HMS Doterel (1808)

History
United Kingdom
Class and type: Cruizer class brig-sloop
Name: HMS Doterel
Namesake: Eurasian dotterel
Ordered: 31 December 1807
Builder: John Scott and Richard Blake, Bursledon[1]
Laid down: April 1808
Launched: 6 October 1808
Fate: Broken up 1855
General characteristics [1]
Type: Cruizer-class brig-sloop
Tons burthen: 386​11⁄94 (bm)
Length:
  • 100 ft 2 in (30.5 m) (overall)
  • 77 ft 2 1⁄4 in (23.5 m) (keel)
Beam: 30 ft 8 in (9.3 m)
Depth of hold: 12 ft 10 in (3.9 m)
Propulsion: Sail
Complement: 121
Armament:

HMS Doterel (or Dotterel), was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the British Royal Navy. Launched on 6 October 1808, she saw action in the Napoleonic Wars and in the War of 1812. In February 1809 she took part in the Battle of Les Sables-d'Olonne, then in April the Battle of Basque Roads. She was laid up in 1827 at Bermuda, but not broken up until 1855.

Career

Doterel was first commissioned under Commander Anthony Abdy in October 1808.[1] By February 1809 she was in the Basque Roads and had become attached to a squadron under Robert Stopford when on 27th of that month she took part in the Battle of Les Sables-d'Olonne.[2]

Stopford in the 80-gun Caesar had been accompanied by the seventy-fours Defiance and Donegal, and the 36-gun frigates Emerald, Amethyst and Naiad, when he had chased a French force comprising eight ships of the line and two frigates, into the Pertuis d'Antioche.[3] Stopford immediately sent Naiad to appraise Admiral James Gambier of the situation but Naiad had not gone too far when she signalled that there were three other vessels to the north-west. Stoppard ordered Amethyst and Emerald to remain while he and the rest of the squadron set off in pursuit.[3]

When daylight came, the vessels sighted by Naiad were revealed to be the three French frigates, Calypso, Italienne and Sybille, being chased by Doterel and the 36-gun frigate Amelia. Doterel and Amelia had drawn so close to Sybille, the nearest French ship, that her two companions shortened sail in preparation for battle but on seeing Stopford's approaching squadron, all three French ships took off with Doterel and Amelia in close pursuit. At 10:00 the French frigates arrived at Sable d'Olonne where they anchored with springs, in the shallow water beneath the town's batteries.[3][4] Caeser, Donegal, Defiance and Amelia stood in and engaged. Two of the French frigates were obliged to cut their cables and run ashore in order to escape before the British were forced to withdraw by the falling tide.[3] However, all three French frigates were destroyed in the action.[3][5]

Doterel was part of Gambier's fleet when it fought the Battle of the Basque Roads in April 1809.[6] The French ships were anchored under the protection of the powerful batteries on the Isle d'Aix[7] when on 11 April Lord Cochrane led an attacking force of fireships and explosive vessels.[8] At this time, Doterel was employed in a passive role, providing a diversion to the east of the island with the brigs Beagle, Conflict and Growler, and the 36-gun frigate Emerald.[8] The fireships were a partial success; the French, having suspected such an attack, had rigged a boom across the channel[9] but this was breached by one of the explosive vessels. The French cut their cables and drifted on to the shoals.[10] Later on 13 April, Doterel, Foxhound and Redpole, carrying letters from Gambier, arrived in the Maumossen Passage where Cochrane had retired from attacking the grounded French fleet due to the falling tide.[11][12]

In October 1810 Doterel was commissioned for service in the West Indies, and in December command passed to William Westcott Daniel.[1] Daniel was still in command in early October 1812, when Doterel was back in home waters, part of a squadron under Alexander Cochrane. On 4 October, she and the British sloop Raven chased down a 10-gun French privateer, Leonore, off the Isles of Scilly.[13][14] In 1814, she served on the North American Station in the war against the United States, capturing the 14-gun American privateer Dominica on 22 May.[1][15] In January 1815, Doterel was part of an invasion force under George Cockburn, which looted St Simons and its neighbouring islands in Georgia, carrying away cotton and freeing slaves who were later resettled on Bermuda.[16][17] In August 1815 she returned to England where she was laid up at Chatham.[1]

Doterel was recommissioned in February 1818 and served out of Cork under Lieutenant John Gore.[1] On 16 November 1820, Doterel seized the American schooner Volunteer.[18]

William Hendry assumed command in July 1821 and sailed for Halifax on the North American Station.[1] In July 1822, Richard Hoare took command. Hoare spent just over three years in charge before he was superseded by Henry Edwards in August 1825. Doterel's last commander was William Hamilton who arrived on board in August 1826.

Fate

The Admiralty found Doterel to be in such a defective state, she was ordered to be laid up in Bermuda on 4 April 1827, where she was used as a residence for workmen there. On 28 August 1848, Doterel was ordered to be broken up but the order was not carried out until some seven years after.[1]

Citations and references

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Winfield (2008), pp.299-300.
  2. ↑ James pp.96–97
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "No. 16234". The London Gazette. 4 March 1809. p. 289.
  4. ↑ James p.97
  5. ↑ "No. 16337". The London Gazette. 27 January 1810. p. 139.
  6. ↑ "No. 17458". The London Gazette. 9 March 1819. p. 450.
  7. ↑ James (Vol. V) pp. 103–104
  8. 1 2 James (Vol.V) p.105
  9. ↑ James (Vol.V) p.104
  10. ↑ James (Vol.V) pp. 108–109
  11. ↑ James (Vol.V) p.120
  12. ↑ Clowes (Vol.V) p.267
  13. ↑ "No. 16983". The London Gazette. 11 February 1815. p. 239.
  14. ↑ "No. 16656". The London Gazette. 6 October 1812. p. 2040.
  15. ↑ "No. 16925". The London Gazette. 13 August 1814. p. 1640.
  16. ↑ "No. 18015". The London Gazette. 3 April 1824. p. 541.
  17. ↑ Dale Cox (20 December 2013). "War of 1812 Raid on St. Simons Island, Georgia". ExploreSouthernHistory.Com. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  18. ↑ "No. 17741". The London Gazette. 28 August 1821. p. 1765.

References

  • Clowes, William Laird (1997) [1900]. The Royal Navy, A History from the Earliest Times to 1900, Volume V. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1-86176-014-0.
  • James, William (2002) [1827]. The Naval History of Great Britain, Volume V, 1808–1811. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-909-3.
  • Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. London: Seaforth. ISBN 1-86176-246-1.
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