HMS ''Imogen'' (or ''Imogene'') was a
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 ...
16-gun
brig-sloop
In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enc ...
of the
''Seagull'' class launched in July 1805. She served primarily in the
Adriatic campaign before the Navy sold her in 1817.
History
Commander Thomas Garth commissioned ''Imogen'' in August 1805 for the North Sea. In November she towed ''Friendship'', of Inverness, Brimmer , master, into Yarmouth. ''Imogen'' had found ''Friendship'' at sea with no one aboard.
On 18 April 1806, ''Imogen'' captured the Prussian
galliot
A galiot, galliot or galiote, was a small galley boat propelled by sail or oars. There are three different types of naval galiots that sailed on different seas.
A ''galiote'' was a type of French flat-bottom river boat or barge and also a flat- ...
''Broderlusde'', and on 23 August ''Bergitta''.
Garth sailed for the Mediterranean on 26 June 1807. On 13 September, ''Imogen'' captured the Danish vessel ''Commandant van Scholten''.
On 27 January 1808, ''Imogen'' captured the brig ''William Tell'' and her cargo. In March Commander William Stephens replaced Garth.
The British decided to capture the island of
Saint Maura, north of
Corfu
Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...
. Stephens and ''Imogen'' became part of a squadron that included , under the command of Captain
George Eyre
Sir George Eyre (before 1782–15 February 1839) was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, eventually rising to the rank of Vice-Admiral of the Red ...
, who was the naval commander, , three gunboats, and five troop transports. When the squadron arrived on 21 March 1810, Eyre ordered Stephens to take the gunboats and to anchor as close to shore as possible to cover the troop landing and to silence two small shore batteries there. The next day operations began. The batteries fired on ''Imogen'' and the gunboats, but were soon silenced. Stephens went ashore and was wounded in the foot while storming the redoubts that protected the citadel. Even so, on 25 March, he sailed with ''Imogen'', ''Belle Poule'', and the gunboats to the north of the island to prevent the enemy from landing reinforcements. The citadel finally capitulated on 15 April. Stephens was the only casualty on ''Imogen'' .
''Imogen'' shared in the prize money for the Franco-Italian 10-gun brig
''Carlotta'', captured on 10 December 1810. ''Imogen'' shared the prize money with the actual captor, , and two other vessels.
On 30 January 1811, , , ''Belle Poule'' and ''Imogen'' destroyed the Italian man-of-war schooner ''Leoben''. ''Leoben'' was sailing along the Albanian coast from Venice to Corfu with a cargo of ordnance when the British caught her. She was armed with ten guns and a crew of 60 men. Her crew set her on fire and she subsequently blew up.
In February 1813, ''Imogen'' was still in the Mediterranean and under the command of Lieutenant Charles Taylor (acting). . ''Imogen'', and troops captured
Augusta and
Carzola Islands. On 1 February ''Apollo'', ''Imogen'', and Gunboat ''No. 43'', under the command of Mr. Antonio Pardo, sailed to Carzola. There ''Imogen'' and the gunboat supported an attack by Captain Taylor of ''Apollo'', who commanded a landing party that silenced several sea batteries. When the town capitulated, the British captured a privateer that had "molested the trade of the Adriatic", and two of her prizes. That day the British also captured seven vessels sailing to Ragusa and Cattaro, principally carrying cargoes of grain.
Commander William Bamber was appointed to ''Imogene'' on 7 October 1813, on the Clyde. In 1815 Lieutenant John Gilmore replaced Bamber.
Fate
''Imogen'' was placed in
ordinary
Ordinary or The Ordinary often refer to:
Music
* ''Ordinary'' (EP) (2015), by South Korean group Beast
* ''Ordinary'' (Every Little Thing album) (2011)
* "Ordinary" (Two Door Cinema Club song) (2016)
* "Ordinary" (Wayne Brady song) (2008)
* ...
in July 1815. The Navy offered her for sale on 3 April 1817, at Plymouth.
She was sold there that day for £690 to a Mr. Ismay.
Notes
Citations
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Imogen (1805)
Brig-sloops of the Royal Navy
1805 ships