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HMS Cydnus (1813)
Encyclopedia
HMS Cydnus was one of eight Royal Navy
38-gun Cydnus-class fifth-rate
s. This frigate was built in 1813 at Blackwall Yard
, London
, and broken up in 1816. The entire class was a version of the Leda-class
frigates, but built of red fir (pine), which was cheaper and more abundant than oak and permitted noticeably faster construction, but at a cost of reduced durability.
To enable the new frigate to meet the American frigates on less unequal terms, Cydnus, and her sister Eurotas received medium 24-pounders and an increased complement of men. Cydnuss 24-pounders were of a design by General Sir Thomas Blomefield, 1st Baronet
and measured 7 ft. 6 in. in length while weighing about 40 cwt. The 24-pounders on Eurotas were to a design by Colonel Congreve.
During December 1813 and January 1814, Cyndus and Eurotas actually temporarily exchanged six 24-pounders, presumably to enable both vessels to test the designs against each other. Ultimately, the Royal Navy
adopted General Blomefield's design.
On 8 January 1814, Cydnus recaptured the English ship Rachael and Ann, of 14 guns, 226
tons. and 20 men. She had been sailing from Buenos Ayres for London.
On 14 March 1814 Cydnus and captured the American privateer Bunker's Hill, of 14 guns and 86 men. Though Bunkers Hill had been known for her past successes, on this cruise she was eight days ouot of Morlaix
without having captured anything. Bunkers Hill was the former Royal Navy cutter , which the French frigate Gloire
had taken on 25 February 1813 near Madeira
. Cydnus carried out convoy duties to the East Indies
in 1814.
Cyndus served in the operations against New Orleans in 1814. Her boats participated in the British victory at the Battle of Lake Borgne
. On 8 December 1814, two US gunboats fired on , and the sixth-rate
frigate while they were passing the chain of small islands that runs parallel to the shore between Mobile and Lake Borgne
.
Between 12 and 15 December 1814, Captain Lockyer of Sophie led a flotilla of some 50 boats, barges, gigs and launches to attack the US gunboats. Lockyer drew his flotilla from the fleet that was massing against New Orleans, including the 74-gun Third Rate
, Arminde, Cydnus, Seahorse, and Meteor.
Lockyer deployed the boats in three divisions, of which he led one. Captain Montresor of the gun-brig Manly commanded the second, and Captain Roberts of Meteor commanded the third. After rowing for 36 hours, the British met the Americans at St. Joseph's Island. On 13 December 1814, the British attacked
the one-gun schooner USS Sea Horse
. On the morning of the 14th, the British engaged the Americans in a short, violent battle.
The British captured or destroyed almost the entire American force, including the tender, USS Alligator
, and five gunboats. The British lost 17 men killed and 77 wounded; Cydnus had four men wounded. then evacuated the wounded. In 1821 the survivors of the flotilla shared in the distribution of head-money arising from the capture of the American gun-boats and sundry bales of cotton. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "14 Dec Boat Service 1814" to all surviving claimants from the action.
After the Battle of Fort Bowyer on 18 January 1815, Captain the Hon. William Henry Percy
faced a court martial on board Cydnus, off Cat Island, Mississippi
for the loss of his vessel, Hermes
, during his unsuccessful attack there in September 1814. The court acquitted him of all blame, finding that the attack was justified.
Sir Alexander Cochrane
appointed Captain Robert Cavendish Spencer, of the sloop Carron, to command Cydnus in 1815, for his efforts in Louisiana and Florida. Spencer then spent a month camped at Prospect Bluff on the Apalachicola River
with Britain's Indian allies, charged with settling their claims and dismissing them from British service. Apparently he left them with some cannons as well.
had ended and as she was not durable, she was broken up at Portsmouth
in February 1816.
Cydnus was among the ships and vessels under the command of-Admiral Lord Viscount Keith entitled to share in the Parliamentary grant for service in 1813 and 1814.
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...
38-gun Cydnus-class fifth-rate
Fifth-rate
In Britain's Royal Navy during the classic age of fighting sail, a fifth rate was the penultimate class of warships in a hierarchal system of six "ratings" based on size and firepower.-Rating:...
s. This frigate was built in 1813 at Blackwall Yard
Blackwall Yard
Blackwall Yard was a shipyard on the Thames at Blackwall, London, engaged in ship building and later ship repairs for over 350 years. The yard closed in 1987...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and broken up in 1816. The entire class was a version of the Leda-class
Leda class frigate
The Leda-class frigates, were a successful class of forty-seven British Royal Navy 38-gun sailing frigates. The design of Leda was based on the Sané-designed Hébé, a French Hébé class frigate that the British 44-gun fifth rate HMS Rainbow captured in 1782...
frigates, but built of red fir (pine), which was cheaper and more abundant than oak and permitted noticeably faster construction, but at a cost of reduced durability.
To enable the new frigate to meet the American frigates on less unequal terms, Cydnus, and her sister Eurotas received medium 24-pounders and an increased complement of men. Cydnuss 24-pounders were of a design by General Sir Thomas Blomefield, 1st Baronet
Sir Thomas Blomefield, 1st Baronet
Thomas Blomefield, 1st Baronet Blomefield, was born in February 1774 and died 24 August 1822.He was the son of Reverend Thomas Blomefield and Mary Matthews. When he was 11 years old his father sent Thomas to sea on HMS Cambridge under Sir Peircy Brett, who was a close friend of the Rev. Blomefield...
and measured 7 ft. 6 in. in length while weighing about 40 cwt. The 24-pounders on Eurotas were to a design by Colonel Congreve.
During December 1813 and January 1814, Cyndus and Eurotas actually temporarily exchanged six 24-pounders, presumably to enable both vessels to test the designs against each other. Ultimately, 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...
adopted General Blomefield's design.
Service
Cydnus was commissioned in May 1813 under Captain Frederick Aylmer, but command passed later that month to Captain Frederick Langford. On 2 December, Briton captured the Wolfs Cove, while Cydnus and a squadron were in company.On 8 January 1814, Cydnus recaptured the English ship Rachael and Ann, of 14 guns, 226
tons. and 20 men. She had been sailing from Buenos Ayres for London.
On 14 March 1814 Cydnus and captured the American privateer Bunker's Hill, of 14 guns and 86 men. Though Bunkers Hill had been known for her past successes, on this cruise she was eight days ouot of Morlaix
Morlaix
Morlaix is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Leisure and tourism:...
without having captured anything. Bunkers Hill was the former Royal Navy cutter , which the French frigate Gloire
French frigate Gloire (1803)
Gloire was a 44-gun frigate of the French Navy.She took part in Allemand's expedition of 1805. On 18 July, she captured and burnt a Prussian cutter to maintain the secrecy of the movements of the fleet, in spite of the neutrality of Prussia at the time...
had taken on 25 February 1813 near Madeira
Madeira
Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...
. Cydnus carried out convoy duties to the East Indies
East Indies
East Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...
in 1814.
Cyndus served in the operations against New Orleans in 1814. Her boats participated in the British victory at the Battle of Lake Borgne
Battle of Lake Borgne
The Battle of Lake Borgne was a naval battle between the Royal Navy and the United States Navy in the American South theatre of the War of 1812. It occurred on 14 December 1814 on Lake Borgne and was part of the British advance on New Orleans.-Background:...
. On 8 December 1814, two US gunboats fired on , and the sixth-rate
Sixth-rate
Sixth rate was the designation used by the Royal Navy for small warships mounting between 20 and 24 nine-pounder guns on a single deck, sometimes with guns on the upper works and sometimes without.-Rating:...
frigate while they were passing the chain of small islands that runs parallel to the shore between Mobile and Lake Borgne
Lake Borgne
Lake Borgne is a lagoon in eastern Louisiana of the Gulf of Mexico. Due to coastal erosion, it is no longer actually a lake but rather an arm of the Gulf of Mexico. Its name comes from the French word borgne, which means "one-eyed".-Geography:...
.
Between 12 and 15 December 1814, Captain Lockyer of Sophie led a flotilla of some 50 boats, barges, gigs and launches to attack the US gunboats. Lockyer drew his flotilla from the fleet that was massing against New Orleans, including the 74-gun Third Rate
Third-rate
In the British Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks . Years of experience proved that the third rate ships embodied the best compromise between sailing ability , firepower, and cost...
, Arminde, Cydnus, Seahorse, and Meteor.
Lockyer deployed the boats in three divisions, of which he led one. Captain Montresor of the gun-brig Manly commanded the second, and Captain Roberts of Meteor commanded the third. After rowing for 36 hours, the British met the Americans at St. Joseph's Island. On 13 December 1814, the British attacked
Action of 13 December 1814 (Louisiana Campaign)
The Action of 13 December 1814 was a naval action during the War of 1812. A flotilla of British longboats were on their way to fight the Battle of Lake Borgne. Before reaching the lake, they would encounter an American schooner of the United States Navy....
the one-gun schooner USS Sea Horse
USS Sea Horse (1812)
The first USS Sea Horse was a one-gun schooner that the Navy purchased in 1812 for service on Lake Borgne, near New Orleans, Louisiana. She saw action as part of a squadron of gunboats, under the command of Lieutenant Thomas ap Catesby Jones, which opposed the British advance on New Orleans in...
. On the morning of the 14th, the British engaged the Americans in a short, violent battle.
The British captured or destroyed almost the entire American force, including the tender, USS Alligator
USS Alligator (1813)
The second USS Alligator was a sloop in the United States Navy during the War of 1812. The vessel was purchased by the U.S. Navy in 1813 at New Orleans, Louisiana, for conversion to a gunboat. Commissioned as a tender at New Orleans, she served on that station under the command of Sailing Master...
, and five gunboats. The British lost 17 men killed and 77 wounded; Cydnus had four men wounded. then evacuated the wounded. In 1821 the survivors of the flotilla shared in the distribution of head-money arising from the capture of the American gun-boats and sundry bales of cotton. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "14 Dec Boat Service 1814" to all surviving claimants from the action.
After the Battle of Fort Bowyer on 18 January 1815, Captain the Hon. William Henry Percy
William Henry Percy
William Henry Percy was a Royal Navy officer.-Family:...
faced a court martial on board Cydnus, off Cat Island, Mississippi
Cat Island (Mississippi)
Cat Island is a barrier island off the Gulf Coast of the United States. The island is named for raccoons which Spanish explorers mistook for cats. It is unknown who discovered Cat Island. It was called Isle-aux-Chats and Isola de Gati in French and Italian, respectively. It is within the...
for the loss of his vessel, Hermes
HMS Hermes (1811)
HMS Hermes was a 20-gun Hermes-class sixth-rate post ship built in Milford Dockyard. She was destroyed in 1814 to prevent her falling into American hands after grounding during her unsuccessful attack on Fort Bowyer on Mobile Point outside Mobile, Alabama.-Napoleonic Wars:Her first commander was...
, during his unsuccessful attack there in September 1814. The court acquitted him of all blame, finding that the attack was justified.
Sir Alexander Cochrane
Alexander Cochrane
Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane GCB RN was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars.-Naval career:...
appointed Captain Robert Cavendish Spencer, of the sloop Carron, to command Cydnus in 1815, for his efforts in Louisiana and Florida. Spencer then spent a month camped at Prospect Bluff on the Apalachicola River
Apalachicola River
The Apalachicola River is a river, approximately 112 mi long in the State of Florida. This river's large watershed, known as the ACF River Basin for short, drains an area of approximately into the Gulf of Mexico. The distance to its farthest headstream in northeast Georgia is approximately 500...
with Britain's Indian allies, charged with settling their claims and dismissing them from British service. Apparently he left them with some cannons as well.
Fate
The Cydnus was then paid off. The Napoleonic WarsNapoleonic 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...
had ended and as she was not durable, she was broken up at Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
in February 1816.
Cydnus was among the ships and vessels under the command of-Admiral Lord Viscount Keith entitled to share in the Parliamentary grant for service in 1813 and 1814.