HMS Zebra (1815)

Career
Class and type:	Cruizer class brig-sloop
Name:	HMS Zebra
Builder:	Bombay Dockyard
Launched:	18 December 1815
Fate:	Wrecked, 2 December 1840
General characteristics
Tons burthen:	382 bm
Length:	100 ft (30 m)
Beam:	30 ft 6 in (9.30 m)
Complement:	121
Armament:	16 × 32-pounder carronades, 2 × 6-pounder guns

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

HMS Zebra, was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She was built of teak by the East India Company dockyard in Bombay and launched in 1815 as the last of the Cruizer-class. The master shipwright was Jamsetjee Bomanjee Wadia.

Service

She was commissioned in December 1815 under Commander Robert Forbes for passage to England. However, Philip Henry Bridges was acting commander of Zebra from December 1815-November 1816, then he was promoted into Challenger. In May 1816, she arrived in Madras from Calcutta, and by August she was at Simon's Bay. By 14 December 1816, she had reached Portsmouth where she was paid off into Ordinary, where she stayed until 1825. In February 1825, she was recommissioned for the Mediterranean — under Cdr. Edward R. Williams — and sailed in May.

Mediterranean pirates

On 6 January 1827, Zebra left for the Mediterranean. She arrived in Zante on 28 January 1827 with dispatches for Captain Irby of Pelican from Capt. Hamilton of Cambrian. Here Williams learned that the Governor of Maina — Giovanni Mavromicali — had reneged on his agreement to sail his galley to Zante for arbitration on goods plundered from Ionian vessels. Williams agreed to go in search of Mavromicali. Williams sailed on 30 January and, on 4 February, Zebra's boats brought out from the port of Catecali a bovo (a small local sailing boat) belonging to the pirate Nicolo Cipriotti and rescued an Ionian trabaccolo that he had seized. The pirates had escaped ashore so the cutting out party burnt the bovo. The boats searched the shore up towards Cape Kitries and, on 8 February, they sighted a vessel near Scardamoula answering the description of the one they were seeking. Unfortunately, they were unable to prevent her returning to port. All the boats then went in to demand her surrender; they returned with a promise that Mavromicali would sail to Zante the following morning. Zebra spent an uncomfortable night anchored in deep swell only 300 yards from the galley. If the sea had been calmer, Zebra would have taken possession of her after the first lieutenant had been repulsed by armed men when attempting to deliver a message. In the morning, Williams saw that the hills were ringed with armed men and the Governor made no reply when reminded of his promise. When Zebra fired a carronade at the bow of the galley, this had the desired effect and the British took possession of her. The two vessels sailed on 10 February and arrived in Zante on the next evening.

On 4 March 1827, while Zebra was becalmed off Zea, she observed two boats, heavily laden with men, pulling off the island. They made off after recognizing the brig. However, Zebra's boats pursued them and succeeded in capturing and burning one of the boats after its four-man crew had fled ashore. The following night, while running through the Doro Passage, the brig was five boats harried Zebra, firing on her and then disappearing into the dark.

The schooner Robert, Thomas Simson, master, sailed from Messina for Smyrna on 17 July. On the evening of 23 July, Robert was in mid channel between Serpho and Sepanto when two boats fired on her and about 100 armed men boarded her. The pirates proceeded to plunder her cargo and to strip the crew of their clothes and possessions and left at daybreak when a convoy came in sight. Robert approached the convoy and notified Williams in Zebra, which was on her way to Malta. Zebra sailed along the shore but could see nothing of the pirates.

Navarino

Williams received promotion to Post Captain in April, and Charles Cotton replaced him in May. Zebra operated out of Malta, protecting British trade in the Greek Archipelago, at Alexandria, and around the coasts of Syria and Caramania. In October, Zebra joined Admiral Sir Edward Codrington in Asia — together with Talbot and Dartmouth — in search of a force of Turkish vessels that Dartmouth reported had left Navarin or Navarino and were heading to Patras. Codrington's small squadron intercepted the Ottoman fleet and forced it to return to Navarino. In this, Zebra played a striking role by firing across the bow of an 80-gun Ottoman ship of the line.

Eventually Codrington — joined by more British vessels, together with a number of French and Russian ones — inflicted a massive defeat on the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Navarino on 27 October. Zebra missed the battle, Codrington having sent her to get assistance.

Cotton died on board Zebra of a fever on 11 February 1828 and she came under the temporary command of her lieutenant, Wheatley. Cotton was believed to have developed the fever as a consequence of his exertions on 31 January in rescuing the crew of Cambrian off Carabusa (Gramvousa) on Candia. Sir Thomas Staines had taken a small squadron to the island off Cape Busa (Vouxa) to deal with a nest of Greek pirates that had made the harbour there their home after the Greeks had taken possession of it early in the war against the Turks in Crete. The squadron consisted of Cambrian, Pelican, Isis, Rattlesnake, Zebra, Cameleon and two French corvettes. There were 14 Greek vessels lying in the port with two merchantmen, one Austrian and one Ionian, that the pirates had taken. When the pirates refused to surrender, the squadron opened fire and destroyed most of the vessels. Marines from Pelican and Isis then landed to take possession of the fortress there. As the squadron retired Isis struck Cambrian, causing her to hit broadside on to rocks in the narrow channel. The strong swell then broke her up.

Cdr. Edmund W. Gilbert replaced Cotton in October 1828.

East Indies and Australia

In January 1829, Cdr. Richard Pridham took command of Zebra and sailed her to the East Indies. Cdr. Durrell de Sausmarez assumed command in November and sailed her to Port Jackson. However, he left Zebra in February 1832 due to ill-health, returning home in the whaler Strathfieldsaye.

In 1832, Zebra was at Port Taranaki in response to a report that the Māori there were planning to attack settlers. When she arrived it turned out there was no unrest so she continued on to Kapiti, and then on through Cook's Straits to Tahiti.

In 1834, Zebra was at Chatham. R. C. M'Crea assumed command in June and sailed for the East Indies. On 21 August 1835, Zebra was on her way from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands to the Swan River and 100 mi (160 km) west-south-west of Naturalite Bay when a strong squall threw the brig on its beam ends. Fortunately a port swung open, allowing the immense amount of water covering the weather coamings to escape, enabling her to right herself. The waves also threw two guns overboard; later M'Crae threw another two overboard as well to lighten Zebra. The bad weather continued, and on 27 August M'Crae threw the remaining eight cannon overboard. Two days later she reached Rottenest Island and eventually Fremantle.

On the evening of 17 September 1836, Zebra on her way from Sydney to India when she anchored in Port Molle. Her sailing master, Lucius C. Bailey, gave a detailed description of its appeal as an anchorage. The next day, M'Crea examined Long Island Sound, finding it a good anchorage and an alternative to Port Molle if the winds blew strong from the north. They also remarked on the remains of the Valetta, which had wrecked there in 1825, and on a well the survivors had dug.

In 1837, M'Crae and Zebra engaged with Malay pirates. The East India Company awarded him a plate worth 100 guineas as as a measure of their appreciation for his efforts.

Zebra remained in the East Indies until early 1838 when she was ordered home.

Mediterranean

On 3 January 1839, Robert Fanshawe Stopford assumed command and sailed her to the Mediterranean. During Muhammad Ali's revolt against the Ottoman Sultan and Ali's subsequent invasion of Syria in what became known as the Oriental Crisis of 1840 or the Syrian War, Zebra formed part of Charles Napier's force in the Eastern Mediterranean.

On 23 February 1840, Cdr. James John Stopford assumed command. On 5 May 1840, Zebra was in Malta for repairs. En route for Corfu, she had knocked off part of her false keel at Cape Blanco. On 19 July Zebra joined the first rate Princess Charlotte, the third rate Benbow and the corvette Daphne in sailing for the Syrian coast. By 8 September, Zebra had sailed with Adm. Sir Robert Stopford's fleet from Alexandria, which arrived at Beirut three days later.

On 26 September 1840, Zebra joined Benbow and the sixth rate Carysfort to cover a disastrous attack on Tortosa. The boats grounded on a reef and there were many casualties before they could be got off.

Zebra was present at the capture of Acre and operated on the coast of Syria.

Fate

On 2 December 1840, a heavy gale drove Zebra ashore off Mount Carmel near Haifa and wrecked her. Three crewmen were lost. The subsequent court martial on board Howe acquitted Stopford, his officers, and his crew of any negligence. Rather, the board complemented them on their seamanlike and intrepid conduct.

References

• [1] Michael Phillips - Ships of the Old Navy
• 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. 
• Henderson, Graeme (2007) Unfinished voyages: Western Australian shipwrecks 1622-1850. (Crawley, W.A.: University of Western Australia Press).ISBN 9781920694883
• Gossett, William Patrick (1986) The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793-1900. (London:Mansell). ISBN 0-7201-1816-6
• Huntley, Sir Henry Vere (1849) Peregrine Scramble: or, Thirty years adventures of a blue jacket. (Paris: A. and W. Galignanai and Co.; Baudru's European Library).
• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461.