HMS Mercury (1779)
Encyclopedia
HMS Mercury was a 28-gun Enterprise-class
sixth-rate
frigate of the Royal Navy
. She was built during the American War of Independence and serving during the later years of that conflict. She continued to serve during the years of peace and had an active career during the French Revolutionary
and most of the Napoleonic Wars
, until being broken up in 1814.
on the River Thames
on 22 January 1778 was laid down there on 25 March 1778. She was launched on 9 December 1779 and was completed by 24 February 1780 after being fitted out at Deptford Dockyard. £6,805 7s
0d was paid to her builder for her construction, with the total including fitting and coppering
subsequently rising to £13,603 8s 0d. Mercury entered service in 1780, having been commissioned in October 1779 under Captain Isaac Prescott.
, armed with 14 guns but with only 10 crewmen. When first taken she had been sailing from London to Newfoundland with a cargo of salt.
Mercury joined George Johnstone's squadron the following year. Captain William Carlyon took command in May 1781 and sailed Mercury to Hudson Bay
. There, on 17 May, he recaptured the cutter . On 30 September, Mercury, and captured the French ship Philippine.
Captain Henry Edwyn Stanhope succeeded Carlyon in September 1782, and paid Mercury off later that year. She was recommissioned under Stanhope in April the following year, and went out to Nova Scotia
in June. Commodore Herbert Sawyer took command of the North American Station's base at Halifax
in June 1785, and authorized Mercury to escort a merchant vessel to the American port of Boston
to collect a shipment of cattle. This marked the first free visit of a British warship to the port since March 1776.
Mercury was again paid off in July 1786 and spent the period between August 1787 and January 1788 undergoing a small repair at Woolwich
. After being fitted out there she was recommissioned in May 1788 under Captain Augustus Montgomery, and sailed to the Mediterranean. She returned to Britain and was paid off in 1790.
, re-entered service in early 1796, under the command of Captain George Byng
. After time spent at Newfoundland command passed to Captain Thomas Rogers in April 1797. Rogers captured three privateer
s while serving on the Lisbon
station, the Benjamin on 5 January 1798, the 16-gun Trois Soeurs on 15 January 1798, and the 12-gun Constance on 25 January 1798.
Benjamin was 20 leagues
off the Rock of Lisbon when Mercury finally captured her after a chase of 36 hours. Benjamin was pierced for 20 guns, but carried sixteen 4 and 6-pounders, ten of which she threw overboard during the chase. She had a crew of 132 men. , and joined the chase and shared in the capture. Benjamin was a new vessel on her first cruise, during which she had captured the English brig Governor Bruce, on her way to Faro, and a Portuguese schooner. However, a British letter of marque
had driven Benjamin off.
Next, Rogers was some 40 leagues off Cape Finisterre when he spotted two armed vessels and gave chase. As Mercury got close they separated and he was only able to capture one of them and that after a chase of eight hours. The quarry fired a few shots and then struck. She was the French privateer brig Trois Soeurs. She was pierced for 18 guns but carried sixteen 6-pounders. She was five days out of port on her first cruise.
Lastly, Mercury encountered the Constance some 42 leagues of the Burlings. Mercury captured her after a chase of five hours. Constance was pierced for 18 guns but carried only twelve 6 and 9-pounders, and had a crew of 96 men. She was ten days out off Nantes on a cruise of the Western Islands.
Rodgers then took Mercury to Newfoundland in June 1798. After returning to Portsmouth for a refit in early 1799, she went back there in 1799. On 6 October she captured the San Joce. On 16 December 1799 she captured the Hosprung.
On 24 January 1800, Mercury was 28 leagues off Scilly when she recaptured the ship Aimwell. Aimwell, of Whitby, had been sailing from Quebec to London when the French privateer Arriege, of Bordeaux, had captured her on 9 January. On 29 March, Mercury was among the ships that shared in the capture of the Courageux. The other captors were , , , Haerlem, , and .
Mercury captured the French privateer brig
Egyptienne
on 5 February 1800 off the Isle of Wight
. Egyptienne mounted 15 brass guns and had a crew of 66 men. She had sailed from Cherbourg the evening before and had not yet taken any prizes. As she was striking her colours her crew suddenly discharged a volley of small arms fire that slightly wounded one man on Mercury. Apparently was in company or perhaps in sight at the time.
After spending a period in the English Channel
, Mercury then sailed for the Mediterranean in May 1800. She was briefly part of Sir John Borlase Warren's
squadron off Cadiz
, after which she went on to Alexandria
, arriving there on 31 July 1800.
On 5 Jan 1801, Mercury captured a French tartan, of unknown name, sailing from Marseilles to Cette
in ballast. Then the next day, Mercury had much great luck when with her boats she captured 15 vessels of a convoy of 20 vessels. The captures included two ships, four brigs, three bombards, two settees, and four tartans. The convoy was sailing from Cette to Marseilles when Mercury captured three quarters of it off Minorca. The gunboats escorting the convoy fled as Mercury approached, so she suffered no casualties.
The vessels included the:
On 20 January 1801, the day after Rogers had safely delivered his prizes to Port Mahon, he was some 40 leagues off Sardinia when Mercury captured the Sans Pareille after a chase of nine hours. She was a French navy corvette under the command of Citoyen Gabriel Renault, Lieutenant de Vaisseau. She carried 18 long brass 9-pounders and two howitzers. The reason she did not resist was that she had a crew of only 15 men. She had sailed from Toulon the day before and was carrying a cargo of shot, arms, medicines, and all manner of other supplies for the French army at Alexandria, Egypt. The Admiralty took Sans Pareille into service as .
On 17 February 1801, Mercury detained the Swedish brig Hoppet, which was sailing in ballast from Tunis to Marseilles, in violation of the British blockaded of France. The next day, Mercury, in company with , captured the ship Esperance, which had sailed from Tunis with a cargo of silk, cotton, and other merchandise. Then on 15 May, Mercury and captured the French ship Francois.
Mercury then made an attempt to recapture the 18-gun bomb vessel
at Ancona
on 25 May 1801.The French had captured Bulldog on 7 February 1801 at Ancona when she entered the port unaware that the French had taken it. The cutting out party was able to get Bulldog out of the harbour, but then the winds died down just as enemy boats started to arrive. The cutting out party were too few in numbers both to guard the captured prisoners and resist the approaching enemy, and were tired from the row in to board Bulldog. Mercury had drifted too far away to come to the rescue either. The cutting out party therefore abandoned Bulldog. Mercury lost two men killed and four wounded in the attempt; Rogers estimated that the enemy had lost some 20 men killed, wounded and drowned.
On 23 June 1801 boats from Mercury and also destroyed a pirate tartan, the Tigre, of eight 6 and 12 pounders and a crew of 60 French and Italians, in the Tremiti Islands
. The Royal Marines
landed and captured some of the pirates, who had mounted a 4-pounder gun on a hill. Meanwhile, the cutting out party brought out the Tigre, together with bales of cotton and other goods that she had taken from vessels she had robbed.
Though the first attempt to capture Bulldog had failed, a second effort on 16 September 1801, carried out in company with and , succeeded in retaking the vessel. Rogers had received intelligence that Bulldog had left Ancona and was escorting four trabaccolo
s and a tartan that were carrying cannons, ammunition and supplies to Egypt. He set out with Champion and they discovered Santa Dorothea already in chase. The British chased the convoy, which took refuge under the guns of batteries at Gallipoli, Apulia. Even so, Champion was able to get close to Bulldog, which struck after enduring several broadsides. Champion was then able to extricate her from under the batteries. In the meantime, Mercury captured one of the trabaccolos, which was carrying brass mortars, field pieces, and the like. In the engagement, Champion suffered one man killed.
at Deptford
in May 1803, under the command of Captain Duncombe Pleydell-Bouverie
. She went on to operate against Spanish shipping in the Eastern Atlantic and captured the Fuerte de Gibraltar on 4 February 1805. Fuerte de Gibraltar was a Spanish lateen
-rigged gun-vessel armed with two long 12-pounders, two 16-pound carronade
s, several swivel gun
s and a large quantity of small arms and cutlasses. She and her crew of 59 men were under the command of Signor Don Ramon Eutate, Lieutenant de fregate, and had sailed the morning before from Cadiz bound for Algeciras.
Captain Charles Pelly succeeded Bouverie in August 1805 and Mercury returned to Newfoundland in May 1806. On 3 January 1806 recaptured the ships Argo and Adventure, and shared in the recapture of the Good Intent. Starr was off Villa de Conde, Portugal, when she intercepted the vessels, which had been taken from a convoy that Mercury had been escorting from Newfoundland
to Portugal, and both of which had been carrying cargoes of fish. Starr sighted Good Intent and signaled Mercury, which recaptured her too. On 5 February, captured the Baltidore, which was the privateer that had captured Good Intent.
In June 1807 James Alexander Gordon
took command and sailed Mercury into the Mediterranean to operate off the Southern Spanish coast. In the Action of 4 April 1808
, Mercury, in company with and , attacked a Spanish convoy off Rota, destroying two of the escorts and driving many of the merchant vessels ashore. They captured seven more vessels subsequently, which the marines and sailors of the British ships sailed back out to sea.
In November 1808, command passed to Henry Duncan, who took her into the Adriatic Sea
to participate in the Adriatic campaign of 1804–1814. On 30 December, Mercury and captured the Hereux and the Spirito Santo.
Mercury was in action with and at Pesaro
on 23 April and at Cesenatico
on 2 May. In the attack on Pesaro, , which the British bombarded after the commandant refused to surrender, the British captured 13 small coasting vessels. Due to the lack of resistance the British suffered no casualties. One civilian died by accident. Mercury grounded during the attack on Cesenatico but in a position where she could bring her guns to bear on the town. She was floated off without injury. In the attack the British captured and spiked the two 24-pounder guns of a battery that had fired on them and captured 12 vessels, all without suffering any casualties.
In June Mercury sent in her boats to destroy a number of trabaccolo
s and other vessels on the beach at Rotti, near Manfredonia.
On 7 September Mercurycut out the French schooner
-of-war Pugliese from Barletta
. Piugliese was armed with seven guns and had a crew of 37 men. The boats, under the command of Lieutenant Pall, accomplished this despite the schooner being under the protection not only of her own armament but also two armed feluccas, a castle, and small arms fire; the British suffered no casualties. This was Mercurys last action before she was paid off in early 1810.
Mercury was fitted out as a troopship
at Woolwich in mid-1810 and commissioned in May that year as a 16-gun troopship under Lieutenant William Webb. Commander John Tancock succeeded Webb in mid-1810 and Mercury spent most of 1811 on the Lisbon station. Commander Clement Milward took over in November 1811 and went out to the Leeward Islands
. Mercurys last commanding officer was Commander Sir John Charles Richardson, who took over while she was still in the Leewards.
Enterprise class frigate
The Enterprise-class frigates were the final class of 28-gun sailing frigates of the sixth-rate to be produced for the Royal Navy. These twenty-seven vessels were designed in 1770 by John Williams. A first batch of five ships were ordered as part of the programme sparked by the Falklands Islands...
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 of 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...
. She was built during the American War of Independence and serving during the later years of that conflict. She continued to serve during the years of peace and had an active career during the French Revolutionary
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
and most of 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...
, until being broken up in 1814.
Construction and commissioning
Mercury was ordered from Peter Mestaer, at the King and Queen Shipyard, RotherhitheRotherhithe
Rotherhithe is a residential district in inner southeast London, England and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is located on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping and the Isle of Dogs on the north bank, and is a part of the Docklands area...
on the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
on 22 January 1778 was laid down there on 25 March 1778. She was launched on 9 December 1779 and was completed by 24 February 1780 after being fitted out at Deptford Dockyard. £6,805 7s
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...
0d was paid to her builder for her construction, with the total including fitting and coppering
Copper sheathing
Copper sheathing was the practice of protecting the under-water hull of a ship or boat through the use of copper plates affixed to the outside of the hull. It was pioneered and developed by the Royal Navy during the 18th century.-Development:...
subsequently rising to £13,603 8s 0d. Mercury entered service in 1780, having been commissioned in October 1779 under Captain Isaac Prescott.
American War of Independence and the interwar years
Prescott sailed Mercury to Newfoundland in April 1780. On 23 July she returned from a cruise, having, on the 19th, retaken the ship Elizabeth, which the 32-gun American privateer Dean had taken a few days earlier. Elizabeth was of 240 tons burthenBuilder's Old Measurement
Builder's Old Measurement is the method of calculating the size or cargo capacity of a ship used in England from approximately 1720 to 1849. It estimated the tonnage of a ship based on length and maximum beam...
, armed with 14 guns but with only 10 crewmen. When first taken she had been sailing from London to Newfoundland with a cargo of salt.
Mercury joined George Johnstone's squadron the following year. Captain William Carlyon took command in May 1781 and sailed Mercury to Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...
. There, on 17 May, he recaptured the cutter . On 30 September, Mercury, and captured the French ship Philippine.
Captain Henry Edwyn Stanhope succeeded Carlyon in September 1782, and paid Mercury off later that year. She was recommissioned under Stanhope in April the following year, and went out to Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
in June. Commodore Herbert Sawyer took command of the North American Station's base at 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...
in June 1785, and authorized Mercury to escort a merchant vessel to the American port of Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
to collect a shipment of cattle. This marked the first free visit of a British warship to the port since March 1776.
Mercury was again paid off in July 1786 and spent the period between August 1787 and January 1788 undergoing a small repair at Woolwich
Woolwich
Woolwich is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.Woolwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created...
. After being fitted out there she was recommissioned in May 1788 under Captain Augustus Montgomery, and sailed to the Mediterranean. She returned to Britain and was paid off in 1790.
French Revolutionary Wars
Mercury was not immediately returned to service following the outbreak of war with Revolutionary France, but after being fitted at PortsmouthPortsmouth
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...
, re-entered service in early 1796, under the command of Captain George Byng
George Byng, 6th Viscount Torrington
George Byng, 6th Viscount Torrington was a Vice-Admiral in the Royal Navy. His son, the seventh Viscount, served as Governor of Ceylon between 1847 and 1850....
. After time spent at Newfoundland command passed to Captain Thomas Rogers in April 1797. Rogers captured three privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
s while serving on the Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
station, the Benjamin on 5 January 1798, the 16-gun Trois Soeurs on 15 January 1798, and the 12-gun Constance on 25 January 1798.
Benjamin was 20 leagues
League (unit)
A league is a unit of length . It was long common in Europe and Latin America, but it is no longer an official unit in any nation. The league originally referred to the distance a person or a horse could walk in an hour...
off the Rock of Lisbon when Mercury finally captured her after a chase of 36 hours. Benjamin was pierced for 20 guns, but carried sixteen 4 and 6-pounders, ten of which she threw overboard during the chase. She had a crew of 132 men. , and joined the chase and shared in the capture. Benjamin was a new vessel on her first cruise, during which she had captured the English brig Governor Bruce, on her way to Faro, and a Portuguese schooner. However, a British 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...
had driven Benjamin off.
Next, Rogers was some 40 leagues off Cape Finisterre when he spotted two armed vessels and gave chase. As Mercury got close they separated and he was only able to capture one of them and that after a chase of eight hours. The quarry fired a few shots and then struck. She was the French privateer brig Trois Soeurs. She was pierced for 18 guns but carried sixteen 6-pounders. She was five days out of port on her first cruise.
Lastly, Mercury encountered the Constance some 42 leagues of the Burlings. Mercury captured her after a chase of five hours. Constance was pierced for 18 guns but carried only twelve 6 and 9-pounders, and had a crew of 96 men. She was ten days out off Nantes on a cruise of the Western Islands.
Rodgers then took Mercury to Newfoundland in June 1798. After returning to Portsmouth for a refit in early 1799, she went back there in 1799. On 6 October she captured the San Joce. On 16 December 1799 she captured the Hosprung.
On 24 January 1800, Mercury was 28 leagues off Scilly when she recaptured the ship Aimwell. Aimwell, of Whitby, had been sailing from Quebec to London when the French privateer Arriege, of Bordeaux, had captured her on 9 January. On 29 March, Mercury was among the ships that shared in the capture of the Courageux. The other captors were , , , Haerlem, , and .
Mercury captured the French privateer brig
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...
Egyptienne
Egyptienne (ship)
During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars Egyptienne or Egypt, which commemorated Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign, was a popular name for French vessels, including naval vessels and privateers...
on 5 February 1800 off the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
. Egyptienne mounted 15 brass guns and had a crew of 66 men. She had sailed from Cherbourg the evening before and had not yet taken any prizes. As she was striking her colours her crew suddenly discharged a volley of small arms fire that slightly wounded one man on Mercury. Apparently was in company or perhaps in sight at the time.
After spending a period in the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, Mercury then sailed for the Mediterranean in May 1800. She was briefly part of Sir John Borlase Warren's
John Borlase Warren
Sir John Borlase Warren, 1st Baronet , was an English admiral, politician and diplomat. Born in Stapleford, Nottinghamshire, he was the son and heir of John Borlase Warren of Stapleford and Little Marlow...
squadron off Cadiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
, after which she went on to Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
, arriving there on 31 July 1800.
On 5 Jan 1801, Mercury captured a French tartan, of unknown name, sailing from Marseilles to Cette
Sète
Sète is a commune in the Hérault department in Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France. Its inhabitants are called Sétois....
in ballast. Then the next day, Mercury had much great luck when with her boats she captured 15 vessels of a convoy of 20 vessels. The captures included two ships, four brigs, three bombards, two settees, and four tartans. The convoy was sailing from Cette to Marseilles when Mercury captured three quarters of it off Minorca. The gunboats escorting the convoy fled as Mercury approached, so she suffered no casualties.
The vessels included the:
- Genoese ship Rhone, with a cargo of salt, brandy, wine, and fruit;
- Genoese ship St. John, with a cargo of wine;
- French brig Maria Josephine, with a cargo of brandy, wheat, and sugar;
- French brig Solide, with a cargo of brandy and wheat;
- French brig Cheri, with a cargo of salt;
- Genoese brig St Carola, with a cargo of wine and brandy;
- Genoese bombard Compte de Grasse, with a cargo of wheat and stock fish;
- French bomb Paste, with a cargo of wine and brandy;
- Genoese bombard St Andre, with a cargo of wheat and sugar;
- French settee Bone, with a cargo of wine;
- French settee Republican, with a cargo of wine;
- French tartan Croisette, with a cargo of wheat;
- French tartan St Ivado Pierre, with a cargo of wheat and staves;
- French tartan Rosaria, with a cargo of wine and bread; and
- French tartan Madona, with a cargo of wheat.
On 20 January 1801, the day after Rogers had safely delivered his prizes to Port Mahon, he was some 40 leagues off Sardinia when Mercury captured the Sans Pareille after a chase of nine hours. She was a French navy corvette under the command of Citoyen Gabriel Renault, Lieutenant de Vaisseau. She carried 18 long brass 9-pounders and two howitzers. The reason she did not resist was that she had a crew of only 15 men. She had sailed from Toulon the day before and was carrying a cargo of shot, arms, medicines, and all manner of other supplies for the French army at Alexandria, Egypt. The Admiralty took Sans Pareille into service as .
On 17 February 1801, Mercury detained the Swedish brig Hoppet, which was sailing in ballast from Tunis to Marseilles, in violation of the British blockaded of France. The next day, Mercury, in company with , captured the ship Esperance, which had sailed from Tunis with a cargo of silk, cotton, and other merchandise. Then on 15 May, Mercury and captured the French ship Francois.
Mercury then made an attempt to recapture the 18-gun bomb vessel
Bomb vessel
A bomb vessel, bomb ship, bomb ketch, or simply bomb was a type of wooden sailing naval ship. Its primary armament was not cannon —although bomb vessels carried a few cannon for self-defence—but rather mortars mounted forward near the bow and elevated to a high angle, and projecting their fire in a...
at Ancona
Ancona
Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche region, in central Italy, with a population of 101,909 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region....
on 25 May 1801.The French had captured Bulldog on 7 February 1801 at Ancona when she entered the port unaware that the French had taken it. The cutting out party was able to get Bulldog out of the harbour, but then the winds died down just as enemy boats started to arrive. The cutting out party were too few in numbers both to guard the captured prisoners and resist the approaching enemy, and were tired from the row in to board Bulldog. Mercury had drifted too far away to come to the rescue either. The cutting out party therefore abandoned Bulldog. Mercury lost two men killed and four wounded in the attempt; Rogers estimated that the enemy had lost some 20 men killed, wounded and drowned.
On 23 June 1801 boats from Mercury and also destroyed a pirate tartan, the Tigre, of eight 6 and 12 pounders and a crew of 60 French and Italians, in the Tremiti Islands
Tremiti Islands
The Isole Tremiti are an archipelago in the Adriatic Sea, north of the Gargano Peninsula. They constitute a comune of Italy's Province of Foggia and form part of the Gargano national park...
. The Royal Marines
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
landed and captured some of the pirates, who had mounted a 4-pounder gun on a hill. Meanwhile, the cutting out party brought out the Tigre, together with bales of cotton and other goods that she had taken from vessels she had robbed.
Though the first attempt to capture Bulldog had failed, a second effort on 16 September 1801, carried out in company with and , succeeded in retaking the vessel. Rogers had received intelligence that Bulldog had left Ancona and was escorting four trabaccolo
Trabaccolo
The Trabaccoló, Trabaccalo, or Trabakul, is a type of Adriatic Sea sailing coaster. The name comes from the word trabacca, which means tent, which in turn recalls the vessel's sails. The trabaccoló was a typical Venetian boat-form that dates back to the first half of the 15th Century, and which...
s and a tartan that were carrying cannons, ammunition and supplies to Egypt. He set out with Champion and they discovered Santa Dorothea already in chase. The British chased the convoy, which took refuge under the guns of batteries at Gallipoli, Apulia. Even so, Champion was able to get close to Bulldog, which struck after enduring several broadsides. Champion was then able to extricate her from under the batteries. In the meantime, Mercury captured one of the trabaccolos, which was carrying brass mortars, field pieces, and the like. In the engagement, Champion suffered one man killed.
Napoleonic Wars
Mercury was fitted out as a floating batteryFloating battery
A floating battery is a kind of armed watercraft, often improvised or experimental, which carries a heavy armament but has few other qualities as a warship.An early appearance was during the Great Siege of Gibraltar....
at Deptford
Deptford
Deptford is a district of south London, England, located on the south bank of the River Thames. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne, and from the mid 16th century to the late 19th was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Navy Dockyards.Deptford and the docks are...
in May 1803, under the command of Captain Duncombe Pleydell-Bouverie
Duncombe Pleydell-Bouverie
Admiral The Honourable Duncombe Pleydell-Bouverie , was a British naval commander and Whig politician.Pleydell-Bouverie was the second son of Jacob Pleydell-Bouverie, 2nd Earl of Radnor of Coleshill House in Berkshire , and the Honourable Anne, daughter of Anthony Duncombe, 1st Baron Feversham...
. She went on to operate against Spanish shipping in the Eastern Atlantic and captured the Fuerte de Gibraltar on 4 February 1805. Fuerte de Gibraltar was a Spanish lateen
Lateen
A lateen or latin-rig is a triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction....
-rigged gun-vessel armed with two long 12-pounders, two 16-pound 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, several swivel gun
Swivel gun
The term swivel gun usually refers to a small cannon, mounted on a swiveling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Another type of firearm referred to as a swivel gun was an early flintlock combination gun with two barrels that rotated along their axes to allow the shooter to...
s and a large quantity of small arms and cutlasses. She and her crew of 59 men were under the command of Signor Don Ramon Eutate, Lieutenant de fregate, and had sailed the morning before from Cadiz bound for Algeciras.
Captain Charles Pelly succeeded Bouverie in August 1805 and Mercury returned to Newfoundland in May 1806. On 3 January 1806 recaptured the ships Argo and Adventure, and shared in the recapture of the Good Intent. Starr was off Villa de Conde, Portugal, when she intercepted the vessels, which had been taken from a convoy that Mercury had been escorting from Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
to Portugal, and both of which had been carrying cargoes of fish. Starr sighted Good Intent and signaled Mercury, which recaptured her too. On 5 February, captured the Baltidore, which was the privateer that had captured Good Intent.
In June 1807 James Alexander Gordon
James Alexander Gordon
Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Alexander Gordon, KCB, RN was a distinguished British officer in the Royal Navy. His 75 years in the service, from Midshipman to Admiral of the Fleet was unprecedented in its duration. He served in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812...
took command and sailed Mercury into the Mediterranean to operate off the Southern Spanish coast. In the Action of 4 April 1808
Action of 4 April 1808
The Action of 4 April 1808 was a naval engagement off the coast off Rota near Cadiz, Spain where Royal Naval frigates Mercury, Alceste and Grasshopper intercepted a large Spanish convoy protected by twenty gunboats and a train of batteries close to shore.-Background:Blockade duties around Cadiz...
, Mercury, in company with and , attacked a Spanish convoy off Rota, destroying two of the escorts and driving many of the merchant vessels ashore. They captured seven more vessels subsequently, which the marines and sailors of the British ships sailed back out to sea.
In November 1808, command passed to Henry Duncan, who took her into the Adriatic Sea
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
to participate in the Adriatic campaign of 1804–1814. On 30 December, Mercury and captured the Hereux and the Spirito Santo.
Mercury was in action with and at Pesaro
Pesaro
Pesaro is a town and comune in the Italian region of the Marche, capital of the Pesaro e Urbino province, on the Adriatic. According to the 2007 census, its population was 92,206....
on 23 April and at Cesenatico
Cesenatico
Cesenatico is a port town with about 20,000 inhabitants on the Adriatic coast of Italy. It is located in the province of Forlì-Cesena in the region of Emilia-Romagna, about 30 km south of Ravenna...
on 2 May. In the attack on Pesaro, , which the British bombarded after the commandant refused to surrender, the British captured 13 small coasting vessels. Due to the lack of resistance the British suffered no casualties. One civilian died by accident. Mercury grounded during the attack on Cesenatico but in a position where she could bring her guns to bear on the town. She was floated off without injury. In the attack the British captured and spiked the two 24-pounder guns of a battery that had fired on them and captured 12 vessels, all without suffering any casualties.
In June Mercury sent in her boats to destroy a number of trabaccolo
Trabaccolo
The Trabaccoló, Trabaccalo, or Trabakul, is a type of Adriatic Sea sailing coaster. The name comes from the word trabacca, which means tent, which in turn recalls the vessel's sails. The trabaccoló was a typical Venetian boat-form that dates back to the first half of the 15th Century, and which...
s and other vessels on the beach at Rotti, near Manfredonia.
On 7 September Mercurycut out the French 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-war Pugliese from Barletta
Barletta
Barletta is a city and comune located in the north of Apulia in south eastern Italy. Its current population is 94,140.It is famous for the Colossus of Barletta, a bronze statue, representing a Roman Emperor...
. Piugliese was armed with seven guns and had a crew of 37 men. The boats, under the command of Lieutenant Pall, accomplished this despite the schooner being under the protection not only of her own armament but also two armed feluccas, a castle, and small arms fire; the British suffered no casualties. This was Mercurys last action before she was paid off in early 1810.
Mercury was fitted out as a troopship
Troopship
A troopship is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime...
at Woolwich in mid-1810 and commissioned in May that year as a 16-gun troopship under Lieutenant William Webb. Commander John Tancock succeeded Webb in mid-1810 and Mercury spent most of 1811 on the Lisbon station. Commander Clement Milward took over in November 1811 and went out to the Leeward Islands
Leeward Islands
The Leeward Islands are a group of islands in the West Indies. They are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain. As a group they start east of Puerto Rico and reach southward to Dominica. They are situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean...
. Mercurys last commanding officer was Commander Sir John Charles Richardson, who took over while she was still in the Leewards.