HMS Belette (1806)

HMS ''Belette'' (or ''Bellette'') was an 18-gun ''Cruizer''-class brig-sloop, built by King at Dover and launched on 21 March 1806. During the Napoleonic Wars she served with some success in the Baltic and the Caribbean. ''Belette'' was lost in the Kattegat in 1812 when she hit a rock off Læsø.

Baltic

''Belette'' was commissioned in April 1806 under Commander Richard Piercy for the North Sea. Commander John Phillimore took command in September and sailed ''Belette'' in the English Channel and the Downs, taking part in Commodore Edward Owen's attack on Boulogne.

''Belette'' was occupied in early 1807 with conveying supplies to the besieged town of Kolberg. In June 1807 ''Belette'' was off Suffolk when she tried to land a M. Bedezee, a Prussian envoy carrying some important despatches. The boat overturned a few hundred meters off shore and Bedezee drowned, as did a midshipman and three crewmen. A master's mate and a crewman were saved, but the despatches were lost.

Next, she was attached to Admiral James Gambier's fleet which returned to the Baltic to attack Copenhagen again in 1807. Phillimore distinguished himself during the battle, particularly in an engagement at the end of August, when ''Belette'' became becalmed off the Danish coast. Sixteen Danish gunboats attacked ''Belette'', which sank three of them before boats from other British ships arrived and towed her clear. Gambier rewarded Phillimore for his courage by giving him the honour of carrying Gambier's despatches to the Admiralty. As a result, Phillimore received a promotion to post-captain on 13 October; however he remained with ''Belette''.

The expedition to Copenhagen resulted in prize money for ''Bellette'' both for warships and merchant vessels. ''Belette'' was one of seven British warships sharing in the proceeds of the capture on 28 August of the Danish merchant vessel ''Sally''. Then ''Belette'' is listed among the vessels sharing in the prize money for the ships and provisions that the British captured at Copenhagen. ''Bellette'' also shared with and a number of other warships in the captures of several merchant vessels: the ''Aurora'' (30 August), ''Paulina'' (30 August), ''Ceres'' (31 August), ''Odiford'' (4 September), and ''Benedicta'' (12 September). On 19 November ''Belette'', with the gun-vessels and in company, recaptured the ship ''Lively''.

''Belette'' brought the British ambassador, Lord Hutchinson back to Britain in February 1808. While sailing to Gothenburg she encountered a Danish Navy two-decker, but was able to escape by sailing into shallower waters.

Caribbean

In February 1808 command passed to George Sanders who sailed her on the North Sea station.

''Belette'' captured a privateer on 2 July after a pursuit of 12 hours that ended some 70 miles SE of Barbados. The privateer was ''Jalouse'', which was armed with four 12-pounder guns and had a crew of 75 men. Sanders described her as sailing remarkably fast and as having done "much Mischief to the Trade." Before running afoul of ''Belette'', ''Jalouse'' had captured ''Mary'' and ''Lark'', both of Halifax, and ''General Green'', of Surinam, which last some other British warship had since recaptured.

Around this time ''Belette'' captured the privateer ''Franchise'', of nine guns and 70 men. ''Belette'' captured ''Franchise'' windward of Barbados and carried her into Barbados.

In August ''Belette'' captured the French privateer ''Joséphine'', which the Royal Navy took into service as ''Morne Fortunee''. In British service she was armed with eight 18-pounder carronades and two 6-pounder guns, and had a crew of 55 men.

Admiral Lord Collingwood received intelligence that the French corvette ''Rapide'' was on her way from Bayonne with dispatches and he asked Admiral Lord Alexander Cochrane to attempt to intercept her. On 8 August ''Belette'' captured ''Rapide'', of one gun and 22 men, and took her into Barbados. However, ''Rapide''s captain had managed to throw the dispatches overboard before ''Belette'' captured her. On 23 July duplicates of the dispatches and much besides were found concealed aboard the cartel ''Phoenix'', which had sailed from Cayenne and had stopped in Barbados. She had aroused suspicion, leading Cochrane to having her searched. Because carrying these documents was a violation of the cartel (truce) flag, the British seized ''Phoenix'' and sent the seized documents in .

On 23 August ''Belette'' captured the French privateer schooner ''Confiance'', of seven guns (though pierced for 16) and 70 men. She was three days out from Cayenne. The Royal Navy took ''Confiance'' into service as .

On 5 December 1808 ''Belette'' captured the French letter of marque brig ''Revanche'', of six 12-pounder guns and 44 men. ''Revanche'' was taking provisions from Bordeaux to Guadeloupe when she encountered ''Belette''. Sanders described her as having been "a very successful Privateer all this War, and was intended for a Cruizer in those Seas." ''Belette'' sent ''Revanche'' into Antigua.

In February 1809, ''Belette'' participated in the combined naval and military assault and capture of the French-held island of Martinique. This qualified those of her crew still alive in 1847 for the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM) with clasp "Martinique". ''Belette'' was among the 42 warships that shared in the proceeds for the capture of Martinique. She then participated in the capture of Guadeloupe (January – February 1810), which earned for her crew the clasp "Guadaloupe" to the NGSM, as well as further prize money, which she shared with 49 other vessels. Sanders received promotion to post-captain on 2 June 1809.The medal data indicates that David Sloane took command after Martinique and before Guadeloupe. He may, in fact, have sailed her back to the Leeward Islands from Britain.

North Sea & Baltic

In 1811 Sloane took ''Belette'' back to home waters. Danish records suggest that by the summer of 1811 she was already in the North Sea.

''Belette'' shared with , , and the proceeds for the capture on 18 December 1811 of ''Axel Thomsen'' and ''Cecelia Margaretha'' (or ''Sicillia Margaretha'').

Unknown to the British, Danish Captain Hans Peter Holm had returned to Egersund (SW Norway) with ''Lolland'' and four other brigs. On 1 May 1811, the British sent four boats from ''Belette'', and , into the western end of the sound, expecting to capture some shipping or do other mischief. The circumstances of locality and wind did not permit the Danish brigs to enter the sound from the further end, but Holm sent the Danish ships' boats under Lieutenant Niels Gerhardt Langemach up the sound to oppose the British. Some of the Danes landed to set an ambush from the cliff tops; the armed boats were hidden behind a skerry. As the British rowed boldly in, they met unexpected fire from howitzers and muskets; they immediately withdrew, with the Danish boats in pursuit. The Danes captured one of the British boats and her crew of an officer and 17 men, who had come from ''Belette''. The Danes would have captured more but for the confusion that an explosion of a powder keg on one of the Danish boats caused. The confusion enabled the remaining British boats to reach the protection of their squadron.

By 1812 ''Belette'' was in the Baltic. On 24 May, ''Belette'' and captured the Danish sloop ''St. Jorgen''.

After the outbreak of the War of 1812, the British navy seized a number of American ships in British ports or that had otherwise not received the news. ''Belette'' was among the vessels sharing in the capture, on 12 August, of the ''Cuba'', ''Caliban'', ''Edward'', ''Galen'', ''Halcyon'', and ''Cygnet''.

On 30 October, ''Belette'' was protecting the rear of a convoy when her acting master, Mr. James Turnbull, took her yawl and off Romsø captured a Danish rowboat armed with two 2-pounder guns and small arms. The Danes put up a short but spirited resistance before surrendering. Five men of the Danish crew of a lieutenant and 15 men were severely wounded.

Loss

On 24 November 1812 ''Belette'', under Sloane, was in the Kattegat leading Russian ships through the south-west passage of Anholt towards Gothenburg when she went aground on a sunken rock called "John" (or "Fannot") off Læsø. She filled with water and broke in two. The shoals were shallow enough that her rigging remained above water. Her crew took to the rigging but during the night many died of exposure or fell into the sea when they lost their grip. Only six of her entire crew of 120 or so men and boys escaped death from exposure or drowning.

Notes

Citations

References

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Topsøe-Jensen, T.A. og Emil Marquard: Officerer i Den dansk-norske søetat 1660–1814 og Den danske søetat 1814–1932. (Two volumes )
* Wandel, C.F. : Søkrigen i de dansk-norske Farvande 1807–14. (1915)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belette (1806)
1806 ships
Cruizer-class brig-sloops
Maritime incidents in 1812
Ships built in Kent