HMS Fort Diamond was a six-gun sloop (or cutter), commissioned in 1804 in 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...

. Her origins are unknown. She captured one French privateer before she herself was lost to a French boarding party in June 1804.

Career

Fort Diamonds primary function was as a tender to the newly-established British position at Diamond Rock

Diamond Rock

Diamond Rock is a 175 meter high basalt island located south of Fort-de-France, the main port of the Caribbean island of Martinique. The uninhabited island is about three kilometers from Pointe Diamant. The island gets its name from the reflections that its sides cast at certain hours of the day,...

 (nominally commissioned as HMS Diamond Rock). She had a crew of 30 men, volunteers from the 36-gun Fifth Rate

Fifth-rate

In Britain's Royal Navy during the classic age of fighting sail, a fifth rate was the penultimate class of warships in a hierarchal system of six "ratings" based on size and firepower.-Rating:...

 Emerald, under the command of Emeralds first lieutenant

First Lieutenant

First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...

, Thomas Forest.

On the morning of 13 March 1804, Fort Diamond sailed around the Pearl Rock to attack a French privateer schooner. The schooner, unable to sail into the port of Saint-Pierre, Martinique

Saint-Pierre, Martinique

Saint-Pierre is a town and commune of France's Caribbean overseas department of Martinique, founded in 1635 by Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc. Before the total destruction of Saint-Pierre in 1902 by a volcanic eruption, it was the most important city of Martinique culturally and economically, being known...

, had anchored close to a shore battery at Ceron, outside the port.

Emerald created a diversion to distract the battery, sending her boats in another direction. While this was underway arrived and contributed two boats to the diversion.

Forest's tactic was simply to run Fort Diamond into the privateer at a rate of about nine knots an hour. As Fort Diamond bore down on them, the schooner's crew fired a broadside and discharged some small arms before all 50 or 60 crewmen jumped overboard and swam ashore. (The shore battery, not entirely distracted, also fired on Fort Diamond.) The impact of Fort Diamond hitting the privateer broke the chain that anchored the privateer to shore; the boarding party then cut two cables to free her. Fort Diamonds casualties amounted to two men wounded. The privateer turned out to be the Mosambique, armed with ten 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, though she was pierced for 14 cannon. She was from Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...

, provisioned for a three-month cruise and was under the command of Citizen Vallentes.

Captain James O'Bryan of Emerald reported that she "seems calculated for the King's
Service." 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...

 took her into service as , but sold her in 1810.

Fate

On the evening of 23 June 1804, whilst the Fort Diamond was on a provisioning expedition at Roseau Bay, St. Lucia, a French boarding party from a schooner

Schooner

A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....

 captured her. Most of her 18-man crew were below decks asleep as the boarding party approached in two rowboats. Fort Diamonds commander, Acting Lieutenant Benjamin Westcott, was on deck where he was fishing from her stern. He challenged the boats as they approached but did not alert the crew. When the boats let loose with small-arms fire he ran below to get a weapon as all the arms were stowed below, there being no chest on deck. He got a cutlass but immediately announced, "It's no use, it's too late." He and his crew then surrendered.

It is not clear how Wescott and his crew returned to British control. Still, the subsequent court-martial aboard at English Harbour

English Harbour

English Harbour is a settlement on the island of Antigua, in the extreme south of the island. It takes its name from the nearby harbour in which the Royal Navy established its base of operations for the area during the eighteenth century. Its population is 759 .English Harbour is a centre of...

, Antigua

Antigua

Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...

, on 4 October convicted Wescott of a violation of Article 10 of the Articles of War. He had neither prepared for an engagement nor encouraged his crew to resist. The Board ordered that he be "struck off the list and name to be put in the Black Book." That is, it dismissed him from the Navy and barred him from ever serving again. (Three years later he became an American citizen.)