| Career (UK) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Peterel[A 1] |
| Ordered: | 18 February 1793[5] |
| Builder: | John Wilson, Frindsbury[1] |
| Cost: | £7,924[5] |
| Laid down: | May 1793[5] |
| Launched: | 3 April 1794[1] |
| Completed: | June 1794[5] |
| Fate: | Sold 11 July 1827[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 16-gun Pylades-class ship-sloop |
| Tons burthen: | 365 tons bm[1] |
| Length: | 105 ft (32.00 m) (overall) |
| Beam: | 28 ft (8.5 m)[1] |
| Draught: | 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)[5] |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Three-masted ship |
| Complement: | 121 |
| Armament: |
Initial armament:
Later:
|
HMS Peterel[A 1] was a 16-gun Pylades-class ship-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 4 April 1794 and was in active service until 1811. Her most famous action was the capture of the Ligurienne; shortly after Peterel captured two merchant ships and sent them off with prize crews she was attacked by three French ships and drove two on shore, and captured the 14-gun Ligurienne. She was converted to a receiving ship at Plymouth in 1811 and was sold in 1827.
Contents |
Peterel was part of the six ship Pylades-class ship-sloops designed by Sir John Henslow.[6] Peterel was built by John Wilson & Company of Frindsbury, and measured 365 57⁄94 tons bm with a total length of 105ft 1in. She was initially armed with 16 6-pound guns and 4 ½-pounder swivel guns and carried a complement of 121 men. She was later re-armed with sixteen 24-pounder carronades on the upper deck, with six 12-pounder carronades on the quarterdeck and two 12-pounder carronades on the forecastle. She was ordered on 18 February 1793, she was laid down in May and launched on 4 April 1794. She moved to Chatham to be fitted-out and have her hull covered with copper plates between 4 April and July 1794; at her completion she had cost £7,694 to build including fitting.[5]
Peterel was commissioned in April 1794 under her first captain, Commander Stephen Church. He was succeeded in October that year by Commander Edward Leveson-Gower, who was in turn replaced in July 1795 by Commander Charles Ogle. Peterel was at this stage assigned to the squadron in the Downs.[5] Commander John Temple succeeded Ogle in January 1796, and Peterel went out later that year to join Horatio Nelson's squadron patrolling off Genoa. Temple was replaced by Commander Philip Wodehouse at some point during this service.[5] Peterel's next captain was Commander William Proby, Lord Proby, who took over in March 1797 though by August that year he had been replaced by Commander Thomas Caulfield. At some later stage she was commanded by Lieutenant Adam Drummond, who was followed by Commander Henry Digby.[5] Under Digby's command Peterel was involved in the capture of the 12-gun French privateer Léopard on 30 April 1798.[5] Digby's replacement in October that year was to be Commander Hugh Downman, but in November Captain George Long was in command, serving with John Duckworth's squadron at Minorca.[7][5]
Carrying 26 guns[8], On 13 November 1798 she was captured by the Spanish 40-gun frigate Flora in company with the 40-gun Proserpina and the 34-gun ships Pomona and Casilda, whilst operating off Minorca. One of the Spanish ships fired a broadside after she surrendered.[9] After removing the prisoners from the ship, the Spanish plundered their clothes and possessions, murdering a seaman who attempted to defend his property.[10]
Following the Capture of Minorca by the British expedition under Commodore John Duckworth, the Spanish squadron fell in with a large British squadron, and were forced to abandon the Peterel in their escape.[11] She was recaptured the next day by HMS Argo.[5] Most of the clothes belonging to Captain Long and his officers were subsequently recovered.[12] This charge of ill-usage was officially contradicted in the Madrid Gazette of 12 April, but was, nevertheless, essentially true.[13] The Spanish squadron, already being chased the next day by several British ships, completely outsailed their pursuers and returned to Cartagena with the prisoners.[14] After a detention of 14 days at Cartagena, Lieutenant Staines and his fellow prisoners were embarked in a merchant brig bound to Malaga; but they did not arrive there until 24 December, a westerly wind having obliged the vessel to anchor off Almeria, where she was detained upwards of three weeks, and her passengers confined on shore during that period.[15] From Malaga, the British were marched to Gibraltar, under a strong escort of soldiers, who treated both officers and men with great brutality, but particularly Lieutenant Staines, who received a sabre wound in the wrist, whilst parrying a blow which one of those soldiers had aimed at his head.[16] On their arrival at the rock, a court-martial was assembled to investigate the circumstances attending their capture by the Spanish squadron; and as no blame could be attached to any individual, the whole of them were sent back to the Peterel immediately after their acquittal.[17]
Commander George Jones took over after Peterel had been taken back into service in February 1799, though by July Francis Austen, the brother of author Jane Austen and future Admiral of the Fleet, was in command.[5]
In March 1800, Peterel was sailing near Marseille with the frigate HMS Mermaid. On 21 March, Peterel spotted a large convoy with three escorts: the brig-sloop Ligurienne armed with fourteen 6-pounders and two 36-pounder carronades, the corvette Cerf and the xebec Lejoille. Peterel captured two merchant ships and sent them off with prize crews; later that afternoon the escorts caught up to Peterel and attacked. The Mermaid was nearby but was a great distance to leeward and was unable to assist, and single-handedly Peterel drove the Cerf and Lejoille on shore, and after a 90 minute battle captured the Ligurienne with the French commander and one sailor killed and two sailors wounded and no British casualties. The Cerf was a total loss but the Lejoille was salvaged.[2]
Austen had been replaced by Commander Charles Inglis in June 1800, and went on to take part in operations against the French forces in Egypt.[5] From April 1802 until 1809 Peterel was under Commander John Lamborn, during which time she served in the West Indies. She captured a small privateer on the Jamaica station on 23 January 1805, and the 5-gun Spanish privateer Santa Anna off Cuba on 13 May 1805.[5] Peterel was fitted as a receiving ship at Plymouth in August 1811 and served until 1825. Peterel was sold to Joshua Crystall at Plymouth for £730 on 11 July 1827.[5]