HMS Minerva (1805)

HMS ''Minerva'' was a 32-gun fifth-rate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1805 at Deptford. Her namesake was the Roman goddess Minerva.

A wartime lack of building materials meant that ''Minerva'' and her class were built to the outdated 50-year-old design of the , and were thus smaller than many contemporary frigates.Winfield, British Warships, p. 494.

Service history

From February 1806 ''Minerva'' served under Captain George Collier in the English Channel.Winfield, British Warships, p. 497. On 27 April she took the 14-gun Spanish privateer ''La Finisterre'' with . ''Minerva'' then took part in a number of small-boat operations on the coast, including taking an 8-gun fort and cutting out 5 Spanish coasters on 22 June.Laird Clowes, The Royal Navy vol. 5, p.384. For this action her First Lieutenant, William Mulcaster, received a sword of £50 value from Lloyd's Patriotic Fund. On 11 July of the same year, her barge successfully took the 1-gun lugger ''La Buena Dicha'' after a chase of nearly 40 miles around Guarda.

On 29 October while reconnoitering the approaches to Pontevedra, ''Minerva'' cut out 2 chasse marées from Porto Novo, and 2 days later her barge took a Spanish lugger which had sailed from Avilés. Staying active, Captain Collier led the ship's cutter and barge to take a 24-pounder gun-boat and 30 men on 2 October, still in the vicinity of Pontevedra.

Alongside she recaptured the schooner off the Cape Verde islands on 17 February 1807; ''Jackdaw'' had been captured only the day before.Winfield, British Warships, p. 497. In October 1807 ''Minerva'' was serving alongside and , sharing in ''Naiad''s prize of the ship ''Vigilante''. By the end of the year Captain Richard Hawkins had assumed command.Winfield, British Warships, p. 497. On 17–18 March 1808, ''Minerva'' captured the Spanish ships ''La Purissima Consecion'', ''La Caroline'', and a lugger.

''Minerva'' continued serving off the Spanish and French coasts, taking the 8-gun privateer ''La Joséphine'' on 23 September 1808. ''La Joséphine'' overset in a gale as she was captured, and ''Minerva'' was only able to save 16 of the 50-man crew.Michael Phillips
''Minerva'' (32) (1805)
Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 5 March 2021. In October 1808 she took the 14-gun ''L'Améthyste'' and on 14 April 1809 the Danish brig ''Edward''. By August 1809 ''Minerva'' was serving off Ushant and took the ''Carl Ludwig'' alongside , , , and on 2 August. She took another ship, the chasse marée ''Le Bienfaisant'', on 10 August. ''Minerva'' continued this run of successful captures into October, taking the French ships ''L'Emerance'' and ''L'Emulation'' on 3 and 12 October respectively and the chasse marée ''La Victoire'' 8 days later.

By 3 December 1810 ''Minerva'' was part of the joint expedition of Vice-Admiral Sir Albemarle Bertie and Major-General John Abercrombie which successfully captured Isle de France. On 28 December she detained the ship ''Mary'' while in company with and . She sailed for Newfoundland on 6 May 1811, participating in convoy duties from North America to the West Indies between 1812 and 1813.

French frigate ''L'Artimise''

On 18 August 1808, ''Minerva'' possibly destroyed the French 40-gun frigate ''L'Artimise'' near Brest.Winfield, British Warships, p. 498. The London Gazette shows that head money was paid to the crew on 5 March 1811, while chroniclers in 1828 describe elements of the Brest blockading squadron chasing her ashore.Urban, The Gentleman's Magazine, p. 413. However, there is no concrete evidence of such a ship existing on the French establishment. The previous was destroyed at the Battle of the Nile in 1787. William O'Byrne suggests it was a new ship that Charles Dashwood fought in 1801, however, William James could find no evidence of the existence of a ''L'Artémise'' apart from Dashwood's engagement and her reported destruction by ''Minerva'' in 1808.James, Naval History of Great Britain Vol. 3, pp. 147-8. Thus, while it is assured that ''Minerva'' destroyed a ship by running it ashore on 18 August 1808, the identity of that ship is unknown.

Fate

In 1814 ''Minerva'' was put in ordinary at Sheerness and was broken up there in February 1815.

Citations

References

* Clowes, William Laird (1898) ''The Royal Navy: A History from the Earliest Times to 1900 Volume Five.'' Sampson Low, Marston and Company.
* James, William (1859) ''The Naval History of Great Britain, Volume 3.'' Cambridge University Press.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Minerva (1805)
Ships built in Deptford
1805 ships
Fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy