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JASON
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(32) |
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Built in 1804, Woolwich.
Broken up in 1815. |
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- 1805 Capt. P. William CHAMPAIN, flagship of Rear Ad. Hon. Alexander COCHRANE, Leeward Is.
- On 13 October 1805, in the Atlantic west of Barbados, JASON captured the French national corvette NAIADE after a chase of nine hours. Pierced for 22 guns, she mounted sixteen long 12-pounders and four brass 2-pound swivels. Her Lieut. Hamond commanded a crew of 170 men. She had come out from France the previous March with the Toulon squadron and was 15 days out of Martinique on a two months' cruise. One of the largest brigs in the French service she was taken into the Royal Navy as MELVILLE.
A Spanish schooner, the THREE SCHOONERS, was taken by JASON the same day. - 1806 Capt. Thomas John COCHRANE, 04/1806, Leeward Is. He was the eldest son of Sir Alexander.
- On 1 June 1806 Lieut. John Julius KERR was sent in JASON's barge with two other boats, including one from the schooner MARIA, under his command to destroy a battery, supposedly containing only one gun, near Aguadilla on the N. W. side of Porto Rico. The barge grounded on coral, plunging the men breast high into the water and destroying their ammunition and leaving them stranded under heavy fire from the Spaniards in the fort. To avoid certain destruction if he retreated, Lieut. KERR attacked, and succeeded in carrying the fort with the loss of several men killed and wounded. Among the former was the acting master of the MARIA who was hit by four musket balls at the same moment.
The battery was found to contain one long 24-pounder, three brass twelve, an 8-pounder and a field piece. The latter was quickly turned on the Spaniards hiding in the woods. Unfortunately a spark ignited loose powder which blew up the magazine.
Lieut. KERR was injured by a splinter and was badly burnt in the face. Only 18 of the 40 men in the boats remained uninjured. The Patriotic Fund distributed rewards to the wounded sailors and presented Lieut. KERR with a sword worth 100 pounds.
(In June 1808 Lieut KERR became flag lieutenant to his patron, Sir Alexander COCHRANE, and later commanded JULIA and WOLVERINE.) - In January 1807 Capt. COCHRANE received orders by the sloop OSPREY to search the coast of Surinam for the British sloop FAVOURITE, which had been captured by the French off Cape Verde the previous January He discovered her, in company with a brig, some 26 miles N. by W. of the Soramine River at daylight on the 27th. After a short action she surrendered with one man killed and one wounded, and very much cut up in her sails and rigging. She was commanded by Lieut. Le Marant Daniel with 150 men. JASON had only one man wounded. The brig, which kept out of gunshot to windward made her escape. FAVOURITE was restored to the Royal Navy as GOREE.
- After the capture of the Danish West Indian islands, Sir Alexander bestowed the office of harbour master at Fredericksted and Christiansted, in St. Croix, on his son; but Lord Castlereagh set these appointments aside in favour of his uncle Lord George SEYMOUR. While JASON was in New York at the end of August a boat which went ashore with a lieutenant was surrounded by a mob which invited the crew to desert. The men left the boat and when the officer drew a pistol he was immediately surrounded and would have been tarred and feathered if it had not been for the intervention of an American naval captain. Back on the ship the crew mutinied and placed shot boxes on the gratings to prevent the officers coming up while they attempted to lower the boats. But the officers managed to break out and the first lieutenant with a boarding pike and the others with small arms forced the mutineers below where they surrendered. Forty five were put in irons and taken to Halifax for court martial.
- Capt. COCHRANE was appointed to ETHALION.
- 1809 Capt. William MAUDE, from ULYSSES, employed on the blockade of Guadeloupe.
While cruising off Basse-Terre on the morning of 22 January 1809 JASON received a signal from CLEOPATRA that a strange sail was in sight to the northward. When JASON came up with CLEOPATRA he found that Capt. PECHELL was engaging a French frigate which had anchored under a small battery. When JASON came to on the enemy's quarter and opened with her bow guns the French soon struck. After the battery had been silenced the frigate was found to be the TOPAZE (48) armed with long eighteen and 32-pounder carronades. She had sailed from Rochefort with flour for the French colonies.
TOPAZE had been chased by the HAZARD sloop since daylight and only contrary winds had prevented her Capt. CAMERON from bringing her to action. Capt. MAUDE left the prize in the charge of CLEOPATRA and HAZARD and returned to relieve CHERUB which was watching another enemy frigate at Basse-Terre.
TOPAZE was renamed JEWEL and Capt. James KING took temporary command of her until June. Capt. MAUDE was appointed to JEWEL in September. - 1809 Capt. Hon James William KING, 06/1809. Capt. Charles NAPIER, 08/1809, before removing to THAMES.
- 1811 Capt. KING, Spithead Gibraltar.
- 1812 Ditto, Jamaica.
- 1814, ditto, North Sea Downs.
JASON bore the flag of the Duke of Clarence when he escorted Louis XVIII to France in April 1814. Later she conveyed the Russian Emperor Alexander and the King of Prussia from England to Calais. - 1815 Plymouth.
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