HMS Mastiff (1797)

History
UK
Name: GB No. 35
Namesake: Mastiff
Builder: Leith
Acquired: March 1797 by purchase
Renamed: HMS Mastiff
Fate: Wrecked 1800
General characteristics [1]
Tons burthen: 163​77⁄94 (bm)
Length:
  • Overall: 71 ft 7 in (21.8 m)
  • Keel: 57 ft 10 1⁄4 in (17.6 m)
Beam: 23 ft 0 in (7.0 m)
Depth of hold: 10 ft 1 1⁄4 in (3.1 m)
Propulsion: Sail
Complement: 50
Armament:
  • 1797:2 × 18-pounder guns + 10 × 18-pounder carronades
  • 1810:10 × 18-pounder carronades

HMS Mastiff was launched at Leith, probably in 1797, as Herald. The British Royal Navy purchased her in 1797 and named her GB №35, and then Mastiff. She served as a convoy escort in the North Sea until she wrecked in 1800.

Career

After the onset of war with France Britain's merchant fleet provided French, and later Dutch privateers with a target-rich environment. The British Royal Navy needed escort vessels and a quick fix was to buy existing merchant vessels, arm and man them, and then deploy them. Between March and April the Admiralty purchased 10 brigs at Leith, Herald among them. The Royal Navy initially designated these as GB №__, but then gave them names before they actually sailed.

Herald, unlike some of the other vessels the Navy purchased, does not appear in Lloyd's Register, which suggests that she never sailed commercially before the navy purchased her.

The Royal Navy commissioned GB №35 in April under Lieutenant John Clements, for the North Sea. It renamed her Mastiff on 7 November 1797.[1]

Loss

In January, Mastiff was under the command of Lieutenant James Watson. As she was sailing from Great Yarmouth on 5 January 1800, bound for Leith via the Northern Passage, she rounded the Cockle Buoy. As she did so, the wind died down. A strong ebb tide with a swell then carried her on to the Cockle Sands, wrecking her.[2]

Two fishermen from Winterton, in Norfolk, Abel King and William Pile, volunteered to go out and try to rescue the crew. Other fishermen from Winterton joined them. In all, and at great risk to their own lives, the fishermen rescued upwards of 30 of the crew.[3]

The navy convened a court martial on 15 January aboard HMS Glatton in Yarmouth Roads to try Lieutenant Watson for Mastiff's loss. The court exonerated Watson, his officers, and crew of the loss. It further praised Watson for his truly meritorious conduct after the wrecking, and also that of his officers and crew.[4]

On 7 April, the Lords of the Admiralty gave 25 guineas each to King and Pile, and another 100 guineas to be distributed to the other volunteers, in recognition of their efforts to save Mastiff's crew.[3]

Citations and references

Citations

  1. 1 2 Winfield (2008), p.333.
  2. ↑ Hepper (1994), p.94.
  3. 1 2 Dodsley (1810), Chronicle, p.9.
  4. ↑ Schomberg (1802), Vol. 3, p.359.

References

  • Dodsley, J. (1810) The Annual Register, Or, A View of the History, Politics, and Literature for the Year 1800
  • Grocott, Terence (1797). Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary & Napoleonic Eras. London: Chatham. ISBN 1861760302.
  • Hepper, David J. (1994) British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650–1859. (Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot). ISBN 0-948864-30-3
  • Schomberg, Isaac (1802) Naval Chronology, Or an Historical Summary of Naval and Maritime Events from the Time of the Romans, to the Treaty of Peace 1802: With an Appendix. (London: T. Egerton).
  • Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1-86176-246-1.
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