HM hired

Hired armed vessels

right|thumb|250px|Armed cutter, etching in the [[National Maritime Museum]], [[Greenwich]]During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Royal Navy made use of a considerable number of hired armed vessels...

 brig Telegraph was built in 1798 and served on contract to 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...

 from 10 November. During the French Revolutionary Wars

French Revolutionary Wars

The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...

 she took several prizes and was the victor in one notable ship action before she was lost at sea with all hands in 1801.

Telegraph vs Hirondelle

At daylight on 18 March 1799, Telegraph, under Lieutenant James Andrew Worth, was some leagues north west of the Île de Batz

Île de Batz

The Île de Batz is an island off Roscoff in Brittany, France. Administratively, it is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.-Population:...

 when she encountered the French privateer Hirondelle. Hirondelle was armed with sixteen mixed 8-pounder and 6-pounder guns, and had a crew of 72, to Telegraphs 60 men. Hirondelle was three days out of St Malo and had taken two prizes, an American 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....

 and an English sloop

Sloop

A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....

, which had reduced her crew from the 89 men with which she had started.

Hirondelle tacked to meet Telegraph and the two vessels started the exchange of fire at 0730 hours. Each tried to board the other, but finally, at 1100 hours, Hirondelle struck. She had suffered five men killed and 14 wounded and was totally dismasted and unmanageable. Telegraph had five men wounded. For his part in the action, Worth received promotion to the rank of Commander.

In 1847 the Admiralty issued the clasp "Telegraph 18 March 1799" to the Naval General Service Medal for the action with Hirondelle. However, none of Telegraphs crew came forward to claim their medal, presumably in great part because most had been lost when she foundered in 1801.

Prize taking

Lieutenant Caesar Corsellis replaced Worth as captain of Telegraph. On 5 May she captured the galiot

Galiot

Galiots were types of ships from the Age of Sail.In the Mediterranean, galiots were a type of small galley, with one or two masts and about twenty oars, using both sails and oars for propulsion...

 Vrouw Martha. One month later she joined the Mediterranean fleet off the Gulf of Fréjus

Fréjus

Fréjus is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.It neighbours Saint-Raphaël, effectively forming one town...

 with news of the French fleet. In November she captured the galiot Beuns von Koningsberg. On 28 November Telegraph brought into Falmouth the De Boers, Captain Skimming. She had been sailing from Bilbao to Altona with a cargo of cotton.

Telegraph, which had been with coasting convoys, arrived in Plymouth from Torbay on 1 January 1800. On 2 January there was a report that a French privateer had taken a brig in Whitsand Bay

Whitsand Bay

Whitsand Bay, situated in south east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom runs from Rame Head in the east to Portwrinkle in the west. It is characterised by sheer, high cliffs, dramatic scenery and long stretches of sandy beaches...

 and then landed a boat at Looe Island

Looe Island

Looe Island, also known as St George's Island, and historically St Michael's Island is a small island a mile from the mainland town of Looe in Cornwall, United Kingdom....

 that had taken a cow and some corn from a poor man living there. A telegraph message dispatched Telegraph in pursuit. There is no further information, suggesting that Telegraph was unsuccessful.

On 17 April Telegraph was in company with the sloop Spitfire when Spitfire captured the French privateer Heureux Societe. Heureux Societe, of Pleinpoint, was armed with 14 guns and had a crew of 64 men. She had been out three days and had not made any captures. During the chase Telegraph exchanged a broadside with Heureux Societe but then fell behind, leaving the capture to Spitfire.

On 22 May Telegraph came into Plymouth. A gale a few days earlier had put Telegraph on her beam ends for several minutes with water up to the combing of her hatchways. It was only when the fore top-mast and the bowsprit went that she righted.

A worse storm on 9 November wrecked many vessels along the coast. Telegraph survived because her crew cut away her main-mast. She had been in St Aubin's

Saint Aubin, Jersey

Saint Aubin is a port in the Channel Island of Jersey. It opens out to a bay of the Gulf of Saint-Malo.Originally a fishing village at the opposite end of Saint Aubin's Bay from the town of Saint Helier, Saint Aubin is now the hub of the parish of St. Brelade. Its name refers to Saint Aubin of...

 Bay in Jersey

Jersey

Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...

 together with a number of vessels that also survived. Another vessel in the Bay that was less fortunate was , which sank, though fortunately with no loss of life.

In mid-November or so, the hired brig Flora drifted ashore in Plymouth and was wrecked. Telegraph and came to Floras assistance and rescued her crew. Flora was subsequently refitted for duty.

By December 1800, Telegraphs commander was Lieutenant John Mundall. Mundall's commission as Lieutenant, however, dated from 10 January 1801. Under his command she captured the galliot Jussrow Bielke in December 1800. On 5 January 1801 she captured the Dutch ship Cornelia.

Telegraph returned from a cruise on 23 January after stopping six vessels. She sent two Swedish and one Danish vessel into Dartmouth, the latter with a valuable cargo of tobacco from Baltimore bound for Stockholm. The Dane arrived on 4 January. The General Wraigh arrived at Portsmouth on 26 January and the Catherine Margaretta, which had been sailing from Seville to Altona

Altona, Hamburg

Altona is the westernmost urban borough of the German city state of Hamburg, on the right bank of the Elbe river. From 1640 to 1864 Altona was under the administration of the Danish monarchy. Altona was an independent city until 1937...

, arrived on 4 February. On 3 February, the Vrow Jenetta, of Altona, came into Plymouth. When Telegraph had captured her she had been sailing from St. Bartolomew's to Hamburgh with a cargo of sugar and coffee. In all, on the one cruise Telegraph had captured six vessels.

Loss

Telegraph parted from the Mediterranean fleet off Cape Ortegal in a gale on 14 February 1801. She was never heard of thereafter and was declared lost, presumably having foundered in the gale. Mundall may have been temporary or acting captain because at the time of the sinking Telegraph{'}s captain was again Lieutenant Caesar Corsellis.

Post loss developments

On 21 January 1803 prize money resulting from the capture of the galiot Beuns von Koningsberg and ship Cornelia was due for payment.

On 31 March 1805 the prize money for the capture of Jussrow Bielke was made available for claiming.

The head money for the capture of Hirondelle, long in dispute with the officers and company of Havick, was finally deposited in the Registry of the High Court of Admiralty on 26 October 1818.