HMS Reindeer (1804)

HMS ''Reindeer'' (also ''Rein Deer'') was a Royal Navy 18-gun of the Royal Navy, built by Samuel & Daniel Brent at Rotherhithe and was launched in 1804. She was built of fir, which made for more rapid construction at the expense of durability. ''Reindeer'' fought in the Napoleonic Wars before succumbing in 1814 to the guns of during the War of 1812.

Caribbean

In September 1804 Commander John Fyffe commissioned ''Reindeer'' and on 21 November sailed for the Jamaica station, of which Rear-Admiral Dacres was the C-in-C. On 7 March 1805 she and captured the Spanish privateer schooner ''Santa Rosalía Golondrina'' after a chase of over five hours. During the chase the Spaniard threw her three guns − one 8-pounder and two 4-pounders - overboard. She was under the command of Francisco de Naras and had a crew of 57 men. The privateer had left Caliodam in Cuba the previous day for a fourteen-day cruise but had taken no prizes. Fyffe sent her in to Port Royal with ''Hunter''.

Then, on 13 September ''Reindeer'' captured the French privateer ''Renommée'', of two 6-pounder guns. ''Reindeer''s crew had had to labour at the sweeps for some six hours under a hot sun before they were able to reach their quarry. ''Renommée'' had a crew of 40 men and was most recently out of Baracoa. On this cruise she had taken no prizes.

Early in March 1805, ''Reindeer'' and sent two boats each, under the command of Lieutenant John Kelly Tudor of ''Reindeer'', to cut out a 4-gun schooner from under a battery in Aguadilla Bay, Puerto Rico.

On 24 March 1806, off Puerto Rico, ''Reindeer'' encountered two French brigs, ''Phaéton'' and , each of sixteen 6-pounder guns. The vessels exchanged fire for some four hours. ''Reindeer'' succeeded in damaging the French brigs before they escaped; ''Reindeer'' too had some damage but no casualties. Two days later captured the two French brigs. ''Phaéton'', under the command of ''Lieutenant de vaisseau'' Saulces de Freycinet, was sailing to the Antilles when she was captured near Santo Domingo. The Admiralty took ''Phaeton'' into British service as ''Mignonne'' and ''Voltigeur'' as ''Pelican''.

Then on 21 April, off Cape St. Nicholas in San Domingo, ''Reindeer'' captured the French privateer schooner ''Creole''. She was pierced for 14 guns but only mounted six, not including swivel guns. She had a crew of 59 and had put another 16 men on prizes. ''Creole'' had a reputation for being the fastest vessel in those waters; Fyffe believed that he would not have caught her if ''Creole''s captain had not been so confident that he could outrun ''Reindeer'' that he tried to cut in front of her bow to gain the wind. ''Reindeer'' also destroyed another small privateer of two guns. The crew, however, escaped.

In January 1807 ''Reindeer'' shared, with , and in the proceeds of a number of captures. On 18 January they captured ''Santa Cecilia''. Two days later they captured the schooner ''Mary''. Then on 4 February they captured ''Friends''. Later that February Commander Peter John Douglas replaced Fyffe in command of ''Reindeer''.

On 13 October as ''Reindeer'' was chasing a suspicious schooner when came up and cut the quarry off, which then struck. The vessel turned out to be ''Amor de la Patria'', under Captain Josse de Tournecy. She was armed with three guns and had a crew of 63 men. She was five days out of St. Jago ( Santiago de Cuba) but had not taken any prizes.

On 21 December, after a 10-hour chase, ''Reindeer'' captured the French schooner privateer ''Experiment'', under Captain Antoine Corocco, off Tiberon in the extreme south-west of Haiti. She was armed with two guns and carrying 40 men and had made no captures in the three weeks since she had left Baracoa in Cuba. Then on 25 January 1808, off Point Picolet in San Domingo, ''Reindeer'' chased and captured the French privateer schooner ''Lyonnaise'', under Captain Jean Tessier. ''Lyonnaise'' was pierced for 12 guns but only mounted five; she had a crew of 85 men and was eight days out of Baracoa. Two days later, Douglas, learning of a privateer rendezvous, managed to run one of them ashore where her crew abandoned her. ''Reindeer'' brought the 3-gun vessel off the shore without much trouble. Douglas then sailed for Port Royal with her. As he had 90 prisoners on board and 30 men away in prizes Douglas apparently feared an uprising.

On 10 November 1808, ''Reindeer'', , , , and met by chance. The captains got together and decided to capture the town and port of Samana in order to assist the Spanish patriots that had established a blockade of San Domingo. The town was also the last port of refuge for privateers to the windward of San Domingo and the enemy were in the act of erecting batteries for its protection. The British entered the following day and took possession of the harbour. Captain Charles Dashwood of ''Franchise'' handed Samana over to a Spanish officer, Don Diego de Lira, who guaranteed the safety of the French inhabitants on their plantations.

During the following week the British captured two French 5-gun privateer schooners. One was ''Guerrière'', Louis Telin, master, with a crew of 110 men; the other was ''Exchange'' with a crew of 104. The British also took three merchant vessels, the schooner ''Diana'' and a brig, both laden with fish, and the sloop ''Brutus'', laden with coffee.

On 1 November His Majesty's schooner escorted two schooners that ''Reindeer'' had cut out of a port at San Domingo.

On the morning of 16 November ''Reindeer'' and ''Pert'' re-captured the English ship ''Jeannet'', R. Bradshaw, master, of 10 guns and 185 tons ( bm). She had been bound from London to Havana with bale goods and was running for Samana harbour with a prize crew after being taken by a privateer. The two British sloops also captured another prize, the 350 ton (bm) Spanish ship ''St. Erasmo'', A. Gerona, master, sailing from Malaga to Havana with wine and bale goods.

In 1809 ''Reindeer'' was in the North Sea. On 8 March she captured the French naval 1-gun schooner-aviso ''Mouche №13''. ''Mouche №13'' was under the command of ''enseigne de vaisseau'' Detcheverry and was carrying dispatches from Brest to San Domingo when ''Reindeer'' captured her west of the Azores. Then on 4 November ''Reindeer'' sailed for Jamaica again under Commander Christopher Crackenthorp Askew.

Channel

In 1811 ''Reindeer'' came under the command of Commander Nicholas Lechmere Pateshall. In August she was in Plymouth, where Commander Daniel Ross took command. His successor, in 1813, was Commander William Manners.

During 1813 ''Reindeer'' captured several vessels, including some privateers. On 2 February ''Reindeer'' and captured the Baltimore letter of marque schooner ''Cashier'', which was armed with two 12-pounder guns and four 12-pounder carronades, and under the command of Captain George Wilson. The capture followed a chase during which the American vessel lost one man killed and several wounded out of her crew of 40.

Then on 19 March ''Reindeer'' captured the French brig ''Pandour''. Next, on 6 April, ''Reindeer'' was in company with when they captured the American private schooner of war ''Shadow''. On 15 July ''Reindeer'' was in company with when ''Whiting'' recaptured ''Friends''. On 22 November, ''Reindeer'' captured the French 14-gun privateer lugger '' Spéculation''. She was five days out of St Malo but had taken nothing. Lastly, ''Reindeer'' shared in the prize money arising from her sister ship 's recapture of ''Racehorse'' on 13 December.

On 28 June 1814 ''Reindeer'' encountered the American sloop ''Wasp'', under the command of Johnston Blakely about 500 miles west of Ushant. In the resulting action ''Reindeer'' suffered 25 killed, including her commander, and 42 men wounded, out of a total of 98 men and 20 boys, and she was forced to surrender. Key factors in the fight were that ''Wasp''s crew greatly outnumbered ''Reindeer''s, and ''Wasp''s broadside was much heavier than ''Reindeer''s.James (1837), Vol. 6, pp.428-32. At the time of the battle, ''Reindeer'' had 24-pounder carronades instead of her original 32-pounder carronades because of her age and weakness.

Fate

The following day, on 29 June 1814, Blakely decided ''Reindeer'' was too badly damaged and set fire to her.

Notes

Citations

References

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* Fonds Marine. Campagnes (opérations ; divisions et stations navales ; missions diverses). Inventaire de la sous-série Marine BB4. Tome premier : BB4 210 à 482 (1805–1826

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* Southey, Thomas (1827) ''Chronological history of the West Indies''. (London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green; republished Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture).
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External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Reindeer (1804)
Cruizer-class brig-sloops
Ships built in Rotherhithe
War of 1812 ships of the United Kingdom
1804 ships
Maritime incidents in 1814
Captured ships
Ships in art