Harlequin, Hired armed ship

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Harlequin.

The hired armed ship Harlequin served the Royal Navy from 2 July 1804 until her wrecking on 7 December 1809.[1] She was of 18537⁄94 bm tons burthen and carried an armament of ten 6-pounder guns, eight 12-pounder carronades and two swivel guns.[1] During her service with the Royal Navy Harlequin captured a number of prizes.

Letter of Marque

The hired armed ship Harlequin probably was the ship Harlequin that received a letter of marque on 27 August 1803. Her master was John Dyer and her description on the warrant gave her tonnage as 180 tons burthen, her armament as twenty 6 and 12-pounder cannon, and her crew as consisting of 70 men.[2]

In late May the privateer Harlequin, under the command of Captain Jenkins, arrived at Fowey from Oporto. She reported that while at Oporto in early 1804, Harlequin‍ '​s boat, with Captain Dyer and five other men, was swamped. A Portuguese boat rescued a Mr. Hall, but the other five were all drowned. Then in April, while she was off Cape Finisterre, she had repelled a French vessel but only after losing one man killed and nine wounded. Then on 9 May she had driven a French schooner of four carriage guns and 40 men ashore three leagues south of Viana where the schooner went to pieces.[3]

Naval service

Harlequin was under the command of Lieutenant Phillip C. Anstruther when she captured four Prussian vessels on 3 April 1806. The vessels were the Petronelle, Vrow Maria, Jonge Roelf Polman and Iris.[4] Later that year, on 10 December, Harlequin was in company with Locust when they recaptured the Betsey.[5] Then on 30 August 1807, Harlequin captured the Danish ship Ole Smith Ploug.[6] Two months later, on 30 October 1807 Harlequin recaptured the Galatea, Thomas Ballantyne, master.[7]

Loss

On 5 December 1809 Harlequin, still under Anstruther's command, left Plymouth Sound with a convoy of 22 vessels that she was escorting through the English Channel.[8] On the evening of 7 December she suddenly struck the shore. Her crew chopped away her masts, fired distress guns, and burnt blue lights. Still, six other vessels in the convoy also ran ashore. Apparently, in the darkness, the vessels had mistakenly believed they had passed Beachy Head and so prematurely changed course, with the result that they ran ashore west of Seaford. Two men of Harlequin‍ '​s crew drowned.[9] Apparently the warning signals saved the 16 other vessels in the convoy.[8]

There was a passenger aboard Harlequin, traveling with his wife and two children. After all the men were ashore, it was realized that the woman and her children were still on board. Two sailors took a boat and at tremendous risk brought them all safely to shore.[8]

The six merchant vessels that were lost, with the number of casualties in parentheses, were:[10]

One estimate gives the total number of people lost on the merchant vessels as 40.[11]

References

Citations
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Winfield (2008), p.394.
  2. ↑ Register of Letters of Marque against France 1793-1815
  3. ↑ The Times, 30 May 1804, p.3, col. A.
  4. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 16351. p. 389. 13 March 1810.
  5. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 16422. p. 1768. 24 July 1810.
  6. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 16572. p. 257. 4 February 1812.
  7. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 16131. p. 439. 26 March 1808.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Lamb (1811), pp.17-9.
  9. ↑ Hepper (1994), p.131.
  10. ↑ Parry (1833), p.193.
  11. ↑ Naval Chronicle, Vol. 23, p.111.
Bibliography