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HMS Wilhelmina (1798)
Encyclopedia
HMS Wilhelmina was a 32-gun fifth rate frigate
of the Royal Navy
. She was previously a Dutch ship and had been built in 1787 for the Dutch Republic
as the Wilhelmina. Renamed Furie in 1795, after the establishment of the Batavian Republic
as a client state of the First French Empire
, she, like other Dutch ships, was pressed into service to support Napoleon's
plans to conquer the British Isles
. The British captured her and the Dutch corvette Waakzaamheid in 1798
while the two were trying to support French and Irish forces involved in the Irish Rebellion of 1798
. The Royal Navy took both into service, with the Furie regaining her original name. Sailing as HMS Wilhelmina, she spent the bulk of her later career in the East Indies
, serving mostly as a troopship
. Here she fought an unequal battle against a large French privateer
, and succeeded in driving her off and protecting a merchant she was escorting. Wilhelmina was almost the ship that faced a superior French squadron at the Battle of Vizagapatam
, but she was replaced beforehand by the larger . She spent the rest of her days as a guardship in Penang
, and was sold there in 1813.
in 1787, and armed with 32 guns. She sailed under that name for eight years for the Dutch Republic until the invasion of the Netherlands by the French in 1795 and the establishment of the Batavian Republic led to her being renamed Furie.
In 1798 she was part of the Dutch contribution hastily assembled to support the uprising
of the United Irishmen in 1798. Furie, under the command of Captain Bartholomeus Pletz, and the 24-gun corvette
Waakzaamheid under Captain Meindert van Neirop, were dispatched to carry men and supplies to Ireland. Furie embarked 165 troops and Waakzaamheid 122. In addition, the ships carried over 6,000 stands of arms and large quantities of other military stores with which to arm the Irish irregular forces that they expected to meet. The two ships sailed from the Netherlands on the night of 23/24 October, and by 08:00 were 30 nautical miles (55.6 km) northwest of the Texel
, sailing westwards towards the English Channel
. There they were spotted by the British frigate HMS Sirius
, under the command of Captain Richard King
. Sirius had been stationed off the Texel to watch for Dutch movements and intercept any ships of smaller or equal size entering or leaving the waterway. Although van Neirop's squadron outnumbered King's ship, the British vessel was much larger and faster, and the Dutch were also hampered by their position: the two ships were more than 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) apart, too far to offer mutual support against their opponent.
King first attacked the smaller and slower Waakzaamheid, avoiding contact with the larger Furie as he did so. At 09:00 Sirius came alongside Waakzaamheid and fired a gun at her, prompting van Neirop to surrender immediately. King secured the Waakzaamheid and set off in pursuit of Furie, which was attempting to flee to the west. The chase lasted the rest of the day, with the Sirius eventually coming within range at 17:00. The two ships exchanged broadsides for half an hour, as Pletz attempted to maneuver out of King's range. Furie was soon badly damaged whereas only one shot Dutch shot had struck Sirius, and that on the bowsprit
. At approximately 17:30, Pletz surrendered, having lost eight dead and 14 wounded; Sirius had only one man wounded. King transferred the prisoners and placed a prize crew on Furie before returning to the Nore
with his prizes.
on 17 November 1798. She was commissioned under Captain David Atkins in January 1800 and was then fitted as a troopship
at Woolwich
between January and September 1800, for the sum of £10,914. Captain Charles Herbert took command in April that year and Commander James Lind
succeeded him in 1801. Lind sailed Wilhelmina to the East Indies that year, remaining with her until 1803, when she passed under the temporary command of Lieutenant William Dobbie.
In May 1803 Commander Henry Lambert
took command. In September 1803 Whilelmina stopped briefly at Hambantota
, Ceylon, where she dropped off an eight-man detachment from the Royal Artillery, who reinforced the British garrison there and later helped it repel a Kandian
attack.
when she sighted a strange sail. The unknown ship was the 36-gun French privateer
Psyche
, under the command of Captain Trogoff.
The Psyche out-gunned the Wilhelmina, which was armed en flûte
. Nevertheless Lambert sailed towards the Frenchman, to give the William Petrie a chance to escape.
Light winds meant that the engagement did not begin until 11 April, when both ships opened fire, exchanging broadsides and attempting to tack around to rake their opponent. After several hours fighting, the Psyche broke off and fled. Both ships had sustained heavy damage, the Wilhelmina to her masts and rigging, while the Psyche was reduced to a near-sinking condition. Wilhelmina had nine of her crew wounded, three mortally and six slightly, while the Psyche lost ten killed and 32 wounded, 13 of them mortally. Wilhelmina put into port, while the William Petrie also arrived safely at her destination.
Almost a year later, on 14 February 1805, Lambert, now Captain (Acting) of would meet Psyche, now a frigate of the French Navy, in battle off the Malabar Coast
of India. Lambert was victorious in a sanguinary action that resulted in the British taking Psyche into service as HMS Psyche. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "San Fiorenzo 14 Feby. 1805" to any still surviving claimants from the action.
. Because a French squadron under Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Durand Linois
was raiding merchant shipping in the East Indies, the British commander in the area, Admiral Peter Rainier
decided to replace Wilhelmina with the larger . Consequently it was Centurion that resisted Linois's forces at the Battle of Vizagapatam
in September 1804.
(Penang), and was sold there in January 1813.
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"...
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 previously a Dutch ship and had been built in 1787 for the Dutch Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
as the Wilhelmina. Renamed Furie in 1795, after the establishment of the Batavian Republic
Batavian Republic
The Batavian Republic was the successor of the Republic of the United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on January 19, 1795, and ended on June 5, 1806, with the accession of Louis Bonaparte to the throne of the Kingdom of Holland....
as a client state of the First French Empire
First French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
, she, like other Dutch ships, was pressed into service to support Napoleon's
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
plans to conquer the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
. The British captured her and the Dutch corvette Waakzaamheid in 1798
Action of 24 October 1798
The Action of 24 October 1798 was a minor naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought between a British Royal Navy frigate and two ships of the Batavian Republic. The Dutch ships were intercepted in the North Sea within hours of leaving port, northwest of the Texel, by the British...
while the two were trying to support French and Irish forces involved in the Irish Rebellion of 1798
Irish Rebellion of 1798
The Irish Rebellion of 1798 , also known as the United Irishmen Rebellion , was an uprising in 1798, lasting several months, against British rule in Ireland...
. The Royal Navy took both into service, with the Furie regaining her original name. Sailing as HMS Wilhelmina, she spent the bulk of her later career in the East Indies
East Indies
East Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...
, serving mostly as a troopship
Troopship
A troopship is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime...
. Here she fought an unequal battle against a large French 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...
, and succeeded in driving her off and protecting a merchant she was escorting. Wilhelmina was almost the ship that faced a superior French squadron at the Battle of Vizagapatam
Battle of Vizagapatam
The Battle of Vizagapatam was a minor naval engagement fought in the approaches to Vizagapatam harbour in the Coastal Andhra region of British India on the Bay of Bengal on 15 September 1804 during the Napoleonic Wars...
, but she was replaced beforehand by the larger . She spent the rest of her days as a guardship in Penang
Penang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
, and was sold there in 1813.
Dutch career and capture
Wilhelmina was built at FlushingFlushing, Netherlands
Vlissingen is a municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river and the North Sea, Vlissingen has been an important harbour for centuries. It was granted city rights in 1315. In the 17th century...
in 1787, and armed with 32 guns. She sailed under that name for eight years for the Dutch Republic until the invasion of the Netherlands by the French in 1795 and the establishment of the Batavian Republic led to her being renamed Furie.
In 1798 she was part of the Dutch contribution hastily assembled to support the uprising
Irish Rebellion of 1798
The Irish Rebellion of 1798 , also known as the United Irishmen Rebellion , was an uprising in 1798, lasting several months, against British rule in Ireland...
of the United Irishmen in 1798. Furie, under the command of Captain Bartholomeus Pletz, and the 24-gun corvette
Corvette
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...
Waakzaamheid under Captain Meindert van Neirop, were dispatched to carry men and supplies to Ireland. Furie embarked 165 troops and Waakzaamheid 122. In addition, the ships carried over 6,000 stands of arms and large quantities of other military stores with which to arm the Irish irregular forces that they expected to meet. The two ships sailed from the Netherlands on the night of 23/24 October, and by 08:00 were 30 nautical miles (55.6 km) northwest of the Texel
Texel
Texel is a municipality and an island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the biggest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark...
, sailing westwards towards 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...
. There they were spotted by the British frigate HMS Sirius
HMS Sirius (1797)
HMS Sirius was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Between 1797 and 1805, the Sirius was engaged in maintaining the blockade of Napoleonic Europe...
, under the command of Captain Richard King
Sir Richard King, 2nd Baronet
Vice Admiral Sir Richard King, 2nd Baronet KCB was an officer in the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, who fought with distinction at the battle of Trafalgar despite being amongst the youngest captains present.King was the son of Sir Richard King, 1st Baronet, a...
. Sirius had been stationed off the Texel to watch for Dutch movements and intercept any ships of smaller or equal size entering or leaving the waterway. Although van Neirop's squadron outnumbered King's ship, the British vessel was much larger and faster, and the Dutch were also hampered by their position: the two ships were more than 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) apart, too far to offer mutual support against their opponent.
King first attacked the smaller and slower Waakzaamheid, avoiding contact with the larger Furie as he did so. At 09:00 Sirius came alongside Waakzaamheid and fired a gun at her, prompting van Neirop to surrender immediately. King secured the Waakzaamheid and set off in pursuit of Furie, which was attempting to flee to the west. The chase lasted the rest of the day, with the Sirius eventually coming within range at 17:00. The two ships exchanged broadsides for half an hour, as Pletz attempted to maneuver out of King's range. Furie was soon badly damaged whereas only one shot Dutch shot had struck Sirius, and that on the bowsprit
Bowsprit
The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a pole extending forward from the vessel's prow. It provides an anchor point for the forestay, allowing the fore-mast to be stepped farther forward on the hull.-Origin:...
. At approximately 17:30, Pletz surrendered, having lost eight dead and 14 wounded; Sirius had only one man wounded. King transferred the prisoners and placed a prize crew on Furie before returning to the Nore
Nore
The Nore is a sandbank at the mouth of the Thames Estuary, England. It marks the point where the River Thames meets the North Sea, roughly halfway between Havengore Creek in Essex and Warden Point in Kent....
with his prizes.
British career
Furie came into SheernessSheerness
Sheerness is a town located beside the mouth of the River Medway on the northwest corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 12,000 it is the largest town on the island....
on 17 November 1798. She was commissioned under Captain David Atkins in January 1800 and was then fitted as a troopship
Troopship
A troopship is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime...
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...
between January and September 1800, for the sum of £10,914. Captain Charles Herbert took command in April that year and Commander James Lind
James Lind (Royal Navy officer)
Sir James Lind KCB was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. The son of James Lind, a distinguished naval physician, Lind also embarked on a career at sea, but served in a more front line role...
succeeded him in 1801. Lind sailed Wilhelmina to the East Indies that year, remaining with her until 1803, when she passed under the temporary command of Lieutenant William Dobbie.
In May 1803 Commander Henry Lambert
Henry Lambert
Captain Henry Lambert RN was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. During his career, Lambert served in numerous ships and several military actions with success, participating in the capture of Île Bonaparte in the Indian Ocean as second in...
took command. In September 1803 Whilelmina stopped briefly at Hambantota
Hambantota
Hambantota is a coastal city in the south of Sri Lanka. It is the capital of the Hambantota District...
, Ceylon, where she dropped off an eight-man detachment from the Royal Artillery, who reinforced the British garrison there and later helped it repel a Kandian
Kandian Wars
The Kandyan Wars refers generally to the period of warfare between the British colonial forces and the Kingdom of Kandy, on the island of what is now present day Sri Lanka, between 1796 and 1818...
attack.
Battling the Psyche
On 9 April 1804 Wilhelmina was escorting the country ship William Petrie to TrincomaleeTrincomalee
Trincomalee is a port city in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka and lies on the east coast of the island, about 113 miles south of Jaffna. It has a population of approximately 100,000 . The city is built on a peninsula, which divides the inner and outer harbours. Overlooking the Kottiyar Bay,...
when she sighted a strange sail. The unknown ship was the 36-gun French 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...
Psyche
French frigate Psyché (1804)
Psyché was a 36-gun vessel built between February 1798 and 1799 at Basse-Indre as a privateer. As a privateer she had an inconclusive but bloody encounter with HMS Wilhelmina of the Royal Navy, commanded by Commander Henry Lambert, off the Indian coast in April 1804. The French then brought her...
, under the command of Captain Trogoff.
The Psyche out-gunned the Wilhelmina, which was armed en flûte
En flûte
Arming a ship en flûte means removing some or all of the artillery. Since ships have a limited amount of cargo space, they may be armed en flûte to make room for other cargo, such as troops and ammunition...
. Nevertheless Lambert sailed towards the Frenchman, to give the William Petrie a chance to escape.
Light winds meant that the engagement did not begin until 11 April, when both ships opened fire, exchanging broadsides and attempting to tack around to rake their opponent. After several hours fighting, the Psyche broke off and fled. Both ships had sustained heavy damage, the Wilhelmina to her masts and rigging, while the Psyche was reduced to a near-sinking condition. Wilhelmina had nine of her crew wounded, three mortally and six slightly, while the Psyche lost ten killed and 32 wounded, 13 of them mortally. Wilhelmina put into port, while the William Petrie also arrived safely at her destination.
Almost a year later, on 14 February 1805, Lambert, now Captain (Acting) of would meet Psyche, now a frigate of the French Navy, in battle off the Malabar Coast
Malabar Coast
The Malabar Coast is a long and narrow coastline on the south-western shore line of the mainland Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing mountain...
of India. Lambert was victorious in a sanguinary action that resulted in the British taking Psyche into service as HMS Psyche. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "San Fiorenzo 14 Feby. 1805" to any still surviving claimants from the action.
Missed battle
In mid-1804 Wilhelmina was assigned to escort a small convoy of East IndiamenEast Indiamen
An East Indiaman was a ship operating under charter or license to any of the East India Companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries...
. Because a French squadron under Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Durand Linois
Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois
Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand, Comte de Linois was a French admiral during the time of Napoleon Bonaparte. He won a victory over the British at the Battle of Algeciras in 1801 and was reasonably successful in a campaign against British trade in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea in...
was raiding merchant shipping in the East Indies, the British commander in the area, Admiral Peter Rainier
Peter Rainier, junior
Peter Rainier, Jr. was a British naval officer. Mount Rainier in Washington, USA, was named after him.-Biography:Rainier was born in England, the grandson of Daniel Regnier, a Huguenot refugee, and the son of Peter Rainier of Sandwich. He enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1756 at the age of 15. He...
decided to replace Wilhelmina with the larger . Consequently it was Centurion that resisted Linois's forces at the Battle of Vizagapatam
Battle of Vizagapatam
The Battle of Vizagapatam was a minor naval engagement fought in the approaches to Vizagapatam harbour in the Coastal Andhra region of British India on the Bay of Bengal on 15 September 1804 during the Napoleonic Wars...
in September 1804.
Fate
Captain Charles Foote took command of Wilhelmina in 1807, followed in an acting capacity by Commander William Hext in April 1809. She remained in the East Indies during this entire period. Commander Samuel Leslie took over in March 1811, followed in 1812 by Lieutenant George Norton. She became the guardship at Prince of Wales IslandPenang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
(Penang), and was sold there in January 1813.