Cruizer class brig-sloop
| HMS Pelorus The Cruizer-class brig-sloop HMS Pelorus aground at low water | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Cruizer-class brig sloop |
| Operators: |  Royal Navy |
| In service: | 1797 - 1826 |
| Completed: | 110 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Brig-sloop |
| Tons burthen: | 384 bm[1] |
| Length: | 100.5 ft (30.6 m) |
| Beam: | 30.5 ft (9.3 m) |
| Sail plan: | Brig |
| Complement: | 121 |
| Armament: |
18 cannon
|
The Cruizer class was an 18-gun class of brig-sloops of the Royal Navy. Brig-sloops were the same as ship-sloops except for their rigging. A ship-sloop was rigged with three masts whereas a brig-sloop was rigged as a brig with two masts - a fore mast and a main mast.
The Cruizer class was the most numerous class of warships built by the British during the Napoleonic wars, with 110 vessels built to this design, and the second most numerous class of sailing warship built to a single design for any navy at any time, after the Cherokee-class brig-sloops.[2]
Of the vessels in the class, eight (8%) were lost to the enemy, either destroyed or taken. Another was taken, but retaken. Fourteen (13%) were wrecked while in British service. Lastly, four (4%) foundered while in British service. In all cases of foundering and in many cases of wrecking all the crew was lost. Many of the vessels in the class were sold, some into mercantile service. One at least was wrecked. The fate of the others is generally unknown.
Contents
Design
In December 1796, the Navy Board placed new orders for four flush-decked sloops, to differing designs by the two Surveyors of the Navy - Sir William Rule and Sir John Henslow. In order to compare the qualities of ship-rigged and brig-rigged vessels, one vessel to each design was to be completed as a ship-sloop and the other as a brig-sloop. While the Henslow-designed vessels (the brig-sloop Busy and the ship-sloop Echo) would see no further sisters built, the Rule-designed vessels (the brig-sloop Cruizer and the ship-sloop Snake would each have a single sister ordered in the following March, and Rule's Cruizer design would subsequently see 106 constructed during the Napoleonic War.[2]
The order placed in March 1797 for the first sister to the Cruizer was subsequently cancelled, but new orders were placed from 1802 up to 1813. A final order in 1815 (HMS Samarang) was cancelled in 1820.[2]
The Cruizer-class brig-sloops proved to be fast sailers and seaworthy. The Dutch built three 18 gun-brigs - Zwaluw, Mercuur and Kemphaan - to a similar design; in one case apparently a copy, though without the square tuck stern. The Russian brig Olymp was also built to the same lines.
Service in the War of 1812
During the Anglo-American War of 1812, several of the class fell victim to larger American sloops of war of nominally the same class. The American vessels generally enjoyed a slight advantage in weight of broadside and number of crew. In most cases however, the decisive advantage was in the quality of crew, as the American sloops generally had hand-picked volunteer crews, while the brigs belonging to the overstretched Royal Navy had to make do with crews filled out with landsmen picked up by the press gang.
The naval historian C.S. Forester commented,
The type was a necessary one but represented the inevitable unsatisfactory compromise when a vessel has to be designed to fight, to be seaworthy and to have a long endurance, all on a minimum displacement and at minimum expense. Few men in the Royal Navy had a good word to say for the gun-brigs, which rolled terribly and were greatly over-crowded, but they had to be employed.[3]
Ships
The following table lists the Cruizer-class brig-sloops by the date on which the Admiralty ordered them.
| 30px External images | |
|---|---|
| 16px | Model of HMS Cruizer |
| 16px | Another model of HMS Cruizer |
| Name | Ordered | Builder | Launched | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cruizer | 19 December 1796 | Stephen Teague, Ipswich | 20 December 1797 | Broken up February 1819 |
| unnamed | 15 March 1797 | Thomas Pitcher, Northfleet | never commenced | order subsequently cancelled |
St Vincent's Board
The Board ordered 19 in 1802 and 1803.
| Name | Ordered | Builder | Launched | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scorpion | 27 November 1802 | John King, Dover | 17 October 1803 | Sold 1819 |
| Dispatch | 27 November 1802 | Richard Symons, Falmouth | 26 May 1804 | Broken up 1811 |
| Scout | 27 November 1802 | Peter Atkinson, Hull | 7 August 1804 | Sold 1827 |
| Musquito | 27 November 1802 | John Preston, Great Yarmouth | 4 September 1804 | Sold 1822 |
| Swallow | 27 November 1802 | Benjamin Tanner, Dartmouth | 24 December 1805 | Broken up 1815 |
| Ferret | 27 November 1802 | Benjamin Tanner, Dartmouth | 4 January 1806 | Abandoned as a wreck 1813 |
| Leveret | 16 July 1803 | John King, Dover | 14 January 1806 | Wrecked 1807 |
| Belette | 16 July 1803 | John King, Dover | 21 March 1806 | Wrecked 1812 |
| Amaranthe | 15 October 1803 | John Dudman, Deptford Wharf | 20 November 1804 | Sold 1815 |
| Calypso | 15 October 1803 | John Dudman, Deptford Wharf | 2 February 1805 | Broken up 1821 |
| Espoir | 7 November 1803 | John King, Dover | 22 September 1804 | Broken up 1821 |
| Surinam | 7 November 1803 | Obadiah Ayles, Topsham | January 1805 | Sold for breaking up 1825 |
| Wolverine | 7 November 1803 | Thomas Owen, Topsham | 1 March 1805 | Sold 1816 |
| Moselle | 7 November 1803 | John King, Dover | October 1804 | Sold 1815 |
| Weazle | 7 November 1803 | Thomas Owen, Topsham | 2 March 1805 | Sold 1815 |
| Minorca | 7 November 1803 | Josiah & Thomas Brindley, King's Lynn | 14 June 1805 | Broken up 1814 |
| Racehorse | 7 November 1803 | Hamilton & Breeds, Hastings | 17 February 1806 | Wrecked 1822 |
| Avon | 9 December 1803 | Richard Symons & Co., Falmouth | 31 January 1805 | Foundered as a result of damage in fight with US 22-gun sloop-of-war Wasp 1814 |
| Rover | 9 December 1803 | Joseph Todd, Berwick | 13 February 1808 | Sold 1828 |
Melville's First Board
The Board ordered ordered 6, all of fir. Building of fir (pine) made for speedier construction at the cost of reduced durability in service.
| Name | Ordered | Builder | Launched | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beagle | 22 May 1805 | Perry, Wells & Green, Blackwall Yard | 8 August 1804 | Sold 1814 |
| Elk | 22 May 1805 | Frances Barnard, Sons & Co., Deptford Dockyard | 22 August 1804 | Broken up 1812 |
| Raven | 23 May 1804 | Perry, Wells & Green, Blackwall Yard | 25 July 1804 | Wrecked 1805 |
| Saracen | 23 May 1804 | Perry, Wells & Green, Blackwall Yard | 25 July 1804 | Broken up 1812 |
| Reindeer | 23 May 1804 | Samuel & Daniel Brent, Rotherhithe | 15 August 1804 | Taken by USS Wasp and burnt 1814 |
| Harrier | 23 May 1804 | Frances Barnard, Sons & Co., Deptford Dockyard | 22 August 1804 | Believed to have foundered near Rodrigues Island in the Indian Ocean in March 1809[4] |
Barham's Board
The Board ordered 22, almost all of which were launched in 1806.
| Name | Ordered | Builder | Launched | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forester | 16 July 1805 | John King, Dover | 3 August 1806 | Sold 1819 |
| Foxhound | 16 July 1805 | John King, Dover | 30 November 1806 | Foundered 1809 |
| Mutine | 22 July 1805 | Henry Tucker, Bideford | 15 August 1806 | Sold 1819 |
| Emulous | 21 August 1805 | William Row, Newcastle | June 1806 | Wrecked 1812; crew saved but Emulous was unsalvageable.[5] |
| Grasshopper | 30 August & 31 October 1805 | Richards (Brothers) & (John) Davidson, Hythe | 29 September 1806 | Stranded at Texel and surrendered to the Batavian Republic on 25 December 1811, with no loss of life among her crew,[6] though the pilot was killed.[7] She became the Dutch brig Irene; broken up at Flushing 1822. |
| Columbine | 12 November 1805 | Balthazar & Edward Adams, Bucklers Hard | 16 July 1806 | Wrecked January 1824 in Port Longue Harbour, Sapientza Island, Greece; Captain and master were reprimanded for having only one anchor down.[8] |
| Pandora | 12 November 1805 | John Preston, Great Yarmouth | 11 October 1806 | Wrecked February 1811 on the Scaw Reef off the coast of Jutland. The ship's boats were frozen to the deck so it was only the next day that the Danes were able to rescue most of the crew; 29 of her crew of 121 died and the rest became prisoners.[9] |
| Alacrity | 14 January 1806 | William Row, Newcastle | 13 November 1806 | Taken by French brig Abeille 1811; in French Navy as Alacrity until broken up in 1822. |
| Raleigh | 16 January 1806 | Francis Hurry, Newcastle | 24 December 1806 | Sold 1841 |
| Primrose | 21 January 1806 | Thomas Nickells, Fowey | 5 August 1807 | Wrecked 1809 |
| Cephalus | 22 January 1806 | Custance & Stone, Great Yarmouth | 10 January 1807 | Broken up 1830 |
| Procris | 22 January 1806 | Custance & Stone, Greata Yarmouth | 27 December 1806 | Sold 1815 |
| Redwing | 24 January 1806 | Matthew Warren, Brightlingsea | 30 August 1806 | Foundered 1827 after leaving Sierra Leone; wreckage washed ashore in November near Mataceney suggested that lightening had started a fire that destroyed her.[10] |
| Ringdove | 27 January 1806 | Matthew Warren, Brightlingsea | 16 October 1806 | Sold 1829 |
| Peacock | 27 January 1806 | Jabez Bailey, Ipswich | 9 December 1806 | Taken and sunk by US brig Hornet 1813. Peacock took with her four of her crew and three Americans.[11] |
| Sappho | 27 January 1806 | Jabez Bailey, Ipswich | 15 December 1806 | Broken up 1830 |
| Recruit | 27 January 1806 | Thomas Hills, Sandwich | 31 August 1806 | Sold 1822 |
| Royalist | 27 January 1806 | Thomas Hills, Sandwich | 10 January 1807 | Sold 1819 |
| Carnation | 28 January 1806 | William Taylor, Bideford | 3 October 1807 | Taken by French brig Palinure 1808 and burnt 1809 |
| Clio | 29 January 1806 | James Betts, Mistleythorn | 10 January 1807 | Broken up 1845 |
| Philomel | 4 February 1806 | (Nicholas) Bools & (William) Good, Bridport | 11 September 1806 | Sold 1817 |
| Frolic | 4 February 1806 | (Nicholas) Bools & (William) Good, Bridport | 9 December 1806 | Taken by US 22-gun sloop-of-war Wasp but retaken; broken up 1813 |
Grenville's Board
The Board ordered 10, nine of which were launched in 1807 and one in 1808.
| Name | Ordered | Builder | Launched | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Derwent | 1 October 1806 | Isaac Blackburn, Turnchapel, Plymouth | 23 May 1807 | Sold 1817 |
| Eclair | 1 October 1806 | Matthew Warren, Brightlingsea, Essex | 8 July 1807 | Broken up 1831 |
| Eclipse | 1 October 1806 | John King, Dover | 4 August 1807 | Sold for mercantile use 1815 |
| Barracouta | 1 October 1806 | Jabez Bailey, Ipswich | 6 July 1807 | Sold 1815 |
| Nautilus | 1 October 1806 | James Betts, Mistleythorn | 5 August 1807 | Broken up 1823 |
| Pilot | 1 October 1806 | Robert Guillaume, Northam, Southampton | 6 August 1807 | Sold 1828 |
| Sparrowhawk | 1 October 1806 | Matthew Warren, Brightlingsea, Essex | 20 August 1807 | Sold 1841 |
| Zenobia | 1 October 1806 | Josiah & Thomas Brindley, King's Lynn | 7 October 1807 | Sold 1835 |
| Magnet | 1 October 1806 | Robert Guillaume, Northam, Southampton | 19 October 1807 | Wrecked 1809 |
| Peruvian | 1 October 1806 | George Parsons, Warsash | 26 April 1808 | Broken up 1830 |
Mulgrave's Board
The Board ordered 14.
| Name | Ordered | Builder | Launched | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pelorus | 30 July 1807 (contract 7 October 1807) | Robert Guillaume, Northam | 25 June 1808 | Sold for mercantile use at Singapore 1842 and wrecked 1844 |
| Doterel | 31 December 1807 (contract 9 January 1808) | Richard Blake & John Scott, Bursledon | 6 October 1808 | Broken up c.1855 |
| Arachne | 4 August 1808 | Thomas Hills, Sandwich | 18 February 1809 | Sold 1837 |
| Persian | 4 August 1808 | Daniel List, Cowes | 2 May 1809 | Wrecked 1813 |
| Castilian | 4 August 1808 | Thomas Hills, Sandwich | 29 May 1809 | Broken up 1829 |
| Charybdis | 5 September 1808 | Mark Richards & John Davidson, Hythe | 28 August 1809 | Sold 1819 |
| Scylla | 5 September 1808 | Robert Davy, Topsham | 29 June 1809 | Broken up 1846 |
| Thracian | 30 September 1808 | Josiah & Thomas Brindley, Frindsbury | 15 July 1809 | Broken up 1829 |
| Trinculo | 5 November 1808 | Richard Blake & John Tyson, Bursledon | 15 July 1809 | Broken up 1841 |
| Hecate | 5 November 1808 | John King, Upnor | 30 May 1809 | Sold 1817 and resold to Chile 9 November 1818; served as Galvarino until broken up 1828. |
| Crane | 5 November 1808 | Josiah & Thomas Brindley, Frindbury | 29 July 1809 | Foundered 1814 |
| Rifleman | 5 November 1808 | John King, Upnor | 12 August 1809 | Sold 1836 |
| Echo | 21 November 1808 | John Pelham, Frindsbury | 1 July 1809 | Broken up 1817 |
| Sophie | 21 November 1808 | John Pelham, Frindsbury | 8 September 1809 | Sold 1825 |
Charles Yorke's Board
The Board ordered 15.
| Name | Ordered | Builder | Launched | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Childers | 19 January 1811 | Portsmouth Dockyard (M/Shipwright Nicholas Diddams) | 9 July 1812 | Broken up 1822 |
| Curlew | 30 August 1811 | (William) Good & Co., Bridport | 27 May 1812 | Sold at Bombay 1822; from 1823 as Jamesina served as an opium runner for Jardine & Matheson until at least the mid-1830s. |
| Wasp | 30 August 1811 | Robert Davy, Topsham | 9 July 1812 | Broken up 1847 |
| Fairy | 30 August 1811 | William Taylor, Bideport | 11 June 1812 | Broken up 1821 |
| Pelican | 30 August 1811 | Robert Davy, Topsham | August 1812 | Sold 1865 |
| Bacchus | 30 August 1811 | Chatham Dockyard (M/Shipwright Robert Seppings) | 17 April 1813 | Breakwater at Harwich 1829 |
| Pandora | 30 August 1811 | Deptford Dockyard (M/Shipwright Robert Nelson to July 1811; completed by William Stone) | 12 August 1813 | Sold 1831 |
| Nimrod | 26 September 1811 | Jabez Bailey, Ipswich | 25 May 1812 | Bilged after being run ashore in a storm, salved with no loss of life, but sold as unrepairable in 1827.[12] |
| Saracen (2nd of name) | 26 September 1811 | (Nicholas) Bools & (William) Good, Bridport | 25 July 1812 | Sold 1819 |
| Satellite | 5 October 1811 | Daniel List, Fishbourne | 9 October 1812 | Sold in East Indies 1824 |
| Arab | 24 October 1811 | John Pellham, Frindsbury | 22 August 1812 | Wrecked, with the loss of all her crew, in Broad Haven near Belmullet on the coast of Mayo, Ireland, in 1823.[13] |
| Espiegle | 2 November 1811 | Jabez Bailey, Ipswich | 10 August 1812 | Sold 1832 |
| Heron (ex-Rattlesnake) | 14 November 1811 | John King, Upnor | 22 October 1812 | Broken up 1831 |
| Dispatch (2nd of name) | 14 November 1811 | John King, Upnor | 7 December 1812 | Sold 1836 |
| Grasshopper (2nd of name) | 6 January 1812 | Portsmouth Dockyard (M/Shipwright Nicholas Diddams) | 17 May 1813 | Sold 1832 |
Melville's Second Board
The Board ordered 20, 18 of which were built; two were canceled.
| Name | Ordered | Builder | Launched | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fly | 23 April 1812 | Jabez Bailey, Ipswich | 16 February 1813 | Sold at Bombay 1828 |
| Epervier | 6 May 1812 | Mrs. Mary Ross, Rochester | 21 December 1812 | Taken by 22-gun sloop USS Peacock 1814 |
| Jaseur | 6 May 1812 | Jabez Bailey, Ipswich | 2 February 1813 | Sold 1845 |
| Argus | 8 June 1812 | Thomas Hills, Sandwich | 11 September 1813 | Sold 1828 |
| Halcyon | 7 July 1812 | Edward Larking & William Spong, King's Lynn | 16 May 1813 | Wrecked 1814 |
| Challenger | 29 July 1812 | Hobbs & Hellyer, Redbridge | 15 May 1813 | Sold at Trincomalee 1824 |
| Penguin | 20 August 1812 | William Bottomley, King's Lynn | 29 June 1813 | Taken by US brig Hornet and scuttled 1815 |
| Lynx (ex-Pandora; renamed 24 September 1812 | 7 September 1812 | M/Shipwright Edward sison | Cancelled | |
| Victor | 2 October 1812 | East India Company, Bombay (M/Shipwright Jamsetjee Bomajee Wadia) | 29 October 1814 | Foundered in 1842 with all hands while en route from Vera Cruz, Mexico to Halifax.[14] |
| Zebra | 2 October 1812 | East India Company, Bombay (M/Shipwright Jamsetjee Bomajee Wadia) | 18 December 1815 | Wrecked 1840 |
| Carnation (2nd of name) | 8 October 1812 | William & James Durkin, Norham (Southampton) | 29 July 1813 | Sold 1836 |
| Elk (2nd of name) | 2 November 1812 | Hobbs & Hellyer, Redbridge (Southampton) | 28 August 1813 | Sold 1836 |
| Confiance | 2 November 1812 | Mrs. Mary Ross, Rochester | 30 August 1813 | Wrecked, with the loss of all her crew, between Moyin Head and the Three Castles Head near Crookhaven, Ireland, in 1822.[15] |
| Alert | 2 November 1812 | Thomas Pitcher, Northfleet | 13 July 1813 | Sold 1832 |
| Harlequin | 2 November 1812 | Jabez Bailey, Ipswich | 15 July 1813 | Sold at Jamaica 1829 |
| Harrier (2nd of name) | 2 November 1812 | Jabez Bailey, Ipswich | 28 July 1813 | Sold 1829 |
| Ontario (ex-Mohawk; renamed 9 April 1813 | 2 November 1812 | Richard Chapman, Bideford | 26 October 1813 | Sold 1832 |
| Belette (2nd of name) | 14 August 1813 | Edward Larking & William Spong, King's Lynn | 18 June 1814 | Sold 1828 |
| Gannet | 14 August 1813 | Edward Larking & William Spong, King's Lynn | 13 November 1814 | Sold 1838 |
| Samarang | 6 September 1815 | Portsmouth Dockyard (M/Shipwright Nicholas Diddams) | Cancelled |
Notes
- ↑ Colledge, p. 84.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Winfield (2008), pp. 282 & 291.
- ↑ Forester, p.79
- ↑ Gossett (1986), p.71.
- ↑ Gossett (1986), p.84.
- ↑ Gossett (1986), p.82.
- ↑ Grocott (1997), p.335.
- ↑ Gossett (1986), p.100.
- ↑ Gossett (1986), p.78.
- ↑ Gossett (1986), p.102.
- ↑ Gossett (1986), p.88.
- ↑ Gossett (1986), p. 102.
- ↑ Gossett (1986), p.100.
- ↑ Gossett (1986), p.108.
- ↑ Gossett (1986), p.100.
References
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475.
- Forester, C.S.. The Age of Fighting Sail. New English Library. ISBN 0-939218-06-2.
- Gossett, William Patrick (1986). The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793-1900. Mansell. ISBN 0-7201-1816-6.
- Grocott, Terence (1997). Shipwrecks of the revolutionary and Napoleonic eras. Chatham. ISBN 1-86176-030-2.
- Winfield, Rif (2008) British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1793-1817. Second edition, Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84415-717-4
Reading
- Petrejus, E W (1970). Modelling the brig-of-war Irene (A handbook for building a Cruizer-class model). De Esch. ASIN B0006C7NRA
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