|
FORWARD
|
(14) |
Gunvessel
|
Built in 1805, Berwick.
Sold in 1815. |
|
|
- 1805 Lieut. SHEILS, North Sea/Downs.
At 3 AM
on 7 February 1806, some 20 miles S. W. by W. of Dunnose FORWARD fell in with a French privateer lugger and captured her after a chase of half an hour. She was LA RANCUNE, Capt. Foliot, with only four guns mounted although pierced for sixteen.
Two of the enemy were wounded.
The privateer had sailed from Cherbourg 12 hours earlier but had taken nothing. - On 25 April 1808, off the harbour of Flodsrand, near the Scaw, FORWARD towed into the shore three boats from DAPHNE and two from TARTARUS to attack Danish shipping there.
- 1810 Lieut. Henry BANKES, Leith.
On 19 July 1810 FORWARD was some 25 miles S. S.W.
of the Naze of Norway escorting a westbound convoy of 42 vessels when, at 2 o'clock in the morning, Lieut. BANKES saw seven vessels which he took to be another convoy.
Half an hour later he could see that five of them were brigs of war so he made the challenge, signal No.
279, to them and, on receiving no answer, concluded that they were Danes.
He signalled the convoy that an enemy was in sight and that they should stand to the eastward but when the enemy ships hoisted Danish colours and started firing they all brought to and made no attempt to escape.
FOWARD was closely pressed by three of the brigs so Lieut. BANKES cut away one of his anchors and blew away his stern boat using his chase guns.
After an hour and a half the three brigs gave him a broadside before standing into the convoy so he made all sail towards two other convoys, one under SOLBAY and the other under HEBE, showing signal No.
457 and firing guns to attract their help.
The captain of HEBE directed him to join his convoy. - 1811 Lieut. Richard BANKS, re-fitting at Woolwich North Sea.
On the 14 May 1811 FORWARD's boat captured a Danish privateer with two guns and 13 men and on the 29 November he was fortunate enough to be waiting off Christiansand when a Danish privateer cutter COMMODORE SULLEN came out. She was captured after a chase of an hour and a half At sunset on 6 October 1813 FORWARD, accompanied by the BARBARA schooner, learnt that a small Danish armed vessel was standing towards an anchorage much frequented by English merchantmen, about 4 miles south of Wingo Sound.
Lieut. BANKS in his 5-oared boat with a Swedish pilot, accompanied by Lieut. MORGAN in the schooner's 4-oared gig immediately set off in search of the enemy.
At about 9 o'clock she was sighted under sail and, a quarter of an hour later, they attacked her from the starboard bow and larboard quarter - The Danish vessel, a cutter, was taken after a desperate fight in which five of her twenty-five crew were killed and her commander, a lieutenant in the Danish navy, severely wounded.
One man in each of the British boats was killed and Lieut. MORGAN and two of his men were wounded. - 1815 Ditto, Spithead.
FOUDROYANT (80).
(1798 Plymouth.
Guardship 1820) Capt. Sir Thomas BYARD, 06/1798.Channel station.
Sir Thomas died on 30 October 1798. - 1798 Capt. ELPHINSTONE, 12/1798.
Flagship of Vice Ad. Lord KEITH, 1799 Capt. Thomas HARDY, until 12 October 1799, Lord NELSON's flagship, Mediterranean.
NESON moved his flag from VANGUARD to FOUDROYANT at Palermo on 6 June 1799. - Capt. Sir Edward BERRY returned to the Mediterranean in the autumn of 1799 and took command of FOUDROYANT.
On 18 February the following year he was able to take part in the capture of his old opponent the GENEREUX (74) by which he had been taken prisoner in August 1798. - Earlier Lord KEITH, learning that the French were to attempt running reinforcements into Malta, had disposed his blockading ships to cover likely landing places.
FOUDROYANT, AUDACIOUS and NORTHUMBERLAND were to chase to windward, LION to cover the passage between Gozo and Malta, while QUEEN CHARLOTTE, PHAETON, MINORCA and a Neapolitan frigate kept close inshore off Valetta. - At daylight on the 18th. Lord NELSON in FOUDROYANT, in company with NORTHUMBERLAND, AUDACIOUS and EL CORSO, saw ALEXANDER in chase of a line-of-battle ship, three frigates and a corvette.
One of the frigates, the VILLE DE MARSEILLES, struck after a few shots were fired at her, and Capt. GOULD of AUDACIOUS and Capt. RICKETTS of EL CORSO took charge of her. She was loaded with salt meat, brandy, wine, clothing, stores, etc. - SUCCESS, being to leeward, raked the line-of-battle ship with several broadsides, suffering several casualties as she did so.
When FOUDROYANT and NORTHUMBERLAND came up the former fired two shot and the enemy fired a broadside and struck her colours. She was the GENEREUX, bearing the flag of Rear Ad. Perré e, carrying troops for the relief of Malta.
The enemy squadron had sailed from Toulon on the 7th. with nearly 4,000 troops and supplies.
The other ships escaped back to France.Lord NELSON sent Andrew THOMPSON, 1st. lieutenant of FOUDROYANT, to take charge of the prize. - Lord NELSON was taken ill at the beginning of March 1800 while off Malta and Capt. BERRY landed him at Palermo on the 16th.
On the 18th. he nearly died with the swelling of some vessels of the heart.
FOUDROYANT sailed on the 21st. without him. - On 29 March the GUILLAUME TELL (80) the only remaining ship which had escaped from Aboukir Bay, taking advantage of a strong southerly gale, sailed from Valetta in darkness after the moon had set.
The British batteries on Malta immediately set off signal rockets and she was sighted by Capt. BLACKWOOD of the PENELOPE and the news passed to Capt. DIXON of LION by MINORCA.
LION gave chase, guided solely by the gunfire of PENELOPE, and sent up a rocket and a showed a blue light every half hour to give a direction for the rest of the squadron FOUDROYANT laid the enemy alongside and was nearly unrigged by a broadside.
but she replied with a triple-shotted broadside which crashed through the side of the French ship.
The GUILLAUME TELL's main and mizzen masts were brought down and, at the same time, so were FOUDROYANT's fore-top-mast, jib boom and maintop-sail yard, and all her sails were in tatters. - The French ship refused to surrender until she had become a floating hulk with 200 men killed and wounded.
FOUDROYANT's loss was 8 men killed and 61 wounded.
Among the latter were Capt. BERRY, who was slightly wounded in the foot but did not leave the deck; Lieut. John Aitken BLOW; Philip BRIDGE, Boatswain; Messrs. Edward WEST, Granville PROBY, Thomas COLE, midshipmen.
The crippled condition of LION and FOUDROYANT made it necessary for Capt. BLACKWOOD to take charge of the prize and tow her to Syracuse. - FOUDROYANT expended 161 barrels of gunpowder, 1200 32-pound round shot, 1240 20-pound ditto, 100 18-pound ditto, and 200 12-pound ditto during the engagement.
- PENELOPE and VINCEJO received naval medals for their part in the action.
- On 24 April 1800 FOUDROYANT took Lord NELSON Palermo to Syracuse, arriving on the 30th. She was at Malta from 20 May until 1 June when she returned to Palermo.
On 5 June FOUDROYANT carried the Queen of Naples, her suite and Lord NELSON to Livorno, where they arrived on the evening of the 14th.
in a fresh gale. - By this time FOUDROYANT was in a bad state of repair and badly in need of a refit.
The idea of removing her caused panic in the palace but NELSON struck his flag at the end of the month and returned home overland with Sir William and Lady Hamilton, and the ship went to Minorca for a refit.
At the end of the year Sir Edward sailed for home in the PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. - 1801 Capt. STEVENSON, flagship of Vice Ad. Lord KEITH, Commander in Chief, Mediterranean.
- On 22 February 1801 Lord KEITH's fleet of warships and transports sailed from the harbour of Marmarice and reached Aboukir Bay on 2 March after encountering severe westerly gales on the passage.
On the 8th. the landings began and by evening the whole army was ashore.
FOUDROYANT had one seaman killed and one wounded.
Another seaman was wounded on 13 March when serving ashore with Sir William Sidney SMITH's naval brigade. - 1801 Capt. John Clarke SEARLE, flag captain to Lord KEITH during the Egyptian campaign, and he returned to Portsmouth with that officer on 3 July 1802.
FOUDROYANT was relieved of quarantine the following day, and his lordship landed. - On 14 July FOUDROYANT arrived at Plymouth from Spithead and went into the harbour.
On 3 August she was paid off and laid up in ordinary.
On 14 December FOUDROYANT and SALVADOR DEL MUNDO were hauled alongside the Jetty Head, preparatory to going into dock to be repaired.
They had to wait for TONNANT to come out of the large North Dock, and the completion of the breaking up of COURAGEUX - 1803 under repair at Plymouth.
On 19 June she was commissioned at Plymouth by Capt. RODD.
Later Rear Ad. DACRES hoisted his flag in her.
He struck it again on 29 October and shifted to PRINCE, while Rear Ad. Sir Thomas GRAVES hoisted his flag, as Rear ad.
of the White, at the mizzen of FOUDROYANT. - At the beginning of November FOUDROYANT, now commanded by Capt. SPICER, remained at the lower moorings in the Hamoaze because the wind was blowing so hard from the E. N.E., but on the 12th. she managed to move into Cawsand Bay.
On the 24th., JAMAICA, turning out of Cawsand Bay, got foul of FOUDROYANT. - She sailed to join the Channel fleet but was back on the 26 December after a hurricane from the south-west hit the area on Christmas morning, wrecking shipping in Cawsand Bay and continued until the end of the year.
FOUDROYANT lost her fore top-sail-yard and top-gallant-mast, with some slight damage to her upper works. She had been the most to leeward of any of the fleet and great fears had been entertained for her safety since the IMPETUEUX was at one time rolling with her quarter-deck guns in the water.
FOUDROYANT ran down a Dutch galliot in the Channel, but the crew were saved.
Lighters were sent into Cawsand Bay from the dockyard with spars, spare anchors, cables, cordage and guns of all sorts, to repair the damage. - FOUDROYANT and MARS attempted to sail on the evening of the 6 January, but the wind dropped to a complete calm which lasted through the next day.
In February Rear Ad. GRAVES relieved Rear Ad. COLLINGWOOD in command of the inshore squadron off Brest.
The fleet was divided into three squadrons, inshore, providing the close blockade, offshore, providing support, and the cruising squadron, intercepting supplies.
FOUDROYANT returned to Plymouth for a refit on 26 March. - 1804-5 Capt. Christopher John Williams NESHAM, Flagship of Rear Ad. Sir Thomas GRAVES.
- 1805 Capt. Peter PAGET, Sir Thomas GRAVES.
FOUDROYANT was at anchor in Quiberon Bay in January 1805 when the schooner FELIX brought the news that five days earlier, on 12 January, an enemy squadron had sailed from Rochefort.
One three-deckers, five two-deckers, two frigates and two brigs had vanished into the stormy Atlantic.
Sir Thomas made sail but found it impossible to weather the shore on either tack and was forced to re-anchor his squadron in the bay. - FOUDROYANT received some damage and, on the night of Friday 15 February, she was completely stripped and went into dock in Plymouth to be examined, the Admiral's flag still flying at the mizzen.
The damage was not as bad as first thought and, with several gangs of shipwrights and caulkers working night and day on her, she was hauled out again on the Monday morning, her bottom repaired and newly caulked and coppered.
Immediately she came out THUNDERER was taken in to have her bottom examined. - The French ships under Rear Ad. Missiessy, many suffering major damage from the weather, crossed to the West Indies and reached Martinique on 22 February.
After capturing 33 British merchant vessels and making an abortive attempt on Dominica, the French admiral received orders to return to Rochefort.
On arrival there, on 20 May, he found that he was supposed to have remained at Martinique to await Villeneuve. - In April FOUDROYANT was in port under repair, but available at 24 hours notice, and in the first week of June Rear Ad. GRAVES was ordered to take BARFLEUR, WINDSOR CASTLE, REPULSE, TRIUMPH, WARRIOR, RAISONNABLE and EGYPTIENNE, under his orders, and blockade Rochefort.
At the end of 1805 Capt. Wilson RATHBORNE was appointed to FOUDROYANT out of the SANTA MARGARITTA, but he was unwilling to move from a cruising frigate to a blockading ship and Capt. LORING, who was appointed to succeed him, refrained from taking command until their Lordships changed their orders.
Capt. PUGET was appointed instead. - 1806 Capt. DOUGLAS, Flagship of Vice Ad. Sir John Borlase WARREN.
On 13 March 1806 LONDON, stationed to the windward of the squadron, made the signal for a strange sail.
Sir John ordered the squadron to wear, and soon observed the LONDON in action with a large ship and a frigate, an action which continued as the enemy attempted to escape.
The AMAZON joined in, attacking the frigate, and when the rest of the squadron came up the two struck their colours.
An officer came on board FOUDROYANT with Ad. Linois' sword and informed Sir John that the ships were the MARENGO (80) and BELLE POULE (40), returning to France from the East Indies. - The MARENGO was conducted into port by FOUDROYANT's first lieutenant, Booty HARVEY, who was promoted to commander in May.
Both prizes were taken into the Royal Navy. - 1807 Capt. Norborne THOMPSON, blockading the coast of Portugal.
- 1809 Flag ship of Sir W. Sidney SMITH at Rio de Janeiro.
Cdr. John DAVIE commanded her from January until May 1809, acting until the return of Capt. Yeo, who was to be flag captain when he returned from a cruise. - 1811 Capt. R. T. HANCOCK, flagship of Vice Ad. Hon. M. DE COURCY, Brazils.
Returned in the autumn of 1812.
|
|
|
