HMS Grouper 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 schooner

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...

 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 1804. Grouper was wrecked off Guadeloupe in 1811. This schooner was the only Royal Navy ship ever to use the name.

Service

She was commissioned at Bermuda under Lieutenant Provo Hughes for the Leeward Islands. In 1807 her commander was Lieutenant Charles Chester Fitch. On 8 June 1807 Grouper captured the schooner Sophia.

On 26 July 1807 His Majesty's schooners Grouper and captured the schooner Atlantic.

In 1809 she came under the command of Lieutenant James Atkins. Grouper participated in the capture of Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...

 and its dependencies in February 1810 and was engaged in the protection of trade. In 1847 her surviving crew members would qualify for the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Guadaloupe".

Wreck

Grouper was wrecked on a reef off Guadeloupe on 21 October 1811. At 5am she struck a reef three miles northwest of Carret Island, which lies to the west of Baie-Mahault

Baie-Mahault

Baie-Mahault is the second most populated commune in the French overseas region and department of Guadeloupe after Abymes The extensive Zoning Industriel of Jarry, in Baie-Mahault is far the most industrialized communes in the islands and the largest industrial park in the Lesser Antilles.It is...

. Her crew made rafts of the wreckage and abandoned Grouper. One marine drowned but the rest of the crew survived as she went to pieces after daybreak. The subsequent court martial on 7 February 1812 reprimanded Atkins for his want of caution in letting Grouper lie too close to land. However, the board blamed the loss on the neglect of Midshipman Angus McLeod, the officer of the watch. He had neglected to to post a look-out and had continued to sail though his orders were to lay-to. McLeod was not punished as he had deserted, along with the quartermaster of the morning watch, when the survivors were landed at Pointe à Pitre.