HMS Pitt was the mercantile William and Mary, which the Admiralty bought in 1805. She served briefly on the Jamaica station 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...

. She participated in one notable single-ship action in which she prevailed, and captured several other vessels. The Admiralty renamed her Sandwich before having her broken up in 1809.

Service

When the Admiralty purchased Pitt, it apparently was on the understanding that Lieutenant William Fitton, formerly of Abergavenny

HMS Abergavenny (1795)

HMS Abergavenny was originally the Earl of Abergavenny, an East Indiaman. As an East Indiaman she made two trips to China between 1791 and 1794. The Royal Navy bought her in 1795, converted her to a 56-gun fourth-rate ship of the line, and renamed her...

, would command her. He contributed £437 to her purchase from his own pocket, her price being above what the Admiralty had allocated.

The Admiralty commissioned Pitt in 1806 under Fitton’s command. She was registered on 15 August 1806 and named Sandwich, but remained known as Pitt on the Jamaica station.

On 6 June 1806 Pitt captured the George.

On 23 October Pitt was anchored in Môle-Saint-Nicolas at the north-west end of the island of Haiti. Towards evening a lookout sighted two sails, with it looking like one was pursuing the other. Because the weather was calm, they were moving slowly. Fitton weighed anchor and with his crew at the sweeps set out in pursuit. In the morning he spotted three schooners, the largest of which appeared to be a privateer. As Pitt approached she fired her 6-pounders but without effect because of the distance. The three schooners continued to make their way towards the port of Baracoa

Baracoa

Baracoa is a municipality and city in Guantánamo Province near the eastern tip of Cuba. It was founded by the first governor of Cuba, the Spanish conquistador Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar in 1511...

, Cuba, some 70 miles west. Pitts crew manned their sweeps throughout the night though at dawn a breeze gave them a respite. They caught up with the privateer outside Baracoa. She had seen her two prizes into the port and was awaiting the British.

Fitton was able to maneuver Pitt so that she was between the privateer and the port, thereby cutting her off from her refuge. At four in the afternoon Pitt was close enough to the privateer to commence an action that lasted a little over half an hour before the privateer sailed away towards Ochoa. The night was still and Pitts crew effected repairs and returned to the sweeps. In all, they spent some 50 hours at the sweeps.

Late next morning, on 26 October, Pitt caught up with the privateer. Unable to escape, the privateer’s captain ran her ashore. Some four to five hours earlier, Drake

Earl of Mornington (East Indiaman)

Earl of Mornington was an East India Company packet ship built in 1799 by Perry, Wells & Green of Blackwall. She performed one voyage for the East India Company, sailing from England to India and returning...

, under the command of Robert Nicholas, had come in sight and maneuvered to block the privateer's escape, but did not herself enter into the combat.

The privateer lowered her boats and her captain and all but the mortally wounded among her crew were able to get to shore. Drake then assisted Pitt in hauling off the privateer.

The privateer turned out to be the Superbe. Superbe was armed with 14 guns, two 9 (or 8)-pounders and twelve 6-pounders, and had a crew of 94 men under the command of M. Dominique Houx. Houx (or Diron), was a highly successful privateer captain. A list on Superbe showed that she had captured vessels whose value amounted to £147,000.

Pitt suffered two men seriously and six men lightly wounded. On Superbe the boarding party from Pitt found four men dead and three mortally wounded. Reports suggest that the French suffered 14 dead in all and many wounded, who had escaped.
Nicholas suggested that Fitton write his official letter describing the action. Fitton had been on deck for 67 hours and declined, saying he was too exhausted and asking Nicholas to write it in his stead.

Fitton received a sword valued at £50 from the Lloyd's Patriotic Fund

Lloyd's Patriotic Fund

Lloyd's Patriotic Fund founded in 28th July 1803 at Lloyd's Coffee House. They gave grants to those wounded in service to the crown and set up annuities to the dependents of those killed in action. They also awarded prizes for those who went beyond the call of duty, such rewards could be a sum of...

, and his share of the prize-money.

On 13 April 1807, Pitt captured Spanish armed schooner Abeja, which was carrying a cargo of cocoa. Then one week later, she captured the French privateer Fou Fou. Fou Fou was armed with one gun and had a crew of 43 men. She was four days out of San Domingo and had made no captures.

Diron, who had been captain of the Superbe, equipped a brig which he named Revanche de la Superbe, and sent an invitation to Fitton to meet him at a place named; but before the message arrived the 40-year old Fitton had been superseded as captain by the 17-year old Thomas John Cochrane, son of Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, who was then commanding officer of the Leeward Islands station.Despite his notable victory over Superbe, and his earlier notable career, Lieutenant Fitton did not receive a promotion. Not only did he lack a powerful patron but there is some suggestion that he may, by injudicious conduct early in his naval career, have made a powerful enemy.

On 11 May 1807 Lieutenant Edward Bust took command of Sandwich. His replacement on 1 April 1808 was Lieutenant-Commander Edward Henry A'Court. On 10 June 1808 he was confirmed in command of the receiving ship

Hulk (ship)

A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea. Although sometimes used to describe a ship that has been launched but not completed, the term most often refers to an old ship that has had its rigging or internal equipment removed, retaining only its flotational qualities...

 , which was a hulk in Port Royal harbor.

By late 1808 command of Sandwich had passed to Lieutenant W.J. Foley. In December Foley and Sandwich were involved in a minor diplomatic incident in Savannah, Georgia. Foley and a midshipman had come ashore to deliver dispatches to the British consul in the port. While they were at dinner, a Captain Armstrong of the U.S. Artillery arrived, took them into custody, escorted them back to Sandwich, and ordered Foley to take Sandwich back out to sea.

The reason for the expulsion was that they had violated President Thomas Jefferson’s proclamation prohibiting foreign armed vessels from entering American ports. English newspapers pointed out that the President’s proclamation specifically exempted vessels bearing dispatches.President Jefferson’s proclamation may have been in response to the Leander affair in 1806, or the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair in 1807.

Fate

Sandwich was repaired in July and August 1809 but then sold for breaking up in September.