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HMSElk(1804)

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For other ships with the same name, seeHMS Elk.

History
Royal Navy EnsignUnited Kingdom
NameHMSElk
Ordered22 May 1805
Builder(Mrs) Frances Barnard, Sons & Co., Deptford
Laid downJune 1804
Launched22 August 1804
CommissionedSeptember 1804
FateBroken up in 1812
General characteristics[1]>
TypeCruizer-class brig-sloop
Tons burthen38290⁄94bm
Length
  • 100 ft 1 in (30.5 m) (gundeck)
  • 77 ft4+3⁄4in (23.6 m) (keel)
Beam30 ft 6 in (9.3 m)
Depth of hold12 ft 9 in (3.9 m)
Sail planBrig rigged
Complement121
Armament16 × 32-poundercarronades+ 2 × 6-pounder bow guns

HMSElkwas aCruizer-classbrig-sloop,built of pine, and launched in 1804. She served on theJamaica stationwhere she captured a number of privateers. She was broken up in 1812.

Service

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Elkwas built of fir (pine) which made for speedier construction at the cost of reduced durability in service. She was commissioned in September 1804 under Commander William Woolridge. Then in November Commander Randall McDonnell took over command and sailed her for Jamaica on 20 January 1805.[1]On 6 May,ElkandFranchisecaptured theHazard.[2]Twelve days later, the two captured theGlobe.[3]

In October CommanderJames Richard Dacresassumed command until he was madepost-captaininBacchanteon 14 January 1806. His replacement was his cousin, Commander William Furlong Wise.[1]

On 5 MayElkcaptured a Spanish privateer rowboat armed with aswivel gunand small arms. The privateer was five days out of Santiago and had taken twodoggers.Elkcaught up with the privateer off Cape Cruz, Cuba, captured her and retook one of the doggers. The privateer was theCubana,with a 14 man crew, only five of whom were still aboard.[4]

Wise was promoted to post-captain and appointed toMediatoron 14 May. His replacement was Commander John Langdale Smith.[1]

In August 1806 Commander George Morris took command, replacing Smith, who had taken command ofPenguinin May or June. On 1 OctoberElkdestroyed the five-gun privateerAlliance.Elephanthad sentElkto investigate a schooner. After chasing his quarry for nine hours, Morris eventually caught up with her.Elk's masts had received damage in the chase and fearing that he might lose the prize if the winds changed, Morris rammed her. Her commander was M. Alexander St. Helme and she was armed with one long 12-pounder gun, two sixes and two 12-pounder carronades, and carried a crew of 75 men. In her five days out of Guadeloupe, she had taken three prizes, two American schooners and the British brig Neptune, which had been on a voyage from Jamaica toExuma.In capturingAlliance,Elkhad so damaged her that she sank shortly after Morris took her crew aboardElk.[5]

At about this timeElkdetained theJohanna Adriona,a neutral ship, which she sent in to theVice admiralty courtin Jamaica and which condemned her. The vessel's owners appealed to theLords of Appeal,which reversed the seizure and awarded them expenses, which were deducted from the prize money due for the capture ofAlliance.[6]

In NovemberElkcaptured the Spanish privateerCoccila,of four guns and 20 men.[7]

Commander William Summer Hall succeeded Morris, and was himself succeeded in July 1807 by CommanderJeremiah Coghlan.Coghlan commandedElkfor nearly four years and during this time was also senior officer of a light squadron that protected the Bahamas.[8]On 25 July,Elk,under Coghlan's command, capturedFox.[a]

On 12 February 1808Elkcaptured the French schooner privateerHarlequin,under the command of Petre Andia. She was armed with two carriage guns and small arms and carried a crew of 54 men.[10]She was in theCaicos Passagehaving leftBaracoa10 days earlier.Harlequinhad captured an American ship (under Swedish colours) sailing from Cape François,St. Domingo,(present dayCap-Haïtien) to Philadelphia with a cargo of coffee and sugar.[10]

On 7 November Coghlan captured the one-gun Spanishletter of marqueschoonerPosta de Caracas.She was sailing fromCampechein Yucatan, Mexico, to Havana with a cargo of leather and rope and twenty-four thousand dollars inspecie.During the chase she threw overboard the mails she was carrying and her gun.[11]

In August,Elkcaptured the French naval schoonerSuperieuseand brought her intoNew Providence.[12]

Coghlan's promotion topost-captainwas dated 27 November 1810 but he remained inElkfor more than five months thereafter. On his departure he received letters of approbation from officials in the Bahamas, including the governor.[8]

Coghlan's replacement in January 1811 was Captain Clement Milward,[13]and it was he who sailed her back to Britain later that year.Elkarrived home on 27 September. She was in company withSparrowas the two vessels had escorted a convoy of merchantmen fromNegril.[14]On the voyage the two warships recaptured theOcean,a large ship carrying colonial produce, on 5 August.[14][15]

Fate

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Elkwas broken up at Chatham in October 1812.[1]

Notes

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  1. ^Prize money was paid in May 1821. Coghlan's first-class share was worth£83 9s2d;a fifth-class share, that of a seaman, was worth 16s 0¼d.[9]

Citations

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  1. ^abcdeWinfield (2008),p. 294.
  2. ^"No. 16499".The London Gazette.25 June 1811. p. 1178.
  3. ^"No. 16458".The London Gazette.23 February 1811. p. 363.
  4. ^"No. 15934".The London Gazette.5 July 1806. p. 846.
  5. ^"No. 15978".The London Gazette.25 November 1806. p. 1536.
  6. ^"No. 16401".The London Gazette.1 September 1810. p. 1334.
  7. ^"No. 16004".The London Gazette.24 September 1807. p. 246.
  8. ^abMarshall (1828),pp. 305–6.
  9. ^"No. 17703".The London Gazette.5 May 1821. p. 979.
  10. ^ab"No. 16139".The London Gazette.23 April 1808. p. 572.
  11. ^"No. 16130".The London Gazette.22 March 1808. p. 415.
  12. ^Lloyd's List,[1]- accessed 25 November 2013.
  13. ^ "NMM, vessel ID 366190"(PDF).Warship Histories, vol i.National Maritime Museum.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2 August 2011.Retrieved30 July2011.
  14. ^abMarshall (1829),p. 138.
  15. ^"No. 16694".The London Gazette.16 January 1813. p. 141.

References

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  • Marshall, John(1828)."Coghlan, Jeremiah".Royal Naval Biography.Vol. sup, part 2. London: Longman and company.
  • Marshall, John(1829)."Milwar, Clement".Royal Naval Biography.Vol. sup, part 3. London: Longman and company.
  • Southey, Thomas (1827)Chronological history of the West Indies.(London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green).
  • Winfield, Rif (2008).British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates.Seaforth.ISBN978-1-86176-246-7.

This article includes data released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported UK: England & Wales Licence, by theNational Maritime Museum,as part of theWarship Historiesproject.

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