HMS Surinam (1805)
Encyclopedia
HMS Surinam was a 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...
built by Obadiah Ayles at Topsham
Topsham, Devon
Topsham is a suburb of Exeter in the county of Devon, England, on the east side of the River Exe, immediately north of its confluence with the River Clyst and the former's estuary, between Exeter and Exmouth. Although village-sized, with a current population of around 5,023, it was designated a...
, Exeter
Exeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
and launched in 1805. She captured two prizes during her twenty-year career and took part in one battle before she was broken up in 1825.
War service
In March 1805 Commander Alexander Shippard commissioned Surinam for the Channel and then the Mediterranean. He was promoted to post-captainPost-Captain
Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy.The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from:...
on 22 January 1806. However, he was still aboard Surinam when she captured the Juliana on 28 February. Her next captain was briefly Commander H. Higman, and he was soon replaced by Commander John Lake in February 1806.
On 11 May 1806. Surinam captured three vessels: Pacifico, Tomasa and Alexandro. Then six days later she captured the San Domingo. On 28 July she was present or in sight at the capture of the French frigate Rhin
French frigate Rhin (1802)
Rhin was a 44-gun Virginie-class frigate of the French Navy launched in 1802. She was present at two major battles while in French service. Then the Royal Navy captured her in 1806. Thereafter Rhin served until 1815 capturing numerous vessels. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars she was laid up...
.
On 11 December, while Surinam west of Belle Île
Belle Île
Belle-Île or Belle-Île-en-Mer is a French island off the coast of Brittany in the département of Morbihan, and the largest of Brittany's islands. It is 14 km from the Quiberon peninsula.Administratively, the island forms a canton: the canton of Belle-Île...
watching for the French fleet under Admiral Willaumez
Jean-Baptiste Philibert Willaumez
Jean-Baptiste Philibert Willaumez was a French sailor and admiral of the First French Empire....
, lightning struck her. The strike killed two men, wounded four, destroyed a mast and damaged her badly.
In 1807 Surinam was attached to Admiral Lord Gardner
Alan Gardner, 1st Baron Gardner
Admiral Alan Gardner, 1st Baron Gardner was a British Royal Navy officer and peer of the realm. He became one of the Georgian era's most dashing frigate captains and, ultimately, a respected senior admiral.-Naval career:...
’s fleet off southern Ireland. Surinam left the fleet for Plymouth on 15 November. On 17 November, some 17 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...
north of Ushant
Ushant
Ushant is an island at the south-western end of the English Channel which marks the north-westernmost point of metropolitan France. It belongs to Brittany and is in the traditional region of Bro-Leon. Administratively, Ushant is a commune in the Finistère department...
, she fell in with a French privateer. After a ten-hour chase Surinam captured the French vessel, which turned out to be the Amiral Dacrés (or Amiral Decrés). The privateer was armed with fourteen 6-pounder guns and carried a crew of 76 men under the command of Jean G. Michel. She had sailed from St Malo the day before on her first cruise and had made no captures. At the time of the capture, Pomone was in sight.
On 22 October, Surinam captured the Jane and Eleanor.
On 30 January 1808, Surinam captured the French sloop Sta. Anna or Sta. Joseph Marie. On 20 July Surinam was in company with and when Shannon captured Comet.
Then on 21 August, Surinam was in company with Shannon and when Shannon captured Espoir.
On 9 November Surinam captured the sloop Jeune Henry. The next month, on 15 December, Surinam sailed for the Leeward Islands.
She was at the capture of Martinique
Invasion of Martinique (1809)
The invasion of Martinique of 1809 was a successful British amphibious operation against the French West Indian island of Martinique that took place between 30 January and 24 February 1809 during the Napoleonic Wars...
in February 1809. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Martinique" to all naval survivors of that campaign.
On 17 February 1810 Suriname joined Captain William Charles Fahie
William Charles Fahie
Vice-Admiral Sir William Charles Fahie KCB was a prominent British Royal Navy officer during the American War of Independence, French Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars. Unusually, Fahie's service was almost entirely spent in the West Indies, where he had been born and where he lived during...
of and his force at the surrender of Saint Martin
Saint Martin
Saint Martin is an island in the northeast Caribbean, approximately east of Puerto Rico. The 87 km2 island is divided roughly 60/40 between France and the Kingdom of the Netherlands ; however, the Dutch side has the larger population. It is one of the smallest sea islands divided between...
. He then entrusted Surinam with the despatches to Vice-Admiral The Honorable Alexander Cochrane
Alexander Cochrane
Admiral Sir Alexander Forrester Inglis Cochrane GCB RN was a senior Royal Navy commander during the Napoleonic Wars.-Naval career:...
.
In 1810, Commander A. Hodge (or Hedge) took command, and the next year she visited her namesake country of Suriname
Suriname
Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...
, in South America. His replacement, in 1811, was A. Kennedy. In 1812, Commander John Ellis Watt took command on the Leeward Islands station and sailed her for the coast of Guyana.
In August 1812 Surinam was in company with when they captured four American vessels:
- General Hamilton (11 August), lying at ParamariboParamariboParamaribo is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 250,000 people, more than half of Suriname's population...
, Suriname, carrying a cargo of molasses; - Mary (11 August), lying at Paramaribo, Suriname, in ballast;
- Pochohantes (12 August), lying at Braams Point, Suriname, and carrying a cargo of salt; and
- Mercator (24 August), bound to Baltimore, laden with molasses.
Watt died in September 1813 on his passage home after eight years in the West Indies.
In 1814 Surinam returned to Britain. From October 1815 she was in ordinary
Reserve fleet
A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed, and thus partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; an equivalent expression in unofficial modern U.S....
at Sheerness.
Post-war
Between 1817 and 1820 Surinam was at Chatham. On 18 November 1820 Commander William Mackenzie Godfrey took command and sailed for the West Indies. He was promoted to post-captainPost-Captain
Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy.The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from:...
on 19 July 1822 and Commander Alfred Matthews replaced him. Commander Charles Crole succeeded him from April 1823. By 1825 Surinam was back at Chatham.