HMS ''America'' was a 74-gun

third-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third r ...

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, launched on 21 April 1810 at

Blackwall Yard Blackwall Yard is a small body of water that used to be a shipyard on the River Thames in Blackwall, engaged in ship building and later ship repairs for over 350 years. The yard closed in 1987. History East India Company Blackwall was a sh ...

. In 1812 she was part of a British squadron consisting of the frigate , and ''

Swallow The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae, are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...

'' when they intercepted a French convoy that had left Genoa on 11 June, heading for

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

. The convoy consisted of 14 merchant vessels, several gunboats, and most importantly, the brig-corvette , of 16 guns, under the command of ''Lieutenant de vaisseau''

Charles Baudin Charles Baudin (21 July 1784 – 7 June 1854), was a French admiral, whose naval service extended from the First Empire through the early days of the Second Empire. Biography From 1800, Baudin served as a midshipman on ''Géographe'' and took ...

, and the schooner ''Goéland'', of 12 guns, under the command of ''Enseigne de vaisseau'' Belin. The British on 15 June drove the French to take shelter at the

Île Sainte-Marguerite The Île Sainte-Marguerite () is the largest of the Lérins Islands, about half a mile off shore from the French Riviera town of Cannes. The island is approximately in length (east to west) and across. The island is most famous for its fortr ...

. The next day ''Swallow'' came close to reconnoitre, the other two British ships having to hold off because of shallow water. Although the French escorts came out when they saw ''Swallow'' becalmed, they then turned back when the winds picked up and took their convoy to

Fréjus Fréjus (; ) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 54,458. It neighbours Saint-Raphaël, effectively forming one urban agglomeration. The north of ...

. There the French escort vessels took on board some reinforcements and then turned to engage ''Swallow''. A sanguinary but inconclusive action ensued. Eventually, ''Swallow'' hauled off to rejoin the two larger British ships, which were coming up, while ''Renard'' and ''Goéland'' rejoined their convoy, now in the Bay of Grimaud. The action cost ''Swallow'' six men killed and 17 wounded, out of 109 men on board. ''Renard'' had a crew of 94, which had been doubled by the troops taken on at Fréjus. In all she lost 14 men killed and 28 wounded, including her captain, Lieutenant Baudin. ''Goéland'' had a crew of 113 men but her casualties are not known. She did not engage deeply in the battle, though she did exchange some fire with ''Swallow''.James (1837), Vol. 6, pp. 101-4. In 1827 ''America'' was cut down into a

fourth rate In 1603 all English warships with a compliment of fewer than 160 men were known as 'small ships'. In 1625/26 to establish pay rates for officers a six tier naval ship rating system was introduced.Winfield 2009 These small ships were divided i ...

. During the rising tensions with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

over the

Oregon boundary dispute The Oregon boundary dispute or the Oregon Question was a 19th-century territorial dispute over the political division of the Pacific Northwest of North America between several nations that had competing territorial and commercial aspirations in ...

, HMS ''America'' was dispatched to the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

in 1845.Longstaff, F. V. and W. K. Lamb
''The Royal Navy on the Northwest Coast, 1813-1850. Part 1.''
The British Columbia Historical Quarterly 9, No. 1 (1945), pp. 1-24. Leaving the Straits of Juan de Fuca on 1 October, the vessel sailed for the

Kingdom of Hawaii The Hawaiian Kingdom, or Kingdom of Hawaiʻi ( Hawaiian: ''Ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina''), was a sovereign state located in the Hawaiian Islands. The country was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great, of the independent island ...

and later the

Pacific Station The Pacific Station was created in 1837 as one of the geographical military formations into which the Royal Navy divided its worldwide responsibilities. The South America Station was split into the Pacific Station and the South East Coast of A ...

Valparaíso Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...

, in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. While at the Pacific Station, Captain John Gordon ordered the valuable cargo of be moved to his ship and departed to deliver it to the United Kingdom. For removing the second most powerful British vessel on the Pacific coast of the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

during the Oregon crisis, Gordon was court-martialed and reprimanded. ''America'' was

broken up Ship-breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for either a source of Interchangeable parts, parts, which can be sold for re-use, ...

in 1867.

Notes

References

* Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. . * {{DEFAULTSORT:America (1810) Ships of the line of the Royal Navy Vengeur-class ships of the line Ships built by the Blackwall Yard 1810 ships