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 ...

purchased the Newcastle collier ''Ramillies'' in June 1804 and commissioned her as HMS ''Proselyte'' in September 1804, having converted her to a 28-gun sixth rate in July and August. Between 1806 and 1808 she was converted to a bomb vessel. She was crushed by ice and abandoned in 1808 at the island of Anholt while acting as a lightvessel.

Service

''Proselyte'' was commissioned under Captain

George Hardinge George Hardinge (1743–1816) was an English judge, writer and Member of Parliament. Life He was born on 22 June (new style) 1743 at Canbury, a manorhouse in Kingston upon Thames. He was the third but eldest surviving son of Nicholas Hardinge, ...

in September 1804. Captain George Sayer was appointed to command her in January 1805. On 9 January 1805 he sailed her for the West Indies, escorting a convoy of 150 merchant vessels and three regiments of infantry. The convoy reached

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safely, having eluded the Rochefort squadron, under Rear-Admiral Allemand, who had found out about the convoy and was looking for it. Sayer moved to ''Galatea'' in July and Captain

John Woolcombe John Woolcombe (1680–1713) of Pitton in the parish of Yealmpton in Devon, was a Member of Parliament for Plymouth in Devon 1702–5, and served as Sheriff of Devon in 1711–12. He was the eldest son of John Woolcombe (d.1690) of Pitton by his ...

took command, sailing her back to Portsmouth in November. When ''Proselyte'' arrived at Portsmouth she was paid off into

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. Between December 1806 and April 1808 the Navy converted her to a bomb vessel. She was recommissioned in February 1808 under the command of Captain Henry James Lyford and sailed to the Baltic. During the

Gunboat War The Gunboat War (, ; 1807–1814) was a naval conflict between Denmark–Norway and the British during the Napoleonic Wars. The war's name is derived from the Danish tactic of employing small gunboats against the materially superior Royal Nav ...

on 2 October 1808 the Admiralty published a notice for mariners that it had ordered her to station herself off the island of Anholt in the Kattegat to carry a light for the safety of passing convoys. (At the outbreak of the war the Danes had closed their lighthouse on Anholt.) ''Proselyte'' took up her station in early November.

Loss

''Proselyte'' was caught in the ice on 5 December 1808 and was wrecked at the outer end of the Anholt reef. The ice pushed her onto her starboard beam, forcing her crew to abandon her. They then walked, with great difficulty but no losses, to Anholt Island. ''Proselyte's'' loss led the British to send a squadron in May consisting of , , and some smaller vessels to seize Anholt and restore the lighthouse.

Citations

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Proselyte (1804) Bomb vessels of the Royal Navy Sixth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy 1804 ships Maritime incidents in 1808