Albemarle (1776)

HMS ''Albemarle'' was a 28-gun sixth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had been built as the French merchantman ''Ménagère'', which the French Navy purchased in 1779. A British squadron captured her in September and she was commissioned into service with the Royal Navy. Amongst her commanders in her short career was Captain Horatio Nelson, who would later win several famous victories over the French. The Navy sold her in 1784. She subsequently became a merchant vessel again. In 1791 she transported convicts to Port Jackson as part of the third fleet. She then sailed to India where she picked up a cargo on behalf of the British East India Company. As she was returning to England a French privateer captured her.

Career

''Ménagère'' was launched in 1776 as a merchant vessel. The French Navy purchased her at Bordeaux in May 1779.

The French government despatched her from Bordeaux for Cap-François, together with other transport vessels. On 22 and 23 September, a Royal Navy squadron under William Hotham, captured seven members of the convoy off San Domingo. The actual captor may have been , though supporting evidence is scarce.

The prize court at Barbados condemned ''Ménagère'' on 17 November. At that point the Royal Navy acquired her, the only one out of the seven vessels that the squadron had captured that it wanted to keep.

Captain John Thomas commissioned ''Ménagère'' on 22 November, and brought with him the officers and crew from his previous command, the sloop . An additional 44 men transferred from Hotham's flagship ; ''Albemarle'' was duly assigned to serve off the Leeward Islands. Captain Thomas Taylor succeeded Thomas on 12 June 1780. Under Taylor, ''Albemarle'' was part of Sir George Rodney's fleet during the Battle of Martinique in April 1780, but did not herself take part in the battle.

''Albemarle'' remained in the Caribbean and was in Carlisle Bay, Barbados, when a hurricane that began on 11 October damaged her. Taylor remained in command while repairs were carried out that allowed her to sail for Britain as a convoy escort. She was paid off in February 1781.

Under Nelson

''Albemarle'' was then fitted and coppered at Woolwich between 3 July and 12 October 1781. The work cost £7,302 4 s 1 d. While ''Albemarle'' was undergoing this fitting, the 22-year-old Captain Horatio Nelson commissioned her on 15 August 1781 for the North Sea and the English Channel.

Nelson was initially enthusiastic about his new command, comparing her to , which was also refitting, and declaring in a letter:

Yesterday I went down to Woolwich with Maurice, and hoisted my Pendant; and I am perfectly satisfied with her, as a twenty-eight gun Frigate. She is in dock, alongside the ''Enterprize'', and in some I think, excels her. She has a bold entrance and a clean run.

Nelson's companion and former commanding officer, Captain William Locker, was more experienced and privately doubted ''Albemarle''s capabilities. Nelson sailed as a convoy escort to Denmark with the ''Enterprize'' and on 31 October 1781. While returning to Britain, the convoy ran into heavy weather, and was forced to seek shelter in Yarmouth Roads. On 26 January one of the merchants collided with the ''Albemarle'', an accident that nearly caused the loss of both ships. On her return ''Albemarle'' again underwent fitting between February and April 1782, this time at Portsmouth.

Next, ''Albemarle'' sailed on 7 April 1782 as escort to a convoy to Quebec. The convoy arrived on 27 May 1782, after which Nelson continued to operate off the North American coast. He narrowly escaped capture when on 14 August a French squadron under Louis-Philippe de Vaudreuil chased him off Boston.

Nelson did however capture a number of prizes during his cruise, including the French storeship ''Reine de France''. Nelson then requested and received a transfer to the squadron under Admiral Samuel Hood, with whom he sailed to Jamaica. Notable amongst Nelson's services in the West Indies in this period was his unsuccessful attack on the French garrison at Turk's Island on 7 and 8 March 1783.

Sale

Nelson was HMS ''Albemarle''s third and last commander. She was paid off on 3 July 1783 and subsequently sold at Portsmouth for the sum of £370 on 1 June 1784.

Merchant vessel

''Albemarle'' then disappears from readily accessible records for some years. In 1791 she reappears in the supplemental pages to ''Lloyd's Register''. ''Albemarle'', French-built, of 530 tons, appears with Js. Boulton, master, Calvert & Co., owner, and trade, London-Botany Bay. Calvert & Co. then chartered her to the British East India Company (EIC), who in turn chartered her to the British government to transport convicts to Australia.

Under the command of George Bowen, master, she departed Portsmouth on 27 March 1791 as part of the third fleet. By 9 April ''Albemarle'' had separated from the other vessels of the Portsmouth group. Some convicts then attempted to capture her, but the guards and the ship's company quickly suppressed the uprising. Captain Bowen hanged the two convicts that appeared to be the ringleaders. The remaining recaptured convicts revealed that two sailors had instigated the uprising and Bowen had the two restrained until he could land them at Madeira where a British warship collected them and took them back to England.

On 13 October 1791 ''Albemarle'' arrived in Port Jackson, New South Wales. She had embarked 282 male convicts, 32 of whom died during the voyage; two of these were the men executed for the mutiny. An additional six female convicts, of uncertain origin, were found on board upon arrival. ''Albemarle'' left Port Jackson on 3 December 1791, in company with , bound for India.

The EIC had instructed the masters of ''Albemarle'', ''Active'', , and to sail to India after disembarking their convicts. It had also provided them with money with which to purchase cargoes on behalf of the company for carriage back to England.

Fate

''Albemarle'' left Bombay on 23 December 1792, again in company with ''Active''. The French privateer ''Duguay-Trouin'' captured ''Albemarle'' in May 1793 and took her into Morlaix, France. A contemporary report in ''Lloyd's List'' reports ''Albemarle'' as having come from Bombay, and her captor taking her into France. The same issue has a separate report of a privateer having taken ''Active'' and having sent her into Brest. A report from three weeks later has ''Albemarle'' being taken into Morlaix.''Lloyd's List'', n°2519.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Albemarle (1779)
Ships built in France
Frigates of the Royal Navy
Ships of the Fishery Protection Squadron of the United Kingdom
Captured ships
Ships of the British East India Company
1770s ships
Ships of the Third Fleet
Mutinies