HMS Shark (1794)
Encyclopedia
HMS Shark was a former Dutch hoy
Hoy (boat)
A hoy was a small sloop-rigged coasting ship or a heavy barge used for freight, usually displacing about 60 tons. The word derives from the Middle Dutch hoey. In 1495, one of the Paston Letters included the phrase, An hoye of Dorderycht , in such a way as to indicate that such contact was then...
that the British Admiralty purchased in 1794 for service with 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...
. In 1795 her crew mutinied and handed her over to the French.
Service
The Admiralty ordered her purchase on 3 February 1794 and registered her on 7 March. She was commissioned under Lieutenant Charles Burlton in April.In March 1795 Lieutenant Titus Allardyce replaced Burlton, and Shark joined Admiral Sir Sidney Smith’s squadron. He assigned all his gunvessels to the defence of the Îles Saint-Marcouf
Îles Saint-Marcouf
Îles Saint-Marcouf are a group of two small uninhabited islands off the coast of Normandy, France. They lie in the Baie de la Seine region of the English Channel and are 6.5 kilometres east of the coast of the Cotentin peninsula at Ravenoville and 13 kilometres from the island of Tatihou...
, which are some three and a half miles from the French coast and about nine miles south-east of Cape La Hogue, and which consist of two islands, West and East. The gunvessels and the shore batteries and redoubts the British erected on the islands were under the overall command of Lieutenant Henry Hicks of the former hoy .
On 21 July 1795 Allardyce assisted Hicks in disciplining a boatswain's mate by the name of Shepherd who was neglecting his work on building a battery on one of the islands. This escalated into a situation that involved counter-charges and the confinement of Hicks, Allardyce, and Lieutenant James Gomm of . At some point thereafter Lieutenant John Watson replaced Allardyce. Smith would later write that he had treated the officers with great leniency.
On 7 September the French mounted an attack with 17 large boats filled with men. They retreated in confusion after coming under fire from the redoubts the British had erected on East Island and from the gunvessels, among them the hoys
Hoy (boat)
A hoy was a small sloop-rigged coasting ship or a heavy barge used for freight, usually displacing about 60 tons. The word derives from the Middle Dutch hoey. In 1495, one of the Paston Letters included the phrase, An hoye of Dorderycht , in such a way as to indicate that such contact was then...
, and Hawk, and the Musquito-class floating battery
Floating battery
A floating battery is a kind of armed watercraft, often improvised or experimental, which carries a heavy armament but has few other qualities as a warship.An early appearance was during the Great Siege of Gibraltar....
.
Conditions on the islands were harsh, and there was also a great deal of unrest in the Navy at the time. As a result, there were several instances of desertion. On 18 September two seamen from Shark stole her jolly boat and deserted to the French.