HMS Hazard (1794)

HMS ''Hazard'' was a 16-gun Royal Navy built by Josiah & Thomas Brindley at Frindsbury, Kent, and launched in 1794. She served in the French Revolutionary Wars and throughout the Napoleonic Wars. She captured numerous prizes, and participated in a notable ship action against the , as well as in several other actions and campaigns, three of which earned her crew clasps to the Naval General Service Medal. ''Hazard'' was sold in 1817.

Construction

The ''Hazard'' was one of the initial batch of six ship-rigged ship sloops that the Admiralty ordered in February 1793, shortly after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, to a joint design by Sir John Henslow and William Rule. She was laid down in May 1793, launched there in March 1794, and then taken down the Medway to Chatham Naval Dockyard, where she was masted and completed in June.

French Revolutionary Wars

She entered service in 1794 under Commander John Loring. Command passed rapidly, first to Commander Robert Dudley Oliver the following year and then to Commander Alexander Ruddach in 1796, who sailed her from Cork on the Irish station.

Under Ruddach she captured the French privateer ''Terrible'' on 16 July off Cape Clear Island. ''Hazard'' chased the brig for eight hours before she was able to capture ''Terrible''. She carried 14 guns and a crew of 106 men. She was six days out of Brest but had not taken any prizes.

Then on 21 December 1796, ''Hazard'' took the privateer ''Musette'' about 30 leagues west of Cape Clear. ''Musette'' was armed with 22 guns and carried a crew of 150 men. She had taken two vessels, one of which was ''Abbey'', of Liverpool. She had been sailing from Lisbon to Liverpool when ''Musette'' captured her. However, had recaptured ''Abbey'' and brought her in. The Navy took ''Musette'' in as HMS ''Musette''.

Late in March, Vice-Admiral Lord Kingsmill received intelligence that a French cruiser had been seen off the Skellocks on the coast of Ireland. Kingsmill dispatched ''Hazard'' on 28 March, and on 1 April she found the French vessel. After a chase of seven hours, ''Hazard'' caught her quarry, but only because the privateer had lost both topmasts. The privateer was the brig , of 18 guns and 130 men. ''Hardi'' had been built at Cowes, about two years earlier, for the Spaniards. ''Hardi'' had left Brest on 17 March and during her cruise had escaped two British frigates that had chased her. She had captured only one prize, a small Portuguese vessel of little value. On 8 June ''Hazard'' captured the Danish brig ''Barbara''.

Commander William Butterfield took command in July 1798. On 7 August he captured the American snow ''Two Brothers'' that a French privateer had taken three days earlier. The master of the snow gave Butterfield information that led Butterfield to try to find the privateer. On 12 August he encountered a French privateer of 24 guns and gave chase. The chase lasted two days before the French vessel jettisoned her guns and escaped. As she escaped, Butterfield sighted another vessel that seemed suspicious and approached her.

The new quarry turned out to be the French warship ''Neptune'', with a crew of 53 and 270 soldiers on board, sailing from ÃŽle de France to Bordeaux. She was pierced for 20 guns but only carried 10. In the ensuing two-hour engagement, ''Neptune'' fought all ten guns on one side while the soldiers fired their muskets. She also attempted to board ''Hazard''. Eventually ''Neptune'' surrendered after she had suffered 20 to 30 killed and wounded; ''Hazard'' had 6 men wounded. During the fight ''Hazard'' saw a French privateer in the distance that declined to get involved. As she returned to port with ''Neptune'', ''Hazard'' saw a French privateer with an English prize, ''Britannia'', in tow, and directed a British frigate to the scene.

Butterfield and ''Hazard'' also performed some rescue services. On one occasion he came across a transport vessel that had lost her masts and that had already run afoul of two other ships. Butterfield was able to bring her into port, thereby saving her cargo of military supplies intended for the British Army serving against the Irish rebels. Sir Robert Kingsmill, the commander in chief at Cork thanked him for his service.

On a second occasion, he rescued the East Indiaman ''Triton'' off the coast of Ireland. Severe weather had debilitated the crew of lascars, and several French privateers were in the vicinity. ''Hazard'' escorted ''Triton'' safely to Portsmouth. Later, ''Triton''s owners, David Scott & Co., of London, presented Butterfield with a piece of plate worth 150 guineas.

In 1800 and 1801, ''Hazard'' was employed on the convoy route between Britain and Newfoundland and subsequently between Britain and Belfast. On 18 July 1801 a court martial on board ''Gladiator'' tried Lieutenant John Alexander Douglas of ''Hazard'' for being absent without leave. The charges were proved and the board ordered him to be dismissed from the Navy.

Between June and August 1802 ''Hazard'' was fitted at Portsmouth. Commander Robert I. Neave (or Neve) commissioned her in June 1802, for the Channel.

On 25 August 1802 ''Constance'' and ''Hazard'' received orders to collect Dutch troops from Lymington and take them to Cuxhaven. They sailed two days later and passed through Spithead on their way to the Elbe, reaching there on 31 August. During the Peace of Amiens, ''Hazard'' convoyed Dutch soldiers from Britain back to the Continent.

Napoleonic Wars

In 1803, at the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars, ''Hazard'' carried despatches for the Channel Fleet and then operated as part of the blockade squadron off Northern Spain. While she was on the blockade a rumour circulated first that four ships of the line, and then that four French frigates, had captured ''Hazard'' and that the French had taken her into service. However, the rumors turned out to be mistaken. ''Hazard'' was with the fleet under Admiral the Honourable William Cornwallis when ''Minotaur'' captured the French frigate ''Franchise'' on 28 May 1803.

On 19 May ''Naiad'' and ''Hazard'' captured the Danish ship ''Frauen Brigitta''. Six days later, ''Victory'' and ''Hazard'' captured ''Trois Consuls''. Five days later, boats from ''Hazard'', together with boats from ''Naiad'', cut out a new brig from among the Penmarks

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases