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HMS Sceptre (1802)
Encyclopedia
HMS Sceptre was a 74-gun third rate of the Royal Navy
, built by Dudman of Deptford
after a design by Sir William Rule, and launched in December 1802 at Deptford
. She served in the Napoleonic Wars
and the War of 1812
before being broken up in 1821.
for a refit. She then sailed again on 28 June under the command of Captain A. C. Dickson to join the Channel fleet.
, Sceptre and Albion
captured the French ship Clarisse, 12 and her crew of 157 men. In 1804, Captain Joseph Bingham, formerly of St. Fiorenzo
, assumed command of Sceptre. On 11 November 1806, HMS Sceptre and Cornwallis
under Captain Johnston made a dash into St. Paul's Bay, Isle of Bourbon
, and attacked the shipping there, which consisted of the frigate Sémillante
, three armed ships and twelve captured British ships. (The eight ships that had been earlier taken by Sémillante were valued at one and a half million pounds.) However, what little breeze there was soon failed, and the two ships found it difficult to manoeuvre and were unable to recapture any prizes.
In 1808, Sceptre, in company with Cornwallis, engaged and damaged Sémillante, together with the shore batteries that she sought to protect. She served for six years in the East Indies before transferring to the Caribbean. During the passage from England Captain Samuel James Ballard
trained his crew in the use of the broadsword
. This later proved of value when they were used ashore. He arrived off Martinique
with Alfred and Frejus under his orders, to find that four French frigate
s had captured and burnt Junon, belonging to the Halifax
squadron, about 150 miles to the windward of Guadaloupe.
On 18 December, Sceptre, Blonde, Thetis
, Freija, Castor
, Cygnet, Hazard
, Ringdove
, and Elizabeth proceeded to attack two of the enemy frigate
s, Seine and Loire, anchored in Anse à la Barque ("Barque Cove"), about nine miles to the northwest of the town of Basse-Terre
. Blonde, Thetis and the three sloop
s bore the brunt of the attack but forced the French to abandon their ships and set fire to them. Captain Cameron, who was killed in the attempt, landed with the boats of Hazard and destroyed the shore batteries. Sceptre and Cornwallis, much affected by scurvy
, retired to Madagascar
for their crews to recuperate. Sceptre then returned home in 1808 accompanied by two homeward-bound Danish
East Indiamen that Captain Bingham had captured off the Cape of Good Hope
.
in the expedition to the Scheldt
in 1809. Towards the end of January 1810 Sceptre escorted a division of the troops destined for the attack on Guadaloupe from St. Lucia to the Saintes. While other troops were landed on the island he created a diversion off Trois-Rivières
before landing his troops and marines between Anse à la Barque and Basse-Terre
. Until the surrender of the island, Captain Ballard commanded the detachment of seamen and marines attached to the army. Sceptre visited most of the West Indian islands before sailing from St. Thomas in August with the homebound trade.
and the Basque Roads
until January 1813.
. On 11 July 1813, Sceptre, with Romulus
, Fox
, Nemedis, and and the tenders and , anchored off the Ocracoke
bar, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina
. They had on board troops under the orders of Lieutenant Colonel Napier. An advanced division of the best pulling boats commanded by Lieutenant Westphall and carrying armed seamen and marines from Sceptre attacked the enemy's shipping. They were supported by Captain Ross with the rocket-boats. The flat and heavier boats followed with the bulk of the 102nd Regiment and the artillery.
The only opposition came from a brig
, , of 18 guns, and a privateer
schooner
, Atlas
, of 10 guns, which were the only armed vessels in the anchorage. When Lieutenant Westphall attacked, supported by rockets, the Americans abandoned Anaconda and Atlas struck. The troops took possession of Portsmouth Island and Ocracoke Island without opposition.
On 12 May 1814, Sceptre recaptured the letter of marque
Fanny
. The capture and recapture of Fanny, together with Scepters claim for salvage, gave rise to several important legal cases.
. After a period in ordinary
, she was finally broken up at Chatham in 1821.
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...
, built by Dudman of 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...
after a design by Sir William Rule, and launched in December 1802 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...
. She served in 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 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 being broken up in 1821.
Career
On 20 June 1803, after a shakedown period, she came into PlymouthPlymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
for a refit. She then sailed again on 28 June under the command of Captain A. C. Dickson to join the Channel fleet.
East Indies
In July 1803, she sailed for the East Indies station. On 21 December 1803, in the eastern Indian OceanIndian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
, Sceptre and Albion
HMS Albion (1802)
HMS Albion was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was launched at Perry's Blackwall Yard on the Thames on 17 June 1802...
captured the French ship Clarisse, 12 and her crew of 157 men. In 1804, Captain Joseph Bingham, formerly of St. Fiorenzo
HMS St Fiorenzo (1794)
HMS St Fiorenzo was a 38-gun fifth rate of the Royal Navy. She had previously served with the French Navy as the Minerve, before the British captured her during the French Revolutionary Wars. She went on to serve under a number of the most distinguished naval commanders of her age, in theatres...
, assumed command of Sceptre. On 11 November 1806, HMS Sceptre and Cornwallis
HMS Cornwallis (1801)
HMS Cornwallis was a Royal Navy 54-gun fourth rate. Jemsatjee Bomanjee built the Marquis Cornwallis of teak for the East India Company. The Company sold her to the Royal Navy in 1801 shortly after she returned from an expedition against the Mahe Islands...
under Captain Johnston made a dash into St. Paul's Bay, Isle of Bourbon
Réunion
Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...
, and attacked the shipping there, which consisted of the frigate Sémillante
French frigate Sémillante (1792)
The Sémillante was a 32-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She was involved in a number of multi-vessel actions against the Royal Navy, particularly in the Indian Ocean. She captured a number of East Indiamen before the she became so damaged that the French disarmed her and...
, three armed ships and twelve captured British ships. (The eight ships that had been earlier taken by Sémillante were valued at one and a half million pounds.) However, what little breeze there was soon failed, and the two ships found it difficult to manoeuvre and were unable to recapture any prizes.
In 1808, Sceptre, in company with Cornwallis, engaged and damaged Sémillante, together with the shore batteries that she sought to protect. She served for six years in the East Indies before transferring to the Caribbean. During the passage from England Captain Samuel James Ballard
Samuel James Ballard
Samuel James Ballard was a Vice-Admiral in the Royal Navy, baptised 28 March 1765 at St Thomas, Portsmouth, the son of Samuel Ballard, a burgess and chandler of Portsmouth, and Lydia née Flint daughter of James Flint of Epsom in Surrey.-Naval career:Ballard entered the navy in December 1776, under...
trained his crew in the use of the broadsword
Broadsword
Broadsword may refer to:*Broadsword , a military sword used by heavy cavalry during the 17th to early 19th centuriesIn more modern times, it has also been used to refer to:...
. This later proved of value when they were used ashore. He arrived off Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
with Alfred and Frejus under his orders, to find that four French frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
s had captured and burnt Junon, belonging to 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...
squadron, about 150 miles to the windward of Guadaloupe.
On 18 December, Sceptre, Blonde, Thetis
HMS Thetis (1782)
HMS Thetis was a 38-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy launched in 1782. In 1795 she captured the French storeships Prevoyante and Raison; and in 1801 took part in Lord Keith's expedition to Egypt; in 1809 assisted in cutting out the French 16-gun man-of-war Nisus at Guadeloupe, and took part...
, Freija, Castor
HMS Castor (1785)
HMS Castor was a 32-gun Amazon-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. The French briefly captured her during the Atlantic Campaign of May 1794 but she spent just 20 days in French hands as a British ship retook her before her...
, Cygnet, Hazard
HMS Hazard
Seven ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Hazard:*HMS Hazard was a 14-gun sloop launched in 1711. She was wrecked in 1714 off Boston, New England....
, Ringdove
HMS Ringdove (1806)
HMS Ringdove was a Royal Navy 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop that Matthew Warren built at Brightlingsea and launched in 1806. She took some prizes and participated in three actions or campaigns that qualified her crew for clasps to the Naval General Service Medal...
, and Elizabeth proceeded to attack two of the enemy frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
s, Seine and Loire, anchored in Anse à la Barque ("Barque Cove"), about nine miles to the northwest of the town of Basse-Terre
Basse-Terre
Basse-Terre is the prefecture of Guadeloupe, an overseas region and department of France located in the Lesser Antilles...
. Blonde, Thetis and the three sloop
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
s bore the brunt of the attack but forced the French to abandon their ships and set fire to them. Captain Cameron, who was killed in the attempt, landed with the boats of Hazard and destroyed the shore batteries. Sceptre and Cornwallis, much affected by scurvy
Scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...
, retired to Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
for their crews to recuperate. Sceptre then returned home in 1808 accompanied by two homeward-bound Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
East Indiamen that Captain Bingham had captured off the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
.
Channel and West Indies
Sceptre was paid off but, after repair and refitting, was recommissioned by Captain Bingham and joined Sir Richard StrachanSir Richard Strachan, 6th Baronet
Sir Richard John Strachan, 6th Baronet GCB was a British officer of the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, eventually rising to the rank of Admiral.-Childhood:...
in the expedition to the Scheldt
Scheldt
The Scheldt is a 350 km long river in northern France, western Belgium and the southwestern part of the Netherlands...
in 1809. Towards the end of January 1810 Sceptre escorted a division of the troops destined for the attack on Guadaloupe from St. Lucia to the Saintes. While other troops were landed on the island he created a diversion off Trois-Rivières
Trois-Rivières, Guadeloupe
Trois-Rivières is a commune in the overseas department of Guadeloupe, and the chef-lieu of the Canton of Trois-Rivières. It is on the south coast of the island of Basse-Terre.-External links:* ....
before landing his troops and marines between Anse à la Barque and Basse-Terre
Basse-Terre
Basse-Terre is the prefecture of Guadeloupe, an overseas region and department of France located in the Lesser Antilles...
. Until the surrender of the island, Captain Ballard commanded the detachment of seamen and marines attached to the army. Sceptre visited most of the West Indian islands before sailing from St. Thomas in August with the homebound trade.
Channel
She arrived at Spithead on 25 September 1810 and was docked and refitted. Sceptre was employed in the Channel watching the enemy in BrestBrest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
and the Basque Roads
Basque Roads
Basque Roads is a sheltered bay on the Biscay shore of the Charente-Maritime département of France, bounded by the Île d'Oléron to the west and the Île de Ré to the north...
until January 1813.
War of 1812
In 1813, Captain C. Ross, took command of Sceptre as the flagship of Rear Admiral (Blue) Sir George Cockburn for operations against the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. On 11 July 1813, Sceptre, with Romulus
HMS Romulus
Two ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Romulus, after Romulus, one of the founders of Rome in Roman mythology: was a 44-gun fifth rate launched in 1777 and captured by the French in 1781. was a 36-gun fifth rate launched in 1785. She was used as a troop ship from 1799, was on harbour...
, Fox
HMS Fox (1780)
HMS Fox was a 32-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 2 June 1780 at Bursledon, Hampshire by George Parsons.She was broken up in April 1816....
, Nemedis, and and the tenders and , anchored off the Ocracoke
Ocracoke
Ocracoke may refer to:* Ocracoke, North Carolina* Ocracoke Island Light, a lighthouse on Ocracoke island* Ocracoke Inlet, the inlet at the southern end of Ocracoke Island...
bar, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. They had on board troops under the orders of Lieutenant Colonel Napier. An advanced division of the best pulling boats commanded by Lieutenant Westphall and carrying armed seamen and marines from Sceptre attacked the enemy's shipping. They were supported by Captain Ross with the rocket-boats. The flat and heavier boats followed with the bulk of the 102nd Regiment and the artillery.
The only opposition came from a 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...
, , of 18 guns, and a 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...
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....
, Atlas
HMS St Lawrence (1813)
HMS St Lawrence was a 14-gun schooner of the Royal Navy. She had been built in 1808 in St. Michels, Talbot County, Maryland for Thomas Tennant and sold to Philadelphians in 1810. During the War of 1812 she was the American privateer Atlas. The British captured her in 1813 and renamed her St Lawrence...
, of 10 guns, which were the only armed vessels in the anchorage. When Lieutenant Westphall attacked, supported by rockets, the Americans abandoned Anaconda and Atlas struck. The troops took possession of Portsmouth Island and Ocracoke Island without opposition.
On 12 May 1814, Sceptre recaptured the 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...
Fanny
Fanny (1812 privateer)
Fanny was an armed merchantman that sailed between Liverpool and South America. Her master was James Laughton, the father of Sir John Knox Laughton. On 5 December 1812, Laughton was granted a Letter of Marque for the ship. On 19 April 1814, the American privateer General Armstrong captured her,...
. The capture and recapture of Fanny, together with Scepters claim for salvage, gave rise to several important legal cases.
Fate
Sceptre spent her final years in the Channel in the blockade of the French fleet. In 1815, Sceptre was decommissioned at ChathamChatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...
. After a period in ordinary
Reserve fleet
A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed, and thus partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; an equivalent expression in unofficial modern U.S....
, she was finally broken up at Chatham in 1821.