HMS Fairy (1812)
HMS Fairy (1812) was a Cruizer class brig-sloop, built by William Taylor at Bideford and launched in 1812.[1] She escorted convoys during the War of 1812 and participated in the Royal Navy’s campaign incursion up the Potomac in 1814, the Raid on Alexandria. She was broken up in 1821.
Service
Fairy was commissioned in August 1812 under Cmdr. Edward Grey for South America.[1] Thereafter she escorted convoys. For instance, in June 1813 she joined a convoy of over 500 merchant vessels bound for Spain, Portugal, the Mediterranean, Brazil, North America and the West Indies.
Cmdr. Henry Loraine Baker took command on 18 April 1814. On 20 April she left Portsmouth for the West Indies.[1] Between 20 and 31 August she carried dispatches from Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane. She fought her way up the Potomac River to recall Captain Alexander Gordon, in Seahorse, and his squadron who had taken Alexandria, Virginia two days before. The British had also captured 21 merchant vessels and looted stores and warehouses of 16,000 barrels of flour, 1,000 hogsheads of tobacco, 150 bales of cotton and some $5,000 worth of wine, sugar and other items.
The Americans had placed two field guns in a battery situated high on a bluff at White House Plantation (modern day Fort Belvoir), and had fired on Fairy as she sailed to reach Gordon. On 1 September, Gordon sent Fairy and Meteor to engage the battery to impede its completion, but they were unsuccessful. In all, the Americans had emplaced a total of 11 guns - five naval long guns and eight artillery field pieces.
The British spent most of 2 September mustering their ships and prizes for the run down river while awaiting favorable winds. At the same time they were working to free Devastation, which had run aground.
On 3 September the bomb vessel Aetna and rocket ship Erebus joined in the effort to silence the American batteries. That same day, Commodore John Rodgers, with four U.S. gunboats and some fire ships, made an unsuccessful attempt to destroy Devastation. Sniping and gunfire continued throughout September 4 and 5, as the Virginia militia arrived to block British landings at the batteries or Alexandria.
On 6 September the frigates Seahorse and Euryalus came down the river and joined Fairy. All three vessels shifted their ballast to the port side to enable their combined 63 starboard guns to elevate sufficiently to engage the batteries. They then opened fire and within 45 minutes silenced the American cannons.
All eight British warships and 21 merchant vessel prizes moved back to the main fleet. During the run down the river the British had suffered only seven dead, though one was Charles Dickson, Fairy’s Second Lieutenant. The Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with the clasp “THE POTOMAC 17 AUGT. 1814” to those members of the vessels' crews that had survived to 1847.
In 1815 Fairy was in the West Indies where she took part in the reduction of Guadeloupe in August 1815. She arrived at Plymouth on 16 September with dispatches.
Fate
From 1816 to 1818 Fairy was at Plymouth. She was broken up in 1821.[1]
References
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461.
