HMS Mercury (1779)

HMS ''Mercury'' was a 28-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built during the American War of Independence and serving during the later years of that conflict. She continued to serve during the years of peace and had an active career during the French Revolutionary Wars and most of the Napoleonic Wars, until being broken up in 1814.

Construction and commissioning

''Mercury'' was ordered from Peter Mestaer, at the King and Queen Shipyard, Rotherhithe on the River Thames on 22 January 1778 and was laid down there on 25 March. She was launched on 9 December 1779 and was completed by 24 February 1780 after being fitted out at Deptford Dockyard. £6,805 7 s 0 d was paid to her builder for her construction, with the total including fitting and coppering subsequently rising to £13,603 8s 0d. ''Mercury'' entered service in 1780, having been commissioned in October 1779 under Captain Isaac Prescott.

American War of Independence and the interwar years

Prescott sailed ''Mercury'' to Newfoundland in April 1780. On 23 July she returned from a cruise, having, on the 19th, retaken the ship ''Elizabeth'', which the 32-gun American privateer ''Dean'' had taken a few days earlier. ''Elizabeth'' was of 240 tons burthen, armed with 14 guns but with only 10 crewmen. When first taken she had been sailing from London to Newfoundland with a cargo of salt.

''Mercury'' joined George Johnstone's squadron the following year. Captain William Carlyon took command in May 1781 and sailed ''Mercury'' to Hudson Bay. There, on 17 May, he recaptured the cutter . On 30 September, ''Mercury'', , and captured the French ship ''Philippine''.

In March 1782, ''Mercury'' and ''Jupiter'' captured the French privateer ''Bologne''. Captain Henry Edwyn Stanhope succeeded Carlyon in September 1782, and paid ''Mercury'' off later that year. She was recommissioned under Stanhope in April the following year, and went out to Nova Scotia in June. Commodore Herbert Sawyer took command of the North American Station's base at Halifax in June 1785, and authorized ''Mercury'' to escort a merchant vessel to the American port of Boston to collect a shipment of cattle. This marked the first free visit of a British warship to the port since March 1776.

''Mercury'' was again paid off in July 1786 and spent the period between August 1787 and January 1788 undergoing a small repair at Woolwich. After being fitted out there she was recommissioned in May 1788 under Captain Augustus Montgomery, and sailed to the Mediterranean. She returned to Britain and was paid off in 1790.

French Revolutionary Wars

''Mercury'' was not immediately returned to service following the outbreak of war with Revolutionary France, but after being fitted at Portsmouth, re-entered service in early 1796, under the command of Captain George Byng. After time spent at Newfoundland command passed to Captain Thomas Rogers in April 1797. Rogers captured three privateers while serving on the Lisbon station, ''Benjamin'' on 5 January 1798, the 16-gun ''Trois Sœurs'' on 15 January 1798, and the 12-gun ''Constance'' on 25 January 1798.

''Benjamin'' was off the Rock of Lisbon when ''Mercury'' finally captured her after a chase of 36 hours. ''Benjamin'' was pierced for 20 guns, but carried sixteen 4 and 6-pounders, ten of which she threw overboard during the chase. She had a crew of 132 men. , and joined the chase and shared in the capture. ''Benjamin'' was a new vessel on her first cruise, during which she had captured the English brig ''Governor Bruce'', on her way to Faro, and a Portuguese schooner. However, a British letter of marque had driven ''Benjamin'' off.

Next, Rogers was some off Cape Finisterre when he spotted two armed vessels and gave chase. As ''Mercury'' got close they separated and he was only able to capture one of them and that after a chase of eight hours. The quarry fired a few shots and then struck. She was the French privateer brig ''Trois Sœurs''. She was pierced for 18 guns but carried sixteen 6-pounders. She was five days out of port on her first cruise.
off the Burlings. ''Mercury'' captured her after a chase of five hours. ''Constance'' was pierced for 18 guns but carried only twelve 6 and 9-pounders, and had a crew of 96 men. She was ten days out off Nantes on a cruise of the Western Islands.

Rodgers then took ''Mercury'' to Newfoundland in June 1798. After returning to Portsmouth for a refit in early 1799, she went back there in 1799. On 6 October she captured ''San Joce''. On 16 December 1799 she captured ''Hosprung''.

On 24 January 1800, ''Mercury'' was off Scilly when she recaptured the ship ''Aimwell''. ''Aimwell'', of Whitby, had been sailing from Quebec to London when the French privateer ''Arriege'', of Bordeaux, had captured her on 9 January. On 29 March, ''Mercury'' was among the ships that shared in the capture of . The other captors were , , , ''Haerlem'', , and ''Salamine''.

''Mercury'' captured the French privateer brig on 5 February 1800 off the Isle of Wight. ''Egyptienne'' mounted 15 brass guns and had a crew of 66 men. She had sailed from Cherbourg the evening before and had not yet taken any prizes. As she was striking her colours her crew suddenly discharged a volley of small arms fire that slightly wounded one man on ''Mercury''. Apparently was in company or perhaps in sight at the time.

After spending a period in the English Channel, ''Mercury'' then sailed for the Mediterranean in May 1800. She was briefly part of Sir John Borlase Warren's squadron off Cadiz, after which she went on to Alexandria, arriving there on 31 July 1800.

On 5 January 1801, ''Mercury'' captured a French tartan, of unknown name, sailing from Marseilles to Cette in ballast. Then the next day, ''Mercury'' had greater luck when with her boats she captured 15 vessels of a convoy of 20 vessels. The captures included two ships, four brigs, three bombards, two settees, and four tartans. The convoy was sailing from Cette to Marseilles when ''Mercury'' captured three-quarters of it off Minorca. The gunboats escorting the convoy fled as ''Mercury'' approached, so she suffered no casualties.

The vessels included the:
* Genoese ship ''Rhone'', with a cargo of salt, brandy, wine, and fruit;
* Genoese ship ''St. John'', with a cargo of wine;
* French brig ''Maria Josephine'', with a cargo of brandy, wheat, and sugar;
* French brig ''Solide'', with a cargo of brandy and wheat;
* French brig ''Cheri'', with a cargo of salt;
* Genoese brig ''St Carola'', with a cargo of wine and brandy;
* Genoese bombard ''Compte de Grasse'', with a cargo of wheat and stock fish;
* French bomb ''Paste'', with a cargo of wine and brandy;
* Genoese bombard ''St Andre'', with a cargo of wheat and sugar;
* French settee ''Bone'', with a cargo of wine;
* French settee ''Republican'', with a cargo of wine;
* French tartan ''Croisette'', with a cargo of wheat;
* French tartan ''St Ivado Pierre'', with a cargo of wheat and staves;
* French tartan ''Rosaria'', with a cargo of wine and bread; and
* French tartan '' Madona'', with a cargo of wheat.

On 20 January 1801, the day after Rogers had safely delivered his prizes to Port Mahon, he was some off Sardinia when ''Mercury'' captured the French corvette after a chase of nine hours. She was a French navy corvette under the command of Citoyen Gabriel Renault, Lieutenant de Vaisseau. She carried 18 long brass 9-pounders and two howitzers. The reason she did not resist was that she had a crew of only 15 men. She had sailed from Toulon the day before and was carrying a cargo of shot, arms, medicines, and all manner of other supplies for the French army at Alexandria, Egypt. The Admiralty took ''Sans Pareille'' into service as HMS ''Delight''.

On 17 February 1801, ''Mercury'' detained the Swedish brig ''Hoppet'', which was sailing in ballast from Tunis to Marseilles, in violation of the British blockaded of France. The next day, ''Mercury'', in company with , captured the ship ''Esperance'', which had sailed from Tunis with a cargo of silk, cotton, and other merchandise. Then on 15 May, ''Mercury'' and captured the French ship ''Francois''.

''Mercury'' then made an attempt to recapture the 18-gun bomb vessel at Ancona on 25 May 1801. The cutting out party was able to get ''Bulldog'' out of the harbour, but then the winds died down just as enemy boats started to arrive. The cutting out party were too few in numbers both to guard the captured prisoners and resist the approaching enemy, and were tired from the row in to board ''Bulldog''. ''Mercury'' had drifted too far away to come to the rescue either. The cutting out party therefore abandoned ''Bulldog''. ''Mercury'' lost two men killed and four wounded in the attempt; Rogers estimated that the enemy had lost some 20 men killed, wounded and drowned.

On 23 June 1801 boats from ''Mercury'' and destroyed the pirate tartane ''Tigre'', of eight 6 and 12-pounder guns and a crew of 60 French and Italians, in the Tremiti Islands. The Royal Marines landed and captured some of the pirates, who had mounted a 4-pounder gun on a hill. Meanwhile, the cutting out party brought out ''Tigre'', together with bales of cotton and other goods that she had taken from vessels she had robbed.

Though the first attempt to recapture ''Bulldog'' had failed, a second effort on 16 September 1801, carried out in company with and , succeeded. Rogers had received intelligence that ''Bulldog'' had left Ancona and was escorting four trabaccolos and a tartane that were carrying cannons, ammunition, and supplies to Egypt. ''Mercury'' set out with ''Champion'' and they discovered ''Santa Dorothea'' already in chase. The convoy took refuge under the guns of batteries at Gallipoli, Apulia. Even so, ''Champion'' was able to get close to ''Bulldog'', which struck after receiving several broadsides. ''Champion'' was then able to extricate ''Bulldog'' from under the batteries. In the meantime, ''Mercury'' captured one of the trabaccolos, which was carrying brass mortars, field pieces, and the like. In the engagement, ''Champion'' suffered one man killed.

Napoleonic Wars

''Mercury'' was fitted out as a floating battery at Deptford in May 1803, under the command of Captain Duncombe Pleydell-Bouverie. She went on to operate against Spanish shipping in the Eastern Atlantic and captured the ''Fuerte de Gibraltar'' on 4 February 1805. ''Fuerte de Gibraltar'' was a Spanish lateen-rigged gun-vessel armed with two long 12-pounders, two 16-pound carronades, several swivel guns, and a large quantity of small arms and cutlasses. She and her crew of 59 men were under the command of ''Lieutenant de fregate'' Signor Don Ramon Eutate, and had sailed the morning before from Cadiz bound for Algeciras.

Captain Charles Pelly succeeded Bouverie in August 1805 and ''Mercury'' returned to Newfoundland in May 1806. On 3 January 1806 recaptured the ships ''Argo'' and ''Adventure'', and shared in the recapture of the ''Good Intent''. ''Starr'' was off Villa de Conde, Portugal, when she intercepted the vessels, which had been taken from a convoy that ''Mercury'' had been escorting from Newfoundland to Portugal, and both of which had been carrying cargoes of fish. ''Starr'' sighted ''Good Intent'' and signaled ''Mercury'', which recaptured her too. On 5 February, captured ''Baltidore'', which was the privateer that had captured ''Good Intent''.

In June 1807 James Alexander Gordon took command and sailed ''Mercury'' into the Mediterranean to operate off the Southern Spanish coast. In the action of 4 April 1808, ''Mercury'', in company with and , attacked a Spanish convoy off Rota, destroying two of the escorts and driving many of the merchant vessels ashore. They captured seven more vessels subsequently, which the marines and sailors of the British ships sailed back out to sea.

In November 1808, command passed to Henry Duncan, who took her into the Adriatic Sea to participate in the Adriatic campaign of 1804–1814. On 30 December, ''Mercury'' and ''Alceste'' captured the ''Hereux'' and the ''Spirito Santo''.

''Mercury'' was in action with and at Pesaro on 23 April and at Cesenatico on 2 May. In the attack on Pesaro, which the British bombarded after the commandant refused to surrender, the British captured 13 small coasting vessels. Due to the lack of resistance the British suffered no casualties. One civilian died by accident. ''Mercury'' grounded during the attack on Cesenatico but in a position where she could bring her guns to bear on the town. She was floated off without injury. In the attack the British captured and spiked the two 24-pounder guns of a battery that had fired on them and captured 12 vessels, all without suffering any casualties.

In June ''Mercury'' sent in her boats to destroy a number of trabaccolos and other vessels on the beach at Rotti, near Manfredonia.

On 7 September ''Mercury'' cut out the French schooner-of-war ''Pugliese'' from Barletta. ''Pugliese'' was armed with seven guns and had a crew of 37 men. The boats, under the command of Lieutenant Pall, accomplished this despite the schooner being under the protection not only of her own armament but also two armed feluccas, a castle, and small arms fire; the British suffered no casualties. This was ''Mercury''s last action before she was paid off in early 1810.

''Mercury'' was fitted out as a troopship at Woolwich in mid-1810 and commissioned in May that year as a 16-gun troopship under Lieutenant William Webb. Commander John Tancock succeeded Webb in mid-1810 and ''Mercury'' spent most of 1811 on the Lisbon station. Commander Clement Milward took over in November 1811 and went out to the Leeward Islands. ''Mercury''s last commanding officer was Commander Sir John Charles Richardson, who took over while she was still in the Leewards.

On 29 July 1813, ''Mercury'' was among the British vessels that shared in the capture of the American ship ''Fame''. ( was another.) ''Fame'', under the command of Captain Job Coffin, had been out since August 1811 and was on her return from whaling in the Pacific when captured. She had a cargo of 1200 barrels of sperm oil.

Fate

''Mercury'' was finally broken up at Woolwich in January 1814.

Notes

Citations

References

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External links

Phillips, Michael – ''Ships of the Old Navy''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercury (1779)
Ships built in Rotherhithe
1779 ships
Sixth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy
Floating batteries of the Royal Navy