| Career (UK) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Mutine |
| In service: | Captured in a cutting out action on 29 May 1797 |
| Fate: | Sold in 1807 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 16-gun brig-sloop |
| Tons burthen: | 34954/94 (bm) |
| Length: |
104 ft 6 in (31.85 m) (overall) |
| Beam: | 28 ft (8.5 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 13 ft (4.0 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Complement: |
|
| Armament: |
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HMS Mutine was a French 16-gun corvette launched in 1794 at Honfleur. The Royal Navy captured her from the French in May 1797 at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Mutine was sold in 1803.
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Mutine was under the command of Citizen Xavier Paumier, Capitain de Frigate. She sailed from Brest on 8 May 1797 for Île de France and had put into the Bay of Santa Cruz on 26 May to take on water. Captain Paumier was on shore at the time of her capture.[1]
Lieutenant Thomas Hardy captured Mutine on 29 May during the battle for Santa Cruz. (Hardy would later become Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson's flag captain at the Battle of Trafalgar). Hardy led a cutting out party using boats from Minerve and Lively and was able to board and capture the vessel. He then sailed her out of the port to the British fleet under heavy fire from shore and naval guns. Hardy was wounded during the action, as were 14 of the other British officers and men in the cutting out party.[1]
Mutine was subsequently formally commissioned into the Royal Navy on 8 August 1797.[2] Hardy was already in command of her, Captain Benjamin Howell having appointed him as a reward for the capture.[1] This was the first ship Hardy would command.[3]
On 5 June 1798 Mutine met up with Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson at St. Pietro, Sardinia, that ten ships of the line and a 50-gun ship were on their way to join him. When they did, Earl St. Vincent's orders were that Nelson should then seek out the French Toulon fleet. Nelson deployed his three third rates and Mutine in a screen while waiting for his reinforcements. The third rates Vanguard and Orion captured two Spanish merchantmen (out of a flotilla of 15), before Nelson ordered his vessels to abandon the chase. Once Nelson had met up with the British ships of the line that were joining him, he sent Mutine, his sole scouting vessel, to Civitavecchia to seek information about the whereabouts of the French. Mutine later rejoined Nelson without having found out anything.[4] Mutine also visited Naples and Alexandria, arriving and leaving before the French fleet arrived, while seeking news of the French fleet. Eventually, Nelson and the French met off Egypt.
Under Hardy, Mutine was present at the Battle of the Nile on 1 and 2 August 1798.[2] During the battle she came to the assistance of Culloden, which had run aground, and so did not directly participate in the fighting herself. After the British victory, Leander was sent to carry the dispatches of the battle, but was captured before she could deliver them. Mutine had been sent out on 13 August with a second copy, under the command of Lieutenant Thomas Bladen Capel, and so became the first ship to report the victory, when she arrived at Naples on 3 September. Capel then traveled overland and arrived with the dispatches at the Admiralty on 2 October.[5]
In February 1799, Commander William Hoste assumed command,[2] and was employed carrying dispatches for Nelson. Mutine returned from these duties in early 1799, by which time the French had occupied Naples. Mutine was tasked to sail off the coast to keep watch on their activities. She was refitted at Port Mahon in the summer of 1799, and then was present at the surrender of the French garrison at Civitavecchia on 21 September. Culloden, Minotaur, Mutine, Transfer, and the bomb vessel Perseus shared in the prize money for the capture of the town and fortress.[6] The British also captured the French polacca Il Reconniscento.[7]
Mutine was still in the Mediterranean in 1800. On 19 January she captured the ship Signor Delia Providenza, which was sailing from Marseilles to Genoa with a cargo of corn and wine, and another vessel of unknown name whose crew had deserted. She was carrying a cargo of corn and a few bales of leather.[8]
On 20 February, Mutine recaptured the Ragusan brig Nova Sorte, which was sailing from Barcelona to Leghorn, carrying wine.[8] The commissioned and warrant officers of Minotaur, Phaeton, Santa Dorothea, and Entreprenante shared in the prize money by agreement.[9]
Then on 5 March Mutine recaptured another Ragusan brig, the Madona del Grazie, which was sailing the same route and carrying the same cargo as the Nova Sorte.[8] The commissioned and warrant officers of Santa Dorothea shared by agreement.[10]
The next day Mutine captured a Ragusan brig sailing from Barcelona bound to Leghorn, but carrying sundry merchandise.[11] On 7 March, Mutine captured the Genoese polacre ship II Volante, sailing from Especia to Leghorn with a cargo of iron, coffee, etc.[8] Two days later, Mutine captured the Genoese polacre Volante, which was sailing from Genoa to Cagliari with a cargo of iron, coffee, etc.[11]
On 29 March Mutine captured the privateer Victoire. Victoire was armed with two guns and carried a crew of 28 men.[11]
On 14 April, Phaeton and Peterell captured the St. Rosalia. Mutine, Minotaur, Santa Dorothea, Entreprenante and Cameleon shared with Phaeton by agreement.[12]
On 3 May, Mutine, Phaeton and Cameleon captured eight vessels in Anguilla Bay:[11][13]
Five days later they captured eleven Genoese vessels.[11] The captured the first eight at St Remo:[13]
Mutine was in company with Corso when they destroyed one Genoese vessel on 24 July and captured three others on 25 July:[14]
On 20 August Mutine took the Dangerouse, a lateen vessel privateer of two guns and four swivel guns. Dangerouse was sailing from Bastia to Toulon.[15]
Then on 2 September Mutine intercepted and captured the French brig Due Fratelli, in ballast.[16] She also captured the Piccolo Tobia.[17]
On 1 February 1801, Mutine and Caroline captured the Swedish brig Active, which was sailing from Mogadore to Leghorn with a cargo of hides.[16] Later that month Mutine met the cutter Joseph at Minorca. Mutine transferred to Joseph dispatches from Egypt for Britain and the news that Rear-Admiral Warren's squadron had been following Admiral Ganteaume's squadron, which had been taking troops to Egypt but had lost the French during a gale off Sardinia. However, Ganteaume had had to return to Toulon after three of his ships of the line had lost their masts. Joseph arrived in Plymouth on 7 May. Mutine took Joseph's dispatches on to Egypt.[18]
In 1801 she sailed to Trieste, and in 1802, under the command of Lord William FitzRoy, she sailed to Portsmouth, arriving on 4 September and then sailing for Chatham on 9 September to be paid off. She was sold in 1803.