HMS Pigeon (1805)
Encyclopedia
The Admiralty purchased HMS Pigeon on 28 May 1805 for use as a despatch cutter. She was wrecked, though without loss of life, in November.
, from and to convey him up the Elbe River to Hamburg on a diplomatic mission.
on 30 November while carrying despatches for Lieutenant General
George Don
at Bremerlehe
.Gossett (1986) has the wreck occurring on a sandbank three quarters of a mile from the town of Rysum
in East Frisia
. However, this is less consistent with accounts that put the wreck off the Texel and that she was carrying despatches to Bremerlehe and that the crew became prisoners of the Dutch. Her crew was saved, but became prisoners of the Dutch. Luckraft was freed the next year.
The court martial on 20 February 1806 found that it was pilot Robert Barron's inexperience that caused the wreck. However, the court also condemned the behavior of Luckraft before the ship was abandoned.
Service
Pigeon was then fitted for foreign service at Deptford between 25 May and 10 August. She was commissioned in May under Lieutenant John Luckraft. One of his first tasks was to pick up Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of HarrowbyDudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby
Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby, PC, FSA was a prominent British politician of the Pittite faction and the Tory party.-Background and education:...
, from and to convey him up the Elbe River to Hamburg on a diplomatic mission.
Fate
Pigeon was wrecked off the TexelTexel
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...
on 30 November while carrying despatches for Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
George Don
George Don (British Army officer)
General Sir George Don GCB, GCH was a senior British Army military officer and colonial governor during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries...
at Bremerlehe
Bremerhaven
Bremerhaven is a city at the seaport of the free city-state of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms an enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the River Weser on its eastern bank, opposite the town of Nordenham...
.Gossett (1986) has the wreck occurring on a sandbank three quarters of a mile from the town of Rysum
Rysum
Rysum is a village located 15 kilometers west of Emden in the region of East Frisia, Germany. It is home to the Rysum organ, one of the earliest pipe organs in playable condition.-External links:* *...
in East Frisia
East Frisia
East Frisia or Eastern Friesland is a coastal region in the northwest of the German federal state of Lower Saxony....
. However, this is less consistent with accounts that put the wreck off the Texel and that she was carrying despatches to Bremerlehe and that the crew became prisoners of the Dutch. Her crew was saved, but became prisoners of the Dutch. Luckraft was freed the next year.
The court martial on 20 February 1806 found that it was pilot Robert Barron's inexperience that caused the wreck. However, the court also condemned the behavior of Luckraft before the ship was abandoned.