HMS Emulous (1806)
Encyclopedia
HMS Emulous 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...
18-gun Cruizer-class
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...
brig-sloop
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
, built by William Row at Newcastle and launched in 1806. She survived an inconclusive but bloody battle with a French frigate during 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...
and captured a number of prizes, including two privateers, on 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 during the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
before she was wrecked in 1812.
Service
Emulous was commissioned under Commander Gustavus Stupart for convoys and cruising. She sailed with a Halifax convoy on 18 August 1807 and spent in 1808-1809 in American waters.On 11 April 1807 Emulous and and the gun-brig recaptured the Rochdale.
On 9 November 1809 Emulous fought off a French 32-gun frigate off Puerto Rico. The action took place at pistol-shot range and lasted for one hour and 40 minutes. Emulous was badly damaged and lost 10 men killed and 20 wounded.
On 10 March 1810 she and captured the schooner Spitfire. Stupart was made post-captain
Post-Captain
Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy.The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from:...
on 21 October 1810.
In November 1810 Captain William Howe Mulcaster
William Mulcaster
Capt Sir William Howe Mulcaster KCH was an officer in the British Royal Navy who played a distinguished part in the Anglo-American War of 1812, in particular in the Engagements on Lake Ontario....
took command. On 25 July 1811, Emulous captured the French letter of marque
Letter of marque
In the days of fighting sail, a Letter of Marque and Reprisal was a government licence authorizing a person to attack and capture enemy vessels, and bring them before admiralty courts for condemnation and sale...
Adele, which was pierced for 16 guns but only carried two. She had a crew of 35 men and was carrying cotton from Charlestown to Nantes.
Then on 30 June 1812, after a short chase Emulous captured the American privateer Gossamer, off Cape Sable. Gossamer had a crew of 100 men and 14 guns on carriages, and was under the command of Captain C. Goodrich. She had left Boston on 24 June and had made only one capture, albeit an important one, the Mary Jane of Greenock, which had been sailing from Jamaica to Quebec. Mary Jane was relatively heavily armed for a merchantman as she carried eight 12-pounder and two 6-pounder guns. Her capture netted her American captors $40,000.
In July, Emulous alone or with , captured eight small prizes:
- 11 July: brig Illuminator, of 254 tons, sailing from Havana to Boston with a cargo of molasses, sugar, coffee, and hides;
- 12 July: schooner Lively, of 78 tons, sailing from St. Bartholomew's to Boston with a cargo of molasses and sugar;
- 12 July: schooner Traveller, of 108 tons, sailing from Georgia to Alexandria with a cargo of live oak timber;
- 13 July: ship Maria, of 344 tons, sailing from Cadiz to New York in ballast but carrying dollars;
- 15 July: brig Cordelia, of 197 tons, sailing from Figuera to Boston with a cargo of fruit and dollars;
- 16 July: brig Belleisle, of 119 tons, sailing from Havana to Salem with a cargo of molasses, sugar, and coffee; and lastly, together with Spartan,
- 17 July, Spartan in sight: brig George, of 211 tons, sailing from Messina to Salem with a cargo of wine, brandy, opium, oil, etc.; and
- 18 July, together with Spartan: schooner Hiram, of 132 tons, sailing from Lisbon to Salem with a cargo of fruit and dollars.
Fate
On 2 August 1812 met up with Emulous 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.The subsequent court martial admonished Mulcaster to be more careful in the future. It reprimanded Lieutenant Thomas Fowler, the officer of the watch, for failing to send for the pilot when they came into shallow water. It also severely reprimanded the Master, John Wilson, for not having taken depth soundings during his watch.