HMS Crash was a 12-gun . She was launched in April 1797 as GB No. 15 and received the name Crash in August. She served against the French and Dutch in the Napoleonic Wars

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

, though after her capture in 1798 she spent a year in the service of the Batavian republic before the British recaptured her. She was sold in 1802.

Design

John Henslow designed the Acute-class gun-brigs.Winfield (2008), pp.331-2. They were initially given numbers only, but on 7 August they all received names.

Initial service

GB No. 15 was commissioned in April 1797 under Lieutenant James Anderson.The letters "GB" were never stated to be an abbreviation for "gunboat". Certainly by 1797 the term "gun-brig" was used, and the letters "GB" more likely represented that title, but still the letters were not explicitly an abbreviation.

Under Lieutenant Bulkeley Mackworth Praed, who took command in early 1797, Crash participated in operations under Sir Home Popham against the locks and sluice gates of the Bruges

Bruges

Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....

 canal in May 1798.

Loss to capture

On 23 August she was in company with but they separated in bad weather that worsened as it continued. Crash did not handle the weather well despite the crew having thrown her guns overboard. On 26 August she anchored near land but the anchors did not hold and on 26 August she grounded at Vlieland

Vlieland

Vlieland is a municipality in the northern Netherlands. The municipality of Vlieland has only one major town: Oost-Vlieland . It is the second-least densely populated municipality in the Netherlands ....

. Her crew holed her bottom and threw their remaining arms and ammunition overboard before they went ashore. There Dutch soldiers took them prisoner.The Dutch released Praed and by 21 August 1799 he was commander of the 16-gun sloop . He eventually became a rear-admiral. The Dutch took possession of Crash and were able to return her to service.

Recapture

Almost a year after her capture, on 11 August 1799, the 16-gun sloop , under Captain Adam Mackenzie

Adam Mackenzie

Adam Mackenzie was an officer of the Royal Navy. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 13 March 1790, to Commander on 22 June 1796, and to Captain on 2 September 1799. He died on 13 November 1823.-HMS Pylades:...

, the 16-gun brig-sloop , under Captain James Boorder, the 12-gun hired cutter Courier

Hired armed cutter Courier

The Hired armed cutter Courier appears twice in the records of the Royal Navy. The size and armament suggests that both contracts may represent the same vessel...

, and and Latona, which sent their boats, mounted an attack on Crash, which was moored between the island of Schiermonnikoog

Schiermonnikoog

Schiermonnikoog is an island, a municipality, and a national park in the northern Netherlands. Schiermonnikoog is one of the West Frisian Islands, and is part of the province of Friesland....

 and Groningen

Groningen (province)

Groningen [] is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. In the east it borders the German state of Niedersachsen , in the south Drenthe, in the west Friesland and in the north the Wadden Sea...

. At the time of attack, Crash was armed with eight 18-pounders, two 24-pounders and two 32-pounders, all carronades, and had a crew of 60.

Pylades and Espiegle engaged Crash, which surrendered after a strong resistance. MacKenzie immediately put Crash into service under Lieutenant James Slade, Latonas first lieutenant

First Lieutenant

First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...

. In the attack, Pylades lost one man killed and three wounded. Juno lost one man killed when the boats attacked a gun-schooner.

The next day the British captured one schyut and burnt a second. MacKenzie put Lieutenant Humphreys of the Juno on the captured schuyt after arming her with two 12-pounder carronades and naming her the Undaunted.

On 13 August the British attacked the Dutch schooner Vengeance (or Weerwrack or Waarwrick), of six cannons, two of them 24-pounders, and a battery on Schiermonnikoog. The British were able to burn the Vengeance and spike the battery's four guns. They also captured a rowboat with 30 men and two brass 4-pounder field pieces, and spiked another 12-pounder. The Courier grounded but was saved. Excluding Undaunted, the British captured three schuyts or galiot

Galiot

Galiots were types of ships from the Age of Sail.In the Mediterranean, galiots were a type of small galley, with one or two masts and about twenty oars, using both sails and oars for propulsion...

s, the Vier Vendou, the Jonge Gessina and one other. The battle would earn those seamen who survived until 1847 the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Schiermonnikoog 12 Augt. 1799".

Dutch accounts report that Lieutenant van Maaren burnt his ship rather than surrendering it. They further report that the British moved towards the village but that Lieutenant Broers, with 26 men, put up such a defense that after two hours the British withdrew.

Return to British service

Crash was recommissioned under Lieutenant James Slade, who was promoted to Commander for his part in the attack. Her hull was coppered in June 1801 and she was recommissioned in August under Lieutenant David Hamline.