HMS Shannon (1803)

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The third HMS Shannon was a 36-gun wooden frigate of the British Royal Navy built at Frindsbury on the River Medway on the Thames Estuary. She was completed on the 3 September 1803 during the Napoleonic Wars, but her name was changed from HMS Pallas to Shannon shortly before construction, traditionally an omen of bad luck for a ship.

She was attached to the Channel fleet, and spent the next few months under her captain, Edward Leveson Gower on patrol off the Cape La Hogue searching for French coastal shipping and privateers attempting to slip out of the Normandy port of Cherbourg. She was accompanied in this task by the 18-gun brig HMS Merlin.

At 8pm on the 10 December 1803, 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, the captain lost his position after losing sight of the Barfleur lighthouse. Assuming he had sea room, he attempted to wear around, and was caught by a lee tide and crashed straight onto the rocks. Her compatriot Merlin spotted the land in a lighting strike, and was able to wear off in time. The crew of the Shannon were all able to scramble ashore unharmed, where they were made prisoners by the French troops garrisoning the battery above the wreck.

The Merlin stood back into shore the following day, and at 11.30am despatched two boats of marines and sailors to destroy the wreck of the Shannon and thus 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.

For other ships of the name, see HMS Shannon

[edit] References

  • Grocott, Terence, Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary & Napoleonic Eras, Caxton Editions, Great Britain: 2002. ISBN 1-84067-164-5.
  • James W.M., The Naval History of Great Britain, Vol. 3, Conway, Great Britain: 2002 (originally published 1827). ISBN 0-85177-907-7.
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