HMS Cuttle was a 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...

 Ballahoo-class

Ballahoo class schooner

The Ballahoo class was a Royal Navy class of eighteen 4-gun schooners built under contract in Bermuda during the Napoleonic War. The class was an attempt by the Admiralty to harness the expertise of Bermudian shipbuilders who were renowned for their fast-sailing craft...

 schooner

Schooner

A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....

 of four 12-pounder carronade

Carronade

The carronade was a short smoothbore, cast iron cannon, developed for the Royal Navy by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, UK. It was used from the 1770s to the 1850s. Its main function was to serve as a powerful, short-range anti-ship and anti-crew weapon...

s and a crew of 20. The prime contractor for the vessel was Goodrich & Co., in Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

, and she was launched in 1807. She was broken up in 1814.

Service

She was commissioned in 1807 under Lieutenant Thomas Bury for the Halifax

City of Halifax

Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

 station. Between 28 September and 16 October she was in Portsmouth, refitting.

In October 1808 Lieutenant George Jackson took command. One of his first assignments was to sail to Boston to await the American president's response to the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair.

Cuttle was at the capture of Martinique

Invasion of Martinique (1809)

The invasion of Martinique of 1809 was a successful British amphibious operation against the French West Indian island of Martinique that took place between 30 January and 24 February 1809 during the Napoleonic Wars...

 in early 1809. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Martinique" to all remaining survivors of the campaign that claimed it. Jackson left Cuttle after Martinique.

In late 1809 Cuttle was again at Halifax. Around early November she captured the Three Sisters, which the pirate Edward Jordan

Edward Jordan

Edward Jordan was an Irish rebel, fisherman and pirate in Nova Scotia. He was typical of the violent but short-lived pirates in the 19th century following the end of "Golden Age of Piracy" in the 18th century. Born in County Carlow, Ireland, he took part in the Irish rebellions of 1797-98 but...

 had owned but stolen, after killing the crew, to prevent foreclosure. He was convicted of piracy and executed in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His body was covered in tar and hanged from chains in a gibbet

Gibbet

A gibbet is a gallows-type structure from which the dead bodies of executed criminals were hung on public display to deter other existing or potential criminals. In earlier times, up to the late 17th century, live gibbeting also took place, in which the criminal was placed alive in a metal cage...

 at Point Pleasant

Point Pleasant Park

Point Pleasant Park is a large, partially forested municipal park at the southern tip of the Halifax peninsula. It once hosted several artillery batteries, and a well-preserved 18th century Martello tower can be found there...

 as a warning to others. His gibbet joined three others across the harbour on McNabs Island

McNabs Island

McNabs Island is the largest island in Halifax Harbour located in Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada. It played a major role in defending Halifax Harbour and is now a provincial park...

 who had been executed for mutiny aboard the Cruizer-class brig-sloop

Cruizer class brig-sloop

The Cruizer class was an 18-gun class of brig-sloops of the Royal Navy. Brig-sloops were the same as ship-sloops except for their rigging...

 HMS Columbine in the same year.

In 1810 Cuttle was under the command of Lieutenant Michael Molloy, off North America. In June 1811 she was under Lieutenant William L. Patterson, who in 1812 was with her in Portsmouth. On 24 July 1812 she captured the American vessel Laura. Cuttle was then under a Lieutenant Saunders. In 1813 she was under Lieutenant John T. Young.

Fate

Cuttle was decommissioned and laid up at Bermuda on 29 March. She was broken up in 1814. Still, several reports erroneously have her foundering with all hands off Halifax in December 1814.