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HMS Tribune (1796)
Encyclopedia
HMS Tribune 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...
36-gun fifth rate. This frigate was originally a French ship captured and commissioned into service in the Navy. She only served for a year before being wrecked off of Herring Cove, Nova Scotia
Herring Cove, Nova Scotia
Herring Cove is a Canadian suburban and fishing community in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality. It is situated on the eastern shore of the Chebucto Peninsula, 15 kilometres south of Downtown Halifax...
with the loss of all but 12 of her crew.
Capture
Tribune was originally the French Galathée-class frigateGalathée class frigate
The Galathée class was a type of 32-gun frigates of the French Navy, designed by Raymond-Antoine Haran, with 26 x 12-pounder and 6 x 6-pounder guns...
Charente Inférieure, launched in 1793. The next year the French changed her name to Tribune.
In mid-1796, Tribune was under the command of Commodore John Moulston, an American who had served in the French Navy for 16 years. He was in command of a squadron of three frigates and a corvette. One of the frigates, the 26-gun Proserpine, parted company with her companion vessels in a fog.
On 8 June Tribune and her remaining two companions, the frigate Tamise
HMS Thames (1758)
HMS Thames was a 32-gun Richmond-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy built by Henry Adams and launched at Bucklers Hard in 1758. She served in several wars, including for some four years in French service after her capture. She was recaptured in 1796 and was broken up in 1803.-British...
and the corvette Legere, were sailing off the south coast of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. At daybreak the British frigates and spotted the three French vessels and proceeded to chase them.
Tamise eventually turned to engage her pursuers, but Santa Margarita captured her after a 20-minute battle. Legere escaped. Separately, captured Proserpine a few days later; the British took her into service as .
Tribune continued to attempt to escape Unicorn in a running fight that lasted ten hours. Unicorn eventually pulled alongside and an intense engagement that lasted for 35 minutes ensued. Tribune attempted to drop astern to rake Unicorns vulnerable stern, but was foiled by the good handling of the Unicorn, which again came alongside and continued to fire upon Tribune. Finally, when all her masts except her mizzenmast had been shot away, Tribune struck her colours.
Tribune had lost 37 men killed of her crew of 337 men, as well as 15 wounded, including Moulston. Unicorn, despite having only 140 of her normal complement of 151 aboard, with a lieutenant and her best seamen taking a prize to Cork, had suffered no casualties.
The victory earned Unicorns captain a knighthood. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the remaining survivors of this action the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Unicorn 8 June 1796". The crews of Santa Margaritta and Dryad also won the Naval General Service Medal with clasps "Sta. Margaritta 8 June 1796" for the capture of Tamise and "Dryad 13 June 1796" for the capture of Proserpine.
Sinking
She was placed under the command of Captain Scory Barker, and sailed from TorbayTorbay
Torbay is an east-facing bay and natural harbour, at the western most end of Lyme Bay in the south-west of England, situated roughly midway between the cities of Exeter and Plymouth. Part of the ceremonial county of Devon, Torbay was made a unitary authority on 1 April 1998...
on 22 September 1797 as part of the escort for a convoy to the Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
and Newfoundland fleets. En route he met Experiment, then 12 days out of Halifax
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
. On 10 October Tribune lost sight of the convoy, but continued towards Halifax. As they approached the harbour, Captain Barker suggested waiting for a pilot
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....
, but was convinced by the master, who claimed that "he had beat a 44-gun ship into the harbour, that he had frequently been there, nor was there any occasion for a pilot since the wind was favourable." Captain Barker was apparently convinced by these assurances, and went below to arrange some papers he wished to take onshore. The master assumed the pilotage of the ship, assisted by one John Cosey, who had lived in the area previously.
As the ship progressed into the harbour, she began to approach the Thrum Cap shoal. Alarmed, the master summoned Mr Galvin, the master's mate
Master's mate
Master's mate is an obsolete rating which was used by the Royal Navy, United States Navy and merchant services in both countries for a senior petty officer who assisted the master...
, who at this time was sick below. Coming up on deck, Galvin heard the man in the chains sing out "by the mark five" and Cosey sing out "steady". Climbing onto a 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...
, he attempted to ascertain the situation, whilst the master ran up to the wheel with the intent to wear ship. Before anything could be done however, the Tribune struck the shoal. Alerted by the impact, Captain Barker rushed up on deck, exclaiming "You have lost the ship" to the master. Distress signals were quickly run up, which were acknowledged by the military posts nearby, as well as the ships in the harbour, and several craft set out to aid the stricken ship. A number of military boats, and a boat under the command of a Mr Rackum, boatswain of the 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....
, managed to reach Tribune. Strong adverse winds prevented many others from doing so though.
Attempts were now being made to lighten Tribune. The guns, save one for signalling, were thrown overboard, as were every other heavy article. These efforts succeeded in allowing the Tribune to get off the shoal by 9 o'clock in the evening. She had by now lost her rudder and had seven feet of water in the hold. The crew manned the pumps but after a period of time in which they seemed to be gaining on the leaks, a violent gale from the south east blew up. The Tribune was steadily carried towards the western shore. Lieutenants Campbell and North managed to escape in a jolly boat
Jolly boat
The jolly boat was a type of ship's boat in use during the 18th and 19th centuries. The origins of the name is the subject of debate, but it was by the 18th century one of a number of ship's boats, and was used mainly to ferry personnel to and from the ship, or for other small scale activities...
, but by half past ten, the Tribune lurched over and sank off Herring Cove, Nova Scotia
Herring Cove, Nova Scotia
Herring Cove is a Canadian suburban and fishing community in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality. It is situated on the eastern shore of the Chebucto Peninsula, 15 kilometres south of Downtown Halifax...
. The captain and officers were believed lost, but over 240 men, women and children remained, floating in the water or clinging to the rigging.
Eventually nearly a hundred of the survivors had managed to climb into the rigging, but as the night wore on and the storm took its toll, many dropped off and were swept away. Eventually there were only eight remaining, despite them being close enough to the shore to converse with the local inhabitants who had lit a large bonfire on the beach. At 8 o'clock in the morning, a 13-year old boy named Joe Cracker went out in a small skiff
Skiff
The term skiff is used for a number of essentially unrelated styles of small boat. The word is related to ship and has a complicated etymology: "skiff" comes from the Middle English skif, which derives from the Old French esquif, which in turn derives from the Old Italian schifo, which is itself of...
and brought off a man named David Monroe, another named Dunlap and two others, who were so exhausted they wished only to perish as they lay and had to be lifted into the skiff. As the weather improved, a number of boats were able to reach the wreck, bringing off another four. Overall, four had escaped in the jolly boat and another eight had been brought off from the rigging. These twelve were the only survivors of the wreck.
Commemoration
The location of the sinking was soon named Tribune Head. A cairn and bronze plaque in Herring Cove mark the site and the near-by mass grave of her victims. Salvors recovered Tribunes bell in the 19th century and presented it to St. Paul's Catholic church in Herring Cove. The bell was donated to the Nova Scotia Museum in the 1920s and now forms the centrepiece of an exhibit about the wreck at the Maritime Museum of the AtlanticMaritime Museum of the Atlantic
The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic is a Canadian maritime museum located in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia.The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic is a member institution of the Nova Scotia Museum and is the oldest and largest maritime museum in Canada with a collection of over 30,000 artifacts...
in Halifax
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
.