^ Naval Chronicle, (1801), Vol. 6, p.63.
- ^ Naval Chronicle, (1802), Vol. 8, p.262.
- ^ Naval Chronicle, (1803), Vol. 10, p.170.
- ^ "No. 15713". The London Gazette. 23 June 1804. p. 780.
- ^ "No. 15785". The London Gazette. 2 March 1805. p. 294.
- ^ "No. 15724". The London Gazette. 31 July 1804. p. 927.
- ^ The Naval Chronicle, (1803), Volume 9, p.492.
- ^ "No. 15663". The London Gazette. 3 January 1804. p. 21.
- ^ "No. 15668". The London Gazette. 21 January 1804. p. 99.
- ^ a b The Naval chronicle, (1803), Volume 10, p.254-5.
- ^ "No. 15654". The London Gazette. 8 December 1803. p. 1733.
- ^ Publications of the Navy Records Society, Volume 21, p.39.
- ^ "No. 15845". The London Gazette. 21 September 1805. p. 1211.
- ^ a b c d e "No. 16056". The London Gazette. 15 August 1807. p. 1072.
- ^ Norton (2008).
- ^ Gilbert (1976), p85.
- ^ "No. 16240". The London Gazette. 25 March 1809. pp. 402–403.
- ^ "No. 16262". The London Gazette. 30 May 1809. pp. 779–782.
- ^ "No. 19255". The London Gazette. 3 April 1835. p. 643.
- ^ Marshall (1833), pp. 380–385.
- ^ a b c d e f Marshall (1833), pp. 380–5.
- ^ Demerliac (2004), p. 324, No. 2765.
- ^ a b c "No. 16339". The London Gazette. 3 February 1810. pp. 174–175.
- ^ Roche (2005), pp. 410 and 284-5.
- ^ "No. 16339". The London Gazette. 3 February 1810. p. 177.
- ^ a b "NMM, vessel ID 368335" (PDF). Warship Histories, vol i. National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
- ^ Royal Gazette and Newfoundland Advertiser, 14 May 1812.
- ^ "No. 18229". The London Gazette. 14 March 1826. p. 593.
- ^ "No. 17025". The London Gazette. 17 June 1815. p. 1170.
References
- Demerliac, Alain (2004). La Marine du Consulat et du Premier Empire: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1800 A 1815 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 2-903179-30-1.
- Gilbert, Arthur N. (Autumn, 1976) "Buggery and the British Navy, 1700-1861", in Journal of Social History, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 72–98.
- Marshall, John (1825). . Royal Naval Biography. Vol. 2, part 2. London: Longman and company. p. 613–619.
- Marshall, John (1833). . Royal Naval Biography. Vol. 4, part 1. London: Longman and company. p. 376–396.
- Norton, Rictor (Ed.), "A Navy Court Martial, 1807," Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. 26 November 2006; updated 5 May 2008 [1].
- Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours. Vol. 1. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. OCLC 165892922.
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.
- Winfield, Rif; Roberts, Stephen S. (2015). French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786–1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-204-2.
External links
- Media related to HMS Hazard (ship, 1794) at Wikimedia Commons
- Philips, Michael - Ships of the Old Navy
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