HMS Kingfisher (1804)
Kingfisher
| |
History | |
---|---|
UK | |
Name | HMS Kingfisher |
Namesake | Alcedo atthis, the common kingfisher |
Ordered | 27 November 1802 |
Builder | Thomas King of Dover |
Laid down | March 1803 |
Launched | 10 March 1804 |
Commissioned | 3 May 1804 at Sheerness |
Honours and awards | Naval General Service Medal with clasp "St. Domingo"[1] |
Fate | Broken up October 1816 at Portsmouth |
General characteristics [2] | |
Class and type | Ship sloop |
Tons burthen | 365 32⁄94 (bm) |
Length |
|
Beam | 28 ft (8.5 m) |
Depth of hold | 13 ft 9 in (4.2 m) |
Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
Complement | 121 |
Armament |
|
HMS Kingfisher (or King's Fisher or Kingsfisher) was a
Caribbean
Commander Richard William Cribb commissioned Kingfisher in April 1804.[2] He sailed her to the Leeward Islands and initially she operated from Barbados.
In January King's Fisher captured the French privateer schooner Deux Amis. She was pierced for eight guns but only had two on board at the time of her capture, having thrown the others overboard as she tried to escape her pursuers. She had a crew of 39 men, under the command of Francis Dutrique. She was ten days out of Guadeloupe and had captured nothing. Cribb credited His Majesty's schooner Grenada with having chased Deux Amis into his hands. Furthermore, when Grenada's commander saw that Kingfisher would capture Deux Amis, he chased and recaptured the sloop Hero.[3]
On 11 April 1805, her boats cut out the Spanish privateer Damas from an anchorage under Cape St. Juan. She was pierced for four guns but only mounted one 8-pounder. She also carried 40 muskets for her crew of 57 men. Damas had left Cumaná, Venezuela, ten days earlier for a cruise off Demerara on what was her first cruise, but had captured nothing. She put up a little resistance and there was gunfire from the shore, but Kingsfisher suffered no casualties.[4] In April 1826 head money for the capture of the Deux Amis and the Damas was finally paid.[5]
On 27 June, when about 180 miles to north-east of Barbuda, Kingfisher, Captain Richard William Cribb, and Osprey, Captain Timothy Clinch, found themselves being chased by French frigates. While making sail to escape, the two sloops hoisted signals and fired guns, as if signaling to a fleet ahead. Their pursuers immediately gave up the chase, which gave Kingfisher and Osprey the opportunity to catch up with a group of 15 French merchant vessels with cargoes of rum, sugar and coffee. The two British sloops left all 15 merchantmen in flames.[6]
Cribb died in June 1805. From July Kingfisher was under the command of Commander Nathaniel Day Cochrane.[2]
On 16 December Kingfisher captured the French privateer Elisabeth, out of Guadaloupe after a 12-hour chase. Elizabeth was armed with ten 6-pounder guns and four 9-pounder carronades. She had a crew of 102, but 11 men were away in Cambrian, which Elizabeth had captured after Cambrian had left a convoy on 28 October. Cambrian had been carrying a cargo of coal from Cork to Jamaica; HMS Melville recaptured Cambrian. Cochrane noted that Elizabeth was a fine vessel, well worth taking into the Royal Navy,[7] which advice the Navy took, commissioning her as HMS Elizabeth.
Also that day Kingfisher and
In 1806, Kingfisher was attached to the British squadron under Admiral Sir
European theatre
On 14 May Kingfisher towed Pallas after Pallas had rammed Minerve in the Basque Roads.
In July, Seymour was posted into
In October, Hepenstall sailed Kingsfisher to the Mediterranean. Here, she was operating off the Turkish coast near Karaman, when on 27 June 1808 she captured the French letter of marque Hercule after a six-hour chase and an hour-long fight. Hercule, under Gerome Cavassa (a member of the Legion of Honour), was carrying a cargo of cotton from Aleppo and Cyprus to Marseilles or Genoa. She was armed with 12 guns, ranging in size from 8-pounders to 18-pounders. Her crew numbered 57 men, of whom one was killed and two were wounded. Kingfisher suffered extensive damage to her rigging but had only one man slightly wounded.[12][a]
In 1809, under Commander Ewell Tritton, on 12 March she was in company with the 38-gun
On 1 October Kingfisher joined a squadron off
In 1810, a midshipman from Kingfisher, together with a corporal of marines and four boys, captured a trabaccolo that turned out to have some 100 French soldiers aboard. Kingfisher conveyed them to Malta.[20]
In 1811, Kingfisher was in the
On 29 January 1813 Kingfisher was in company with Cerberus when they captured Madona della Grazia. Prize money was paid in April 1838.[c]
2 February 1813, after a five-hour chase, her boats captured one trabaccolo and ran nine ashore at St. Catherine's, Corfu, of which five were destroyed. Kingfisher lost two men killed and seven severely wounded.[24]
On 27 May 1813, Kingsfisher was at Port Slano (Croatia). There she destroyed three vessels and took six, laden with grain and wine for Ragussa.[25]
Fate
Between 1814 and 1816, Kingfisher was placed in ordinary at Portsmouth. She was broken up in October 1816.[2]
Notes
- d in prize money; an able seaman received 6s 1d.[13]
- ^ While in Chile may years later, Sutcliffe told the tale of his escape to a French naval captain, who turned out to have been a lieutenant on Flore.[19]
- ^ Tritton was entitled to £19 17s 10+3⁄4d; an ordinary seaman was entitled to 5s 10+1⁄2d.[23]
Citations
- ^ "No. 20939". The London Gazette. 26 January 1849. p. 241.
- ^ a b c d e Winfield (2008), p. 258.
- ^ "No. 15794". The London Gazette. 2 April 1805. pp. 436–437.
- ^ "No. 15823". The London Gazette. 9 July 1805. p. 902.
- ^ "No. 18241". The London Gazette. 25 April 1826. p. 968.
- ^ James (1837), Vol. 3, pp.339-40.
- ^ a b "No. 15896". The London Gazette. 4 March 1806. p. 294.
- ^ "No. 15914". The London Gazette. 29 April 1806. p. 539.
- ^ "No. 16083". The London Gazette. 3 November 1807. p. 1460.
- ^ James (1837) Vol. 4, pp.265-6.
- ^ "No. 16123". The London Gazette. 27 February 1808. p. 307.
- ^ "No. 16194". The London Gazette. 22 October 1808. p. 1438.
- ^ "No. 18052". The London Gazette. 10 August 1824. p. 1317.
- ^ James (1837), Vol. 5, pp.172-3.
- ^ Naval Chronicle, Vol. 22, p.510.
- ^ Sutcliffe (1841), p. 175.
- ^ Sutton, Charles William (1898). Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 55. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 177–178. . In
- ^ Sutcliffe (1841), pp. 173–181.
- ^ Sutcliffe (1841), pp. 180–81.
- ^ Giffard (1852), p.76.
- ^ "No. 16586". The London Gazette. 22 October 1808. p. 566.
- ^ "No. 16785". The London Gazette. 5 October 1813. p. 1994.
- ^ "No. 19610". The London Gazette. 24 April 1838. p. 958.
- ^ "No. 19758". The London Gazette. 27 July 1813. p. 1485.
- ^ "No. 16772". The London Gazette. 11 September 1813. p. 1794.
References
- Giffard, Edward (1852) Deeds of naval daring; or, anecdotes of the British Navy. (London: John Murray).
- James, William (1837). The Naval History of Great Britain, from the Declaration of War by France in 1793, to the Accession of George IV. R. Bentley.
- Sutcliffe, Thomas (1841). Sixteen Years in Chile and Peru, from 1822 to 1839. London and Paris: Fisher, Son & Co.
- 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.
External links
- Media related to HMS Kingfisher (ship, 1804) at Wikimedia Commons
- [1] Michael Phillips - Ships of the Old Navy - Kingfisher