HMS Pike was a 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...

 Ballahoo-class schooner

Ballahoo class schooner

The Ballahoo class was a Royal Navy class of eighteen 4-gun schooners built under contract in Bermuda during the Napoleonic War. The class was an attempt by the Admiralty to harness the expertise of Bermudian shipbuilders who were renowned for their fast-sailing craft...

 of four 12-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 and a crew of 20. The prime contractor for the vessel was Goodrich & Co., in Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

, and she was launched in 1804. She captured one 10-gun enemy vessel before being herself captured, and recaptured. Pike foundered in 1809.

Service

Pike was commissioned in Jamaica in June 1804 under Lieutenant John Nichols. Lieutenant Duncan Macdonald replaced him in October. In 1806 Lieutenant C. Spence took command, and then Lieutenant John Otley replaced him in August.

On 25 August Rear-Admiral Dacres

James Richard Dacres (1749–1810)

James Richard Dacres was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars...

 formed a small squadron under the command of Captain George Le Geyt of the 18-gun Stork. The other three vessels in the squadron were the 14-gun Superieure, the 10 or 12-gun schooner Flying Fish, and Pike. Dacres ordered Le Geyt to bring out or destroy privateers based at Batabano

Batabanó, Cuba

Batabanó is a municipality and city in the Mayabeque Province of Cuba.The municipality is crossed by a number of small rivers, among them Río Guanabo, Río San Felipe, Río Pacheco, Río San Juan and Río Santa Gertrudis. A marina is located in the port of Batabano...

 in Cuba.

On 30 August the squadron approached the Isle of Pines

Isle of Pines

The name Isle of Pines can refer to more than one thing:* The former name for the Isle of Youth, Cuba* The Isle of Pines, an island off New Caledonia* The Isle of Pines , a book by Henry Neville....

. There they sighted a Spanish schooner at anchor. Le Geyt reinforced Pike with a lieutenant and eight seamen and sent her to engage the Spanish vessel. After a short chase and two broadsides from Pikes 12-pounder carronades, the Spaniard surrendered. She turned out to be a guarda costa of 10 guns, with a crew of 45 men. Pike took possession of her and took her back to the squadron.

Le Geyt then discovered that Stork drew too much water to permit her to enter the Gulf of Batabanó

Gulf of Batabanó

The Gulf of Batabanó , also called the Batabanó Gulf, is an inlet or strait off southwestern Cuba in the Caribbean Sea, separating mainland Cuba from the Isle of Youth...

. He therefore transferred to the other three vessels his boats and men and sent in the cutting-out expedition under the command of Commander Edward Rushworth of Superieure.

The landing party consisted of 63 officers and men, none of whom were from Pike. Ten men from Flying Fish remained to guard the party's boats. The party landed on 2 September and crossed some two miles of marshy ground to storm a fort at Batabano. On their way they had to break through an ambush of enemy soldiers and militia. In the process they killed two and wounded one badly. At the fort they captured six 18-pounder long guns, which they spiked. The party then proceeded to take possession of the vessels in the bay. There is some disagreement as to how many vessels they captured and took as prizes, with the total rising as high as 12. According to Rushworth's letter (an after action report), the prizes included a felucca

Felucca

A felucca is a traditional wooden sailing boat used in protected waters of the Red Sea and eastern Mediterranean including Malta, and particularly along the Nile in Egypt, Sudan, and also in Iraq. Its rig consists of one or two lateen sails....

, pierced for 14 guns but only mounting one 18-pounder, a schooner pierced for 12 guns, a French 4-gun privateer, and three Spanish privateers of one gun each. The party also burnt at least six smaller coasting vessels after having removed their cargoes. Total British casualties amounted to one man badly wounded.

On 2 September Flying Fish, Stork, Superieure, and Pike destroyed two privateers, names unknown, on the Jamaica station. One was a felucca

Felucca

A felucca is a traditional wooden sailing boat used in protected waters of the Red Sea and eastern Mediterranean including Malta, and particularly along the Nile in Egypt, Sudan, and also in Iraq. Its rig consists of one or two lateen sails....

 of five guns.

Between 1 January 1806 and 1 January 1807, Pike, in company with Shark

HMS Shark (1794)

HMS Shark was a former Dutch hoy that the British Admiralty purchased in 1794 for service with the Royal Navy. In 1795 her crew mutinied and handed her over to the French.-Service:...

, Superieure and Flying Fish captured a French felucca of one gun. Whether or not it was one of the above vessels is unclear.

Capture and recapture

On 10 March 1807, Pike, still under Otley's command, was sailing from Jamaica to Curaçao

Curaçao

Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...

 when she encountered a French schooner that fired on her but then sheered off. The next day another schooner approached, fired on Pike, and then drew off to join the first schooner. Pike endeavored to escape, but by 17 March the larger of the two French vessels commenced to gain. At daybreak on 18 March the larger French schooner caught up with Pike off Altavella (the eastern point of the island of Santo Domingo). In the 45-minute engagement that followed, Pike lost one man killed and five wounded out of her crew of about 20. Some of her crew, who were new, left their stations during the engagement and had to be driven back to their stations. With his rigging in pieces, damage to his gaff and masts and yards, and the second French schooner approaching, Otley struck Pikes colours. The French privateer that captured Pike was either the Impérial, or the French 16-gun privateer Marat, or Murat

The court martial board ruled that Otley could have better managed the encounter and warned him to be more circumspect in the future. It did recognize that his crew was raw.

In September 1808 the Cruizer-class brig-sloop

Cruizer class brig-sloop

The Cruizer class was an 18-gun class of brig-sloops of the Royal Navy. Brig-sloops were the same as ship-sloops except for their rigging...

 Moselle, under Commander Alexander Gordon, recaptured Pike. She was commissioned in Jamaica under the command of Lieutenant Joel Orchard, who had been captured in 1805 by the Spanish after his ship , Pikes sister ship, was wrecked. On 6 July 1809 Pike was one of the vessels that made up the blockade of the city of Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...

 and she was present at its surrender.

External links

• http://www.ageofnelson.org/MichaelPhillips/info.php?ref=2124 Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy - Stork (1796)
• http://www.ageofnelson.org/MichaelPhillips/info.php?ref=2140 Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy - Superieure (1803)