HMS ''Port Royal'' was the former French armed merchant vessel ''Comte de Maurepas'', which the British captured in 1778. The British armed her with 18 guns and took her into the
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 ...
under her new name. The Spanish captured her at the
Siege of Pensacola
The siege of Pensacola was a siege fought in 1781, the culmination of Spain's conquest of the British province of West Florida during the Gulf Coast campaign.
Background
When Spain entered the War in 1779, Bernardo de Gálvez, the energetic ...
in 1781.
Capture
On 13 October 1778, the squadron under Captain Joseph Deane in captured ''Comte de Maurepas'' off
Cap-François on 13 October 1778. ''Comte de Maurepas'' was of 500 tons burthen (
bm), was armed with eight guns, and had a crew of 32 men under Charles Bailly, master. She had been carrying a cargo of bricks and bale goods from Nantes.
Rear-Admiral
Parker Parker may refer to:
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ordered her purchase. She was purchased on 8 December at a cost of £4,900. The British re-measured her as 463 tons (bm), armed her with eighteen 6-pounder guns and a dozen swivel guns; as ''Port Royal'', she was commissioned under Commander Michael John Everitt on 1 January 1779 with a complement of 125 men.
By the start of June 1779, Everitt had been succeeded in charge of ''Port Royal'' by Commander John Cowling, who remained in command until December 1779. Everitt was transferred as commander (acting captain) to , a 64-gun
third rate
In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third r ...
ship of the line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...
, as a replacement for Captain Joseph Deane, who was unwell. (Deane died on 12 January 1780). On 2 June, ''Ruby'' was in company with and the sloop when they encountered the French 36-gun frigate ''Prudente''. The British gave chase, during which a chance shot from ''Prudente''s stern guns killed Everitt and a sailor. The British captured , which they took into service under her existing name.
Fate
''Port Royal'', came under the command of Commander Timothy Kelly on 13 January 1780.
In 1781 he sailed to Pensacola to assist the British forces there, which were under siege. The
Siege of Pensacola
The siege of Pensacola was a siege fought in 1781, the culmination of Spain's conquest of the British province of West Florida during the Gulf Coast campaign.
Background
When Spain entered the War in 1779, Bernardo de Gálvez, the energetic ...
lasted from 9 March 1781 to 8 May. On 10 March the Spaniards captured a boat and nine men from ''Port Royal'' who had gone foraging to Rose Island. On 23 March, Kelly was ordered to bring his crew ashore to help man the shore defenses. The plan was to destroy the sloop if necessary, but in the interim the British put some of their Spanish prisoners aboard to keep them out of the hands of Britain's Indian allies. Unfortunately, on 1 April the Spanish sent in some boats that captured ''Port Royal'' without resistance. On 4 May one of ''Port Royal''s crew was badly wounded by a cannon ball; he later died. Another of her crew was killed two days later.
The last Spanish assault on 8 May cost ''Port Royal'' Midshipman John Blair and 12 seaman killed, and five seamen wounded. Three seamen took the opportunity to desert.
All these casualties occurred in the advanced redoubt.
[Feldman (2007), p.219.] The British formally capitulated on 10 May 1781 and the Spanish seized
Fort George and with it western Florida.
In his report, Major-General
John Campbell, the British commander, singled out Lieutenant
William Hargood
Admiral of the White Sir William Hargood (6 May 1762 – 12 December 1839) was a British naval officer who served with distinction through the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars, during which he g ...
, who had joined ''Port Royal'' in January 1780, for his service in command of the Royal Navy redoubt at Fort George. The Spanish took their British prisoners to Havana, and then returned them to the British in New York in an exchange for Spanish prisoners of war.
Notes
Citations
References
*
*Feldman, Lawrence H. (2007) ''Colonization and Conquest: British Florida in the Eighteenth Century''. (Genealogical Publishing).
*
*Nelson, Viscount Horatio Nelson (1845) ''The dispatches and letters of Vice Admiral Lord Viscount Nelson: with notes, Volume 1''. (H. Colburn).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Port Royal (1778)
1770s ships
Ships of the Royal Navy
Captured ships