HMS Moselle (1804)

HMS ''Moselle'' was a ''Cruizer''-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1804. She served during the Napoleonic Wars in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, and the North American station. She was sold in 1815.

Career

Commander Robert Simpson commissioned her in December 1804 for the Downs. Commander John Surnam Carden replaced Simpson on 21 December 1804. ''Moselle'' shared with and in the proceeds of the ''Jonge Obyna'', Smidt, master, on 13 June. That same day they also captured the ''Sophia''. The final payment for ''Jonge Obyna'' and ''Sophia'' did not get paid out until June 1817.

After Admiral Lord Nelson defeated the French and Spanish fleets at the battle of Trafalgar on 21 October, ''Moselle'' was at the blockade of Cadiz. On 25 November, detained the Ragusan ship ''Nemesis'', which was sailing from Isle de France to Leghorn, Italy, with a cargo of spice, indigo dye, and other goods. ''Moselle'' shared the prize money with ten other British warships.

In the aftermath of Trafalgar, four French frigates and the brig ''Furet'' took refuge at Cadiz, where they remained into February 1806. To try to lure them out, Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood pulled his ships-of-the-line ten leagues out to sea, leaving only the frigate , under the Captain George Mundy, and ''Moselle'' in close blockade. On 23 February a strong easterly wind drove the British off their station, which led the French commander, Captain Louis-Charles-Auguste Delamarre de Lamellerie, to seize the opportunity to escape. On the evening of 26 February ''Hydra'' and ''Moselle'' were three leagues west of the Cadiz lighthouse when they sighted the French vessels. Mundy began firing rockets and alarm guns to alert Collingwood, while sailing parallel to the escaping French squadron. Mundy then sent Carden in ''Moselle'' to try locate the British fleet. On the morning of 27 February ''Moselle'' reached Collingwood, who dispatched three frigates to try to catch the French. In the meantime, ''Hydra'' had managed to isolate the French brig from her companions, and after a two-hour chase, captured ''Furet''. The French frigates did not come to their brig's aid, and after firing a ''pro forma'' broadside, ''Furet'' surrendered. Under the rules of prize-money, ''Moselle'' shared in the proceeds of the capture of ''Furet''. During the next six months, Lamellerie's frigate squadron cruised the Atlantic, visiting Senegal, Cayenne and the West Indies, but failed significantly to disrupt British trade.

On 22 January 1806 Commander Alexander Gordon was appointed to replace Carden. However, on 30 January Carden was still in command when ''Moselle'' captured ''Hope'', Webber, master, which was condemned as a prize at Gibraltar.

Later in 1806 ''Moselle'' was apparently in the Gulf of Mexico. Lieutenant J. Lamont was severely wounded while boarding an enemy vessel there.Allen (1850), p. 105, n° 46.

Gordon sailed ''Moselle'' for the Mediterranean on 7 January 1807. She returned home by the end of 1807.

On 26 October 1807, Tsar Alexander I of Russia declared war on Great Britain. The official news did not arrive there until 2 December, at which time the British declared an embargo on all Russian vessels in British ports. ''Moselle'' was one of some 70 vessels that shared in the seizure of the 44-gun Russian frigate ''Speshnoy'' (''Speshnyy''), then in Portsmouth harbour. The British seized the Russian storeship ''Wilhelmina'' (''Vilghemina'') at the same time. The Russian vessels were carrying the payroll for Vice-Admiral Dmitry Senyavin’s squadron in the Mediterranean.

''Moselle'' then sailed for Jamaica on 16 January 1808. In September ''Moselle'' recaptured the ''Ballahoo''-class schooner .James (1837), Vol. 5, p.46. At the end of 1808 Gordon was invalided home. His successor as captain of ''Moselle'' was Commander George Gustavus Lennock, who returned home in February.

Commander Henry Boyes (or Boys) assumed command during 1809. He was in command on 20 March when ''Moselle'' carried Brigadier-General Joseph French and his staff from Jamaica to St Domingo and brought General Carmichael back to Jamaica. One payment of prize money occurred in October 1832.

Next, ''Moselle'' captured the French navy schooner ''Beau Narcisse'' on 18 May 1809. ''Beau Narcisse'' had a crew of 55 men under the command of ''enseigne de vaisseau'' Luis Ores. She had left St Domingo on 7 May on a cruise.

When foundered in a gale off Cape Causada (Point Palenqua), San Domingo, on 3 August, ''Moselle'' rescued three survivors.

On 18 June 1810, ''Moselle'' fired on the sloop off Barbados. Boys apologized to the Americans, reporting that he had been unable to make out her colours and that he thought she might be a French privateer that he was seeking. The Americans suffered one casualty, a man wounded in the mouth by a splinter.

Commander Charles Crackenthorp Askew replaced Boys on 26 November 1811, at Jamaica.

On 3 March 1812 Lieutenant James Stirling received temporary command of ''Moselle''. Three months later her received promotion to the rank of Commander and moved to . Thereafter ''Moselle'' was under the command of Commander George Mowbray (or Moubray) on the North America station. He was appointed to command her 26 January 1812 and remained in command until 31 March 1813.

During the War of 1812 ''Moselle'' captured several American merchant vessels. First she captured the ''Anna'', bound to Kingston with a cargo of cotton and cattle (24 August 1812). The second prize was the ''San Nicholas'' (19 September). Third came the ''Experiment'', on 28 September. The ship ''Venus'' (14 October 1812), which was sailing from Philadelphia to Santiago de Cuba was next. Then she captured the schooner ''Magnolia'' (4 November), which was sailing from Rio de Janeiro to Havana. Next she captured the brig ''Osprey'' (30 December), which was sailing from Rio Grande to Havana. ''Moselle'' recaptured the brig ''Lord Wellington''. ''Moselle'' was among the 19 vessels that shared in the proceeds for the capture of the American ship ''Herman'' on 21 June. Lastly, ''Moselle'' captured the American schooner ''Climax'' on 17 November 1813.

During this period, in October 1812, Commander Hutton Dawson replaced Mowbray, but Dawson died in February 1813. Dawson's replacement was Commander John Kinsman. Commander John Moberley replaced Kinsman in July.

''Moselle'' returned to Britain in July. When she did so, she had as a passenger George Augustus Westphal, whose vessel, , had just been condemned at Jamaica.

''Moselle'' then returned to the American theatre. In 1814, acting Lieutenant Joseph Hyett was severely wounded in her boats in an action against a pirate schooner at Vera Cruz. Still, he led ''Moselle''s boats in the capture of a 600-ton (bm) U.S. merchantman near the fort in Charleston Bay.

''Moselle'' then served in the Chesapeake Bay, and at New Orleans. At New Orleans Hyett suffered from frostbite that led to the amputation of his right leg.Allen (1850), p. 135, n° 64.

On 9 March 1815 the US privateer ''Kemp'', Captain Joseph Almeda, captured the British merchantman , James Simpson, master, which was off Cuba while sailing from Liverpool to Jamaica with porter, soap, potatoes, hams, cheese, etc. On 3 April and ''Moselle'', recaptured ''Ottawa''. The London merchant James Strachan Glennie protested the recapture, acting on behalf of ''Kemp'' and Joseph Almeda, arguing that the recapture had occurred during the period the Treaty of Ghent had established for restitution of captures. The Vice admiralty court of Jamaica found for Glennie.

Fate

On 22 November 1815, the navy offered ''Moselle'' for sale at Deptford. The navy sold ''Moselle'' on 14 December 1815 for £850.

Notes

Citations

References

*Allen, Joseph (1850) ''The New Navy List and General Record of the Services of Officers of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines''. (London: Parker, Furnivall, and Parker).
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Moselle (1804)
1804 ships
Cruizer-class brig-sloops
War of 1812 ships of the United Kingdom