HMS Admiral Rainier (1800)
| Career (United Kingdom) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Admiral Rainier |
| Namesake: | Admiral Peter Rainier |
| Acquired: | by capture, 23 August 1800 |
| Fate: | Sold, September 1803 |
| Career (Batavian Republic) | Template:Country data Batavian Republic |
| Name: | Admiraal Rainier |
| Acquired: | 1804 |
| Fate: | Crew mutinied, April 1806 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Brig |
| Complement: | 97 (Dutch) |
| Armament: | 14 × 6-pounder and 4-pounder guns (UK) |
HMS Admiral Rainier was a Dutch 16-gun brig that the British captured on 23 August 1800 at Kuyper's Island, Java.[Note 1] They took her into service and named her after Admiral Peter Rainier, the leader of the British expedition. After they sold her in 1803 apparently the French captured her in 1804 and sold her to the Dutch colonial government in Batavia for anti-piracy patrol. Her Javanese crew mutinied in 1806 and eventually sailed to Penang where the British seized the vessel.
Capture and British service
Sybille, Daedalus, Centurion, and Braave entered Batavia Roads and captured five Dutch armed vessels in all and destroyed 22 other vessels.[1] [Note 2] One of the vessels they captured was a newly-built Dutch brig.[2][Note 3]
Capt. Ball of Daedalus ordered her manned, armed and equipped. Admiral Rainier was commissioned under Lieut. William Dobbie of Centurion. She was armed with 14 guns, a mix of 6-pounders and 4-pounders.[1]
She was employed in the blockade of Batavia. On one occasion Admiral Rainier went up the Carawang river with seven armed boats of the squadron to destroy a depot of grain. She accomplished the task after destroying five proas protecting the place. The British carried off three gunboats, together with the commandant's yacht and three large proas laden with coffee. British losses were two killed and six wounded.[1]
In 1803 Wellesley, the Governor-General of India, who had just undertaken the Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803-1805), recalled the squadron. At this time Lieut. Dobbie returned to Centurion and Admiral Rainier was sold in September 1803.
Franco-Dutch service
The French squadron operating in the Indian Ocean under the command of Rear Admiral Linois, captured two brigs in February 1804 and sent them in to Batavia: on 1 February a 16-gun brig called Admiral Rainier, and on 12 February the Henrietta of 12 guns and 14 24-pounder carronades.[3] The two prizes arrived at Batavia where Linois was in a hurry to sell them. He therefore accepted a price from the "shabendar" of 133,000 piastres for both vessels and their cargoes.[4] Admiral Rainier was taken into local colonial service as Admiraal Rainier under Captain-lieutenant Etienne Couderc.[5][Note 4]
Admiraal Rainier was immediately put to use patrolling off Batavia. Towards the end of May, under 1st Lieut. H.D. Andreae, she patrolled the Karimunjawa islands to suppress piracy. Her crew existed of 24 European sailors, 15 marines and 58 Javanese.[5]
In January 1805 she was decommissioned due to a shortage of seamen. Still, in April 1806 she departed to patrol off the north coast of Java. Her commanding officer was Captain-lieutenant Christiaan Monkenberg. On board were 12 Europeans and 36 Javanese. During the night of 28-29 April the Javanese mutinied and murdered the Europeans, throwing their bodies overboard. A native quartermaster then took command and sailed Admiraal Rainier first to Borneo and then to the Riau Archipelago, now part of the Indonesia province of Riau Islands. Unable to join up with any pirates, and running out of stores, the brig sailed to Penang. Apparently, there the British seized her.[5]
Notes
References
- Bibliography
- Austen, Harold Chomley Mansfield (1935) Sea Fights and Corsairs of the Indian Ocean: Being the Naval History of Mauritius from 1715 to 1810. (Port Louis, Mauritius:R.W. Brooks).
- Milo, Taco Hayo (June 1941) “De maritieme verdediging van Oost-Indië van 1795-1802”. Marineblad.
- Milo, Taco Hayo (April 1942) “De maritieme verdediging van Oost-Indië van 1804-1807”. Marineblad.
- Milo, Taco Hayo (August 1942) "De maritieme verdediging van Oost-Indië van 1804-1807”, Chapter III, 1806, Marineblad.
- Stewarton, Lewis Goldsmith (1806) The revolutionary Plutarch: : exhibiting the most distinguished characters, literary, military, and political, in the recent annals of the French Republic. (London:Printed for John Murray... John Harding...).
- van Maanen, Ron. 2008. The British Admiral Rainier (1800-1803) and the Dutch brig called Admiraal Rainier 1804-1806;[1]
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461.
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