HMS Danae (1798)

''Vaillante'' was a 20-gun French ''Bonne-Citoyenne''-class corvette, built at Bayonne and launched in 1796. British naval Captain Edward Pellew in captured her off the Île de Ré on 7 August 1798. The Admiralty took her into the Royal Navy as the post ship HMS ''Danae''. Some of her crew mutinied in 1800 and succeeded in turning her over to the French. The French returned her to her original name of ''Vaillante'', and sold her in 1801. As a government-chartered transport she made one voyage to Haiti; her subsequent history is unknown at this time.

French service

''Vaillante'' was built at Bayonne between 1794 and August 1796, and was launched in 1796. She was armed with twenty long 8-pounders and 175 men, commanded by Lieutenant la Porte, and bound to Cayenne, carrying 25 banished priests, 27 convicts, and Madame Rovère and family.James (1837), Vol. 2, p.229. ''Indefatigable'' captured ''Vaillante'' off the Île de Ré on 7 August 1798. She arrived in Portsmouth on 20 October 1798, was registered and renamed ''Danae'' on 11 October 1798 and was fitted out until February 1799. James draws attention to the fact that the British equipped her with more cannons, but fewer men, than the French had.

British service

Captain Lord William Proby commissioned ''Danae'' in December 1798. In March 1799 a gale caught her in a bay of shoals and rocks near the Île de Batz. Two of her anchor cables broke and her crew let go a third anchor, which held. The storm stove in all her boats and Proby slipped and fell down the main hatchway. The fall dislocated his shoulder and broke two ribs.

On 4 April 1799 ''Danae'' captured the 14-gun lugger ''Sans Quartier'', off Chausey. ''Sans Quartier'' had a crew of 56 men and though she was pierced for 14 guns, she had thrown all overboard in an attempt to escape from ''Danae''.

On 25 December 1799 ''Danae'', and the hired armed cutter ''Nimrod'' assisted , which had hit some rocks. They were able to rescue the crew and ''Ethalion'' was then burnt.

The next year, on 10 January 1800, ''Danae'' was in company with and when ''Excellent'' recaptured the American vessel ''Franklin'', which a French privateer ''Alliance'' had taken the day before. ''Franklin'' had been sailing from St. Thomas for London with a cargo of sugar, coffee and indigo. The privateers had done a great deal of damage to the vessel and her cargo before the British recaptured her.

On 6 February 1800, ''Danae'', with other vessels, captured the 42-gun frigate ''Pallas'' from Saint-Malo bound to Brest, off St Malo. The British took ''Pallas'' into service as . That morning ''Danae'' also captured a French cutter.

One month later, on 6 March, ''Danae'' sailed from Plymouth on a cruise to the westward. Then on 10 March ''Danae'' recaptured the sloop ''Plenty''. A French privateer had captured ''Plenty'', Needs, master, as she sailed from Cork to Lisbon. ''Danae'' sent ''Plenty'' into Plymouth.

Mutiny

At 9:30 in the evening of 14 March 1800 mutineers took control of ''Danae''s deck while the officers were mostly below decks asleep. The captain of the foretop, William Jackson, attacked and threw the master, who was officer of the watch, down the main hatchway. The mutineers succeeded in securing the hatchways, preventing Proby, his officers, and the loyal seamen from coming up on deck.James (1837) Vol. 3, pp.34-5. Proby and his officers tried to regain the deck but the mutineers drove them back and inflicted a head wound on Proby.

The following morning the mutineers reached Le Conquet in Finistère, where they met up with the French brig ''Colombe'', which ''Danae'' had herself chased into the port. A detachment of soldiers came aboard and accepted Lord Proby's surrender. ''Danae'' and ''Colombe'' then sailed together to Brest. On the way the frigates and chased them briefly before breaking off after the mutineers falsely signaled that they were in pursuit of ''Colombe''.

The French treated Captain Proby, his officers and the loyal seamen well, and then paroled them. A court martial aboard on 17 June 1800 honourably acquitted Proby, his officers and the loyal members of the crew of blame.

Fate

The French restored ''Danae'' to her original name. They sold ''Vaillante'' to a Morlaix merchant named Cooper in 1801. Cooper then chartered her back to the French government as a transport. She made a single voyage to Haiti during the Haitian Revolution of Toussaint Louverture. It is not known what happened to the ship after 1802.

Post script

On 30 May 1800 left Plymouth on a cruise. She returned that same evening and landed two seamen, mutineers from ''Danae'' that ''Dasher'' had taken out of a cartel off the Sound. On 12 June ''Indefatigable'' captured the French privateer ''Vengeur'', which had sailed from Bordeaux two days previously for Brazil. When her crew landed at Plymouth the authorities conveyed them to Mill prison. There, on 24 August, Lieutenant Neville Lake, who had been first lieutenant in ''Danae'', identified John Barnet(t) as one of the mutiny's ringleaders. The court martial on 2 September sentenced Barnet to death; he was hanged from the fore-yard arm of ''Pique'' on 9 September.''Naval Chronicle'', Vol. 4, p.242.

At the end of September the Guernsey privateers ''Alarm'', ''Dispatch'', and ''Marquis of Townsend'' recaptured a large West Indiaman that the French privateer ''Grand Mouche'' had captured and sent to Brest. The Guernseymen's prizemaster discovered that the French prize crew included seven mutineers from ''Danae''.

Another mutineer, John M'Donald, alias Samuel Higgins, was seized in the streets of Wapping disguised as an American carrying American protection papers. His court martial took place aboard , at the Nore on 10 June 1801. Lieutenant Nevins, who had been ''Danae''s first lieutenant and who had apprehended M'Donald in London, testified that while he was in a tavern with M'Donald after apprehending him, M'Donald had said that the instigators of the plot to take ''Danae'' were two men named Jackson and Williams and an Irish priest (and former officer of the Irish rebel army) named Ignatius Finney.''Naval Chronicle'', Vol. 5 (Jan-Jul 1801), p.537. M'Donald was hanged on 20 June on , a guardship at the Nore. John Williams was tried in September, but was pardoned by King George III due to a technicality. It is not clear what, if anything, happened to William Jackson or Ignatius Finney.

See also

*List of ships captured in the 19th century

Notes

Citations

References

*Duncan, Archibald, Benjamin Tanner & James Humphreys (1806) ''The mariner's chronicle: being a collection of the most interesting narratives of shipwrecks, fires, famines, and other calamities incident to a life of maritime enterprise; with authentic particulars of the extraordinary adventures and sufferings of the crews, their reception and treatment on distant shores; and a concise description of the country, customs, and manners of the inhabitants, including an account of the deliverance of the survivors.'' (Philadelphia: Printed and sold by James Humphreys, Change Walk, the corner of Walnut and Second-streets).
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*Woodman, Richard (2005) ''A brief history of mutiny''. (Robinson).

External links

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*Phillips, Michael: ''Ships of the Old Navy'' - ''Danae


{{DEFAULTSORT:Danae (1798)
Sixth rates of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy mutinies
Ships built in France
Captured ships
1796 ships
Bonne Citoyenne-class corvettes