HMS Poictiers (1809)

Career (UK)
Name:	HMS Poictiers
Ordered:	1 October 1806
Builder:	King, Upnor
Laid down:	August 1807
Launched:	9 December 1809
Fate:	Broken up, 1857
General characteristics
Class and type:	Vengeur-class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1765 tons (1793.3 tonnes)
Length:	176 ft (54 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	47 ft 6 in (14.48 m)
Depth of hold:	21 ft (6.4 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	74 guns: Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs Upper gundeck: 28 × 18 pdrs Quarterdeck: 4 × 12 pdrs, 10 × 32 pdr carronades Forecastle: 2 × 12 pdrs, 2 × 32 pdr carronades Poop deck: 6 × 18 pdr carronades

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Poictiers.

HMS Poictiers was a 74-gun Royal Navy third rate. This ship of the line was launched on 9 December 1809 at Upnor. She played a small role in the War of 1812. She was broken up in 1857.

Active service

In 1812, Poictiers participated in an action where she rescued Frolic by capturing USS Wasp, commanded by Jacob Jones. Four hours after Wasp captured Frolic, Capt Sir John Poer Beresford hove in sight and captured the Wasp and recaptured the Frolic. He then brought both to Bermuda. Frolic returned to duty and Wasp became HMS Wasp]].

Subsequently, Poictiers assisted at the taking of the Herald, a 10-gun letter of marque, Highflyer, an American privateer of five guns, and the Yorktown, of 20 guns. The actual captor of the Highflyer was Acasta. That of the Yorktown was Nimrod. The Yorktown, under Captain T. W. Story, had taken 11 prizes before Nimrod captured her on 17 July 1813. The British sent Yorktown and her crew into Halifax.

These incidents aside, Poictiers had an uneventful war, though there is a record of one humorous incident. The exhibit center of the town of Lewes, Delaware, has a framed copy of a handwritten letter from Captain Beresford to the town's chief magistrate.

Dated 16 March 1813, the letter says:

"Sir, As soon as you receive this, I request you will send 20 live bullocks with a proportionate quantity of vegetables and hay to the Poictiers for the use of Britannic Majesty's squadron now at this anchorage, which will be immediately paid for at the Philadelphia prices. If you refuse to comply with this request I shall be under necessity of destroying your town. I have the honor to be, sir, your very obedient servant,

J. P. Beresford Commodore and commander of the British Squadron in the Mouth of the Delaware."

Col. Samuel Boyer Davis, commander of American troops in Lewes, refused the demand, so on 6 and 7 April Beresford shelled the town, killing a chicken and wounding a pig. There is a cannonball from Poictiers lodged in the stone foundation of Lewes's Marine Museum.

Fate

After arriving in Sheerness on 20 December 1848, Poictiers then went to Chatham Dockyard where she served as a Depot Ship of Ordinary. In 1857 she was sold out of service and broken up.

Postscript

Poictier's figurehead went to the small museum in Chatham Dockyard. In the 1920s, the figurehead was moved to Sheerness and placed on display inside the dockyard but towards the 1980s, the condition of the wood was such that the figure fell apart, leaving no single piece that could reasonably be salvaged for purposes of reconstruction.

The pieces were therefore used, in conjunction with archive photographs, to carve a replica. Andy Peters was commissioned to analyse samples of the paint and to carry out the carving. He then created a sculpture that provides a record of the figure's former glory, complete with gold leaf detailing. Since 2008, the replica has been on display for public viewing at the Blue Town Heritage Centre alongside the original figurehead from HMS Scylla, after Peel Holdings donated the pair.

References

• Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461.