HMS Widgeon (1806)
Encyclopedia
HMS Widgeon was a Royal Navy
Cuckoo-class
schooner
of four 12-pounder carronade
s and a crew of 20. She was built by William Wheaton at Brixham and launched in 1806. Like many of her class and the related Ballahoo-class schooner
s, she succumbed to the perils of the sea relatively early in her career.
She was commissioned in 1807 under Lieutenant William Morgan for the North Sea. In 1808 she came under the command of Lieutenant George Elliot.
Widgeon was on the Scottish coast helping to assemble a convoy for America when she received orders to proceed to Banff
to notify the ships waiting there that the convoy was about to depart. She arrived there on 18 April 1808 and the next day sent a boat into the port. Widgeon then remained four to five miles offshore while waiting for her boat to return.
During a heavy snowstorm on 20 April, at 2:30am she ran into a reef two miles to the northwest of Banff. Her crew threw shot overboard and fired guns of distress. However, there was a heavy swell and she filled with water within 10 minutes. Although she soon was bilged, her crew took to the boats and were saved.
The subsequent court martial on her loss sentenced Widgeons pilot, Alexander Layell, to six months incarceration in the Marshalsea
Prison and to be fined all pay due to him. Elliot had ordered Layell to remain at least four miles from shore throughout the night. Instead, Layell had gone below, leaving a bosun's mate in charge, who had let Widgeon drift towards the shore.
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...
Cuckoo-class
Cuckoo class schooner
The Cuckoo class was a class of twelve 4-gun schooners of the Royal Navy, built by contract in English shipyards during the Napoleonic War. They followed the design of the Bermuda-designed and built Ballahoo-class schooners, and more particularly, that of Haddock. The Admiralty ordered all twelve...
schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
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. She was built by William Wheaton at Brixham and launched in 1806. Like many of her class and the related 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...
s, she succumbed to the perils of the sea relatively early in her career.
She was commissioned in 1807 under Lieutenant William Morgan for the North Sea. In 1808 she came under the command of Lieutenant George Elliot.
Widgeon was on the Scottish coast helping to assemble a convoy for America when she received orders to proceed to Banff
Banff, Aberdeenshire
Banff is a town in the Banff and Buchan area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Banff is situated on Banff Bay and faces the town of Macduff across the estuary of the River Deveron...
to notify the ships waiting there that the convoy was about to depart. She arrived there on 18 April 1808 and the next day sent a boat into the port. Widgeon then remained four to five miles offshore while waiting for her boat to return.
During a heavy snowstorm on 20 April, at 2:30am she ran into a reef two miles to the northwest of Banff. Her crew threw shot overboard and fired guns of distress. However, there was a heavy swell and she filled with water within 10 minutes. Although she soon was bilged, her crew took to the boats and were saved.
The subsequent court martial on her loss sentenced Widgeons pilot, Alexander Layell, to six months incarceration in the Marshalsea
Marshalsea
The Marshalsea was a prison on the south bank of the River Thames in Southwark, now part of London. From the 14th century until it closed in 1842, it housed men under court martial for crimes at sea, including those accused of "unnatural crimes", political figures and intellectuals accused of...
Prison and to be fined all pay due to him. Elliot had ordered Layell to remain at least four miles from shore throughout the night. Instead, Layell had gone below, leaving a bosun's mate in charge, who had let Widgeon drift towards the shore.