HMS Colibri was a French naval brig, built in 1808 that the British captured in 1809 and took into the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 under her existing name. She foundered in 1813 in Port Royal Sound

Port Royal Sound

Port Royal Sound is a coastal sound, or inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the Sea Islands region, in Beaufort County in the U.S. state of South Carolina...

 (not Port Royal

Port Royal

Port Royal was a city located at the end of the Palisadoes at the mouth of the Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1518, it was the centre of shipping commerce in the Caribbean Sea during the latter half of the 17th century...

, Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

 as stated in some sources), but without loss of life.

Capture

On 16 January 1809 Melampus captured Colibri off Barbuda

Barbuda

Barbuda is an island in the Eastern Caribbean, and forms part of the state of Antigua and Barbuda. It has a population of about 1,500, most of whom live in the town of Codrington.-Location:...

, after her captain had the "temerity" to put up a fight as Melampus was sailing alongside. She was armed with fourteen 24-pounder carronades and two 8-pounder guns, had a crew of 92 men, under the command of Mons. Deslandes, Lieutenant de Vaisseau. In the engagement, Colibri had three men killed and 11 wounded before she struck. She was a new vessel and was sailing from Cherburg with a cargo of 570 barrels of flour and a great quantity of gunpowder intended for the relief of San Domingo. On her way she had captured and sunk two British brigs that had been sailing from Newfoundland to Lisbon, the Hannibal and the Priscilla, both of Dartmouth. The Royal Navy took her into service under her existing name.

British service

The British commissioned Colibri in October under Lieutenant Henry Jane. He received his promotion to Commander, a rank more in keeping with the size of his vessel, on 10 May 1810. Later that year Commander John Thompson replaced Jane. He remained in command until her loss in August 1813.

Colibri was in company with on 9 October 1810 when she captured the Fortuna.
On 15 March 1811, Colibri captured the American slaver Carolina (alias Atrevido) off Amelia Island with some 200 slaves. The Vice Admiralty Court in Bermuda appears to have decided that the vessel’s putative Spanish nationality was fraudulent and that she was, in fact, American.

On 25 March 1811, captured the Spanish vessel Empressa. Colibri was either accompanying Little Belt or in sight of the capture and so shared in the prize money.

On 28 Jun 1812 Colibri was despatched from Halifax under a flag of truce to New York. On 9 July she anchored off Sandy-Hook, and three days later sailed on her return with a copy of the declaration of war, the British ambassador, Mr. Foster, and consul, Colonel Barclay. She then arrived in Halifax eight days later.

On 23 July Colibri captured the U.S. privateer sloop Gleaner, of Kennebunk, Maine, off Cape Sable. Gleaner was armed with six guns and had a crew of 40 men under the command of Captain N. Lord. She was on her first cruise.

On 24 July 1812, Colibri sighted three vessels off Cape Sable and gave chase to one, a schooner. When Colibri got close she exchanged signals with the schooner, which turned to be . Colibri then chased and took two other vessels, which turned out to be an American privateer and a bark, her prize. The privateer was the Catherine; eight days out of Boston; she had taken only the bark. Catherine, under the command of Francis A. Burnham, was pierced for 16 guns but mounted fourteen 6-pounder guns and had a crew of 88 men. She had suffered one man killed and one wounded before she surrendered after a 15-minute action. Her casualties were low as the crew had taken refuge below decks. In contrast to Thompson’s official report, one American newspaper reported that the action had lasted one and a half hours and that Colibri had six men killed and several wounded.

On 2 August 1812 Colibri met up with and reported that an American privateer was said to be sheltering nearby. The two set out together and as they approached the coast Emulous suddenly grounded. During the efforts to get her off, Colibri took off all non-essential crew and the prisoners she had on board. Shortly thereafter Emulous fell over onto her beam-ends and became unsalvageable. Her position was some 19 miles from Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia.

On 11 Aug 1812 Colibri captured the American privateer schooner Polly in the Bay of Fundy. Polly was armed with four guns and had a crew of with 35 men. That same day, Colibri was in company with for the capture of the American privateer Buckskin.
The next day Colibri captured two more small American privateers, both off Cape Sable. One was the schooner Regulator. She was armed with just one gun and had a crew of 40 men. The second was the Dolphin, for which Colibri shared the capture with . Dolphin had two guns and a crew of 48 men. On 13 August Colibri shared with Maidstone, and in the capture of the American vessel John.

Ten days later, Colibri captured the ship Monk, of 253 tons. She was sailing from Rio de Janiero to Salem with a cargo of sugar, hides, and horns.
San Domingo, Dragon, Statira and Colibri shared the capture of three vessels at the beginning of 1813. These were the American schooners Scyron (16 January) and American Eagle (18 January), and the Swedish brig Hanosand (13 February).
On 10 February Statira shared with five other warships in the capture of the St. Michael. However, Statira had to divide up her portion because she was in a prize-money sharing agreement with Colibri, , and .
Then Colibri captured 10 small merchantmen, most of them American.

• Brig Commerce, of 120 tons and 11 men, carrying lumber, from Rhode Island to Havana, captured on 14 March and burnt.
• Schooner Female, of 95 tons and six men, carrying flour, butter, and lard, from Baltimore to La Guira, captured 27 March and sent to Bermuda.
• Swedish schooner Minerva, of 130 tons and 13 men, carrying molasses and sugar from Charleston to St. Bartholomew, captured on 29 March and sent to Providence.
• Schooner Portsmouth, carrying lumber, from Cuba to Rhode Island, captured on 16 April and sent to Providence.
• Schooner Eliza, of 95 tons, carrying sundries from Wilmington to Savannah,' captured 1 May and sent to Bermuda.
• Schooner Nancy carrying sundries from Georgetown to Savannah, captured 1 May, burnt after the transfer of her cargo to the Eliza.
• Schooner Sampit, carrying sundries from Georgetown to Savannah, captured 1 May and burnt after the transfer of her cargo to the Eliza.
• Schooner Wingaw, carrying sundries from Georgtown to Savannah, captured 1 May, burnt after the transfer of her cargo to the Eliza.
• Spanish ship El de Padato in Cortes, of 160 tons and 14 men, carrying molasses, sugar, etc. from New York to Matanza’s, captured 27 May and sent to Providence.
• Swedish schooner Gustava, of 140 tons and 8 men, carrying flour, meal, &c. from Carthagena to Savannah, captured 17 June and sent to Providence.

Colibri shared with in the capture of the American vessel Minerva on 2 April.

Fate

In August 1813, Colibri and were blockading the US coast between Charleston and Georgetown. There was little shipping so the pair conducted a number of boat raids along the coast. They then decided to sail south of Charleston and on August they entered Port Royal Sound. They anchored, but resistance by the local militia, which had erected shore batteries, forestalled any raids. Colibri and Moselle then decided to return to sea on August 23. However, the weather was poor and Colibri grounded on a sandbar as she led Moselle out. Attempts to lighten her and get her off were unsuccessful and as the tide went out she fell over to larboard. Her crew cut away her masts, but nothing worked. Moselle then rescued her Colibris crew, which abandoned the wreck. A hurricane on 27 August 1813 destroyed Colibri and her boats, after which Moselle was able to navigate across the bar to the open sea. Thompson and his officers and crew were subsequently acquitted of any wrongdoing at the court martial into the loss of Colibri.