HMS Charybdis (1809)

HMS Charybdis was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Mark Richards and John Davidson at Hythe, and launched in 1809.[1] She captured two American prizes during the War of 1812 before she was laid up in 1815 and sold in 1819. She apparently then became the whaler Greenwich which made three voyages for Samuel Enderby & Sons and one for Daniel Bennett & Son. She was wrecked in the Seychelles in 1833.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Charybdis and Greenwich (ship).

History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Charybdis
Namesake: Charybdis
Ordered: 5 September 1808
Builder: Mark Richards & John Davidson, Hythe
Laid down: October 1808
Launched: 28 August 1809
Commissioned: September 1809
Decommissioned: August 1815
Fate: Sold, February 1819
United Kingdom
Name: Greenwich
Owner:
Acquired: c.1819 by purchase
Fate: Wrecked 18 February 1833
General characteristics [1]
Class and type: Cruizer-class brig-sloop
Tons burthen: 384, or 394[2] bm
Length:
  • 100 ft 3 in (30.56 m) o/a;
  • 77 ft 6 1⁄2 in (23.635 m)
Beam: 30 ft 6 3⁄4 in (9.315 m)
Depth of hold: 12 ft 9 in (3.89 m)
Sail plan: Brig
Complement: 121
Armament: 16 × 32-pounder carronades + 2 × 6-pounder bow guns

Service

She was commissioned in September 1809 under Commander Robert Fowler, who sailed her for the Leeward Islands on 22 January 1810. On 20 April 1811 Commander James Clephan took command.[1]

On 8 October 1812 Charybdis recaptured the brig William Rathbone. Saucy Jack, an American privateer out of Charleston, on 28 September had captured William Rathbone, which had been armed with 14 guns and had a crew of 30 men. The Americans put a prize crew aboard. When Charybdis recaptured William Rathbone she returned the vessel to her officers and crew.[3][Note 1] William Rathbone arrived at St Thomas on 12 October.[4]

Then on 31 October Charybdis captured the American privateer schooner Blockade and her 66-man crew in the Sombrero Passage near Saba Rock.[5][Note 2]

Blockade, E.Mix., master, was a schooner out of New York. She had captured one British schooner before Charybdis captured her.[7] Clephan reported that the schooner Blockade had captured was a small one out of St Lucia and that two days earlier Blockade had abandoned her prize while a British brig was chasing the privateer. Clephan described Blockade as a fine schooner of 128 tons burthen that had had her keel laid only three months earlier.[5]

American reports stated that the capture took place after an action of one hour and 20 minutes during which Blockade lost 28 men killed and the British had eight men killed.[8][7][Note 3]

In September Charybdis sailed from Portsmouth with a convoy for Cork, and then went on to America via Halifax. She was present at the Battle of New Orleans and then sailed back to Britain with despatches.

Disposal: Charybdis sailed from Portsmouth on 10 August 1815 and shortly thereafter was paid off at Deptford in 1815. She was laid up at Deptford until 1819. The "Principal Officers and commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered "Charybdis brig, of 385 tons" for sale on 3 February 1819.[9] She was sold to Thomas Pittman on that day for £1,100.[1]

Whaler

Charybdis may have become the whaler Greenwich, which made three voyages for Samuel Enderby & Sons, before being lost on her fourth, for Daniel Bennet & Sons. She first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1819 with Emmitt, master, Enderby, owners, and trade London-South Seas. LR gave her launch year as 1809 and her launch location as Southampton.[2] A database of British Southern Whale Fishery whaling voyages gives her launch location as Hythe.[10]

1st whaling voyage (1820–1822): Captain John Gibson sailed from England on 28 January 1820, bound for Timor. She was variously reported at Morotay, Kema, and Amboyna. She was report to have been at Amboyna on 11 September 1821. A Malay she had taken on board had murdered her master and mate and injured four other crew members. However, Greenwich, Gibson, master, returned on 14 October 1822 with 500 casks of oil.[10]

2nd whaling voyage (1823–1826): Captain R.P.Thompson sailed from London on 18 January 1823, bound for the seas off Japan and for Timor. Greenwich returned on 18 January 1826 with 650 casks and one bale of seal skins or 200 tuns of sperm oil.[10]

3rd whaling voyage (1826–1830): Captain Dunn sailed from London on 23 November 1826, bound for the Seychelles. Greenwich returned on 12 January 1830 with 550 casks (198 tuns) of oil.[10]

Fate

For her fourth voyage Greenwich's ownership changed to Bennett & Son.

See also: List of ships owned by Daniel Bennett & Son

Greenwich sailed from London on 13 September 1830, bound for the Indian Ocean. She was reported at Mahé, Seychelles, and Mauritius. She was lost at Danes Island in the Seychelles on 18 February 1833. Her was crew saved and taken to Mauritius.[10][11]

Notes, citations, and references

Notes

  1. Niles Weekly register (Vol.3, p. 157), reported that Saucy Jack had taken the prize in the port of Demerara, and that William Rathbone had been armed with fourteen 18-pounder and two 6-pounder guns. She had also had a cargo worth £40,000.
  2. Although the Gazette apparently dated Clephan's latter 31 December,[5] the actual capture took place earlier. Lloyd's List (LL) on 1 January 1813 carried a report dated Barbados 19 November, that Charybdis had captured Blockade and sent her into Antigua.[6]
  3. James mentions this engagement in passing as an example of lurid and exaggerated American accounts of actions.

Citations

  1. Winfield (2008), p. 300.
  2. LR (1819), Supple.pages "G", Seq.№G48.
  3. Mouzon (1954), p. 39.
  4. LL №4723.
  5. "No. 16692". The London Gazette. 12 January 1813. p. 106.
  6. LL №4733.
  7. Emmons (1853), pp. 172–173.
  8. Niles Weekly Register, V.3, #17, p.268.
  9. "No. 17441". The London Gazette. 16 January 1819. p. 111.
  10. British Southern Whale Fishery Database – Voyages: Greenwich.
  11. "Ship News". The Times (15262). London. 5 September 1833. col E, p. 3.

References

  • Emmons, George Foster (1853) The navy of the United States, from the commencement, 1775 to 1853; with a brief history of each vessel’s service and fate ... Comp. by Lieut. George F. Emmons ... under the authority of the Navy Dept. To which is added a list of private armed vessels, fitted out under the American flag ... also a list of the revenue and coast survey vessels, and principal ocean steamers, belonging to citizens of the United States in 1850. (Washington: Gideon & Co.)
  • James, William (1817/2004) A full and correct account of the chief naval occurrences of the late war between Great Britain and the United States of America. (Naval Institute Press).
  • Mouzon, Harold Alwyn (1954) Privateers of Charleston in the War of 1812. (Historical Commission of Charleston, S.C.).
  • Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.


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