HMS Seagull was the name vessel for the Seagull class

Seagull class brig-sloop

The Seagull class were built as a class of thirteen 16-gun brig-sloops for the Royal Navy, although an extra 2 carronades were added soon after completion. The class was designed by one of the Surveyors of the Navy - Sir William Rule - and approved on 4 January 1805...

 of brig-sloops 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 launched on 1 July 1805 and saw active service under the British flag in Danish waters until 19 June 1808 when Dano-Norwegian forces sank her. The Danes raised her and refitted her for service in the Danish Royal Navy, which she served until the end of the "English Wars" in 1814. She then was transferred to the Norwegians. She was finally decommissioned in 1817.

British service (1805-1808)

Seagull was commissioned under Commander Robert B. Cathcart in August 1805. She was active in 1807 in the North Sea and Downs and received prize money for the following captures, either alone or in company with other British vessels.

• Venus (8 July);
• Resolution (27 August);
• Aurora (27 August);
• Gabriel (27 August);
• Karen and Amalia (27 August);
• Emanuel (28 August);
• Dolphin (28 August);
• Haabet Ankes (28 August); and
• Fly (31 October).

In addition, she recaptured two ships:

• Jane (24 February); and
• the transport brig Elizabeth (15 November).

Lastly, Seagulls boats retrieved the Dove, which they found drifting and derelict on 29 August 1807.

Capture

On 19 June 1808, off the Naze of Norway in the vicinity of the port of Kristiansand

Kristiansand

-History:As indicated by archeological findings in the city, the Kristiansand area has been settled at least since 400 AD. A royal farm is known to have been situated on Oddernes as early as 800, and the first church was built around 1040...

, Seagull chased the Dano-Norwegian brig Lougen

HDMS Lougen (1805)

HDMS Lougen was a Danish naval brig launched in 1805. She saw service in the Danish navy before being transferred to the Norwegian navy in 1814 and then to Germany in 1825. During her service with the Danish navy, Lougen participated in two notable actions against the British Royal Navy during the...

, which was armed with 18 short 18-pounder guns and two long 6-pounder guns. Lougen, under the command of 1st Lieutenant Peter Frederik Wulff (1774-1842), tried to stand off Seagull to take advantage of the longer range of her 18-pounders relative to the range of Seagulls 24-pounder carronades.

The chase brought both vessels close in shore where the breeze was lessening to a near calm. Seagull tried to get between Lougen and the shore to prevent the Dane from reaching Kristiansand.

Unfortunately for Seagull, about 20 minutes into the engagement six Danish gunboats arrived from behind some rocks and in two divisions of three each took up positions on Seagulls quarter, where they fired on her with their 24-pounder guns while Lougen fired on her larboard bow. Within half an hour the Danish fire had badly damaged Seagulls rigging and dismounted five of her guns. Eventually Cathcart, who was himself severely wounded, struck, having lost eight men killed and 20 wounded. Vice-Admiral Thomas Wells, on reading the battle report, expressed his strong opinion that such gallantry should be made public. Lougen had only one man killed and a dozen men slightly wounded.

The Danes held Cathcart as a prisoner of war until October 1808. In November he, his officers and crew were tried aboard for the loss of their ship. The court honourably acquitted them all and the senior officer of the board returned Cathcart's sword to him. Cathcart received promotion to 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:...

 and his first lieutenant, Villiers Francis Hatton, received promotion to commander. Cathcart's promotion was backdated to the date of the action. He received command of and took the survivors from Seagull with him.

Shortly after the action the Danes promoted Wulff to lieutenant-commander and he was elevated to knight of Danneborg.

Danish service (1808-1814)

The Danes removed the crew of the Seagull, including the dead and wounded, and sent damage control parties aboard. However, Seagull had more than five feet of water in her hull and sank suddenly, drowning several Danes. Still, Seagull had sunk in the relatively shallow waters of Fosseholmen Bay some five miles south-west of Kristiansand, with her port bulwark remaining above the water. The Danes were able later to raise and refit her for service with the Danish Royal Navy. She was commissioned under 1st. Lieutenant O. Kr. Budde.

On 25 November 1808, this ship, now known simply in Danish records as The Seagull, successfully fought and captured a Swedish gunboat, Gripen. The Seagull was operating out of Kristiansand, and the capture was effected off Skagen. Gripen was armed with nine guns (four 3-pounders, four 12-pounders, and a 36-pounder howitzer), and had a crew of 40 men under the command of Lieutenant Molbergs Besaling.Gripen failed to sell as a gunboat at a later auction and was converted to a merchant vessel in 1809. Her name was changed to the Danish spelling Gribben

On 12 May 1810, The Seagull participated in a skirmish against the British 36-gun off Mandahl, Norway. In all, four Danish brigs and several gunboats attacked Tribune before retiring back to Mandahl. Tribune suffered nine men and boys killed, and 15 seamen and marines wounded.

In the aftermath of the Battle of Lyngør

Battle of Lyngør

The Battle of Lyngør was a naval battle fought between Denmark-Norway and Britain in 1812 on the southern coast of Norway, effectively concluding the Gunboat War in Britain's favour and putting Denmark-Norway out of the war.-Background:...

, a British survey of Danish warships in the area included The Seagull of 16 guns and 100 men, laying at Christiansand - but concluded that the Danes could effect nothing of importance that summer (of 1812).

By 1813 The Seagull was under the command of Kapteinløitnant C. Lütken.

Norwegian service (1814-1817)

At the end of the Anglo-Danish wars, Norway separated from Denmark. The Seagull, which was based in Kristiansand, became part of the Norwegian navy. She was decommissioned in 1817.