HMS Persian was a built by Daniel List and launched at Cowes

Cowes

Cowes is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east Bank...

 in 1809. She captured two privateers before she wrecked in 1813.

Service

She was commissioned under Commander Samuel Colquitt and spent her first year cruising in Channel. On 26 December 1809 recaptured the Thames. The next year, on 24 March, she sailed for the West Indies. Then on 1 October, she was in company with , when Owen Glendower captured the Indomptable and recaptured the Roden.

Colquitt received promotion to post captain on 21 October, the fifth anniversary of 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 ....

. Her next captain was Commander Charles Bertram, who was appointed on 21 October.

On 5 April 1811, at 2pm, the signal station at Beachy Head

Beachy Head

Beachy Head is a chalk headland on the south coast of England, close to the town of Eastbourne in the county of East Sussex, immediately east of the Seven Sisters. The cliff there is the highest chalk sea cliff in Britain, rising to 162 m above sea level. The peak allows views of the south...

 signaled to Persian that a smuggling vessel was discharging her cargo nearby. Persian set out and after slmost eight hours she saw a lugger heading for France. Persian fired two or three broadsides as she chased the lugger and an hour later the lugger struck. She was the privateer Ambuscade under the command of Nicholas Augustine Briganda and had been out from Dieppe for some 40 hours. She was armed with 14 guns and carried a crew of 36, though she normally carried 63 men.

On 13 February 1812 Persian, in company with , recaptured the Arcadia.

On 3 March 1812 Persian recaptured the American brig Hannah. Hannah, of New York, had sailed from Savannah, with a cargo of timber when a French privateer captured her. After recapturing Hannah, Persian then set out to try to find the privateer, but without success.

On 27 March, Persian, based out of Jersey, sighted a lugger sailing west of her. Persian chased the lugger and fired several broadsides as she did so. After three hours the lugger struck and proved to be the French privateer Petit Jean. She had had to throw eight of her 16 guns overboard during a gale that also washed away eight of her crew of 56. She was under the command of François Clemence and had left her home port of Dieppe eight days before but had not captured any prizes.

On 4 October captured the Danish sloop Speculation and shared the prize money with Persian, , and by agreement. Then on 17 October Persian and Erebus were again in company with Podargus when Podargus captured the Danish vessels Anna Maria, Twende Brodre, and two market-boats. Next month, on 11 November Podargus captured Syerstadt, with Persian and Erebus in company.

On 16 December Persian captured the Danish galliot Ebenetzer, with in company. Erebus shared in the prize money by agreement with Persian.

Loss

On 3 April 1813, Persian sailed for the West Indies, still under Bertram's command. On 26 June she was wrecked on the Silver Cays (or Keys) Bank, just north of the island of Hispaniola

Hispaniola

Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...

, after having set out from Port-au-Prince

Port-au-Prince

Port-au-Prince is the capital and largest city of the Caribbean nation of Haiti. The city's population was 704,776 as of the 2003 census, and was officially estimated to have reached 897,859 in 2009....

 earlier that day. Bertram tried to lighten Persian by throwing some guns and stores overboard with the result that she floated off, only to hit another reef. Eventually, despite the crew's exertions, she broke her back and foundered. On 27 June the crew crowded into her four boats (a makeshift raft broke apart) and on 28 June they came ashore between Cabo Frances (Old Cape François

Cap-Haïtien

Cap-Haïtien is a city of about 190,000 people on the north coast of Haiti and capital of the Department of Nord...

) and Cabo Cabron in San Domingo. None of her crew of 126 men was lost. However, 11 seamen took advantage of the opportunity to desert the Navy.

The court martial, under Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland

Frederick Lewis Maitland (Rear Admiral)

Rear Admiral Sir Frederick Lewis Maitland, KCB was an officer in the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He rose to the rank of rear admiral and held a number of commands...

, convened in at the Saints

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...

 in October determined that the loss was the result of either a strong southerly current setting at a rate of 4 knots or that the Admiralty charts showed the shoals 20 miles too far to the south. The court praised the conduct of Bertram, his officers and his crew. Bertram received a promotion to post captain on 7 June 1814, but never served again.