HMS Hazard (1794)
Encyclopedia
HMS Hazard was an 16-gun Royal Navy
Cormorant class ship-sloop
built by Josiah & Thomas Brindley at Frindsbury
, Kent, and launched in 1794. She served in the French Revolutionary Wars
and throughout the Napoleonic Wars
. She captured numerous prizes, and participated in a notable ship action against Topaze
, as well as in several other actions and campaigns, three of which earned her crew clasps to the Naval General Service Medal. Hazard was sold in 1817.
, to a joint design by Sir John Henslow and William Rule. She was laid down in May 1793, launched there in March 1794, and then taken down the Medway
to Chatham Naval Dockyard, where she was masted and completed in June.
the following year and then to Commander Alexander Ruddach in 1796, who sailed her from Cork on the Irish station.
Under Ruddach she captured the French privateer Terrible on 16 July off Cape Clear Island. Hazard chased the brig for eight hours before he was able to capture her. Terrible carried 14 guns and a crew of 106 men. She was six days out of Brest
but had not taken any prizes.
Then on New Year's Day 1797 Hazard took the privateer Musette about 30 leagues
west of Cape Clear. Musette was armed with 22 guns and carried a crew of 150 men. She had taken two vessels, one of which was the Abbey, of Liverpool. She had been sailing from Lisbon to Liverpool when Musette captured her. However, Daphne had recaptured the Abbey and brought in.
Late in March, Vice-Admiral Lord Kingsmill
received intelligence that a French cruiser had been seen off the Skellocks
on the coast of Ireland. Kingsmill dispatched Hazard on 28 March, and on 1 April she found the French vessel. After a chase of seven hours, Hazard caught her quarry, but only because the Frenchman had lost both topmasts. The privateer was the brig Hardi, of 18 guns and 130 men. Hardi had been built at Cowes, about two years earlier, for the Spaniards. She had left Brest
on 17 March and during her cruise had escaped after two frigates had chased her. She had captured only one prize, a small Portuguese vessel of little value. On 8 June Hazard captured the Danish brig Barbara.
Commander William Butterfield took command in July 1798. On 7 August he captured the American snow
Two Brothers that a French privateer had taken three days earlier. The master of the snow gave Butterfield information that led Butterfield to try to find her. On 12 August he encountered a French privateer of 24 guns and gave chase. The chase lasted two days before the French vessel jettisoned her guns and escaped. As she escaped, Butterfield sighted another vessel that seemed suspicious and approached her.
The new quarry turned out to be the French warship Neptune with a crew of 53 and 270 soldiers on board, sailing from Île de France
to Bordeaux
. She was pierced for 20 guns but only carried 10. In the ensuing two-hour engagement, Neptune fought all ten guns on one side while the soldiers fired their muskets. She also attempted to board Hazard. Eventually Neptune surrendered after she had suffered 20 to 30 killed and wounded; Hazard had 6 men wounded.Roche (2005, p. 448) lists her as Trompeur as that was the name under which the French took her into their service in 1795 when they took her from the Spanish and before they renamed her Neptune in 1796. He describes her as a gunboat of 12 guns. During the fight Hazard saw a French privateer in the distance that declined to get involved. As she returned to port with Neptune, Hazard saw a French privateer with an English prize, the Britannia, in tow, and directed a British frigate to the scene.
In 1800 and 1801, Hazard was employed on the convoy route between Britain and Newfoundland
and subsequently between Britain and Belfast
. On 18 July 1801 a court martial on board Gladiator
tried Lieutenant John Alexander Douglas of Hazard for being absent without leave. The charges were proved and the board ordered him to be dismissed from the Navy.
Between June and August 1802 Hazard was fitted at Portsmouth. Commander Robert I. Neave (or Neve) commissioned her in June 1802, for the Channel.
On 25 August 1802 Constance and Hazard received orders to collect Dutch troops from Lymington and take them to Cuxhaven. They sailed two days later and passed through Spithead on their way to the Elbe, reaching there on 31 August. During the Peace of Amiens, Hazard convoyed Dutch soldiers from Britain back to the Continent.
, Hazard carried despatches for the Channel Fleet
and then operated as part of the blockade squadron off Northern Spain. While she was on the blockade a rumour circulated first that four ships of the line, and then that four French frigates, had captured Hazard and that the French had taken her into service. However, the rumors turned out to be mistaken. Hazard was with the fleet under Admiral the Honourable William Cornwallis
when Minotaur
captured the French frigate Franchise on 28 May 1803.
On 19 May Naiad
and Hazard captured the Danish ship Frauen Brigitta. Six days later, Victory and Hazard captured the Trois Consuls. Five days later, boats from Hazard, together with boats from Naiad, cut out a new brig from among the Penmark Rocks off Brest while under fire from French batteries. They also cut out and sank a chasse-maree
.
Hazard and Naiad captured the French galliot Baliena and the brig Jeanne. On 23 July Plantagenet
and Hazard captured the Courier de Terre Neuve.
Later, on 6 August, Hazard sent two prizes into Plymouth - a Danish brig from the West Indies and another brig that she recaptured after a privateer had captured her as she sailed from Livorno to London with a cargo of hemp, marble and oil. Hazard also kept with her as a tender a French privateer of 16 guns that she had taken.
Late in 1803, Hazard returned to Britain and operated along the Northern French coast, capturing small French commercial vessels off Quiberon
, Rochefort
and Bordeaux
.
On 22 December Hazard recaptured the Mary of Runcorn, of the Port of Liverpool.
In the spring of 1804 Hazard was stationed off St Ives, Cornwall
to intercept French privateers that would loiter there to prey on vessels seeking shelter in the bay. In the summer Hazards boats cut out a French coasting sloop off Quiberon and sent her into Plymouth on 6 August. She was the Colombe and carried a cargo of wheat for the victualing office at Lorient.
On 15 February 1805 Hazard captured the schooner Der Vriede. Naiad was in sight but did not take part.
Neve was promoted to Post-captain
in 1806 and command passed to Commander Charles Dilkes in February 1806. Hazard, with Growler, Conflict and Colpoys, captured nine chasse-marée
s on 27 June 1807 in the Pertuis Breton.The Pertuis Breton is the passage between the Île de Ré
and the coast of Brittany
. The captured vessels were: Deux Amis (armed with two 4-pounder guns), Trois Frere Horaces (armed with four swivels, Veronique (laden with wheat), Sans Pareil (laden with wheat), Marie Francoise (in ballast), Mairie Louise (in ballast), Bon Janton (in ballast), Pascal (in ballast), and Gaulle (in ballast). Their crews escaped on shore with all their papers. The crew of a tenth chasse maree scuttled their vessel to prevent the British from capturing her. The British drove six on to the shore, one of which was armed wit six guns. In addition, between 1 April and 10 June the small squadron captured and destroyed two sloops, Rosalie and Jeune Marie, and five chasse marees: Petit Marie, Patriot, Marianne, Belle Louise Josephine, and Marie Françoise. Colpoys escorted the prizes back to Plymouth. Lastly, French shore batteries sank one chasse maree, of unknown name, after the British had captured it.
On 2 October 1807 Hazards first lieutenant
, William Berry, 22 years old, went before a court martial on charges that he had committed a homosexual offense with Thomas Gibbs, who was a boy serving on Hazard. The board found Berry guilty. Seventeen days later Berry was hanged from Hazards starboard foreyard-arm. Unfortunately the hanging was botched in that the knot twisted under his chin. Berry had a 32-pound shot tied to his legs but still it took 15 minutes for him to strangle to death. On 16 November Hazard sailed for the West Indies.
In early 1809, Hazard was sent to the West Indies to operate as part of the squadron under Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane
and command passed to Commander Hugh Cameron, late of Achates, while Dilkes removed to the flagship, Neptune
.
On 22 January, Hazard spotted the French 40-gun frigate Topaze
off Guadeloupe
. Hazard was initially unable to catch up with Topaze but eventually took part in the Action of 22 January 1809
at which Cleopatra
, with the assistance of several other vessels, captured the French ship. The British took Topaze into the navy as Jewel.
Hazard subsequently participated in the Invasion of Martinique
. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded all surviving claimants from the campaign the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Martinique".
Then Hazard was part of the force that patrolled off the Îles des Saintes
where a French force of three ships of the line and two frigates was waiting for an opportunity to move across to Guadeloupe. This led to the Action of 14 April 1809.
On 14 April British troops from Martinique under Major General Maitland landed in the Saintes and the French squadron made preparations to sail during the night. James Robertson, first lieutenant
of Hazard, took a rowboat into the harbour during the night and attached a grappling hook to the stern of one of the French vessels. When the vessel started to sail, Robertson used lights and blue rockets to signal the French squadron's departure. The British took up the chase. This led to the action of 14-17 April that resulted in the defeat of the French squadron. During the engagement, harried Hautpoult until Pompee
and could capture her. However, because Hazard had joined the pursuit, it was 53 days before Robertson and his crew could rejoin their vessel, and change their clothes.
On 16 October Hazard and were in company when they came upon a French privateer schooner moored under the guns of the battery of St. Marie on the east coast of the southern part of Guadeloupe. Hazard and Pelorus attempted to send in a cutting out party during the night, but the boats could not find a channel. The British went in again in the daylight despite fire from the battery and the schooner's long 18-pounder pivot-gun and two swivels
. Fire from Hazard and Pelorus silenced the batteries but as the British came alongside the French crew, an estimated 80-100 men, fled ashore. There two field guns joined them in firing on the cutting-out party. Because the schooner was aground and chained to the shore the boarding party could not bring it out; instead, they set fire to it. However, a premature explosion injured some of them. In all, Hazard lost three men killed and four wounded; Pelorus lost three killed and five wounded.
On 17 December Hazard was part of a squadron that engaged a French reinforcement convoy at Basseterre
. The French failed to reach Guadeloupe and the next day and entered Anse de la Barque and attacked both the 20-gun Seine (1808) and the 20-gun Loire (1809). After putting up a strong defense, the French crews set fire to their vessels to keep them out of British hands. Cameron led the landing party that stormed the batteries but was killed on the beach immediately thereafter. Robertson was appointed commander pro tem of Hazard until a successor to Cameron could arrive from Halifax. Unfortunately for Robertson, Commander William Elliott of the brig requested command of Hazard, which her received effective 25 December 1809. The 1847 the action earned the British participants the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Anse la Barque 18 Decr. 1809".
In early 1810, Hazard took part in the Invasion of Guadeloupe
. During the invasion, Hazard led the fleet into Anse de Barque, arriving well before the other vessels. There she saw a French schooner anchored under the batteries and on fire. Robertson and a boarding party of marines boarded the burning schooner Mouche despite fire from the shore batteries that were trying either to sink them or the schooner. By the time the Robertson was able to board her part of her deck had burnt away; while the boarding party was cutting away her masts the intense heat discharged all her guns. Still the boarding party was able to bring her out and to seize the French "general marine signal book", the signals of France's allies and other important documents that she had just brought out with her from France. Hazard was then sent back to Britain with dispatches and Elliott was promoted. Command passed to Commander John Cookesley in December 1810. This campaign also earned Hazards crew the clasp "Guadaloupe" to the Naval General Service Medal.
.
In 1816, Hazard sailed to Newfoundland, but returned the following year.
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...
Cormorant class ship-sloop
Cormorant class ship-sloop
The Cormorant class were built as a 16-gun class of ship-sloops for the Royal Navy, although an extra 2 guns were added soon after completion.-Design:...
built by Josiah & Thomas Brindley at Frindsbury
Frindsbury
Frindsbury is part of the Medway Towns conurbation in Kent, southern England. It lies on the opposite side of the River Medway to Rochester, and at various times in its history has been considered fully or partially part of the City of Rochester. Frindsbury refers to both a parish and a manor....
, Kent, and launched in 1794. She served in the French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
and throughout 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 captured numerous prizes, and participated in a notable ship action against Topaze
French frigate Topaze (1805)
The Topaze was a 44-gun frigate of the French Navy. The British captured her in 1809 and she the served with the Royal Navy under the name Alcmene until she was broken up in 1816.-French service:...
, as well as in several other actions and campaigns, three of which earned her crew clasps to the Naval General Service Medal. Hazard was sold in 1817.
Construction
The Hazard was one of the initial batch of six ship-rigged ship sloops that the Admiralty ordered in February 1793, shortly after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary WarsFrench Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
, to a joint design by Sir John Henslow and William Rule. She was laid down in May 1793, launched there in March 1794, and then taken down the Medway
Medway
Medway is a conurbation and unitary authority in South East England. The Unitary Authority was formed in 1998 when the City of Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with Gillingham Borough Council and part of Kent County Council to form Medway Council, a unitary authority independent of Kent County...
to Chatham Naval Dockyard, where she was masted and completed in June.
French Revolutionary Wars
She entered service in 1794 under Commander John Loring. Command passed rapidly, first to Commander Robert Dudley OliverRobert Dudley Oliver
Admiral Robert Dudley Oliver was a senior officer of the British Royal Navy during the early nineteenth century, who served in the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars with distinction, seeing action several times during his career, particularly with...
the following year and then to Commander Alexander Ruddach in 1796, who sailed her from Cork on the Irish station.
Under Ruddach she captured the French privateer Terrible on 16 July off Cape Clear Island. Hazard chased the brig for eight hours before he was able to capture her. Terrible carried 14 guns and a crew of 106 men. She was six days out of Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
but had not taken any prizes.
Then on New Year's Day 1797 Hazard took the privateer Musette about 30 leagues
League (unit)
A league is a unit of length . It was long common in Europe and Latin America, but it is no longer an official unit in any nation. The league originally referred to the distance a person or a horse could walk in an hour...
west of Cape Clear. Musette was armed with 22 guns and carried a crew of 150 men. She had taken two vessels, one of which was the Abbey, of Liverpool. She had been sailing from Lisbon to Liverpool when Musette captured her. However, Daphne had recaptured the Abbey and brought in.
Late in March, Vice-Admiral Lord Kingsmill
Sir Robert Kingsmill, 1st Baronet
Sir Robert Brice Kingsmill, 1st Baronet was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in a career that spanned nearly 60 years...
received intelligence that a French cruiser had been seen off the Skellocks
Skellig Islands
The Skellig Islands , once known as the Skellocks, are two small, steep, and rocky islands lying about 13 km west of Bolus Head on the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland...
on the coast of Ireland. Kingsmill dispatched Hazard on 28 March, and on 1 April she found the French vessel. After a chase of seven hours, Hazard caught her quarry, but only because the Frenchman had lost both topmasts. The privateer was the brig Hardi, of 18 guns and 130 men. Hardi had been built at Cowes, about two years earlier, for the Spaniards. She had left Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
on 17 March and during her cruise had escaped after two frigates had chased her. She had captured only one prize, a small Portuguese vessel of little value. On 8 June Hazard captured the Danish brig Barbara.
Commander William Butterfield took command in July 1798. On 7 August he captured the American snow
Snow (ship)
A snow or snaw is a sailing vessel. A type of brig , snows were primarily used as merchant ships, but saw war service as well...
Two Brothers that a French privateer had taken three days earlier. The master of the snow gave Butterfield information that led Butterfield to try to find her. On 12 August he encountered a French privateer of 24 guns and gave chase. The chase lasted two days before the French vessel jettisoned her guns and escaped. As she escaped, Butterfield sighted another vessel that seemed suspicious and approached her.
The new quarry turned out to be the French warship Neptune with a crew of 53 and 270 soldiers on board, sailing from Île de France
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
to Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
. She was pierced for 20 guns but only carried 10. In the ensuing two-hour engagement, Neptune fought all ten guns on one side while the soldiers fired their muskets. She also attempted to board Hazard. Eventually Neptune surrendered after she had suffered 20 to 30 killed and wounded; Hazard had 6 men wounded.Roche (2005, p. 448) lists her as Trompeur as that was the name under which the French took her into their service in 1795 when they took her from the Spanish and before they renamed her Neptune in 1796. He describes her as a gunboat of 12 guns. During the fight Hazard saw a French privateer in the distance that declined to get involved. As she returned to port with Neptune, Hazard saw a French privateer with an English prize, the Britannia, in tow, and directed a British frigate to the scene.
In 1800 and 1801, Hazard was employed on the convoy route between Britain and Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
and subsequently between Britain and Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
. On 18 July 1801 a court martial on board Gladiator
HMS Gladiator (1783)
HMS Gladiator was a 44-gun fifth-rate Roebuck-class ship of the Royal Navy. She was launched on 20 January 1783 by Henry Adams of Bucklers Hard. She spent her entire career on harbour service, never putting to sea. Even so, her crew earned prize money for the seizure of two Russian and five...
tried Lieutenant John Alexander Douglas of Hazard for being absent without leave. The charges were proved and the board ordered him to be dismissed from the Navy.
Between June and August 1802 Hazard was fitted at Portsmouth. Commander Robert I. Neave (or Neve) commissioned her in June 1802, for the Channel.
On 25 August 1802 Constance and Hazard received orders to collect Dutch troops from Lymington and take them to Cuxhaven. They sailed two days later and passed through Spithead on their way to the Elbe, reaching there on 31 August. During the Peace of Amiens, Hazard convoyed Dutch soldiers from Britain back to the Continent.
Napoleonic Wars
In 1803, at the outbreak of the Napoleonic WarsNapoleonic 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...
, Hazard carried despatches for the Channel Fleet
Channel Fleet
The Channel Fleet was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1690 to 1909.-History:The Channel Fleet dates back at least to 1690 when its role was to defend England against the French threat under the leadership of Edward Russell, 1st Earl of...
and then operated as part of the blockade squadron off Northern Spain. While she was on the blockade a rumour circulated first that four ships of the line, and then that four French frigates, had captured Hazard and that the French had taken her into service. However, the rumors turned out to be mistaken. Hazard was with the fleet under Admiral the Honourable William Cornwallis
William Cornwallis
Admiral the Honourable Sir William Cornwallis GCB was a Royal Navy officer who fought in the Napoleonic Wars. He was the brother of Charles Cornwallis, the 1st Marquess Cornwallis, governor-general of India...
when Minotaur
HMS Minotaur (1793)
HMS Minotaur was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 6 November 1793 at Woolwich. She was named after the mythological bull-headed monster of Crete.-Career:...
captured the French frigate Franchise on 28 May 1803.
On 19 May Naiad
HMS Naiad (1797)
HMS Naiad was a Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate that served in the Napoleonic Wars. She was built by Hall and Co. at Limehouse on the Thames, launched in 1797 and commissioned in 1798. She served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and her last actions occurred in 1824-5. She was paid...
and Hazard captured the Danish ship Frauen Brigitta. Six days later, Victory and Hazard captured the Trois Consuls. Five days later, boats from Hazard, together with boats from Naiad, cut out a new brig from among the Penmark Rocks off Brest while under fire from French batteries. They also cut out and sank a chasse-maree
Chasse-marée
In English, a chasse-marée is a specific, archaic type of decked commercial sailing vessel.In French, un chasse-marée was 'a wholesale fishmonger', originally on the Channel coast of France and later, on the Atlantic coast as well. He bought in the coastal ports and sold in inland markets. However,...
.
Hazard and Naiad captured the French galliot Baliena and the brig Jeanne. On 23 July Plantagenet
HMS Plantagenet (1801)
HMS Plantagenet was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 22 October 1801 at Woolwich. She was designed by Sir William Rule as one of the 'large class' 74s, and was the only ship built to her draught...
and Hazard captured the Courier de Terre Neuve.
Later, on 6 August, Hazard sent two prizes into Plymouth - a Danish brig from the West Indies and another brig that she recaptured after a privateer had captured her as she sailed from Livorno to London with a cargo of hemp, marble and oil. Hazard also kept with her as a tender a French privateer of 16 guns that she had taken.
Late in 1803, Hazard returned to Britain and operated along the Northern French coast, capturing small French commercial vessels off Quiberon
Quiberon
Quiberon is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France.It is situated on the southern part of the Quiberon peninsula, the northern part being the commune of Saint-Pierre-Quiberon...
, Rochefort
Rochefort, Charente-Maritime
Rochefort is a commune in southwestern France, a port on the Charente estuary. It is a sub-prefecture of the Charente-Maritime department.-History:...
and Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
.
On 22 December Hazard recaptured the Mary of Runcorn, of the Port of Liverpool.
In the spring of 1804 Hazard was stationed off St Ives, Cornwall
St Ives, Cornwall
St Ives is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times it was commercially dependent on fishing. The decline in fishing, however, caused a shift in commercial...
to intercept French privateers that would loiter there to prey on vessels seeking shelter in the bay. In the summer Hazards boats cut out a French coasting sloop off Quiberon and sent her into Plymouth on 6 August. She was the Colombe and carried a cargo of wheat for the victualing office at Lorient.
On 15 February 1805 Hazard captured the schooner Der Vriede. Naiad was in sight but did not take part.
Neve was promoted 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:...
in 1806 and command passed to Commander Charles Dilkes in February 1806. Hazard, with Growler, Conflict and Colpoys, captured nine chasse-marée
Chasse-marée
In English, a chasse-marée is a specific, archaic type of decked commercial sailing vessel.In French, un chasse-marée was 'a wholesale fishmonger', originally on the Channel coast of France and later, on the Atlantic coast as well. He bought in the coastal ports and sold in inland markets. However,...
s on 27 June 1807 in the Pertuis Breton.The Pertuis Breton is the passage between the Île de Ré
Île de Ré
Île de Ré is an island off the west coast of France near La Rochelle, on the northern side of the Pertuis d'Antioche strait....
and the coast of Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
. The captured vessels were: Deux Amis (armed with two 4-pounder guns), Trois Frere Horaces (armed with four swivels, Veronique (laden with wheat), Sans Pareil (laden with wheat), Marie Francoise (in ballast), Mairie Louise (in ballast), Bon Janton (in ballast), Pascal (in ballast), and Gaulle (in ballast). Their crews escaped on shore with all their papers. The crew of a tenth chasse maree scuttled their vessel to prevent the British from capturing her. The British drove six on to the shore, one of which was armed wit six guns. In addition, between 1 April and 10 June the small squadron captured and destroyed two sloops, Rosalie and Jeune Marie, and five chasse marees: Petit Marie, Patriot, Marianne, Belle Louise Josephine, and Marie Françoise. Colpoys escorted the prizes back to Plymouth. Lastly, French shore batteries sank one chasse maree, of unknown name, after the British had captured it.
On 2 October 1807 Hazards 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...
, William Berry, 22 years old, went before a court martial on charges that he had committed a homosexual offense with Thomas Gibbs, who was a boy serving on Hazard. The board found Berry guilty. Seventeen days later Berry was hanged from Hazards starboard foreyard-arm. Unfortunately the hanging was botched in that the knot twisted under his chin. Berry had a 32-pound shot tied to his legs but still it took 15 minutes for him to strangle to death. On 16 November Hazard sailed for the West Indies.
In early 1809, Hazard was sent to the West Indies to operate as part of the squadron under Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane
Alexander Cochrane
Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane GCB RN was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars.-Naval career:...
and command passed to Commander Hugh Cameron, late of Achates, while Dilkes removed to the flagship, Neptune
HMS Neptune (1797)
HMS Neptune was a 98-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She served on a number of stations during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and was present at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805....
.
On 22 January, Hazard spotted the French 40-gun frigate Topaze
French frigate Topaze (1805)
The Topaze was a 44-gun frigate of the French Navy. The British captured her in 1809 and she the served with the Royal Navy under the name Alcmene until she was broken up in 1816.-French service:...
off 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...
. Hazard was initially unable to catch up with Topaze but eventually took part in the Action of 22 January 1809
Action of 22 January 1809
The Action of 22 January 1809 was a minor naval engagement fought off the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe during the Napoleonic Wars. The action was fought as part of the blockade of Guadeloupe and neighbouring Martinique by a large British Royal Navy squadron, which was seeking to cut the islands...
at which Cleopatra
HMS Cleopatra (1779)
HMS Cleopatra was a 32-gun Amazon-class fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had a long career, seeing service during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. During the latter wars she fought two notable engagements with larger French opponents...
, with the assistance of several other vessels, captured the French ship. The British took Topaze into the navy as Jewel.
Hazard subsequently participated in the Invasion of Martinique
Invasion of Martinique (1809)
The invasion of Martinique of 1809 was a successful British amphibious operation against the French West Indian island of Martinique that took place between 30 January and 24 February 1809 during the Napoleonic Wars...
. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded all surviving claimants from the campaign the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Martinique".
Then Hazard was part of the force that patrolled off the Îles des Saintes
Îles des Saintes
The Îles des Saintes , also called simply Les Saintes , is a small archipelago of French Antilles located in the South of Basse-Terre Island, on the West of Marie-Galante and in the North of Dominica in the arc of Lesser Antilles...
where a French force of three ships of the line and two frigates was waiting for an opportunity to move across to Guadeloupe. This led to the Action of 14 April 1809.
On 14 April British troops from Martinique under Major General Maitland landed in the Saintes and the French squadron made preparations to sail during the night. James Robertson, 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...
of Hazard, took a rowboat into the harbour during the night and attached a grappling hook to the stern of one of the French vessels. When the vessel started to sail, Robertson used lights and blue rockets to signal the French squadron's departure. The British took up the chase. This led to the action of 14-17 April that resulted in the defeat of the French squadron. During the engagement, harried Hautpoult until Pompee
French ship Pompée (1793)
Pompée was a Téméraire-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy.During the Siege of Toulon, Captain Poulain, her commanding officer, joined the British. She fled Toulon when the city fell to the French Republicans and sailed to Britain....
and could capture her. However, because Hazard had joined the pursuit, it was 53 days before Robertson and his crew could rejoin their vessel, and change their clothes.
On 16 October Hazard and were in company when they came upon a French privateer schooner moored under the guns of the battery of St. Marie on the east coast of the southern part of Guadeloupe. Hazard and Pelorus attempted to send in a cutting out party during the night, but the boats could not find a channel. The British went in again in the daylight despite fire from the battery and the schooner's long 18-pounder pivot-gun and two swivels
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...
. Fire from Hazard and Pelorus silenced the batteries but as the British came alongside the French crew, an estimated 80-100 men, fled ashore. There two field guns joined them in firing on the cutting-out party. Because the schooner was aground and chained to the shore the boarding party could not bring it out; instead, they set fire to it. However, a premature explosion injured some of them. In all, Hazard lost three men killed and four wounded; Pelorus lost three killed and five wounded.
On 17 December Hazard was part of a squadron that engaged a French reinforcement convoy at Basseterre
Basseterre
Basseterre , estimated population 15,500 in 2000, is the capital of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis in the West Indies. Geographically, the Basseterre port is located at , on the south western coast of Saint Kitts Island, and it is one of the chief commercial depots of the Leeward Islands...
. The French failed to reach Guadeloupe and the next day and entered Anse de la Barque and attacked both the 20-gun Seine (1808) and the 20-gun Loire (1809). After putting up a strong defense, the French crews set fire to their vessels to keep them out of British hands. Cameron led the landing party that stormed the batteries but was killed on the beach immediately thereafter. Robertson was appointed commander pro tem of Hazard until a successor to Cameron could arrive from Halifax. Unfortunately for Robertson, Commander William Elliott of the brig requested command of Hazard, which her received effective 25 December 1809. The 1847 the action earned the British participants the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Anse la Barque 18 Decr. 1809".
In early 1810, Hazard took part in the Invasion of Guadeloupe
Invasion of Guadeloupe (1810)
The Invasion of Guadeloupe was a British amphibious operation fought between 28 January and 6 February 1810 over control of the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe during the Napoleonic Wars. The island was the final remaining French colony in the Americas, following the systematic invasion and capture...
. During the invasion, Hazard led the fleet into Anse de Barque, arriving well before the other vessels. There she saw a French schooner anchored under the batteries and on fire. Robertson and a boarding party of marines boarded the burning schooner Mouche despite fire from the shore batteries that were trying either to sink them or the schooner. By the time the Robertson was able to board her part of her deck had burnt away; while the boarding party was cutting away her masts the intense heat discharged all her guns. Still the boarding party was able to bring her out and to seize the French "general marine signal book", the signals of France's allies and other important documents that she had just brought out with her from France. Hazard was then sent back to Britain with dispatches and Elliott was promoted. Command passed to Commander John Cookesley in December 1810. This campaign also earned Hazards crew the clasp "Guadaloupe" to the Naval General Service Medal.
War of 1812
Cookesley took the ship to Halifax and the West Indies during 1812 where reportedly she took a number of American vessels as prizes. These included the Elizabeth and the Nancy on 15 July, the Orient on 19 July 1812. On 7 September 1812 Hazard captured the American ship Enterprize. Prize money was paid in June 1815. At the end of the wars in 1815 Cookesley brought her back to SpitheadSpithead
Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds, except those from the southeast...
.
In 1816, Hazard sailed to Newfoundland, but returned the following year.