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BUZZARD
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The French LUTINE taken by CARYSFORD and AGAMEMNON in the Leeward Islands on 24 March 1806. Renamed HAWKE, she was renamed BUZZARD in 1813.
Sold in 1815. |
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- See HAWKE for history prior to 1813.
- 1813 John SMITH (2). He was promoted out of RIFLEMAN on 3 July 1812 and appointed to BUZZARD which was fitting out for the Mediterranean station.
In 1813 he was employed in the blockade of Valencia which was occupied by a French army under Marshal Suchet. When he heard from a Spaniard that the French were about to evacuate the place and that several vessels lying inside the mole were loaded with plunder and were preparing to sail for France, he decided that they might be taken by a sudden attack. BUZZARD stood in under Greek colours but came under fire from both mole heads which mounted several long 24-pounders. Capt. Smith had assumed that the guns had been spiked by the retreating French but BUZZARD immediately returned the fire and cleared first one mole head and then the other. However when troops began to pour down from Valencia and it was impossible to bring BUZZARD's guns to bear on both moles at the same time, Capt. SMITH decided to retire and anchor out of gun range. Here he called on some armed Gibraltar smugglers for assistance and they forced the enemy, unable to escape by sea, to unload the booty and carry it into the town. After the evacuation Capt. SMITH took possession of three privateers and sent them to Alicante were, despite certificates from a Spanish General that they were lawful prizes of BUZZARD, they were successfully claimed by the Spanish government.
BUZZARD, meanwhile had moved to Tarragona. - On 11 September, while BUZZARD was sailing down the Mediterranean towards Gibraltar, the boom guy broke from a heavy roll of the ship and the 60 ft boom crushed Capt. SMITH against the sharp edge of the larboard round house contusing the liver and injuring his left kidney. He was carried in an almost lifeless state to his cabin where more than a month elapsed before he could leave his bed.
BUZZARD paid off in October 1814, at which time Capt. SMITH pleaded for help towards his medical expenses a commander's half pay did not go far to support a wife and five children but, although he was subject to a discharge of blood from the kidneys, his injuries were not equivalent to the loss of a limb and he received no compensation.
The following year he was appointed to ALERT.
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