HMS Swaggerer (1809)
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Swaggerer |
| Acquired: | by capture, 1809 |
| Fate: | Broken up, 1815 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Type: | Brig |
| Armament: | 8 × 18-pounder carronades 2 × 6-pounder guns |
HMS Swaggerer was a French privateer, the Bonaparte, captured in 1809. She served the Royal Navy in the Leeward Islands until broken up in 1815.
Career
The circumstances of Bonaparte 's capture are obscure and there are no details as to her dimensions.[1]
The British renamed her Swaggerer and armed her with eight 18-pounder carronades and two 6-pounder guns.[1] Lieutenant George James Evelyn, late of Eclair commissioned her on 8 February 1809.[2]
On 17 April 1809, Pompee captured the Hautpoult. Swaggerer was among the vessels entitled to share in the prize money.[Note 1] Thereafter, Swaggerer assisted at the capture of Martinique, The Saintes and Guadeloupe.[2]
In August 1812 Swaggerer was in company with Surinam when they captured four American vessels:[4][Note 2]
- General Hamilton (11 August), lying at Parimarabo, Surinam, carrying a cargo of molasses;
- Mary (11 August), lying at Parimarabo, Surinam, in ballast;
- Pochohantes (12 August), lying at Braam's Point, Surinam, and carrying a cargo of salt; and
- Mercator (24 August), bound to Baltimore, laden with molasses.
Evelyn was invalided out of Swaggerer in October 1812.[2] His replacement, Lieutenant Martin Guise, took command of Swaggerer in 1813. Then in 1814 Lieutenant Charles Deyman Jeremy replaced Guise.[1]
Swaggerer was in company with Eclipse when, on 13 March 1814, they captured the brigantine Admiral Martin, which they sent in to Antigua.[6] Then on 28 March Swaggerer and Ister captured the Camilla, which they sent into Tortola.[6] By December, Swaggerer was under the command of Lieutenant Alexander Sandilands.[7]
Fate
Swaggerer was broken up in 1815.
Footnotes
- Notes
- ↑ A first-class share was worth £44 1s 7½d and a second-class share, such as a lieutenant would receive, was worth £3 3s 8d; a sixth-class share, the return to an ordinary seaman, was worth 6s 6d.[3]
- ↑ A first-class share for the first three vessels was worth £194 13s 3d and a second-class share was worth £36 9s 11¾d; a sixth-class share was worth £2 11s 6¼d.[5]
- Citations
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Winfield (2008), p.349.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 O'Byrne (1849), p.343.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 16977. p. 110. 21 January 1815.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 16760. p. 1534. 3 August 1813.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 17023. p. 1137. 13 June 1815.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 The London Gazette: no. 16940. p. 1947. 27 September 1814.
- ↑ Patterson (2005), p.211.
References
- O'Byrne, William R. (1849) A Naval Biographical Dictionary: comprising the life and services of every living officer in Her Majesty's navy, from the rank of admiral of the fleet to that of lieutenant, inclusive. (London: J. Murray), vol. 1.
- Patterson, Benton Rain (2005) The generals: Andrew Jackson, Sir Edward Pakenham, and the road to the Battle of New Orleans. (NYU Press). ISBN 978-0-8147-6717-7
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1-86176-246-1.