HMS Eclipse (1807)
| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Eclipse |
| Ordered: | 1 October 1806 |
| Builder: | Thomas King, Dover |
| Laid down: | December 1806 |
| Launched: | 4 August 1807 |
| Fate: | Sold for breaking up on 31 August 1817 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 18-gun Cruizer class brig-sloop |
| Tons burthen: | 384 bm |
| Length: | 100 ft 6 in (30.63 m) |
| Beam: | 30 ft 6 in (9.30 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Armament: |
18 cannons:
|
HMS Eclipse was a Royal Navy Cruizer class brig-sloop built by JOhn King at Dover and launched in 1807.[1] She served off Portugal and then in the Indian Ocean at the capture of the Île de France. Shortly thereafter she captured Tamatave. She was sold for mercantile service in 1815.
Service
Eclipse entered service in 1808 under Captain G. A. Creyke and was immediately deployed off the Portuguese coast,[1] watching the seizure of Oporto by the French and the subsequent uprising that led to the First Battle of Oporto. Creyke rescued several of the French administrators from death at the hands of the populace, taking them prisoner. He also supplied cannon to arm a Brazilian ship in the harbour to resist the French advance.
Pn 3 March 1808 Eclipse sailed for the Leeward Islands.[1]
In 1810, command passed to George Henderson and Eclipse moved to the Indian Ocean, leaving on 16 June and joining the squadron that successfully prepared and launched the Invasion of Île de France in December 1810. Henderson was subsequently promoted to command the frigate HMS Nereide and Eclipse remained in the Indian Ocean. From December on she was under the command of Lieut. (acting; confirmed Cmdr. April 1811) Henry Lynne.[1]
On 18 February 1811 Eclipse, with a detachment of British troops of the 22nd Regiment and Bourbon rifle corps, took first Tamatave and then Foule Point, the last French settlements on the east coast of Madagascar.[2] Somewhere around this time she reportedly captured a French letter of marque brig with dispatches. She also took the lugger Eliza with 145 slaves, which she sent to the Cape of Good Hope.[3]
By March Eclipse was under the command of Cmdr. W. Steed.[4] On 9 September 1812 she arrived in Portsmouth from the Cape of Good Hope. She sailed for the Leeward Islands on 6 February 1813.[1]
Fate
In 1815 Eclipse was laid up at Woolwich. On 31 August 1815 she was sold there for ₤1,400 for mercantile use.[1]
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.
- Lyon, David and Winfield, Rif, The Sail and Steam Navy List, All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889, pub Chatham, 2004, ISBN 1-86176-032-9
- Norie, John William (1842) The naval gazetteer, biographer and chronologist; containing a history of the late wars from ... 1793 to ... 1801; and from ... 1803 to 1815, and continued, as to the biographical part to the present time. (London, C. Wilson).
- Michael Phillips' "Ships of the Old Navy"
- Reid, Sir Willianm (1838) An attempt to develop the law of storms by means of facts : arranged according to place and time; and hence to point out a cause for the variable winds, with the view to practical use in navigation. (London: J. Weale).
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461.
