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HMS Euryalus (1803)
Encyclopedia
HMS Euryalus was a Royal Navy
Apollo Class
frigate
of 36 guns, which saw service in the Battle of Trafalgar
and the War of 1812
. During her career she was commanded by three prominent naval personalities of the Napoleonic and post-Napoleonic period, Henry Blackwood
, George Heneage Dundas
and Charles Napier. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars
she continued on active service for a number of years, before spending more than two decades as a prison hulk
. She ended her career in Gibraltar where in 1860 she was sold for breaking up.
firm at Bucklers Hard
, and launched in 1803. Her first action occurred on 2 and 3 October 1804 when, captained by Henry Blackwood
, participated in an attack on French vessels off Boulogne pier.
During Blackwood's absence, Captain J. Hardy temporarily commanded her.
On 22 February 1805, Euryalus captured the St Jose while on the Irish station. shared in the prize by agreement with Euryalus.
to report the movements of the combined French
and Spanish
fleets anchored there. The combined fleet sailed from Cádiz on 20 October, shadowed through the night by the Euryalus and the others that reported its position to the Royal Navy fleet on the horizon.
With battle imminent the following morning, Captain Blackwood suggested that Admiral Horatio Nelson transfer from Victory
to the faster Euryalus, the better to observe and control the engagement. Nelson declined the offer. Euryalus - too small to play a major role - stood off until the late afternoon when she took the badly damaged in tow and turned her to engage the French ship Formidable
.
Following the death of Admiral Nelson, Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood
transferred his flag from Royal Sovereign to Euryalus. She became for the next ten days the British fleet's flagship.
After the battle Euryalus took on survivors from the French ship-of-the-line Achille
, as well as the captured French Admiral Pierre de Villeneuve. Blackwood also received the surrender of the Spanish ship Santa Ana, after two raking broadsides to the stern by Royal Sovereign and Belleisle
had caused her to strike her colours.
Euryalus again took Royal Sovereign in tow but the two ships collided during a sudden squall, badly damaging the frigate's masts and rigging. Once repairs were completed, Euryalus went into Cádiz Harbour to allow Blackwood to negotiate an exchange of prisoners and the repatriation of French and Spanish wounded. On 31 October, Euryalus set sail for England with Admiral Villeneuve as a prisoner. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM) with clasp "Trafalgar" to all surviving claimants from the battle.
Later that year George Heneage Dundas
took command of Euryalus. Euryalus, and other warships escorted a large convoy to Oporto, Lisbon and the Mediterranean. When she arrived, she was assigned to patrol the coast between Cape St. Vincent and Cape St. Maria in the Algarve, and then to watch the port of Cartagena. After about four months she transferred to the Gulf of Lyons. In the Mediterranean her boats captured several small merchant vessels.
Towards the end of 1807 Euryalus returned to England with . The two vessels escorted several thousand of the late Sir John Moore
's troops from Gibraltar. On her return Euryalus went into dock at Plymouth for a refit.
Her next station was the North Sea and then the Baltic under under Vice-Admiral Sir James Saumarez
. First, Euryalus transported the Duke d'Angoulême
from Yarmouth to Gottenburg. She then escorted Baltic convoys through the Great Belt
.
On 11 June 1808, she and discovered several vessels at anchor close to shore at the entrance to the river Naskon
. Dundas anchored at dark and sent a cutting out party in four boats from the two ships to destroy the vessels. The cutting out party burnt two large troop transports and retrieved a gun-vessel armed with two 18-pounders and carrying 64 men. The successful foray took place directly under the guns of a Danish battery of three 18-pounder guns and numerous enemy troops who lined the shore. The enemy lost seven men killed and twelve wounded; the British had one man slightly wounded. In 1816 the crews of the British ships received prize money for "Danish gun-boat E".
Later that year Dundas sailed to Elbing
, a small port in West Prussia about 60 kilometers east of Dantzig
. There he took on board Princess Marie Josephine Louise of Savoy (the consort of Louis XVIII
), the Duc du Berry and other members of the French royal family. He carried them first to Carlscrona
in southern Sweden. He then re-embarked them at Gottenburg and carried them to Harwich.
On July 30, 1809, a British force of 39,000 men landed on Walcheren
in the noticeably unsuccessful Walcheren Campaign
. Euryalus joined the squadron under Captain Lord William Stuart
in Lavinia that on 11 August forced the passage of the Scheldt
between the batteries at Flushing and Cadsand. Euryalus herself had no casualties although the British lost two men killed and nine wounded in other ships.
Later she was stationed off Cherbourg under the orders of Captain Sir Richard King. In November Euryalus was off Cherbourg where she captured the French privateer lugger Etoile of 14 guns and 48 men. Etoile was two days out from the Hogue without having made any captures.
Early in 1810 Euryalus took a large convoy from Spithead to Portugal and the Mediterranean. She then joined Captain Blackwood's inshore squadron off Toulon. The squadron consisted of Blackwood's , , , Euryalus and . A strong gale on 15 July forced the squadron to seek shelter behind the Île du Levant
. The same gale drove Blackwood's ship, San Josef
east to Villefranche
.
On 20 July a French squadron consisting of six sail-of-the line and four frigates exited Toulon. Their objective was to provide cover to a frigate and her convoy that wished to escape from Bandol
where it had taken shelter. The light and variable winds made it impossible for Blackwood to block the French squadron and the frigate and her convoy from joining up. Furthermore, while Blackwood was trying to regroup his squadron, Euryalus and Shearwater were forced to sail across the front of the French force. The wind failed for Blackwood, but not the French, making it highly likely that the French would be able to capture Euryalus and Shearwater.
Blackwood was able to position Warspite with Conqueror and Ajax astern where they could exchange broadsides with the French ships as they came up one at a time. Then the French tacked and the British line matched them, enabling Euryalus and Shearwater to escape, though not before Sheerwater was on the receiving end of three completely ineffectual broadsides from one of the French ships of the line and a frigate. Despite its greater strength, the French force returned to Toulon rather than take on the British squadron.
Early in 1811 Dundas temporarily took command of the 74-gun Third Rate
Achille
until relieved by Captain Askew Paffard Hollis, who had transferred from Standard
. Dundas then returned to Euryalus.
In May 1811, Euryalus was under the command of Captain George Waldegrave.
On 7 June 1811 Euryalus, again under the command of Dundas, and Swallow sent their boats in pursuit of a French privateer off Corsica. After a long chase the boats captured Intrepide, which had a crew of 58 and was armed with two 8-pounders.
In November 1812 Captain Thomas Ussher took command. His successor was Captain Jeremiah Coghlan. On 2 April, Euryalus, under Coghlan, drove a French vessel on shore on the coast of Sardinia.
Euryalus was still in the Mediterranean when Captain (later Admiral) Charles Napier took command early in 1813. She took part in successful commerce raiding and the blockade of Toulon
. On 16 May 1813, boats from and Euryalus attacked French coastal shipping at Cavalacie, east of Toulon.Cavalacie is possibly Cavaliere or Cavalaire-sur-Mer
. There they captured the French naval xebec
Fortune, of ten 9-pounder guns and four swivel guns
. She was under the command of Lieutenant de Vaisseaux Félix-Marie-Louise-Anne-Joseph-Julien Lecamus, and had a crew of 95 men who had abandoned her before the British boarded. In addition, the British captured 22 small coasting vessels. They took out 14, but then destroyed nine after removing their cargoes. Fifteen of the vessels were chiefly laden with oil, corn, lemons, etc., and one with empty casks; six of those destroyed were empty. In the attack Berwick lost one man killed, and Euryalus had one man missing.
On 23 December Euryalus drove the storeship Baleine, sailing from Toulon to Ajaccio
, ashore near Calvi where she bilged on the rocks. Baleine was armed with 22 guns and carried a crew of 120 men.
On 21 April 1814, in company with , under the command of Ussher, she entered the harbour at Marseilles where they heard the news of Napoleon's defeat. Undaunted then sailed to Frejus Bay where she embarked Napoleon and transported him to Elba
.
. In June she sailed form Gibraltar to Bermuda as part of a squadron under Captain Andrew King. The squadron escorted transports carrying troops that had been recently employed against Genoa.
Next, Napier and Euryalus participated in the expedition up the Potomac
(August–September 1814), in which he was second in command of the squadron under James Alexander Gordon
. On 17 August Euryalus, bombs , , and Meteor, the rocket ship
, and the dispatch boat
Anna-Maria were detached under Captain Gordon of to sail up the Potomac River
and bombard Fort Washington
, about ten or twelve miles below the capital
. On the second day of the expedition Euryalus went aground on an oyster-bank at Kettle Bottoms and took several hours to be floated off.
She subsequently took part in the bombardment and reduction of the forts defending the town of Alexandria
. Later Euryalus contributed a boat armed with a howitzer to assist Meteor and in their unsuccessful attempt to stop the Americans from adding guns to a battery that would impede the British withdrawal. On 25 August a vicious squall hit the whole squadron; it temporarily put Euryalus almost on her beam ends and cost her bowsprit and the heads of all her topmasts. Only 12 hours were needed for refit, however.
Then on 5 September, Seahorse and Euryalus anchored close to the American battery and silenced it with their fire. With the rest of the squadron she then descended the Potomac, running the gauntlet of fire from enemy batteries; in all Euryalus lost three killed and ten wounded. One of the wounded was Napier, who took a musket ball in the neck. She returned to her anchorage at the mouth of the river on 9 September. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM) with clasp "The Potomac 17 Augt. 1814" to all surviving claimants from the campaign.
On 13 September Euryalus was present at the bombardment of Fort McHenry
preparatory to an expedition against Baltimore
. Napier led nine boats up the Patapsco River
where they fired on the American troops and drew fire from Fort McHenry
that killed one man.
Following these operations, on 28 January 1815 Napier issued a challenge to the captain of US frigate Constellation
to meet Euryalus in single-ship combat. The Constellations captain, Charles Gordon, accepted, but Euryalus was first required for the naval operations preceding the Battle of New Orleans
and then peace was signed before the engagement could take place. Napier wrote to Captain Gordon that he was glad they were at peace, but should that situation change 'I trust we shall have an opportunity of being better acquainted'.
During Napoleon's Hundred Days
Euryalus landed troops at the mouth of the River Scheldt
.
recommissioned her. On 7 July she captured the French vessels Aimable Antoinette and Marie. At the time, and were in sight and so entitled to share in the prize money.
From 25 August 1818 to end 1820, Euryalus was in the West Indies. She served as the flagship in the Leeward Islands from November 1819 to May 1820, and then at Jamaica from June to December.
In January 1821 Captain Isaac Chapman became acting captain. From about June 1821 to August she was under the command of Wilson Braddyll Bigland.
Captain Sir Augustus Clifford was appointed to Euryalus on 22 October 1821 and sailed her from St. Helen's with W.J. Hamilton, the British ambassador to the Neapolitan court. She would spend from 1822 to 1825 relatively uneventfully in the Mediterranean though in 1824 she participated in the blockade of Algiers. Then in late in 1824 or early in 1825, she rendered assistance to the American brig Charles and Ellen at the island of Milos
. Euryalus stayed for a week, lending some 70 to 80 men to the brig to effect repairs, a kindness acknowledged her Captain, P.R.Bing and two Boston insurance companies by posting a notice in the National Intelligencer of 23 March 1825. Euryalus was paid-off in Deptford in 1825.
. From 1825 to at least 1843, she was a prison for boys, the youngest being nine years old.
In 1845 Euryalus became a coal hulk at Sheerness. In 1846-7 she was refitted as a convict ship and in that capacity she was moved to Gibraltar. In 1859 she was renamed Africa but was sold to a Mr. Recanno for breaking up in 1860.
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...
Apollo Class
Apollo class frigate
The Apollo-class sailing frigates were a series of twenty-seven ships that the British Admiralty commissioned be built to a 1798 design by Sir William Rule. Twenty-five served in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, two being launched too late....
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"...
of 36 guns, which saw service in the Battle of Trafalgar
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
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...
. During her career she was commanded by three prominent naval personalities of the Napoleonic and post-Napoleonic period, Henry Blackwood
Henry Blackwood
Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Blackwood, 1st Baronet, GCH, KCB , whose memorial is in the St. John's Church, Killyleagh, was a British sailor....
, George Heneage Dundas
George Heneage Dundas
Rear Admiral George Heneage Lawrence Dundas CB was a senior naval officer and First Naval Lord.-Family:He was the fifth son of Thomas Dundas by his wife Charlotte, daughter of the third Earl Fitzwilliam.-HMS Queen Charlotte:In February 1800 George Heneage Dundas was aboard Lord Keith's flagship,...
and Charles Napier. After the end of 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 continued on active service for a number of years, before spending more than two decades as a prison hulk
British prison hulks
Prison hulks were decommissioned ships that authorities used as floating prisons in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were especially popular in England. The term "prison hulk" is not synonymous with the related term, convict ship...
. She ended her career in Gibraltar where in 1860 she was sold for breaking up.
Napoleonic Wars
Euryalus was built by Henry Adams'sHenry Adams (shipbuilder)
Henry Adams was a British Master Shipbuilder. He lived and worked at Bucklers Hard between 1744 and 1805. His home is now The Master Shipbuilders House Hotel in Bucklers Hard....
firm at Bucklers Hard
Bucklers Hard
Bucklers Hard is a hamlet situated on the banks of the Beaulieu River in the English county of Hampshire.- Overview :With its Georgian cottages running down to the river, Bucklers Hard is part of the 9,000 acre Beaulieu Estate...
, and launched in 1803. Her first action occurred on 2 and 3 October 1804 when, captained by Henry Blackwood
Henry Blackwood
Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Blackwood, 1st Baronet, GCH, KCB , whose memorial is in the St. John's Church, Killyleagh, was a British sailor....
, participated in an attack on French vessels off Boulogne pier.
During Blackwood's absence, Captain J. Hardy temporarily commanded her.
On 22 February 1805, Euryalus captured the St Jose while on the Irish station. shared in the prize by agreement with Euryalus.
Battle of Trafalgar
In 1805 she led a squadron of four other frigates in watching CádizCádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
to report the movements of the combined French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
fleets anchored there. The combined fleet sailed from Cádiz on 20 October, shadowed through the night by the Euryalus and the others that reported its position to the Royal Navy fleet on the horizon.
With battle imminent the following morning, Captain Blackwood suggested that Admiral Horatio Nelson transfer from Victory
HMS Victory
HMS Victory is a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, laid down in 1759 and launched in 1765. She is most famous as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805....
to the faster Euryalus, the better to observe and control the engagement. Nelson declined the offer. Euryalus - too small to play a major role - stood off until the late afternoon when she took the badly damaged in tow and turned her to engage the French ship Formidable
French ship Formidable (1795)
Formidable was an 80-gun Tonnant class ship of the line of the French navy, laid down as Figuires and renamed in 1795. She was launched at Toulon in 1795. She participated in the Battle of Algeciras, the Battle of Cape Finisterre and several other actions before the British captured her at the...
.
Following the death of Admiral Nelson, Admiral Cuthbert 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...
transferred his flag from Royal Sovereign to Euryalus. She became for the next ten days the British fleet's flagship.
After the battle Euryalus took on survivors from the French ship-of-the-line Achille
French ship Achille (1803)
The Achille was a 74-gun French ship of the line built at Rochefort in 1803 after plans by Jacques-Noël Sané.Under the command of Captain Louis Gabriel Deniéport, she sailed at the vanguard of the French Fleet on 20 October 1805, just before the Battle of Trafalgar, and she was the first...
, as well as the captured French Admiral Pierre de Villeneuve. Blackwood also received the surrender of the Spanish ship Santa Ana, after two raking broadsides to the stern by Royal Sovereign and Belleisle
HMS Belleisle (1795)
Lion was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the French Navy, which later served in the Royal Navy. She was built at Rochefort. She was later renamed Marat and then Formidable, with the changing fortunes of the French Revolution....
had caused her to strike her colours.
Euryalus again took Royal Sovereign in tow but the two ships collided during a sudden squall, badly damaging the frigate's masts and rigging. Once repairs were completed, Euryalus went into Cádiz Harbour to allow Blackwood to negotiate an exchange of prisoners and the repatriation of French and Spanish wounded. On 31 October, Euryalus set sail for England with Admiral Villeneuve as a prisoner. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM) with clasp "Trafalgar" to all surviving claimants from the battle.
Mediterranean, Post-Trafalgar
On 5 February 1806 Blackwood was still in command of Euryalus when the privateer Mayflower, of Guernsey, captured the Spanish vessel San Jose Andrea. This gave rise to court case in which the captain of the privateer alleged that Eurylaus had not been in sight (and so entitled to share in the prize money), but had come on the scene later and that Blackwood had coerced him to sign that she had joined the chase and was in sight. The court found for Euryalus having been in sight.Later that year George Heneage Dundas
George Heneage Dundas
Rear Admiral George Heneage Lawrence Dundas CB was a senior naval officer and First Naval Lord.-Family:He was the fifth son of Thomas Dundas by his wife Charlotte, daughter of the third Earl Fitzwilliam.-HMS Queen Charlotte:In February 1800 George Heneage Dundas was aboard Lord Keith's flagship,...
took command of Euryalus. Euryalus, and other warships escorted a large convoy to Oporto, Lisbon and the Mediterranean. When she arrived, she was assigned to patrol the coast between Cape St. Vincent and Cape St. Maria in the Algarve, and then to watch the port of Cartagena. After about four months she transferred to the Gulf of Lyons. In the Mediterranean her boats captured several small merchant vessels.
Towards the end of 1807 Euryalus returned to England with . The two vessels escorted several thousand of the late Sir John Moore
John Moore
- Clergy :*John Moore , British Scholar*John Moore , English Baptist minister from Northampton*John Moore , Archbishop of Canterbury, Privy Counsellor...
's troops from Gibraltar. On her return Euryalus went into dock at Plymouth for a refit.
Her next station was the North Sea and then the Baltic under under Vice-Admiral Sir James Saumarez
James Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez
Admiral James Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez , GCB was an admiral of the British Royal Navy, notable for his victory at the Battle of Algeciras.-Early life:...
. First, Euryalus transported the Duke d'Angoulême
Charles X of France
Charles X was known for most of his life as the Comte d'Artois before he reigned as King of France and of Navarre from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. A younger brother to Kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported the latter in exile and eventually succeeded him...
from Yarmouth to Gottenburg. She then escorted Baltic convoys through the Great Belt
Great Belt
The Great Belt is a strait between the main Danish islands of Zealand and Funen . Effectively dividing Denmark in two, the Belt was served by the Great Belt ferries from the late 19th century until the islands were connected by the Great Belt Fixed Link in 1997–98.-Geography:The Great Belt is the...
.
On 11 June 1808, she and discovered several vessels at anchor close to shore at the entrance to the river Naskon
Nakskov
Nakskov is a town in south Denmark. It is in Lolland municipality in Region Sjælland on the western coast of the island of Lolland. The town has a population of 13,560 . To the west is Nakskov Fjord, an inlet from the Langeland Belt that runs between the islands of Lolland and Langeland...
. Dundas anchored at dark and sent a cutting out party in four boats from the two ships to destroy the vessels. The cutting out party burnt two large troop transports and retrieved a gun-vessel armed with two 18-pounders and carrying 64 men. The successful foray took place directly under the guns of a Danish battery of three 18-pounder guns and numerous enemy troops who lined the shore. The enemy lost seven men killed and twelve wounded; the British had one man slightly wounded. In 1816 the crews of the British ships received prize money for "Danish gun-boat E".
Later that year Dundas sailed to Elbing
Elblag
Elbląg is a city in northern Poland with 127,892 inhabitants . It is the capital of Elbląg County and has been assigned to the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship since 1999. Before then it was the capital of Elbląg Voivodeship and a county seat in Gdańsk Voivodeship...
, a small port in West Prussia about 60 kilometers east of Dantzig
Gdansk
Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...
. There he took on board Princess Marie Josephine Louise of Savoy (the consort of Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII of France
Louis XVIII , known as "the Unavoidable", was King of France and of Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815...
), the Duc du Berry and other members of the French royal family. He carried them first to Carlscrona
Karlskrona
Karlskrona is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with 35,212 inhabitants in 2010. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to Sweden's only remaining naval base and the headquarters of the...
in southern Sweden. He then re-embarked them at Gottenburg and carried them to Harwich.
On July 30, 1809, a British force of 39,000 men landed on Walcheren
Walcheren
thumb|right|250px|Campveer Tower in Veere, built in 1500Walcheren is a former island in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Oosterschelde in the north and the Westerschelde in the south and is roughly the shape of a rhombus...
in the noticeably unsuccessful Walcheren Campaign
Walcheren Campaign
The Walcheren Campaign was an unsuccessful British expedition to the Netherlands in 1809 intended to open another front in the Austrian Empire's struggle with France during the War of the Fifth Coalition. Around 40,000 soldiers, 15,000 horses together with field artillery and two siege trains...
. Euryalus joined the squadron under Captain Lord William Stuart
Lord William Stuart
Captain Lord William Stuart , was a British naval commander and Tory politician.Stuart was the fifth son of John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute, son of Prime Minister John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute. His mother was the Hon. Charlotte Jane, daughter of Herbert Windsor, 2nd Viscount Windsor. He served in...
in Lavinia that on 11 August forced the passage of the Scheldt
Scheldt
The Scheldt is a 350 km long river in northern France, western Belgium and the southwestern part of the Netherlands...
between the batteries at Flushing and Cadsand. Euryalus herself had no casualties although the British lost two men killed and nine wounded in other ships.
Later she was stationed off Cherbourg under the orders of Captain Sir Richard King. In November Euryalus was off Cherbourg where she captured the French privateer lugger Etoile of 14 guns and 48 men. Etoile was two days out from the Hogue without having made any captures.
Early in 1810 Euryalus took a large convoy from Spithead to Portugal and the Mediterranean. She then joined Captain Blackwood's inshore squadron off Toulon. The squadron consisted of Blackwood's , , , Euryalus and . A strong gale on 15 July forced the squadron to seek shelter behind the Île du Levant
Île du Levant
Île du Levant , sometimes referred to as Le Levant, is a Mediterranean French island off the coast of the Riviera, near Toulon. It is one of the three that constitute the Îles d'Hyères of France. The island is 8 km long, 2 km wide, and located in the Gulf of Lion...
. The same gale drove Blackwood's ship, San Josef
HMS San Josef
HMS San Josef was a 114-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was captured from the Spanish Navy at the Battle of Cape St Vincent on 14 February 1797...
east to Villefranche
Villefranche-sur-Mer
Villefranche-sur-Mer is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera.-Geography:...
.
On 20 July a French squadron consisting of six sail-of-the line and four frigates exited Toulon. Their objective was to provide cover to a frigate and her convoy that wished to escape from Bandol
Bandol
Bandol is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.-References:*...
where it had taken shelter. The light and variable winds made it impossible for Blackwood to block the French squadron and the frigate and her convoy from joining up. Furthermore, while Blackwood was trying to regroup his squadron, Euryalus and Shearwater were forced to sail across the front of the French force. The wind failed for Blackwood, but not the French, making it highly likely that the French would be able to capture Euryalus and Shearwater.
Blackwood was able to position Warspite with Conqueror and Ajax astern where they could exchange broadsides with the French ships as they came up one at a time. Then the French tacked and the British line matched them, enabling Euryalus and Shearwater to escape, though not before Sheerwater was on the receiving end of three completely ineffectual broadsides from one of the French ships of the line and a frigate. Despite its greater strength, the French force returned to Toulon rather than take on the British squadron.
Early in 1811 Dundas temporarily took command of the 74-gun Third Rate
Third-rate
In the British Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks . Years of experience proved that the third rate ships embodied the best compromise between sailing ability , firepower, and cost...
Achille
HMS Achille (1798)
HMS Achille was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was built by Cleverley Bros., a private shipyard at Gravesend, and launched on 16 April 1798. Her design was based on the lines of the captured French ship...
until relieved by Captain Askew Paffard Hollis, who had transferred from Standard
HMS Standard (1782)
HMS Standard was a 64-gun Royal Navy third-rate ship of the line, launched on 8 October 1782 at Deptford. She was the last of the 15 Intrepid class vessels, which were built to a design by John Williams.-Early career:...
. Dundas then returned to Euryalus.
In May 1811, Euryalus was under the command of Captain George Waldegrave.
On 7 June 1811 Euryalus, again under the command of Dundas, and Swallow sent their boats in pursuit of a French privateer off Corsica. After a long chase the boats captured Intrepide, which had a crew of 58 and was armed with two 8-pounders.
In November 1812 Captain Thomas Ussher took command. His successor was Captain Jeremiah Coghlan. On 2 April, Euryalus, under Coghlan, drove a French vessel on shore on the coast of Sardinia.
Euryalus was still in the Mediterranean when Captain (later Admiral) Charles Napier took command early in 1813. She took part in successful commerce raiding and the blockade of Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
. On 16 May 1813, boats from and Euryalus attacked French coastal shipping at Cavalacie, east of Toulon.Cavalacie is possibly Cavaliere or Cavalaire-sur-Mer
Cavalaire-sur-Mer
Cavalaire-sur-Mer is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.-History:During World War II, on August 16, 1944, it was one of the sites of a beach landing in Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern FranceCavalaire-sur-Mer is probably...
. There they captured the French naval xebec
Xebec
A xebec , also spelled zebec, was a Mediterranean sailing ship that was used mostly for trading. It would have a long overhanging bowsprit and protruding mizzen mast...
Fortune, of ten 9-pounder guns and four swivel guns
Swivel gun
The term swivel gun usually refers to a small cannon, mounted on a swiveling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Another type of firearm referred to as a swivel gun was an early flintlock combination gun with two barrels that rotated along their axes to allow the shooter to...
. She was under the command of Lieutenant de Vaisseaux Félix-Marie-Louise-Anne-Joseph-Julien Lecamus, and had a crew of 95 men who had abandoned her before the British boarded. In addition, the British captured 22 small coasting vessels. They took out 14, but then destroyed nine after removing their cargoes. Fifteen of the vessels were chiefly laden with oil, corn, lemons, etc., and one with empty casks; six of those destroyed were empty. In the attack Berwick lost one man killed, and Euryalus had one man missing.
On 23 December Euryalus drove the storeship Baleine, sailing from Toulon to Ajaccio
Ajaccio
Ajaccio , is a commune on the island of Corsica in France. It is the capital and largest city of the region of Corsica and the prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud....
, ashore near Calvi where she bilged on the rocks. Baleine was armed with 22 guns and carried a crew of 120 men.
On 21 April 1814, in company with , under the command of Ussher, she entered the harbour at Marseilles where they heard the news of Napoleon's defeat. Undaunted then sailed to Frejus Bay where she embarked Napoleon and transported him to Elba
Elba
Elba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago and the third largest island in Italy after Sicily and Sardinia...
.
War of 1812
Napier next took Euryalus across the Atlantic to serve in the War of 1812War 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...
. In June she sailed form Gibraltar to Bermuda as part of a squadron under Captain Andrew King. The squadron escorted transports carrying troops that had been recently employed against Genoa.
Next, Napier and Euryalus participated in the expedition up the Potomac
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...
(August–September 1814), in which he was second in command of the squadron under James Alexander Gordon
James Alexander Gordon
Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Alexander Gordon, KCB, RN was a distinguished British officer in the Royal Navy. His 75 years in the service, from Midshipman to Admiral of the Fleet was unprecedented in its duration. He served in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812...
. On 17 August Euryalus, bombs , , and Meteor, the rocket ship
Congreve rocket
The Congreve Rocket was a British military weapon designed and developed by Sir William Congreve in 1804.The rocket was developed by the British Royal Arsenal following the experiences of the Second, Third and Fourth Mysore Wars. The wars fought between the British East India Company and the...
, and the dispatch boat
Dispatch boat
Dispatch boats were small boats, and sometimes large ships, tasked to carry military dispatches from ship to ship or from ship to shore or, in some cases from shore to shore...
Anna-Maria were detached under Captain Gordon of to sail up the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...
and bombard Fort Washington
Fort Washington Park
Fort Washington, located near the community of Fort Washington, Maryland, USA, was for many decades the only defensive fort protecting Washington D.C. The original fort, overlooking the Potomac River, was completed in 1809, and was named Fort Warburton...
, about ten or twelve miles below the capital
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. On the second day of the expedition Euryalus went aground on an oyster-bank at Kettle Bottoms and took several hours to be floated off.
She subsequently took part in the bombardment and reduction of the forts defending the town of Alexandria
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
. Later Euryalus contributed a boat armed with a howitzer to assist Meteor and in their unsuccessful attempt to stop the Americans from adding guns to a battery that would impede the British withdrawal. On 25 August a vicious squall hit the whole squadron; it temporarily put Euryalus almost on her beam ends and cost her bowsprit and the heads of all her topmasts. Only 12 hours were needed for refit, however.
Then on 5 September, Seahorse and Euryalus anchored close to the American battery and silenced it with their fire. With the rest of the squadron she then descended the Potomac, running the gauntlet of fire from enemy batteries; in all Euryalus lost three killed and ten wounded. One of the wounded was Napier, who took a musket ball in the neck. She returned to her anchorage at the mouth of the river on 9 September. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM) with clasp "The Potomac 17 Augt. 1814" to all surviving claimants from the campaign.
On 13 September Euryalus was present at the bombardment of Fort McHenry
Fort McHenry
Fort McHenry, in Baltimore, Maryland, is a star-shaped fort best known for its role in the War of 1812, when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack by the British navy in Chesapeake Bay...
preparatory to an expedition against Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
. Napier led nine boats up the Patapsco River
Patapsco River
The Patapsco River is a river in central Maryland which flows into Chesapeake Bay. The river's tidal portion forms the harbor for the city of Baltimore...
where they fired on the American troops and drew fire from Fort McHenry
Fort McHenry
Fort McHenry, in Baltimore, Maryland, is a star-shaped fort best known for its role in the War of 1812, when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack by the British navy in Chesapeake Bay...
that killed one man.
Following these operations, on 28 January 1815 Napier issued a challenge to the captain of US frigate Constellation
USS Constellation (1797)
USS Constellation was a 38-gun frigate, one of the six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794. She was distinguished as the first U.S. Navy vessel to put to sea and the first U.S. Navy vessel to engage and defeat an enemy vessel...
to meet Euryalus in single-ship combat. The Constellations captain, Charles Gordon, accepted, but Euryalus was first required for the naval operations preceding the Battle of New Orleans
Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815 and was the final major battle of the War of 1812. American forces, commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson, defeated an invading British Army intent on seizing New Orleans and the vast territory the United States had acquired with the...
and then peace was signed before the engagement could take place. Napier wrote to Captain Gordon that he was glad they were at peace, but should that situation change 'I trust we shall have an opportunity of being better acquainted'.
During Napoleon's Hundred Days
Hundred Days
The Hundred Days, sometimes known as the Hundred Days of Napoleon or Napoleon's Hundred Days for specificity, marked the period between Emperor Napoleon I of France's return from exile on Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815...
Euryalus landed troops at the mouth of the River Scheldt
Scheldt
The Scheldt is a 350 km long river in northern France, western Belgium and the southwestern part of the Netherlands...
.
Post-war
Euryalus was paid off in June 1815. That same month Captain Thomas HuskissonThomas Huskisson
Thomas Huskisson was an officer in the Royal Navy. Thomas Huskisson was half-brother of William Huskisson, the British politician. Thomas joined the Royal Navy in 1800. He saw action at the Battle of Trafalgar on HMS Defence in 1805....
recommissioned her. On 7 July she captured the French vessels Aimable Antoinette and Marie. At the time, and were in sight and so entitled to share in the prize money.
From 25 August 1818 to end 1820, Euryalus was in the West Indies. She served as the flagship in the Leeward Islands from November 1819 to May 1820, and then at Jamaica from June to December.
In January 1821 Captain Isaac Chapman became acting captain. From about June 1821 to August she was under the command of Wilson Braddyll Bigland.
Captain Sir Augustus Clifford was appointed to Euryalus on 22 October 1821 and sailed her from St. Helen's with W.J. Hamilton, the British ambassador to the Neapolitan court. She would spend from 1822 to 1825 relatively uneventfully in the Mediterranean though in 1824 she participated in the blockade of Algiers. Then in late in 1824 or early in 1825, she rendered assistance to the American brig Charles and Ellen at the island of Milos
Milos
Milos , is a volcanic Greek island in the Aegean Sea, just north of the Sea of Crete...
. Euryalus stayed for a week, lending some 70 to 80 men to the brig to effect repairs, a kindness acknowledged her Captain, P.R.Bing and two Boston insurance companies by posting a notice in the National Intelligencer of 23 March 1825. Euryalus was paid-off in Deptford in 1825.
Fate
After her return to England Euryalus was converted to a prison hulkBritish prison hulks
Prison hulks were decommissioned ships that authorities used as floating prisons in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were especially popular in England. The term "prison hulk" is not synonymous with the related term, convict ship...
. From 1825 to at least 1843, she was a prison for boys, the youngest being nine years old.
In 1845 Euryalus became a coal hulk at Sheerness. In 1846-7 she was refitted as a convict ship and in that capacity she was moved to Gibraltar. In 1859 she was renamed Africa but was sold to a Mr. Recanno for breaking up in 1860.