HMS Manly (1812)
| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Manly |
| Ordered: | 16 November 1811 |
| Builder: | Thomas Hills, Sandwich |
| Laid down: | February 1812 |
| Launched: | 13 July 1812 |
| Completed: | By 24 September 1812 |
| Fate: | Sold on 12 December 1833 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Bold-class brig-sloop |
| Tons burthen: | 181 60/94 bm |
| Length: |
84 ft 1 in (25.6 m) (overall) 70 ft 0.25 in (21.3 m) (keel) |
| Beam: | 22 ft 1 in (6.7 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 11 ft (3.0 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Brig-sloop |
| Complement: | 60 |
| Armament: |
|
HMS Manly was a 12-gun Bold class gun-brig of the Royal Navy launched in 1812. She served in the War of 1812, her boats participating in the Battle of Lake Borgne. She was sold in 1833.
Active service
Commissioned initially under Commander Edward Collier, and later under Commander Henry Montresor, she left Deal on 27 December 1812 and sailed off the Texel.
In March 1813, Manly shifted station to the Americas. Here in June she chased, but lost, the privateer Young Teazer. Manly was stranded at Halifax on 13 November 1813 but was salved.
In early January 1814, Collier and his crew volunteered to reinforce the squadron on the great lakes, together with men from Fantome and Thistle. Seventy in all sailed from Halifax to Saint John, New Brunswick, in Fantome on 22 January. The passage took four days and the brig was caked in ice. Collier's division of 70 men left St. John's on the morning of 29 January, and pulling sleighs, made for Fredericton, New Brunswick, some 80 miles away. The second division (Thistle) left in the afternoon. The third division (Fantome) left the next day. From Fredrickson the force formed into two divisions and continued along the frozen Saint John River. On the third night, the master of Thistle froze to death. On 7 February they reached Presque Isle, 82 miles further on. There they exchanged sleighs for toboggans, one between every four men, and everyone was fitted out with snow-shoes and moccasins. They left the next day and made between 15 and 22 miles a day through snow up to their knees. On 18 February they passed through United States territory to reach the St. Lawrence on the 20th. They reached Quebec City on 28 February and next day crossed in canoes to find shelter aboard the frigate Aeolus and the sloop Indian, which were frozen in Wolfe's Cove. They reached Kingston, Ontario on 22 March. The force was split up among various vessels and participated in the capture of Fort Oswego. Collier first commanded a squadron of gunboats that exchanged fire with the fort, and then during the actual attack credibly commanded a hermaphrodite brig.
In 1814 Lieut. Vincent Newton took command of Manly. In May he was promoted to Commander, but remained with her. In August 1814 she joined Capt. Gordon of Seahorse and his small squadron in an expedition up the Potomac to bombard Fort Washington while Vice-Admiral Alexander Cochrane landed the army at Benedict, Maryland on the Patuxent River on the 19th. and 20th. On 20 August the 40-gun fourth rate Endymion-class frigate HMS Severn, the frigate HMS Hebrus, and Manly went up the Patuxent River to follow the boats up the river as far as might prove practicable. Cochrane entered Washington with the marines and seamen on the night of the 24th. The British then burnt the White House, the Treasury and the War Office. They left at 9 o'clock on the evening of the 25th. and returned to Nottingham, Maryland on the Patuxent where Cochrane found Manly and hoisted his flag in her.
Battle of Lake Borgne
In early December 1814, a British fleet massed for the assault on New Orleans.
Between 12 and 15 December 1814, Captain Nicholas Lockyer of HMS Sophie led a flotilla of some 50 boats, barges, gigs and launches to attack the US gunboats. He drew his flotilla from the fleet that was massing against New Orleans, including the 74-gun third-rate HMS Tonnant, Arminde, Seahorse, Manly, and HMS Meteor. Lockyer deployed the boats in three divisions, of which he led one. Captain Henry Montresor of the Manly commanded the second, and Captain Samuel Roberts of Meteor commanded the third.[1] After rowing for 36 hours, the British met the Americans at St. Joseph's Island. On the morning of the 14th, the British engaged the Americans in the short, violent Battle of Lake Borgne. The British destroyed the one-gun schooner USS Sea Horse, and captured almost the entire American force, including the tender, USS Alligator and five gunboats. Lockyer was promoted to Post Captain on 29 March 1815, and Montresor and Roberts were posted on 13 June. Montresor was also nominated as a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 4 June.
Following the peace, Manly landed Mr Williamson of Albion, the purveyor of the squadron, at Savannah, Georgia in April to buy provisions. He found that trade had reverted to normal. Manley later sailed from Wilmington, North Carolina to Bermuda and then back home.
Post-war career and fate
In February 1824, the Navy fitted her with iron and zinc on the bottom "for an experiment to preserve the copper". Manly was in Ordinary in Portsmouth in 1826, and then fitted for sea. She was recommissioned in February 1827 under Lieut. William Field for the Halifax station. She remained on the Halifax station into the early 1830s. Manly was sold out of the service in 1833 to Sturge for ₤550.
Notes
- ↑ Brenton (1823), pp. 189-191.
References
- Brenton, Edward Pelham (1823) The The Naval History of Great Britain. (London).
- 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.
- Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1794–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461.
