HMS Swallow (1745)

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For other ships with the same name, see HMS Swallow.

Philip Carteret and Swallow at Pitcairn, 1767, from a 1967 stamp
History
Great Britain
NameHMS Swallow
Ordered5 April 1745
BuilderHenry Bird, Rotherhithe
Cost£4,224.9.3d
Laid downMay 1745
Launched14 December 1745
Completed12 February 1746
CommissionedDecember 1745
FateSold 20 June 1769
General characteristics [1]
Class and type
ship-sloop
from 1755)
Tons burthen27813⁄94 (bm)
Length
  • Gundeck: 91 ft 10+1⁄2 in (28.0 m)
  • Keel: 75 ft 7+3⁄4 in (23.1 m)
Beam26 ft 3+1⁄2 in (8 m)
Depth of hold6 ft 10+1⁄4 in (2.1 m)
PropulsionSails
Complement110 (125 from 1748)
Armament10 × 6-pounder guns (14 from 1748) + 14 × ½-pounder swivels

HMS Swallow was a 14-gun

Battle of Saint Cast in 1758. She was also present when the French fleet broke out of Brest prior to the Battle of Quiberon Bay
in 1759.

Swallow was converted into an exploration ship in 1766, and she sailed under Philip Carteret as part of an expedition to the Pacific Ocean. Split from her companion vessel when the expedition reached Cape Pillar off Desolación Island in Chile, Carteret continued on with Swallow despite the ship not being fully equipped for a solo voyage. Sailing on a north-west course, Swallow went on to discover the Pitcairn Islands and New Ireland while battling a lack of supplies and severe bouts of sickness. The ship reached Batavia towards the end of 1767, where she underwent a refit. Swallow returned to England in early 1769, and was sold later that year.

Design and construction

Construction plan of Swallow in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

Swallow was a

Hind-class sloop, another class designed in 1743, but the dimensions of the sloops suggests that the basis of their construction was the Merlin class.[3][4] The sloops were the largest single-design class of ship in the Royal Navy when they were procured, and continued to be so until the advent of the Swan-class ship-sloop in the 1770s.[4]

The first Swallow of the Merlin class was wrecked in the

tons burthen.[Note 1][1]

Swallow was

ship-sloop alongside HMS Swan, following the previous conversions of Raven, HMS Saltash, HMS Tavistock, and HMS Trial.[3] This added a third mast to Swallow, providing her with heightened mobility and stability.[Note 2][10]

Service

East Indies Station

Swallow was

gun batteries which would need to be destroyed before the invasion could take place.[14]

The 60-gun fourth-rate HMS Pembroke was then sent to give covering fire to Swallow and the 44-gun frigate HMS Eltham as they sailed along the coast. The plan was to reconnoitre the coastline to find weaknesses and suitable landing points, but as the ships neared the French they were fired upon by eight batteries and discovered that the main harbour was defended by a large warship, with thirteen more ships within. Small boats were sent in along the coast to check for other weaknesses in the French defences, but it was decided that any invasion would come at too high a cost. The squadron left for the Coromandel Coast on 26 June and arrived at Fort St. David on 29 July.[14]

Boscawen then decided that an attack on Pondicherry should be made. Swallow was sent with Pembroke and the 50-gun fourth-rate HMS Chester to join the 58-gun fourth-rate Exeter off Pondicherry on 3 August, where they were tasked with mapping out the area ready for invasion and blockading the town. The army began their attack on 8 August and Clements vacated his post in Swallow on 29 September, upon his promotion to post-captain, while this was still ongoing.[12][15][14] By 30 September little progress had been made despite the assistance of frequent bombardments of the defences by the squadron, and with the monsoon season approaching the invasion was abandoned. The army began its march back to Fort St. David on 6 October.[16][17]

Commander Andrew Cockburn arrived as the replacement for Clements on 9 October.

paid off (ending Swallow's current commission). The ship was surveyed on 12 April but stayed in ordinary (a form of mothballing) until June 1755 when she was sent to Deptford for a repair, and to be converted into a ship-sloop.[20][21] This work cost £3,370 and was completed in November of the same year.[20] While undergoing her conversion Swallow was recommissioned by Commander Henry Angel on 24 July, and she afterwards joined the Downs Station.[20][22]

Downs Station and Western Squadron

In late February 1756 Swallow was at

Battle of Saint Cast in September, only the latter of which was unsuccessful.[20] Lendrick left Swallow on 11 September and on 3 January 1759 Commander Francis Banks assumed command of the ship.[20][26][27] Swallow was subsequently tasked with protecting convoys of supply ships that were being sent out to Admiral Sir Edward Hawke's fleet off Brest.[20][26] On 15 November she sighted the French fleet of the Comte de Conflans as it escaped from Brest on its way to its encounter with Hawke at the Battle of Quiberon Bay on 20 November.[20]

Swallow continued under Banks until 14 April 1760 when he was promoted to post-captain and replaced by Lieutenant

Oleron.[20][30] Some time in mid-February Cranston began to intermittently be replaced in command of Swallow by Lieutenant Robert Brice, who captured the 10-gun privateer snow Le Sultan off Bayonne on 28 February.[20][31]

In March, and with Cranston in command, Swallow was readying to leave port to patrol the

court martial. Two were sentenced to be hanged, but the executions were commuted after it was discovered that they had been encouraged in their actions by Swallow's boatswain. Naval historian Brian Lavery argues that because of this, the event cannot be described as a true "general mutiny".[32] On 3 July Brice was promoted to commander, assuming full command of Swallow and staying in her until he left to command the 8-gun bomb vessel HMS Basilisk on 19 October; he was replaced by Commander James Mackenzie on 7 April 1762.[20][33][34] On 1 May Swallow was the lead escort to the ship that conveyed Lord Halifax, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, from Dublin to Parkgate in Cheshire.[35] Swallow served under Mackenzie until after the Seven Years' War ended, when she was paid off on 24 May 1763.[20][34]

Exploration ship

Outward journey

HMS Dolphin and HMS Swallow, by Samuel Wallis, c. 1767

The ship was surveyed on 17 August 1763 and subsequently received a small repair at Chatham Dockyard between February and August 1766, at the cost of £3,915. On 1 July she was recommissioned by Commander Philip Carteret as an exploration ship for the Pacific Ocean.[20][36] The expedition, commanded by Captain Samuel Wallis in the 24-gun frigate HMS Dolphin, was setting out to better John Byron's earlier attempt, which Carteret had been a part of and which had discovered nothing.[37] Swallow was chosen as a consort ship for Dolphin at short notice because the return of the 16-gun sloop HMS Tamar, Dolphin's expected consort, had been delayed because she was undergoing repairs in the West Indies.[38][39] When Carteret first arrived onboard Swallow, he considered the ship to be unfit for the expedition and asked for alterations to be made, but many of these were refused.[40] Carteret wrote in his journal that the ship was "one of the worst, if not the very worst, of her kind; in his majesty's Navy, and was in every respects, but indifferently fitted out."[41] The ship was much slower than Dolphin, and George Robertson, her master, called her "poor Dull Swall" and stated she could only sail two feet for every three Dolphin sailed.[42][43]

The two ships sailed for the Pacific on 21 August, but the working relationship between Carteret and Wallis had already begun to break down, and Wallis initially refused to tell Swallow's captain about their exploration plans, leaving him for three weeks to believe that they were tasked with re-provisioning

store ship Prince Frederick, which had been sailing in company with the expedition, left to go to Port Egmont, having provided further supplies for the other two ships.[47]

On 17 December the expedition began its journey through the Strait of Magellan, with Swallow tasked to lead the two vessels through the difficult geography of the strait despite her lack of manoeuvrability.[46][48] After ten days, with Swallow often having to be towed by her small boats, the ships reached Port Famine on 27 December and began a refit. They stayed at the port for three weeks, giving Carteret time to make temporary modifications to Swallow, including lengthening her rudder, hoping to improve her performance. Swallow and Dolphin left Port Famine on 18 January 1767 with the former still in the lead. Friction between Carteret and Wallis continued to grow as Carteret attempted to have Swallow replaced as the lead vessel, his modifications not having done much to improve her.[47] Frequent stops in ports along the way combined with the necessity to often tow Swallow meant that the expedition only reached the western end of the strait, Cape Pilar, on 11 April.[Note 3] In the night of 10–11 April, as the two ships finally approached Cape Pilar, Dolphin passed Swallow and continued on, sailing out of sight by 9 am. Swallow was unable to catch up with her consort and did not see her again on the voyage.[Note 4][46][49]

Exploration

Swallow had been serving as a tender for Dolphin and had few supplies of her own on board, and no rendezvous had been agreed upon for if the ships lost each other.[51] With the wind against her, it took her four days to follow Dolphin into open seas. Carteret then made the decision to continue exploring on his own despite the failings of his vessel.[51][52] Swallow first sailed to the Juan Fernández Islands, expecting that there the crew would be able to prepare the ship for further exploration. Upon arriving there on 10 May Carteret discovered that the previously deserted location had been garrisoned by the Spanish without Britain's knowledge.[53] Unable to refit there, Swallow instead went to Masafuera where she succeeded in watering only after a struggle, as the island lacked a safe landing point.[51][54] Conditions continued to deteriorate through Swallow's two-week stay at Masafuera, and she left the island on 31 May.[55]

Carteret planned to go in search of Davis Land, a phantom island, on a path that would have taken Swallow to New Zealand, but the winds did not allow it and they were forced northwards before beginning to sail west.[55][56] Carteret discovered an island on 2 July, which he named Pitcairn after the midshipman who first spotted it.[56] Carteret described it as "scarce better than a large rock in the ocean".[55] By August the crew had begun to be beset by scurvy and Carteret set out to look for a safe haven to rest; they reached Santa Cruz Island, but only managed to get water onboard before they were forced away by attacks from the native islanders who were upset by the crew cutting down sacred trees.[56][57] Four men injured in the skirmish later died of tetanus. Having failed to replenish themselves, the crew was increasingly sickly (including Carteret) and Swallow continued to deteriorate.[57]

Having sailed from Santa Cruz, Carteret ignored his junior officer's requests to sail straight for

St. George's Channel.[56][58] At New Britain Swallow was careened and fruit was found for the scurvy sufferers. Carteret sailed on 9 September, intending to make contact with Mindanao, but the locals there warned off Swallow's landing boat with two large cannon and then chased the ship in three boats.[59]

Return journey

With forty members of his crew unable to work the ship, Carteret then headed for Batavia. They arrived at the Dutch port of

Bonthain further down the coast, where Swallow restocked and stayed from 21 December 1767 to 22 May 1768.[60][61] They then sailed to Batavia, reaching the town on 3 June and departing on 25 September after further disagreements with the Dutch authorities, whose opinions of Carteret had already been soured by his behaviour at Makassar.[62][63] Swallow then travelled briefly to Java for some more provisions, and was then able to sail for England.[56][64]

On her journey home Swallow stopped at Cape Town, Saint Helena, and Ascension Island. Having left Ascension, on 19 February 1769 Swallow was caught up with by the French circumnavigator Louis Antoine de Bougainville, who had been following the path of the British expedition. Bougainville was sailing in secrecy, and pretended to Carteret that he was from the French East India Company; the British did not discover that the French ship had actually been a rival until much later when comparing their notes.[56][64] Swallow's deficiencies were also clear to the Frenchman as he passed her, with Bougainville later writing that "[Swallow] was very small, went very ill, and when we took leave of [Carteret], he remained as it were at anchor. How much he must have suffered in so bad a vessel, may well be conceived".[65]

Swallow arrived at Spithead on 20 March, ten months after Dolphin's return.[56][64] Naval historian Bernard Ireland has compared Swallow's voyage positively to Dolphin's, saying that while Wallis "proved a timid explorer...Carteret showed more mettle".[66] However, historian Derek Wilson argues that Swallow's voyage was still unfortunate, with Carteret's wish to sail unknown (and often uninhabited) waters meaning that the ship missed several opportunities for replenishment and lost the opportunity to discover Tahiti, as Dolphin did on a more northerly course.[55] Swallow was paid off on 12 April of the year of her return, and then sold at Deptford on 20 June for £545.[20][36]

Prizes

Vessels captured or destroyed for which Swallow's crew received full or partial credit
Date Ship Nationality Type Fate Ref.
4 May 1757 Le Faucon French 10-gun privateer Captured [20]
9 January 1761 Le Vautour French 4-gun privateer Captured [20]
12 February 1761 Le Tigre French Letter of marque Captured [20]
28 February 1761 Le Sultan French 10-gun privateer snow Captured [20]

Notes and citations

Notes

  1. tons burthen.[3]
  2. ^ These conversions were the precursor to the Royal Navy adopting purpose-built ship-sloops.[9]
  3. ^ In comparison, Francis Drake had made the same journey in seventeen days.[49]
  4. ^ The two captains disagreed over why Swallow and Dolphin were separated at this point. Wallis argued that he was forced to continue without Swallow because increasingly bad weather stopped him from turning back, while Carteret believed that Dolphin had abandoned the slow-sailing Swallow as soon as her usefulness within the straits had come to an end.[50]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Winfield (2007), p. 1435.
  2. ^ Winfield (2007), p. 1416.
  3. ^ a b c d Winfield (2007), p. 1422.
  4. ^ a b McLaughlan (2014), p. 171.
  5. ^ Winfield (2007), p. 1417.
  6. ^ Clowes (1898), p. 311.
  7. ^ McLaughlan (2014), p. 174.
  8. ^ Winfield (2007), p. 1423.
  9. ^ McLaughlan (2014), p. 219.
  10. ^ McLaughlan (2014), p. 173.
  11. ^ "No. 8605". The London Gazette. 10 January 1746. p. 1.
  12. ^ a b Winfield (2007), pp. 1435–1436.
  13. ^ "No. 8830". The London Gazette. 7 March 1748. p. 1.
  14. ^ a b c "No. 8830". The London Gazette. 7 March 1748. p. 2.
  15. ^ Harrison (2019), p. 114.
  16. ^ "No. 8830". The London Gazette. 7 March 1748. p. 4.
  17. ^ Clowes (1898), p. 131.
  18. ^ Harrison (2019), p. 117.
  19. ^ "No. 8922". The London Gazette. 23 January 1749. p. 1.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Winfield (2007), p. 1436.
  21. ^ Harrison (2019), p. 452.
  22. ^ a b Harrison (2019), p. 33.
  23. ^ "No. 9557". The London Gazette. 21 February 1756. p. 3.
  24. ^ "No. 9696". The London Gazette. 14 June 1757. p. 3.
  25. ^ "No. 9857". The London Gazette. 30 December 1758. p. 3.
  26. ^ a b c Harrison (2019), p. 45.
  27. ^ Harrison (2019), p. 310.
  28. ^ Harrison (2019), p. 133.
  29. ^ "No. 10168". The London Gazette. 22 December 1761. p. 6.
  30. ^ "No. 10085". The London Gazette. 7 March 1761. p. 2.
  31. ^ "No. 10084". The London Gazette. 3 March 1761. p. 2.
  32. ^ Lavery (2021), p. 75.
  33. ^ Harrison (2019), p. 78.
  34. ^ a b Harrison (2019), p. 329.
  35. ^ "No. 10206". The London Gazette. 4 May 1762. p. 3.
  36. ^ a b Harrison (2019), p. 103.
  37. ^ Clowes (1899), p. 119.
  38. ^ Wallis (1965), p. 19.
  39. ^ Wilson (2003), p. 161.
  40. ^ Wallis (1965), p. 21.
  41. ^ Wallis (1965), p. 106.
  42. ^ Robertson & Carrington (1948), p. 98.
  43. ^ Wallis (1965), p. 24.
  44. ^ Rodger (1988), p. 199.
  45. ^ Wilson (2003), p. 162.
  46. ^ a b c Clowes (1899), p. 120.
  47. ^ a b Wilson (2003), p. 163.
  48. ^ Wilson (2003), pp. 162–163.
  49. ^ a b Wilson (2003), p. 164.
  50. ^ Wilson (2003), pp. 164–166.
  51. ^ a b c Clowes (1899), p. 121.
  52. ^ Wilson (2003), p. 166.
  53. ^ Wilson (2003), pp. 170–171.
  54. ^ Wilson (2003), p. 171.
  55. ^ a b c d Wilson (2003), p. 172.
  56. ^ a b c d e f g h Clowes (1899), p. 122.
  57. ^ a b Wilson (2003), p. 174.
  58. ^ Wilson (2003), p. 175.
  59. ^ Wilson (2003), p. 176.
  60. ^ a b c Wilson (2003), p. 177.
  61. ^ Beaglehole 1947, p. 253.
  62. ^ Wallis 1965, p. 93.
  63. ^ Wilson (2003), p. 178.
  64. ^ a b c Wilson (2003), pp. 179–180.
  65. ^ Bougainville & Forster (1772), p. 467.
  66. ^ Ireland (2000), pp. 63–64.

References

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