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HMS Phoenix (1783)
Encyclopedia
HMS Phoenix was a 36-gun Perseverance-class fifth-rate
frigate of the Royal Navy
. The shipbuilder George Parsons built her at Bursledon
and launched her on 15 July 1783. She served in the French Revolutionary
and Napoleonic Wars
and was instrumental in the events leading up to the battle of Trafalgar
. Phoenix was involved in several single-ship actions, the most notable occurring on 10 August 1805 when she captured the French frigate Didon, which was more heavily armed than her. She was wrecked, without loss of life, off Smyrna
in 1816.
, Phoenix, Captain Sir Richard Strachan
, and , Captain Isaac Smith, were off Tellicherry
, a fort and anchorage situated a few leagues to the south of Mangalore
. Cornwallis ordered Phoenixto stop and search the French frigate Résolue
, which was escorting a number of merchant ships that the British believed were carrying military supplies to support Tippu Sultan. The Résolue resisted Phoenix and a brief fight ensued
before Résolue struck her colours. Résolue had 25 men killed and 40 wounded; Phoenix had six men killed and 11 wounded. There was no contraband on the French vessels. The French captain insisted on considering his ship as a British prize, so Cornwallis ordered Strachan to tow her into Mahé and return her to the French commodore. Phoenix came home in August 1793.
, at first attached to the fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan, operating in the North Sea. On 12 May 1796 at daybreak the 28-gun and the brig-sloop brought Duncan the news that a Dutch squadron consisting of the 36-gun frigate Argo and three brig
s had departed Flickeroe
, Norway, bound for the Texel
.
Duncan took his fleet to intercept them, sending a squadron the included Phoenix, the 50-gun , Pegasus, Sylph and under the overall command of Halsted, northward of the Texel. The British intercepted the Dutch at 5am in the morning of 12 May. Phoenix and Leopard chased Argo, while Pegasus and Sylph made after the brigs. Leopard eventually fell some way behind, and consequently it was Phoenix alone that brought Argo to action at 8am.
After twenty minutes of fighting Halsted forced Argo to strike her colours. Phoenix carried eight 32-pounder carronade
s in lieu of her lighter guns in the upper works as well as her main battery of twenty-six 18-pounders, and a crew of 271 men and boys. The only damage she sustained was in her rigging and sails, and her only loss was one man killed and three wounded. Argo was armed with 26 long 12-pounders, six long 6-pounders, and four brass 24-pounder carronades, with a crew of 237 men and boys, and thus was substantially out-gunned. She lost six men killed and 28 wounded. The third rate then came up to assist Phoenix in dealing with the prisoners.
Phoenix also captured a cutter, which turned out to be the packet ship
Duke of York, which Argo had captured the day before. Duke of York had been sailing from Yarmouth to Hamburg.
Meanwhile Pegasus and Sylph forced two of the brigs aground at Bosch, about 10 leagues
east of the Texel
; these were the Echo, of 18 guns and the De Grier of 14 guns. One floated off but then grounded and was last seen sending out distress signals.
Pegasus and Sylph then captured the third brig, the 16-gun Mercury. The Royal Navy took both Argo and Mercury into service, Argo became while Mercury became .
After this success Halsted was assigned to operate off the Irish coast. On 12 February 1797 Phoenix was in company with , , and at the capture of tbe French privateer Difficile. The British also captured the Jeune Emilie and the Recovery.
On 18 May 1797 Phoenix captured the French privateer lugger
Espiègle off Waterford
. Espiègle was armed with four guns and had a crew of 38 men. she had captured a brig that Phoenix had recaptured and that had put her on the trail of the lugger.
On 24 April 1798 Phoenix captured the French privateer Brave. She was pierced for 22 guns and was carrying eighteen, mixed 12 and 18-pounders. Brave resisted capture, suffering several men killed and 14 wounded, before she surrendered. Phoenix had no casualties and suffered trifling damage to her sails and rigging. Brave had a crew of 160 men, and there were also some 50 English prisoners on board, none of whom were injured. Halsted described Brave as being "a very fine ship, of 600 Tons, is coppered, and sails exceedingly fast." The Navy took Brave into service as . The next day, Phoenix recaptured the Thetis, an American ship that had been sailing from Charlestown to London when Brave had captured her.
Then one month later, on 31 May, Phoenix captured the French privateer Caroline and heer prize, the brig Henry. Halsted had been searching for Caroline after being alerted to her presence by the transport Success two days earlier. Caroline was only eight months old and a fast sailer, ten days out of Nantes. She was pierced for 20 guns, 16 and 6-pounders, but had thrown most overboard while trying to escape. She had a crew of 105 men. She had only captured the Henry and a small Danish ship. Henry had been sailing to Jamaica when Caroline captured her on 3 May, on which day Phoenix had also sent in an American ship, the Emily Grant that she had encountered a few days earlier.
On 23 Jan 1799 Phoenix captured the 20-gun French privateer Foudroyant on the Irish station after a pursuit of some 12 hours that covered over 120 miles. She was pierced for 24 guns, but mounted 20 brass 12-pounder and iron 6-pounder guns, of which she jettison
ed eight during the chase. She had been launched at Bordeaux about three months earlier and had sailed on this cruise about nine weeks earlier. During the cruise she had captured two English and one American vessel. The British vessels were the brig Malbridge, sailing from Martinique to London, and the brig Duncan, sailing from Halifax to London. The American vessel was the ship Argo, sailing from Sweden to Charlestown.
On 5 April Phoenix captured the French privateer Coureur.
On 3 June Phoenix and captured the 14-gun brig Albanaise
. She was sailing from Toulon with provisions for Genoa when she encountered the Port Mahon, which initiated the chase about 35 miles west of Corsica. The chase lasted until early evening when Phoenix came up as Albanaise was just six miles out of Porto Ferraio on Elba. Lieutenant Etiénne Rolland fired two broadsides and then struck. (A subsequent court martial exonerated Rolland of the loss of his vessel.) The British took her into service as HMS Albanaise.
On 17 June boats from Phoenix took the French naval vessel Revanche near Hieres Island
in the Mediterranean. She was armed with four carriage guns and four swivel guns
had a crew of 27 men. She was partly laden with brandy, wine, cheese and pork, two days from Toulon on her way to Malta with dispatches, which she threw overboard prior to her capture. In capturing Revanche Phoenix lost one man. Furthermore, Revanche capsized the next day, though no lives were lost.
On 16 September Phoenix captured the Spanish schooner Felix. She was armed with four guns and was carrying merchandise from Corunna
to Veracruz
.
On 14 February 1801, Phoenix captured the Danish ship Minerva. She was sailing from Ivica to Holmitand with a cargo of salt.
Later in 1801 Phoenix was involved in supporting operations for the British expedition to Egypt. Around 2 May she left her station off Porto-Ferrajo, which gave the French the opportunity to establish a blockade that lasted until 1 August when Sir John Borlase Warren
with his squadron arrived to lift it.
On 3 Aug 1801 the frigates Phoenix, , and captured the Venetian-built but French 44-gun frigate Carrère and her crew of 356 men at the mouth of Elbe
after a short fight. She was escorting a small convoy from Porto Ercole to Porto Longone. Pomone was the actual captor and lost two men dead, two more died of wounds shortly thereafter, and two more lightly wounded. Phoenix could not get close enough to do more than fire a few random shots and Pearl positioned herself between Carrerre and the port to cut her off if necessary.
The Royal Navy
took under her own name but rated as an 18-pounder frigate of 36 guns. Frederick Lewis Maitland
was her first captain.
Almost a month later, on 2 September, Phoenix, Pomone, and Minerve
re-captured the frigate , a former British 32-gun fifth-rate
frigate under the command of Monsieur
Britel. (The French had captured Success in February, off Toulon
.) They also ran onshore the 46-gun French frigate Bravoure, under the command of Monsieur Dordelin, but were unwilling to set her on fire because not all her crew had gotten off
Thomas Baker
took command of Phoenix on 28 April 1803. He was assigned to the Channel Fleet
under Admiral William Cornwallis
, and on 10 August 1805 he came across the 40-gun French frigate off Cape Finisterre
.
Prior to the sighting the Phoenix had intercepted an American merchant, enroute from Bordeaux
to the United States. The American master had been invited onto the Phoenix, sold the British some of his cargo of wine, and had toured the Phoenix before being allowed to continue on his way. The Phoenix had at this time been altered to resemble from a distance a large sloop-of-war
. The Didon, which was carrying despatches instructing Rear-Admiral Allemand's five ships of the line to unite with the combined Franco-Spanish fleet under Vice-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve
, intercepted the American merchant and from him received news that a 20-gun British ship was at sea and might be foolish enough to attack the Didon.
The Didons commander, Captain Milius, decided to await the arrival of the British ship, and take her as a prize. The Phoenix was therefore able to approach and engage the Didon before the French realised that she was a larger frigate than they had anticipated. After a sharp action lasting several hours, with Baker on one occasion having his hat shot off his head, the French surrendered. The Phoenix had 12 killed and 28 wounded; the French sustained losses of 27 killed and 44 wounded.
By intercepting the ship carrying the despatches for Allemand, Baker had unwittingly played a role in bringing about the battle of Trafalgar
, but he was to play an even greater role a few days later, possibly even staving off an invasion of England. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General service Medal with clasp "Phoenix 10 Augt. 1805" to all surviving claimants from the action.
While sailing to Gibraltar with his prize in tow, Baker fell in with the 74-gun on 14 August. The following day the combined fleet under Villeneuve, heading for Brest
and then on to Boulogne to escort the French invasion forces across the Channel sighted the three British ships. Villeneuve mistook the British ships for scouts from the Channel Fleet and fled south to avoid an action. A furious Napoleon
raged 'What a Navy! What an admiral! All those sacrifices for nought!' Villeneuve's failure to press north was a decisive point of the Trafalgar Campaign
as far as the invasion of England went, for abandoning all hope of fulfilling his plans to secure control of the Channel Napoleon gathered the Armée d'Angleterre, now renamed the Grande Armée, and headed east to attack the Austrians in the Ulm Campaign
. The British ships altered their course and made for Plymouth
, where they arrived on 3 September, having prevented an attempt by their French prisoners to capture the Phoenix and retake the Didon.
when meeting some merchantmen he received intelligence that they had seen a small squadron of presumably French ships of the line in the Bay of Biscay
. The British were looking for the celebrated Rochefort
squadron of five sail of the line, three frigates, and two brigs, under Rear-admiral Zacharie Allemand
, which was loose somewhere in the Atlantic (the Allemand's expedition of 1805
). Baker decide to investigate.
On 2 November 1805, Phoenix, discovered the Rochefort squadron under Rear Admiral Dumanoir
, consisting of four French ships of the line that had escaped Trafalgar. Phoenix sailed in search of Sir Robert Strachan
's squadron to report the find, who, as it happened, was fairly close by. During the ensuing Battle of Cape Ortegal
, Phoenix and the other British frigates harassed the French rear. While doing so, she helped to capture the French ship Scipion, which was then commissioned into the Royal Navy. During the action Phoenix lost two men killed and four wounded. Serving aboard Phoenix at this time, as First lieutenant
was Samuel Brown, later to become a distinguished engineer and reach the rank of captain.
In December 1805, Captain Zachary Mudge took command of Phoenix. On 17 Jan 1808 off Rochefort, she observed a French squadron, under Admiral Ganteaume
putting to sea. Phoenix despatched the 18-gun brig-sloop to England with the information and sailed in search of the watching squadron under Strachan, which bad weather had driven out to sea. Not finding Strachan, Phoenix too sailed for England, having informed the gun-brig of the news. Attack found Strachan on 23 January, but bad weather and other difficulties delayed Strachan and he was unable to intercept the French before they reached Toulon
.
In March 1809 Phoenix received some 32-pounder carronades.
On 28 Jan 1810 Phoenix, with the ship-sloop , chased the 14-gun French privateer Charles, but lost her in thick fog. The next day Phoenix discovered Charles anchored close under the French coast. A cutting out expedition then went in in boats. The Charles resisted, killing one seaman on Phoenix and wounding another. Still, the boats succeeded in taking the Charles, where they found two English masters and 13 seamen who had been taken out of vessels a few days previously.
From 14 September 1814, her last captain was Charles Austen
, brother of the novelist Jane Austen
. In 1815, following Napoleon's escape from Elba, the Admiralty sent Phoenix, and to the Adriatic to co-operate with the Austrians and to prevent the escape of some Neapolitan warships. Phoenix and Garland watched two large frigates at Brindisi, while Undaunted searched the coast to the northward. After the surrender of Naples, following the military convention of Casalanza
, Austen persuaded the captains of the two Neapolitan frigates to switch their allegiance to the restored monarch, Ferdinand IV of Naples.
Phoenix, , Garland and next proceeded to the Greek Archipelago
in search of a French squadron comprising the frigate Junon
, the 32-gun corvette Victorieuse, two brigs and two large schooners, which had being preying on trade in the area. Unfortunately Austen discovered that the enemy was no longer in the islands; shortly afterwards peace was restored.
(Izmir
) on 20 February 1816, due to the ignorance of her pilots
when a sudden change of wind threw her on the shore. Fortunately, all aboard her survived; the vessel was so close to the shore that her fallen top-gallant mast reached from the wreck to the shore. Also, helped save her crew.
Austen was able to procure a storehouse for the crew where they were provided with fires, bread and wine. Mr. Curotavich of Chisme took in Austen and his officers, supplying them with clothes, food, and beds.
On 2 March the British burnt Phoenix to the water's edge to get her copper bolts. They then sold the remains to Mr. Curotavich for ₤600. A court martial absolved Austen of blame.
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:...
frigate of 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...
. The shipbuilder George Parsons built her at Bursledon
Bursledon
Bursledon is a village on the River Hamble in Hampshire, England. It is located within the borough of Eastleigh. Close to the city of Southampton, Bursledon has a railway station, a marina, dockyards and the Bursledon Windmill. Nearby villages include Swanwick, Hamble-le-Rice, Netley and Sarisbury...
and launched her on 15 July 1783. She served in the French Revolutionary
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 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...
and was instrumental in the events leading up to 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 ....
. Phoenix was involved in several single-ship actions, the most notable occurring on 10 August 1805 when she captured the French frigate Didon, which was more heavily armed than her. She was wrecked, without loss of life, off Smyrna
Smyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
in 1816.
Active service
She was commissioned in October 1787 under Captain John W. Payne, and paid off in December. Recommissioned in October 1788, she sailed for the East Indies in November under Captain George A. Byron.East Indies
In the beginning of November 1791, , Commodore William CornwallisWilliam 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...
, Phoenix, Captain Sir Richard Strachan
Sir Richard Strachan, 6th Baronet
Sir Richard John Strachan, 6th Baronet GCB was a British officer of the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, eventually rising to the rank of Admiral.-Childhood:...
, and , Captain Isaac Smith, were off Tellicherry
Thalassery
Thalassery , also known as Tellicherry, is a city on the Malabar Coast of Kerala, India. This is the second largest city of North Malabar in terms of population. The name Tellicherry is the anglicized form of Thalassery. Thalassery municipality has a population just less than 100,000. Established...
, a fort and anchorage situated a few leagues to the south of Mangalore
Mangalore
Mangalore is the chief port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located about west of the state capital, Bangalore. Mangalore lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghat mountain ranges, and is the administrative headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada district in south western...
. Cornwallis ordered Phoenixto stop and search the French frigate Résolue
French frigate Résolue (1778)
Résolue was an Iphigénie-class 32-gun frigate of the French Navy.-French service:On 19 March 1779, Résolue captured a British fort in Senegal....
, which was escorting a number of merchant ships that the British believed were carrying military supplies to support Tippu Sultan. The Résolue resisted Phoenix and a brief fight ensued
Battle of Tellicherry
The Battle of Tellicherry was a naval action fought off the Indian port of Tellicherry between British and French warships in November 1791 during the Third Anglo-Mysore War...
before Résolue struck her colours. Résolue had 25 men killed and 40 wounded; Phoenix had six men killed and 11 wounded. There was no contraband on the French vessels. The French captain insisted on considering his ship as a British prize, so Cornwallis ordered Strachan to tow her into Mahé and return her to the French commodore. Phoenix came home in August 1793.
North Sea
She was commissioned in October 1795 under Captain Lawrence HalstedLawrence Halsted
Sir Lawrence William Halsted GCB was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars....
, at first attached to the fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan, operating in the North Sea. On 12 May 1796 at daybreak the 28-gun and the brig-sloop brought Duncan the news that a Dutch squadron consisting of the 36-gun frigate Argo and three brig
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
s had departed Flickeroe
Flekkerøy
Flekkerøy is an island situated outside the town of Kristiansand, part of Kristiansand municipality. Since 1989 it is connected to the mainland through a 2320 meter long tunnel. It has 2,632 inhabitants .-History:...
, Norway, bound for the Texel
Texel
Texel is a municipality and an island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the biggest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark...
.
Duncan took his fleet to intercept them, sending a squadron the included Phoenix, the 50-gun , Pegasus, Sylph and under the overall command of Halsted, northward of the Texel. The British intercepted the Dutch at 5am in the morning of 12 May. Phoenix and Leopard chased Argo, while Pegasus and Sylph made after the brigs. Leopard eventually fell some way behind, and consequently it was Phoenix alone that brought Argo to action at 8am.
After twenty minutes of fighting Halsted forced Argo to strike her colours. Phoenix carried eight 32-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 in lieu of her lighter guns in the upper works as well as her main battery of twenty-six 18-pounders, and a crew of 271 men and boys. The only damage she sustained was in her rigging and sails, and her only loss was one man killed and three wounded. Argo was armed with 26 long 12-pounders, six long 6-pounders, and four brass 24-pounder carronades, with a crew of 237 men and boys, and thus was substantially out-gunned. She lost six men killed and 28 wounded. The third rate then came up to assist Phoenix in dealing with the prisoners.
Phoenix also captured a cutter, which turned out to be the packet ship
Packet ship
A "packet ship" was originally a vessel employed to carry post office mail packets to and from British embassies, colonies and outposts. In sea transport, a packet service is a regular, scheduled service, carrying freight and passengers...
Duke of York, which Argo had captured the day before. Duke of York had been sailing from Yarmouth to Hamburg.
Meanwhile Pegasus and Sylph forced two of the brigs aground at Bosch, about 10 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...
east of the Texel
Texel
Texel is a municipality and an island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the biggest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark...
; these were the Echo, of 18 guns and the De Grier of 14 guns. One floated off but then grounded and was last seen sending out distress signals.
Pegasus and Sylph then captured the third brig, the 16-gun Mercury. The Royal Navy took both Argo and Mercury into service, Argo became while Mercury became .
After this success Halsted was assigned to operate off the Irish coast. On 12 February 1797 Phoenix was in company with , , and at the capture of tbe French privateer Difficile. The British also captured the Jeune Emilie and the Recovery.
On 18 May 1797 Phoenix captured the French privateer lugger
Lugger
A lugger is a class of boats, widely used as traditional fishing boats, particularly off the coasts of France, Scotland and England. It is a small sailing vessel with lugsails set on two or more masts and perhaps lug topsails.-Defining the rig:...
Espiègle off Waterford
Waterford
Waterford is a city in the South-East Region of Ireland. It is the oldest city in the country and fifth largest by population. Waterford City Council is the local government authority for the city and its immediate hinterland...
. Espiègle was armed with four guns and had a crew of 38 men. she had captured a brig that Phoenix had recaptured and that had put her on the trail of the lugger.
On 24 April 1798 Phoenix captured the French privateer Brave. She was pierced for 22 guns and was carrying eighteen, mixed 12 and 18-pounders. Brave resisted capture, suffering several men killed and 14 wounded, before she surrendered. Phoenix had no casualties and suffered trifling damage to her sails and rigging. Brave had a crew of 160 men, and there were also some 50 English prisoners on board, none of whom were injured. Halsted described Brave as being "a very fine ship, of 600 Tons, is coppered, and sails exceedingly fast." The Navy took Brave into service as . The next day, Phoenix recaptured the Thetis, an American ship that had been sailing from Charlestown to London when Brave had captured her.
Then one month later, on 31 May, Phoenix captured the French privateer Caroline and heer prize, the brig Henry. Halsted had been searching for Caroline after being alerted to her presence by the transport Success two days earlier. Caroline was only eight months old and a fast sailer, ten days out of Nantes. She was pierced for 20 guns, 16 and 6-pounders, but had thrown most overboard while trying to escape. She had a crew of 105 men. She had only captured the Henry and a small Danish ship. Henry had been sailing to Jamaica when Caroline captured her on 3 May, on which day Phoenix had also sent in an American ship, the Emily Grant that she had encountered a few days earlier.
On 23 Jan 1799 Phoenix captured the 20-gun French privateer Foudroyant on the Irish station after a pursuit of some 12 hours that covered over 120 miles. She was pierced for 24 guns, but mounted 20 brass 12-pounder and iron 6-pounder guns, of which she jettison
Jettison
Jettison may refer to:* A verb meaning to throw or eject from a ship, aircraft or vehicle; or discard or abandon; see marine debris* Jettison , a Chicago-based indie record label* Jettison , a punk band from the 1980s...
ed eight during the chase. She had been launched at Bordeaux about three months earlier and had sailed on this cruise about nine weeks earlier. During the cruise she had captured two English and one American vessel. The British vessels were the brig Malbridge, sailing from Martinique to London, and the brig Duncan, sailing from Halifax to London. The American vessel was the ship Argo, sailing from Sweden to Charlestown.
On 5 April Phoenix captured the French privateer Coureur.
Mediterranean
On 11 Feb 1800 Phoenix and the fireship captured the French privateer Éole off Cape Spartel. Éole was armed with 10 guns and had a crew of 89 men. She was ten days out of Guelon, Spain and had not taken any prizes.On 3 June Phoenix and captured the 14-gun brig Albanaise
French brig Albanaise (1790)
The French brig Albanaise was launched in 1790. In June 1800 the Royal Navy captured her in the Mediterranean and took her into service as HMS Albanaise...
. She was sailing from Toulon with provisions for Genoa when she encountered the Port Mahon, which initiated the chase about 35 miles west of Corsica. The chase lasted until early evening when Phoenix came up as Albanaise was just six miles out of Porto Ferraio on Elba. Lieutenant Etiénne Rolland fired two broadsides and then struck. (A subsequent court martial exonerated Rolland of the loss of his vessel.) The British took her into service as HMS Albanaise.
On 17 June boats from Phoenix took the French naval vessel Revanche near Hieres Island
Îles d'Hyères
The Îles d'Hyères is a group of three islands off Hyères in the Var département, in the south-east of France. The three mediterranean islands are named Porquerolles, Port-Cros and Île du Levant. Together, they make up an area of .-See also:...
in the Mediterranean. She was armed with four carriage 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...
had a crew of 27 men. She was partly laden with brandy, wine, cheese and pork, two days from Toulon on her way to Malta with dispatches, which she threw overboard prior to her capture. In capturing Revanche Phoenix lost one man. Furthermore, Revanche capsized the next day, though no lives were lost.
On 16 September Phoenix captured the Spanish schooner Felix. She was armed with four guns and was carrying merchandise from Corunna
A Coruña
A Coruña or La Coruña is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. It is the second-largest city in the autonomous community and seventeenth overall in the country...
to Veracruz
Veracruz, Veracruz
Veracruz, officially known as Heroica Veracruz, is a major port city and municipality on the Gulf of Mexico in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The city is located in the central part of the state. It is located along Federal Highway 140 from the state capital Xalapa, and is the state's most...
.
On 14 February 1801, Phoenix captured the Danish ship Minerva. She was sailing from Ivica to Holmitand with a cargo of salt.
Later in 1801 Phoenix was involved in supporting operations for the British expedition to Egypt. Around 2 May she left her station off Porto-Ferrajo, which gave the French the opportunity to establish a blockade that lasted until 1 August when Sir John Borlase Warren
John Borlase Warren
Sir John Borlase Warren, 1st Baronet , was an English admiral, politician and diplomat. Born in Stapleford, Nottinghamshire, he was the son and heir of John Borlase Warren of Stapleford and Little Marlow...
with his squadron arrived to lift it.
On 3 Aug 1801 the frigates Phoenix, , and captured the Venetian-built but French 44-gun frigate Carrère and her crew of 356 men at the mouth of Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
after a short fight. She was escorting a small convoy from Porto Ercole to Porto Longone. Pomone was the actual captor and lost two men dead, two more died of wounds shortly thereafter, and two more lightly wounded. Phoenix could not get close enough to do more than fire a few random shots and Pearl positioned herself between Carrerre and the port to cut her off if necessary.
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 under her own name but rated as an 18-pounder frigate of 36 guns. 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...
was her first captain.
Almost a month later, on 2 September, Phoenix, Pomone, and Minerve
French frigate Minerve (1794)
The Minerve was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy. She was captured twice by the British and recaptured once by the French. She therefore served under four names:*Minerve, 1794–1795*HMS Minerve, 1795–1803*Canonnière, 1803–1810...
re-captured the frigate , a former British 32-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:...
frigate under the command of Monsieur
Britel. (The French had captured Success in February, off 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....
.) They also ran onshore the 46-gun French frigate Bravoure, under the command of Monsieur Dordelin, but were unwilling to set her on fire because not all her crew had gotten off
Thomas Baker
Thomas Baker (Royal Navy officer)
Sir Thomas Baker KCB, KWN was an officer of the Royal Navy, who saw service during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars...
took command of Phoenix on 28 April 1803. He was assigned to 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...
under Admiral 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...
, and on 10 August 1805 he came across the 40-gun French frigate off Cape Finisterre
Cape Finisterre
right|thumb|300px|Position of Cape Finisterre on the [[Iberian Peninsula]]Cape Finisterre is a rock-bound peninsula on the west coast of Galicia, Spain....
.
Prior to the sighting the Phoenix had intercepted an American merchant, enroute from 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...
to the United States. The American master had been invited onto the Phoenix, sold the British some of his cargo of wine, and had toured the Phoenix before being allowed to continue on his way. The Phoenix had at this time been altered to resemble from a distance a large sloop-of-war
Sloop-of-war
In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...
. The Didon, which was carrying despatches instructing Rear-Admiral Allemand's five ships of the line to unite with the combined Franco-Spanish fleet under Vice-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve
Pierre-Charles Villeneuve
Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve was a French naval officer during the Napoleonic Wars. He was in command of the French and Spanish fleets defeated by Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar....
, intercepted the American merchant and from him received news that a 20-gun British ship was at sea and might be foolish enough to attack the Didon.
The Didons commander, Captain Milius, decided to await the arrival of the British ship, and take her as a prize. The Phoenix was therefore able to approach and engage the Didon before the French realised that she was a larger frigate than they had anticipated. After a sharp action lasting several hours, with Baker on one occasion having his hat shot off his head, the French surrendered. The Phoenix had 12 killed and 28 wounded; the French sustained losses of 27 killed and 44 wounded.
By intercepting the ship carrying the despatches for Allemand, Baker had unwittingly played a role in bringing about 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 ....
, but he was to play an even greater role a few days later, possibly even staving off an invasion of England. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General service Medal with clasp "Phoenix 10 Augt. 1805" to all surviving claimants from the action.
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...
and then on to Boulogne to escort the French invasion forces across the Channel sighted the three British ships. Villeneuve mistook the British ships for scouts from the Channel Fleet and fled south to avoid an action. A furious Napoleon
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
raged 'What a Navy! What an admiral! All those sacrifices for nought!' Villeneuve's failure to press north was a decisive point of the Trafalgar Campaign
Trafalgar Campaign
The Trafalgar Campaign was a long and complicated series of fleet manoeuvres carried out by the combined French and Spanish fleets; and the opposing moves of the Royal Navy during much of 1805. These were the culmination of French plans to force a passage through the English Channel, and so achieve...
as far as the invasion of England went, for abandoning all hope of fulfilling his plans to secure control of the Channel Napoleon gathered the Armée d'Angleterre, now renamed the Grande Armée, and headed east to attack the Austrians in the Ulm Campaign
Ulm Campaign
The Ulm Campaign consisted of a series of French and Bavarian military maneuvers and battles to outflank and capture an Austrian army in 1805 during the War of the Third Coalition. It took place in the vicinity of and inside the Swabian city of Ulm...
. The British ships altered their course and made for Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
, where they arrived on 3 September, having prevented an attempt by their French prisoners to capture the Phoenix and retake the Didon.
Channel
Although Phoenix had missed the battle of Trafalgar, she saw action in November 1805. Baker was under orders to patrol west of the Isles of ScillyIsles of Scilly
The Isles of Scilly form an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. The islands have had a unitary authority council since 1890, and are separate from the Cornwall unitary authority, but some services are combined with Cornwall and the islands are still part...
when meeting some merchantmen he received intelligence that they had seen a small squadron of presumably French ships of the line in the Bay of Biscay
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest south to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Cape Ortegal, and is named in English after the province of Biscay, in the Spanish...
. The British were looking for the celebrated 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:...
squadron of five sail of the line, three frigates, and two brigs, under Rear-admiral Zacharie Allemand
Zacharie Allemand
Zacharie Jacques Théodore Allemand, was a French admiral.- Early career :Allemand was born to a captain of the East Indian Company. Orphaned at an early age, he started his sailing career at 12 as an apprentice on Superbe, an East Indiaman...
, which was loose somewhere in the Atlantic (the Allemand's expedition of 1805
Allemand's expedition of 1805
Allemand's expedition of 1805, often referred to as the Escadre invisible in French sources, was an important French naval expedition during the Napoleonic Wars, which formed a major diversion to the ongoing Trafalgar campaign in the Atlantic Ocean...
). Baker decide to investigate.
On 2 November 1805, Phoenix, discovered the Rochefort squadron under Rear Admiral Dumanoir
Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley
Vice-Admiral Count Pierre-Etienne-René-Marie Dumanoir Le Pelley was a French Navy officer, best known for commanding the vanguard of the French fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar.- Early career :...
, consisting of four French ships of the line that had escaped Trafalgar. Phoenix sailed in search of Sir Robert Strachan
Robert Strachan
Robert Martin Strachan was a trade unionist and politician. He was the longest serving Leader of the Opposition in British Columbia history....
's squadron to report the find, who, as it happened, was fairly close by. During the ensuing Battle of Cape Ortegal
Battle of Cape Ortegal
The Battle of Cape Ortegal was the final action of the Trafalgar Campaign, and was fought between a squadron of the Royal Navy and a remnant of the fleet that had been destroyed several weeks earlier at the Battle of Trafalgar...
, Phoenix and the other British frigates harassed the French rear. While doing so, she helped to capture the French ship Scipion, which was then commissioned into the Royal Navy. During the action Phoenix lost two men killed and four wounded. Serving aboard Phoenix at this time, as 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...
was Samuel Brown, later to become a distinguished engineer and reach the rank of captain.
In December 1805, Captain Zachary Mudge took command of Phoenix. On 17 Jan 1808 off Rochefort, she observed a French squadron, under Admiral Ganteaume
Honoré Joseph Antoine Ganteaume
Count Honoré Joseph Antoine Ganteaume was a French admiral.Ganteaume was born to a family of merchant sailors, and sailed on a dozen commercial cruises in his youth...
putting to sea. Phoenix despatched the 18-gun brig-sloop to England with the information and sailed in search of the watching squadron under Strachan, which bad weather had driven out to sea. Not finding Strachan, Phoenix too sailed for England, having informed the gun-brig of the news. Attack found Strachan on 23 January, but bad weather and other difficulties delayed Strachan and he was unable to intercept the French before they reached 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....
.
In March 1809 Phoenix received some 32-pounder carronades.
On 28 Jan 1810 Phoenix, with the ship-sloop , chased the 14-gun French privateer Charles, but lost her in thick fog. The next day Phoenix discovered Charles anchored close under the French coast. A cutting out expedition then went in in boats. The Charles resisted, killing one seaman on Phoenix and wounding another. Still, the boats succeeded in taking the Charles, where they found two English masters and 13 seamen who had been taken out of vessels a few days previously.
General service
Between 1810 and September 1814, Captains James Bowen and then William Webley commanded Phoenix. Bowen took her to the East Indies in May 1810.From 14 September 1814, her last captain was Charles Austen
Charles Austen
Rear Admiral Sir Charles John Austen CB was an officer in the Royal Navy. He served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and beyond, eventually rising to the rank of rear-admiral.-Family and early life:...
, brother of the novelist Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
. In 1815, following Napoleon's escape from Elba, the Admiralty sent Phoenix, and to the Adriatic to co-operate with the Austrians and to prevent the escape of some Neapolitan warships. Phoenix and Garland watched two large frigates at Brindisi, while Undaunted searched the coast to the northward. After the surrender of Naples, following the military convention of Casalanza
Treaty of Casalanza
The Treaty of Casalanza, which ended the Neapolitan War, was signed on 20 May 1815 between the pro-Napoleon Kingdom of Naples on the one hand and the Austrian Empire, as well as the United Kingdom, on the other....
, Austen persuaded the captains of the two Neapolitan frigates to switch their allegiance to the restored monarch, Ferdinand IV of Naples.
Phoenix, , Garland and next proceeded to the Greek Archipelago
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
in search of a French squadron comprising the frigate Junon
French frigate Amélie (1808)
The Amélie was a 46-gun Pallas class frigate of the French Navy.On 21 October 1809, she sailed from Toulon to escort a convoy bound for Barcelona...
, the 32-gun corvette Victorieuse, two brigs and two large schooners, which had being preying on trade in the area. Unfortunately Austen discovered that the enemy was no longer in the islands; shortly afterwards peace was restored.
Fate
Phoenix was lost in a storm off SmyrnaSmyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
(Izmir
Izmir
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...
) on 20 February 1816, due to the ignorance of her pilots
Maritime pilot
A pilot is a mariner who guides ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbours or river mouths. With the exception of the Panama Canal, the pilot is only an advisor, as the captain remains in legal, overriding command of the vessel....
when a sudden change of wind threw her on the shore. Fortunately, all aboard her survived; the vessel was so close to the shore that her fallen top-gallant mast reached from the wreck to the shore. Also, helped save her crew.
Austen was able to procure a storehouse for the crew where they were provided with fires, bread and wine. Mr. Curotavich of Chisme took in Austen and his officers, supplying them with clothes, food, and beds.
On 2 March the British burnt Phoenix to the water's edge to get her copper bolts. They then sold the remains to Mr. Curotavich for ₤600. A court martial absolved Austen of blame.