HMS Diomede (1781)
Encyclopedia
HMS Diomede was a 44-gun fifth rate built by James Martin Hillhouse and launched at Bristol on 18 October 1781. She belonged to the Roebuck class
Roebuck class ship
The Roebuck class ship was a class of twenty 44-gun sailing two-decker warships of the Royal Navy. The class carried two complete decks of guns, a lower battery of 18-pounders and an upper battery of 9-pounders. This battery enabled the vessel to deliver a broadside of 285 pounds...
of vessels specially built during the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
for service in the shallow American coastal waters. As a two-decker, she had two complete batteries of guns, one on the upper deck and the other on the lower deck.
Diomede participated in two major actions. The first occurred in 1782 when she captured South Carolina of the South Carolina Navy
South Carolina Navy
A South Carolina Navy has been formed twice by the State of South Carolina. The first time was during the American Revolutionary War, in which the state purchased and outfitted armed vessels independent of the Continental Navy....
. The second took place in 1794 in the Indian Ocean. Although the action in the Indian Ocean was inconclusive and the French broke off contact after suffering much heavier casualties than the British, the French did succeed in breaking the blockade of Île de France
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
and saved it from starvation.
Diomede was wrecked in 1795 off Trincomalee
Trincomalee
Trincomalee is a port city in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka and lies on the east coast of the island, about 113 miles south of Jaffna. It has a population of approximately 100,000 . The city is built on a peninsula, which divides the inner and outer harbours. Overlooking the Kottiyar Bay,...
, Ceylon
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, during the campaign to capture Trincomalé
Capture of Trincomalee
The Capture of Trincomalee on 11 January 1782 was the second major engagement between Great Britain and the Dutch East India Company in the East Indies after outbreak of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War...
.
Career
In October 1781 Diomede was commissioned under Captain Thomas L. Frederick. On 8 June 1782 he sailed her for North America.Capture of South Carolina
On 20 December 1782 the Diomede, and the sister 32-gun frigates - Quebec, Captain Christopher Mason, and Astraea, Captain Matthew Squires - captured the South Carolina NavySouth Carolina Navy
A South Carolina Navy has been formed twice by the State of South Carolina. The first time was during the American Revolutionary War, in which the state purchased and outfitted armed vessels independent of the Continental Navy....
s frigate South Carolina in the Delaware River
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
. South Carolina, under Captain John Joyner, was attempting to dash out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, through the British blockade. She was in the company of the brig Constance, schooner Seagrove and the ship Hope, which had joined her for protection.
The British chased South Carolina for 18 hours and fired on her for two hours before she struck. She had a crew of about 466 men when captured, of whom she had lost six killed or wounded. The British suffered no casualties. Prize money
Prize money
Prize money has a distinct meaning in warfare, especially naval warfare, where it was a monetary reward paid out to the crew of a ship for capturing an enemy vessel...
was paid in 1784.
The Astraea and Quebec also captured Constance, which was carrying tobacco. Prize crews then took South Carolina and Constance to New York.
Diomede was paid off in December 1783, after the end of the war. She was recommissioned in March 1793 under Captain Matthew Smith. On 17 November 1793, Smith sailed Diomede for the East Indies.
Action of 22 October 1794
A year later Diomede was with the British 50-gun ship CenturionHMS Centurion (1774)
HMS Centurion was a 50-gun Salisbury-class fourth rate of the Royal Navy. She served during the American War of Independence, and during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars....
, Captain Samuel Osborne, in a blockade of Île de France. The senior French naval officer there, Commodore Jean-Marie Renaud, decided to try to break the blockade.
On 22 October 1794 at Île Ronde, off Île de France, Centurion and Diomede sighted and chased four strange sail in the west. These proved to be a French squadron consisting of the 40-gun frigate Cybèle
French frigate Cybèle (1790)
The Cybèle was an Nymphe class 40-gun frigate of the French Navy.On 22 October 1794, soon after the outbreak of the war with England, and along with the 32-gun Prudente and the brig Coureur, she fought HMS Centurion and , who blockaded Ile de France. The French ships managed to drive away the...
, 36-gun frigate Prudente
French frigate Prudente (1790)
The Prudente was a 32-gun Capricieuse class frigate frigate of the French Navy.In 1791, under lieutenant Villaret de Joyeuse, she was tasked with ferrying troops to Cap Français and with police duty in Santo Domingo...
, 22-gun corvette Jean-Bart (a privateer pressed into service), and 16-gun brig-corvette Coureur, all under Renaud in Prudente.
Centurion placed herself abreast of the two frigates, with the greater part of her broadside bearing on the Prudente. Diomede took a similar position between Cybèle and Jean-Bart, but focusing primarily on Cybèle. Eventually, the French squadron broke off contact and the British did not pursue. Smith did not press the attack; had he, Diomede might have taken Cybèle.
Centurion lost three seamen killed or mortally wounded, and 24 men wounded. Diomede did not sustain any loss. The Prudente lost 15 men killed, including her First Lieutenant and Second Lieutenant, and 20 wounded, including Renaud. Cybèle lost her first lieutenant and 21 men killed, and 62 wounded, 37 of them dangerously. Jean-Bart had one man killed and five men wounded. Coureur apparently suffered no casualties.
On 5 February 1795 Rainier sent Diomede and Heroine to take station between Malacca
Malacca
Malacca , dubbed The Historic State or Negeri Bersejarah among locals) is the third smallest Malaysian state, after Perlis and Penang. It is located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, on the Straits of Malacca. It borders Negeri Sembilan to the north and the state of Johor to the south...
and the north-west end of Banda Island. They were to stay there until all the trade from the eastward had passed. Diomede was then to return to Madras via the Sunda Straits and Heroine via the Strait of Malacca
Strait of Malacca
The Strait of Malacca is a narrow, stretch of water between the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is named after the Malacca Sultanate that ruled over the archipelago between 1414 to 1511.-Extent:...
.
Fate
On 23 July Diomede joined a squadron under CommodoreCommodore (Royal Navy)
Commodore is a rank of the Royal Navy above Captain and below Rear Admiral. It has a NATO ranking code of OF-6. The rank is equivalent to Brigadier in the British Army and Royal Marines and to Air Commodore in the Royal Air Force.-Insignia:...
Peter Rainier
Peter Rainier, junior
Peter Rainier, Jr. was a British naval officer. Mount Rainier in Washington, USA, was named after him.-Biography:Rainier was born in England, the grandson of Daniel Regnier, a Huguenot refugee, and the son of Peter Rainier of Sandwich. He enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1756 at the age of 15. He...
consisting of Suffolk, Hobart, Centurion
HMS Centurion
Eight ships and a shore establishment of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Centurion, after the centurions of ancient Rome. A ninth ship was planned but never built....
, with troop-transports, and sailed for Ceylon to take Trincomalee and other Dutch settlements on the Island.
On 2 August 1795 Diomede was towing a transport brig when she struck a sunken rock in Black Bay and sank. She was working into the bay against a strong land wind when she hit the rock, which her charts showed as being a half-mile further north. She went down with all her stores on board and there was barely enough time for her crew to save themselves.
Although the loss of Diomede delayed the landing by a day, on 31 August the British captured Fort Ostenburg, and with it Trincomalee. The British would go on to capture other Dutch settlements in India and Ceylon, but denying Trincomalee to the French was the most important objective.