HMS Musquito (1804)
| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Musquito |
| Ordered: | 27 November 1802 |
| Laid down: | May 1803 |
| Launched: | 4 September 1804 |
| Fate: | Sold 1822 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Cruizer class brig-sloop |
| Tonnage: | 384 51/94 bm |
| Length: |
55 ft 2 in (16.81 m) (overall) 40 ft 10.5 in (12.5 m) (keel) |
| Beam: | 18 ft 0 in (5.49 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 9 ft 0 in (2.74 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Schooner |
| Complement: | 20 |
| Armament: |
16 x 32-pounder carronades |
HMS Musquito (1804) was a Royal Navy Cruizer class brig-sloop built by John Preston at Great Yarmouth and launched in 1804.[1] She was commissioned in October 1804 under Cmdr. Samuel Jackson.[1] She served in the North Sea and the Baltic, and Captain Samuel Jackson supervised the first successful rocket attack in Europe at Boulogne in 1806. After the war she served off Africa and captured some slavers. She was broken up in 1822, having been laid up since 1818.
North Sea and Baltic
Musquito was 13 miles off Scarborough on 12 April 1805 when Jackson saw two ships firing at a third. The quarry proved to be a sloop from Guernsey with contraband goods. Her captain informed Jackson the pursuers were French privateers. Jackson went in chase and captured one of the privateers at midday and the other early the following morning.
They were the Orestes and Pylades, Dutch-built doggers flying false Prussian colours. Each carried a 24-pounder carronade and six swivels and had a crew of 33 men. They had been at sea for three weeks and had been planning to attack the trade off Scotland but had made no captures due to bad weather.[2][3]
Later that year Musquito escorted transports with 5,000 troops for Lord Cathcart's army in Hanover. By trusting his judgment over that of the pilots he was ordered to use, Jackson saved the convoy from grounding on the Haak Sand off Texel, although one transport did ground with the result that the Dutch captured her and 250 men of the Fifth Regiment of Foot she was carrying.[3][Note 1] Later, Musquito drove five French armed schooners ashore on the Calais/Boulogne coast.[3]
During Commodore Edward Owen’s rocket attack on the French flotilla at Boulogne in October 1806, Jackson directed the boats firing 32 pound (14.5kg) Congreve rockets.[3] As night drew in on the Channel, 24 cutters fitted with rocket frames formed a line and fired some 400 rockets at Boulogne. The barrage took only 30 minutes. Apparently the attack set a number of fires but otherwise had limited effect. Still, the effect was enough to lead the British to employ rockets on a number of further occasions.[4] This was the first successful use of rocket artillery in Europe. An earlier attack on Boulogne in November 1805 had been a complete failure with the rockets not even reaching the town.[5]
Musquito joined the expedition to Copenhagen in October 1806 where she was stationed in the Belt to prevent supplies reaching Zealand.[3]
Musquito was recommissioned in October 1807 under Cmdr. William Goate for the North Sea. She captured the Danish privateer cutter Sol Fulgen of six guns and 24 men off Heligoland on 25 May 1809. [1]
The Elbe
In June 1809 Lord George Stuart placed Goate in command of a small force consisting of Musquito, the two Cherokee class brig-sloops Briseis, Robert Pettet, and Ephira, Edward Watts, five gun-brigs, including Basilisk, one armed schuyt and a cutter. On 7 July they entered the Elbe and anchored out of gunshot of the battery at Cuxhaven.[2]
At daylight the following morning Goate, with the commanding officers, seamen and marines of their respective vessels, landed to attack the battery. However, the 80-man garrison retreated. The British loaded the battery’s six 24-pounders into vessels lying in the harbor, together with all the shot and military stores. They then blew up the fort. They also seized two French gunboats. The landing party handed the town of Cuxhaven back to the civil governor before they embarked.[2]
On 26 July French cavalry nearly captured several of the officers of the squadron in the village of Ritzbuttle. Lord Stuart then landed a detachment of seamen and marines to intercept them. When Stuart discovered that the French had retired to Gessendorf, some 26 miles from Cuxhaven, he ordered Goate to advance with his seamen and marines from Musquito while Pettet of Briseis moved round the flank to take a battery of four 12-pounders that was subjecting firing round shot and grape at Stuart and Watts. As soon as Goate and his landing party approached, the French evacuated Gessendorf in requisitioned wagons, covered by about 60 cavalry. The enemy artillerymen likewise abandoned their guns and escaped in boats on the Weser. The British captured the battery commander and three of his officers. The British burst the four 12-pounders and brought off the powder. The only British casualty was Watts, who had been wounded.[2]
Cruising
Musquito was recommissioned in June 1811 under Cmdr. Christopher Bell. Then in February 1812 she came under the command of Cmdr. James Tomkinson. [1]
In 1 June 1812 Musquito, which was shorthanded, intercepted a group of lobster boats off Heligoland. She then impressed two seamen from the boats. The men and their colleagues sued for their release, and in 1813 were granted a writ of habeas corpus. The argument was that because Britain had taken possession of the island and its fisheries in 1807, the Heligoland fisheries were British possessions and thus fell within a defined statutory exception for “the fisheries of this Kingdom”.[6]
On 7 August 1812 Musquito was at Yarmouth, having captured three Dutch prizes off the Dogger Bank. On 24 April 1813 Musquito sailed for the Leeward Islands. She spent 1814 back in Home waters.[1]
Post-war
On 12 August 1815 Cmdr. George Brine was appointed to Musquito and he took command on 25 August. She then spent several years off Africa, much of the time at St Helena, “guarding Napoleon”. In August 1816 Musquito was at Port Louis, Mauritius. On 28 December she captured a number of slave vessels, including the schooners Petite Amie and Helen, and the luggers Joseph and Zephyr.
On 7 October 1817 Musquito arrived at the Cape of Good Hope from the Isle de France. From there she sailed to Saint Helena. She was reported at St Helena on 12 April 1818 and again on 17 August. On 14 November she arrived at Deal from Portsmouth and sailed for the Thames.
Fate
Musquito was paid off at Deptford in 1818. She was sold to Thomas King for £1,050 on 7 May 1822.[1]
Note
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Winfield (2008), p.291.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Phillips, Michael [1] Ships of the Old Navy – Musquito (1804); accessed 13 January 2010.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Marshall (1823-1835), pp.275-6.
- ↑ Werrett (2009)
- ↑ Werrett (2009)
- ↑ The law review and quarterly journal of British and foreign jurisprudence. (London: Owen Richards, 1845-1856), Vol. 13, pp.254-5.
References
- Congreve, William, Sir. (1827) A Treatise on the General Principles, Powers, and Facility of Application of the Congreve Rocket System. (London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green).
- Marshall, John ( 1823-1835) Royal naval biography, or, Memoirs of the services of all the flag-officers, superannuated rear-admirals, retired-captains, post-captains, and commanders, whose names appeared on the Admiralty list of sea officers at the commencement of the present year 1823, or who have since been promoted ... (London : Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown).
- Werrett, Simon (20 March 2009) "William Congreve's rational rockets". Notes & Records of the Royal Society Vol. 63, no. 1, pp. 35-56. [2]
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461.
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