HMS Belette (or Bellette) was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop

Cruizer class brig-sloop

The Cruizer class was an 18-gun class of brig-sloops of the Royal Navy. Brig-sloops were the same as ship-sloops except for their rigging...

, built by King at Dover and launched on 21 March 1806. 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 served with some success in the Baltic and the Caribbean. Belette was lost in the Kattegat

Kattegat

The Kattegat , or Kattegatt is a sea area bounded by the Jutland peninsula and the Straits islands of Denmark on the west and south, and the provinces of Västergötland, Scania, Halland and Bohuslän in Sweden on the east. The Baltic Sea drains into the Kattegat through the Øresund and the Danish...

 in 1812 when she hit a rock off Læsø

Læsø

Læsø is the largest island in the North Sea bay of Kattegat, and is located off the northeast coast of the Jutland Peninsula, the Danish mainland. Læsø is also the name of the municipality on that island...

.

Baltic

Belette was commissioned in April 1806 under Commander Richard Piercy for the North Sea. Commander John Phillimore

John Phillimore

Sir John Phillimore CB was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He was involved in several notable actions during his active career, taking part in both Battles of Copenhagen, sending Sir Hyde Parker's famous signal to Nelson in the...

 took command in September and sailed Belette in the English Channel and the Downs

The Downs

The Downs are a roadstead or area of sea in the southern North Sea near the English Channel off the east Kent coast, between the North and the South Foreland in southern England. In 1639 the Battle of the Downs took place here, when the Dutch navy destroyed a Spanish fleet which had sought refuge...

, taking part in Commodore Edward Owen's

Edward Owen (Royal Navy officer)

Admiral Sir Edward William Campbell Rich Owen GCB GCH was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet. He was the son of Captain William Owen and elder brother of Vice-Admiral William Fitzwilliam Owen....

 attack on Boulogne.

The Belette was occupied in early 1807 with conveying supplies to the besieged town of Kolberg. In June 1807 Belette was off Suffolk when she tried to land a M. Bedezee, a Prussian envoy carrying some important despatches. The boat overturned a few hundred meters off shore and Bedezee drowned, as did a midshipman and three crewmen. A master's mate and a crewman were saved, but the despatches were lost.

Next, she was attached to Admiral James Gambier's

James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier

Admiral of the Fleet James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier GCB was an admiral of the Royal Navy, who served as Governor of Newfoundland, and as a Lord of the Admiralty, but who gained notoriety for his actions at the Battle of the Basque Roads.-Early career:Gambier was born in New Providence, The...

 fleet which returned to the Baltic to attack Copenhagen again in 1807

Battle of Copenhagen (1807)

The Second Battle of Copenhagen was a British preemptive attack on Copenhagen, targeting the civilian population in order to seize the Dano-Norwegian fleet and in turn originate the term to Copenhagenize.-Background:Despite the defeat and loss of many ships in the first Battle of Copenhagen in...

. Phillimore distinguished himself during the battle, particularly in an engagement at the end of August, when Belette became becalmed off the Danish coast. Sixteen Danish gunboat

Gunboat

A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...

s attacked Belette, which sank three of them before boats from other British ships arrived and towed her clear. Gambier rewarded Phillimore for his courage by giving him the honour of carrying Gambier's despatches to the Admiralty

Admiralty

The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

. As a result, Phillimore received a 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:...

 on 13 October; however he remained with Belette.

The expedition to Copenhagen resulted in prize money for Bellette both for warships and merchant vessels. Belette was one of seven British warships sharing in the proceeds of the capture on 28 August of the Danish merchant vessel Sally. Then Belette is listed among the vessels sharing in the prize money for the ships and provisions that the British captured at Copenhagen. Bellette also shared with and a number of other warships in the captures of several merchant vessels: the Aurora (30 August), Paulina (30 August), Ceres (31 August), Odiford (4 September), and Benedicta (12 September). On 19 November Belette, with the gun-vessels Tigress and Safeguard in company, recaptured the ship Lively.

Belette brought the British ambassador, Lord Hutchinson

John Hely-Hutchinson, 2nd Earl of Donoughmore

General John Hely-Hutchinson, 2nd Earl of Donoughmore GCB was an Anglo-Irish politician, hereditary peer and soldier.-Background:He was the son of John Hely-Hutchinson and the Baroness Donoughmore...

 back to Britain in February 1808. While sailing to Gothenburg

Gothenburg

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

 he encountered a Danish Navy two-decker, but was able to escape by sailing into shallower waters.

Caribbean

In February 1808 command passed to George Sanders who sailed her on the North Sea station.Sanders had commanded HMS Falcon

HMS FALCON (1802)

Launched in 1801 as Diadem, the Whitby-built vessel was renamed HMS Falcon on purchase in 1802 to avoid confusion with the pre-existing third rate . Falcon was a sloop with an armament of fourteen 24-pounders on her main gundeck and two 18-pounders on the quarterdeck, a crew of 75, and a burthen ...

 in the Baltic the previous year He then took her to the Leeward Islands

Leeward Islands

The Leeward Islands are a group of islands in the West Indies. They are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain. As a group they start east of Puerto Rico and reach southward to Dominica. They are situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean...

, sailing on 3 May 1808.

Belette captured a privateer on 2 July after a pursuit of 12 hours that ended some 70 miles SE of Barbados. The privateer was the Jalouse, which was armed with four 12-pounder guns and had a crew of 75 men. Sanders described her as sailing remarkably fast and as having done "much Mischief to the Trade." Before running afoul of Belette, Jalouse had captured the Mary and the Lark, both of 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...

, and the General Green, of Surinam, which last some other British warship had since recaptured.

In August Belette captured the French privateer Joséphine, which the Royal Navy took into service as Morne Fortunee. In British service she was armed with eight 18-pounder carronade

Carronade

The carronade was a short smoothbore, cast iron cannon, developed for the Royal Navy by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, UK. It was used from the 1770s to the 1850s. Its main function was to serve as a powerful, short-range anti-ship and anti-crew weapon...

s and two 6-pounder guns, and had a crew of 55 men.A number of accounts, such as Colledge (2006; p.233), give the privateer's name as Morne Fortunee, and report that she originally carried 14 guns.

Admiral Lord Collingwood

Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood

Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood was an admiral of the Royal Navy, notable as a partner with Lord Nelson in several of the British victories of the Napoleonic Wars, and frequently as Nelson's successor in commands.-Early years:Collingwood was born in Newcastle upon Tyne...

 received intelligence that the French corvette Rapide was on her way from Bayonne with dispatches and he asked Admiral Lord Alexander Cochrane

Alexander Cochrane

Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane GCB RN was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars.-Naval career:...

 to attempt to intercept her. On 8 August Belette captured the Rapide and took her into Barbados, but Rapides captain had managed to throw the dispatches overboard before Belette captured her. On 23 July duplicates of the dispatches and much besides were found concealed aboard the cartel Phoenix, which had sailed from Cayenne and had stopped in Barbados. She had aroused suspicion, leading Cochrane to having her searched. Because carrying these documents was a violation of the cartel (truce) flag, the British seized the Phoenix and sent the seized documents in .

On 23 August Belette captured the French privateer schooner Confiance, of seven guns (though pierced for 16) and 70 men. She was three days out from Cayenne

Cayenne

Cayenne is the capital of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Cayenne River on the Atlantic coast. The city's motto is "Ferit Aurum Industria" which means "Work brings wealth"...

.

On 5 December 1808 Belette captured the French 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...

 brig Revanche, of six 12-pounder guns and 44 men. Revanche was taking provisions from Bordeaux to Guadeloupe when she encountered Belette. Sanders described her as having been "a very successful Privateer all this War, and was intended for a Cruizer in those Seas."

In February 1809, Belette participated in the combined naval and military assault and capture of the French-held island of 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...

. This qualified those of her crew still alive in 1847 for the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM) with clasp "Martinique". Belette was among the 42 warships that shared in the proceeds for the capture of Martinique. She then participated in the capture of Guadeloupe (January - February 1810), which earned for her crew the clasp "Guadaloupe" to the NGSM, as well as further prize money, which she shared with 49 other vessels. The medal data indicates that David Sloane took command after Martinique and before Guadeloupe. He may, in fact, have sailed her back to the Leeward Islands from Britain.

North Sea & Baltic

In 1811 Sloane took Belette back to home waters. Danish records suggest that in the summer of 1811 she was in the North Sea.

Unknown to the British, Danish Captain Hans Peter Holm had returned to Egersund

Egersund

The town of Egersund was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 . It was merged with the surrounding municipality of Eigersund January 1, 1965....

 (SW Norway) with Lolland and four other brigs. On 1 May 1811, the British sent four boats from Belette, and , into the western end of the sound, expecting to capture some shipping or do other mischief. The circumstances of locality and wind did not permit the Danish brigs to enter the sound from the further end, but Holm sent the Danish ships’ boats under Lieutenant Niels Gerhardt Langemach up the sound to oppose the British. Some of the Danes landed to set an ambush from the cliff tops, whilst the armed boats were hidden behind a skerry

Skerry

A skerry is a small rocky island, usually defined to be too small for habitation. It may simply be a rocky reef. A skerry can also be called a low sea stack....

. As the British rowed boldly in, they met unexpected fire from howitzers and muskets; they immediately withdrew, with the Danish boats in pursuit. The Danes captured one of the British boats and her crew of an officer and 17 men, who had come from Belette, and would have captured more but for the confusion that an explosion of a powder keg on one of the Danish boats caused. This enabled the remaining British boats to reach the protection of their squadron.

By 1812 Belette was in the Baltic. On 24 May, Belette and captured the Danish sloop St. Jorgen.

After the outbreak of 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...

, the British navy seized a number of American ships in British ports or that had otherwise not received the news. Belette was among the vessels sharing in the capture, on 12 August, of the Cuba, Caliban, Edward, Galen, Halcyon, and Cygnet.

On 30 October, Belette was protecting the rear of a convoy when her acting master, Mr. James Turnbull, took her yawl and off Romsø

Romsø

Romsø is a Danish island in the Great Belt off the coast of Funen. It has an area of 1.09 km² and has, since 1996, no permanent residents. A defunct lighthouse and a few houses are located on the island; a substantial part of its area is covered by forest....

 captured a Danish rowboat armed with two 2-pounder guns and small arms. The Danes put up a short but spirited resistance before surrendering. Five men of the Danish crew of a lieutenant and 15 men were severely wounded.The letter in the London Gazette gives the name of Belettes captain as Swan. This is probably a mistake, or Swan was temporary.

Loss

On 24 November 1812 Belette, under Sloane, was in the Kattegat leading Russian ships through the south-west passage of Anholt

Anholt (Denmark)

Anholt is a Danish island in the Kattegat, midway between Jutland and Sweden, with 171 permanent residents as of 1 January 2010. It is seven miles long and about four miles wide at its widest and covers an area of 21,75 km². Anholt is part of Norddjurs municipality in Region Midtjylland...

 towards Gothenburg

Gothenburg

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

 when she went aground on a sunken rock called "John"

Johns Rock

Disambiguation: Not to be confused with Johns Knoll in the AntarcticOn 24 November 1812 was in the Kattegat leading Russian ships through the south-west passage of Anholt towards Gothenburg when she went aground on a sunken rock called "John" off Læsø. She sank and broke in two...

 (or "Fannot") off Læsø

Læsø

Læsø is the largest island in the North Sea bay of Kattegat, and is located off the northeast coast of the Jutland Peninsula, the Danish mainland. Læsø is also the name of the municipality on that island...

. She sank and broke in two. Her crew took to the rigging but during the night many died of exposure or fell into the sea when they lost their grip. Only six of her entire crew of 120 or so men and boys escaped death from exposure or drowning.