HMS Little Belt (1807)
HMS Little Belt, at right, and the USS President fire upon each other
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History | |
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Denmark | |
Name | Lillebælt |
Namesake | The Little Belt strait off Jutland |
Builder | Fugelsang at the Royal Shipyard, Copenhagen |
Launched | 31 August 1801 |
In service | February 1802 |
Captured | Captured by British at the Battle of Copenhagen on 7 September 1807 |
United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Little Belt |
Acquired | Captured at the Battle of Copenhagen on 7 September 1807 |
Commissioned | April 1808 |
Fate | Sold in 1811 |
General characteristics [1] | |
Class and type | 20-gun post ship |
Tons burthen | 460 5⁄94 (bm) |
Length | 116 ft 4 in (35.5 m) (overall); 94 ft 0 in (28.7 m) (keel) |
Beam | 30 ft 4 in (9.2 m) |
Depth of hold | 12 ft 5+1⁄2 in (3.8 m) |
Propulsion | Sails |
Complement | 121 |
Armament | Danish service: 20 x 30-pounder carronades + 2 x 8-pounder chase guns British service: 18 x 32-pounder carronades + 2 x 9-pounder chase guns |
Lillebælt was a Danish 22-gun warship launched in 1801. The Danes surrendered her to the
Career
She was built in 1801 to a design by P.C. Hohlenberg as the 460-ton Danish 22-gun let fregat (light frigate or corvette) Lillebælt.
The Royal Navy commissioned her under the anglicised version of her name and placed under the command of John Crispo.
By 1808 she was off the African coast, but later returned to Britain.[5]
In May 1809 she recaptured and sent into Portsmouth the Swedish ship Neptunus, which had been taken while sailing from Alicante.[6] Then on 23 June Little Belt sailed for North America.[7] Around this time the Royal Navy rescinded a decision to rename her Espion.[1]
On 27 September 1810
Crispo was promoted to
By early 1811, Little Belt was in the Caribbean. On 25 March 1811, Little Belt captured the Spanish vessel Empressa.[b] At the time Little Belt was apparently under the command of Thomas Prickett.[12] Colibri was either accompanying Little Belt or in sight of the capture and so shared in the prize money.[13] Little Belt sent Empresa, which had been sailing to Africa, into Bermuda, where she arrived about 10 April.[14]
Little Belt affair
On 19 April Rear-Admiral
On the morning of 10 May, as Little Belt was some 48 miles east of
President then returned, and asked if Bingham had struck. Bingham replied that he had not, and President again withdrew. Rodgers sent a messenger out to the damaged Little Belt the following morning, lamenting the "unfortunate affair", and insisting that he would not have fired had Little Belt not fired first. Bingham denied this, and turned down Rodger's offer of putting into an American port for repairs. Little Belt had nine killed outright, and had 23 wounded, including two mortally, who died the day after the battle. She was also badly damaged, with numerous shots between wind and water and with her masts and rigging damaged.[15]
Bingham made for Halifax, hampered by a gale on the second day of the voyage which caused leaks. On 23 May Goree met up with Little Belt and the two then proceeded on to Halifax, which they reached on 28 May.[17]
Rodgers claimed that he had mistaken Little Belt for a frigate and was adamant that Bingham had fired first. Bingham maintained that the Americans fired first and that he had not surrendered.
On 4 August 1811, Little Belt captured the American ship Traveller.[21] Traveller had sailed from Bordeaux with a cargo of brandy, quicksilver, silks, etc. She arrived at Portsmouth on 22 March.[22]
Fate
Little Belt was paid off later that year. She was sold at Deptford in November.[1] She was broken up at Battersea, London in February 1819.[23]
Notes
Citations
- ^ a b c d e f Winfield (2008), p. 241.
- ^ "Danish Military History website (British Design Plans of captured Danish Warships)". Archived from the original on 26 November 2010. Retrieved 18 October 2009.
- ^ "No. 16067". The London Gazette. 16 September 1807. p. 1232.
- ^ Paine et al. (1997), p.96.
- ^ O'Byrne (1849), p. 242.
- ^ Lloyd's Marine List,[1] - accessed 30 November 2013.
- ^ "NMM, vessel ID 370213" (PDF). Warship Histories, vol ii. National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
- ^ "No. 16408". The London Gazette. 25 September 1810. p. 1510.
- ^ "No. 16536". The London Gazette. 29 October 1811. p. 2097.
- ^ "No. 16536". The London Gazette. 29 October 1811. p. 2097.
- ^ "No. 17143". The London Gazette. 8 June 1816. p. 1098.
- ^ "No. 17140". The London Gazette. 28 May 1816. p. 1020.
- ^ "No. 17149". The London Gazette. 29 June 1816. p. 1252.
- ^ Lloyd's Marine List,[2] - accessed 30 November 2013.
- ^ a b c d Marshall (1829), Supplement, Part 3, pp.50-54.
- ^ Tucker (2005), p. 131.
- ^ James (1837), Vol. 6, pp.7-11.
- ^ Gosset (1986), p. 79.
- ^ James (1837), Vol. 6, p.14.
- ^ Tucker (2005), p. 132.
- ^ "No. 16705". The London Gazette. 20 February 1813. p. 381.
- ^ Lloyd's Marine List,[3] - accessed 30 November 2013.
- ^ Cooke, William Bernard; Cooke, George (1822). Views on the Thames. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
References
- ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- Gosset, William Patrick (1986). The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793-1900. Mansell. ISBN 0-7201-1816-6.
- 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.
- Jones, Howard (2002). Crucible of Power: A History of American Foreign Relations to 1913. ISBN 0-8420-2916-8. Retrieved 3 July 2008.
- Marshall, John (1823–1835). . Royal Naval Biography. London: Longman and company.
- A Naval Biographical Dictionary. London: John Murray. p. 242.
- Paine, Lincoln P.; Fessenden, Hal; Terry, James H. (1997). Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia. Houghton Mifflin Co. ISBN 0-395-71556-3.
- Tucker, Spencer (2005). Stephen Decatur: A Life Most Bold and Daring. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.
- Naval Chronicle, Vol. 26, pp. 37-38
- Naval Chronicle, Vol. 27, pp. 57-58
External links
- (in Danish) Danish Naval Museum [4] has a new (2013) website. Lille Bælt Archived 31 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine is included in the list of Danish ships for which there is data.
This article includes data released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported UK: England & Wales Licence, by the