HMS Shannon (1803)
Shannon on shore, by Edward Pelham Brenton, c.1803, in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
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History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Shannon |
Ordered | 8 July 1801 |
Builder | Josiah and Thomas Brindley, Frindsbury, Kent |
Laid down | August 1801 |
Launched | 2 September 1803 |
Fate | Wrecked 10 December 1803 |
General characteristics [1] | |
Type | 36-gun Perseverance-class fifth-rate frigate |
Tons burthen | 88128⁄98 bm |
Length |
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Beam | 38 ft 2+3⁄4 in (11.7 m) |
Depth of hold | 13 ft 5+1⁄4 in (4.1 m) |
Propulsion | Sails |
Complement | 264 |
Armament |
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The third HMS Shannon was a 36-gun
Wreck
She was attached to the Channel fleet and spent the next few months under her captain,
At 8pm on 10 December, just three months after she was completed, the ship was lost on Tatihou Island, near Barfleur, directly under an enemy battery. There was a heavy gale blowing and in the darkness, Leveson-Gower lost his position after losing sight of the Barfleur lighthouse. Assuming he had sea room, he attempted to wear around; a lee tide caught Shannon and crashed her straight onto the rocks.[2] Merlin spotted land thanks to a bolt of lighting and was able to wear off in time.
Efforts overnight to lighten Shannon succeeded in that eventually she floated, but she was so full of water that she grounded again and it was evident that she was lost. During these efforts, a French battery fired on Shannon, striking her with some 60 shots and killing three men wounding eight.
Merlin stood back into shore on the 16th and at 11.30am dispatched two boats of marines and sailors to destroy Shannon to prevent the French from salvaging her guns and stores. Despite heavy fire from the island's batteries the boarders were able to burn and destroy the frigate without suffering a single casualty.[a]
Aftermath
Edward Pelham Brenton was the younger brother of Captain Jahleel Brenton, who was a captive at Verdun, where Leveson-Gower would join him in January 1804. About three and a quarter years after the loss of Shannon, Leveson-Gower and his officers returned to England. There a court martial honorably acquitted them of all blame for the loss.
Notes
Citations
- ^ a b Winfield (2008), p. 158.
- ^ a b Hepper (1994), p. 103.
- ^ a b Troude (1867), p. 306.
References
- ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot. ISBN 0-948864-30-3.
- James W.M., The Naval History of Great Britain, Vol. 3, Conway, Great Britain: 2002 (originally published 1827). ISBN 0-85177-907-7.
- King, Ian M. (2012). "HMS Shannon (1803)". britainsnavy.co.uk. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
- Troude, Onésime-Joachim (1867). Batailles navales de la France (in French). Vol. 3. Challamel ainé.
- 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.