HMS Sheldrake (1806)

HMS ''Sheldrake'' was a Royal Navy 16-gun ''Seagull''-class brig-sloop. She was built in Hythe and launched in 1806. She fought in the Napoleonic Wars and at the Battle of Anholt during the Gunboat War. She was stationed in the mouth of the river Loire in 1814 after Napoleon's abdication to prevent his escape to America. She was sold in 1816.

Channel Islands

Commander John Thicknesse commissioned ''Sheldrake'' in April 1806 for the Channel Islands. On 12 October 1806, ''Sheldrake'' was in company with , and the hired armed cutter ''Britannia'' sailing to reconnoiter Saint Malo when they spotted and gave chase to a strange sail near Cape Fréhel. The British squadron chased the vessel, mostly using their sweeps, and at noon caught up with her. She had taken refuge on shore and near the rocks at Bouche d'Arkie (Bay of Erqui), under the protection of the French battery on the hill and some troops and field pieces. Captain Burrowes of ''Constance'' decided to attack. At 2pm a two-hour action began, during which both Burrowes and the French captain were killed. During the battle, ''Constance'' too ran aground. Thickness sent his first lieutenant in boats to take possession of the French vessel after she struck.

The French vessel was the frigate-built transport ''Salamander'', armed with twenty-six long 12 and 18-pounder guns and carrying a crew of 150. She had been sailing from Saint Malo to Brest with a cargo of ship timber. A month earlier, ''Constance'', ''Strenuous'' and had run the same ship on shore before leaving her, apparently wrecked.

Thicknesse was unable to get either vessel off the rocks. He was, however, able to get many of ''Constance''s officers and crew on board ''Sheldrake''. When her crew abandoned ''Constance'', under heavy fire from shore, they could not set her on fire because of the number of wounded still on board. A party of her crew made a second attempt to retrieve her, but all were killed or captured. Next morning, ''Sheldrake'' destroyed ''Salamander'' by gunfire. At that time Thicknesse saw that the action of the sea had destroyed ''Constance''.

Casualties were heavy. ''Sheldrake'' herself had lost one man killed and two wounded. ''Strenuous'' had had five men wounded. The casualty list for ''Constance'' was incomplete because a number of men may have been taken prisoner when they took to the boats or swam ashore. ''Sheldrake'' had about 100 of the crew on board her. Burrowes and eight others were known killed, and four others later died of their wounds. Twelve more aboard ''Sheldrake'' were wounded, two badly. ''Sheldrake''s first lieutenant estimated that he had seen some 30 dead on ''Salamander''. In addition, ''Sheldrake'' had taken nine French wounded aboard, two of whom died.

Prize-taking

On 19 January 1809, ''Sheldrake'' captured a French vessel laden with wheat for the French army in Spain. Thicknesse put a prize crew aboard consisting of ''Sheldrake''s master, Mr. William Hubbard, a midshipman and ten crew men. He also retained two of her French crew on board. Thicknesse instructed Hubbard to follow ''Sheldrake'' to Guernsey, which was some 15 leagues away. During the night the prize sprang a leak and sank suddenly when her cargo of wheat clogged the pumps. Only one man survived. He had climbed into the rigging as she sank and after she sank was able to get to one of her boats that had providentially been left on deck and unfastened. ''Sheldrake'' recovered him the next morning.

Later in 1809, ''Sheldrake'', alone or with other British warships, captured a large number of Danish merchantmen.
*''Haversteen'' (6 May);
*''Anna Magdalina'' (9 May).
''Sheldrake'' with :
*''Drisden'' (17 May);
*Boat ''Anna Elizabeth'', (17 May);
*Sloop of unknown name (19 May);
*Empty boat, (21 May);
*Sloop ''Jute Jaghen'' (29 May);
*Sloop ''Selden'' (30 May).
Captured by ''Sheldrake''; ''Kite'' and sharing by agreement:
*''Vrou'' (15 June);
*Boat ''Denmark'' (22 July).
Captured by ''Sheldrake'', ''Leveret'' sharing by agreement:
*Sloop ''Folken'' (18 September).
Captured by ''Sheldrake'', ''Leveret'', and the gun-vessel :
*''Mackerel'' (10 October).
Captured by ''Sheldrake'', ''Leveret'' and sharing by agreement:
*''Jupiter'' (24 October).

On 16 November 1809, ''Sheldrake'' was in company with when they captured diverse vessels. Some prize money was paid almost nine years later, in June 1818. A first-class share of ''Rose''s portion was £17 8 s 2 d; a sixth-class share, i.e., the share of an ordinary seaman, was 7s d. Also on 16 November, ''Sheldrake'' captured ''St. Peter''. Prize money was paid some 11 years later.

In 1810 Commander James P. Stewart replaced Thicknesse, who was promoted to post-captain.

Battle of Anholt

At the beginning of March 1811 Vice Admiral Sir James Saumarez received information that the Danes would attack the island of Anholt, on which there was a garrison of British forces under Captain Maurice of the Royal Navy. sailed from Yarmouth on 20 March and anchored off the north end of the island on 26 March. On 27 March the garrison sighted the enemy off the south side of the island. Maurice marched to meet them with a battery of howitzers and 200 infantry, and signaled ''Tartar'' and ''Sheldrake''. The two vessels immediately set sail and tried to head south but the shoals forced them to swing wide, delaying them by many hours.

The Danes, who had eighteen heavy gunboats for support, landed some 1000 troops in the darkness and fog and attempted to outflank the British positions. They were poorly equipped and their attack was uncoordinated, with the result that the British batteries at Fort Yorke (the British base) and Massareenes stopped the assault. Gunfire from ''Tartar'' and ''Sheldrake'' forced the gunboats to move off westwards. The gunboats made their escape over the reefs while the ships had to sail around the outside. ''Tartar'' chased three gunboats towards Læsø but found herself in shoal water as night approached and gave up the chase. On the way back ''Tartar'' captured two Danish transports that she had passed while chasing the gunboats; one of them had 22 soldiers on board, with a considerable quantity of ammunition, shells and the like, while the other contained provisions.

''Sheldrake'' managed to capture two gunboats. First she captured ''Gunboat No. 9'', which struck without a fight. She was armed with two long 18-pounder guns and four brass howitzers. ''Gunboat No. 9'' had a crew of 65 men under the command of a Danish naval lieutenant. Stewart took the prisoners on board and set out for the largest lugger, which he captured at 8pm after the exchange of a few shots. The lugger proved to be ''Gunvessel No. 1''. She was armed with two long 24-pounders and four brass howitzers. She had a complement of 70 men under a Danish naval lieutenant but had only 60 on board when ''Sheldrake'' captured her. Stewart believed that from the number of shot the lugger had taken that she had lost many of her crew. ''Sheldrake'' had suffered little damage and no casualties. Having 40 more Danish prisoners on board than his own crew, Stewart chose not to attempt to catch any more Danish vessels though he did fire on some and may have sunk one.

The Danes on the western side managed to embark on board fourteen gunboats and make their escape. The Battle of Anholt cost the British only two killed and 30 wounded. The Danes lost their commander, three other officers, and 50 men killed. The British took, besides the wounded, five captains, nine lieutenants, and 504 ratings as prisoners, as well as three pieces of artillery, 500 muskets, and 6,000 rounds of ammunition. In addition, ''Sheldrake''s two captured gunboats resulted in another two lieutenants of the Danish Navy and 119 men falling prisoner. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Anholt 27 March 1811" to the remaining British survivors of the battle.

Prize-taking in the Baltic

On 5 July 1811 ''Sheldrake'' was in company with the third rates , , , and the gun-brig . The British warships were protecting a convoy of merchantmen. As they passed Hjelm Island a flotilla of 17 Dano-Norwegian gunboats and 10 rowboats came out to attack the convoy. The attackers lost four gunboats; the convoy had no losses. During the action, ''Sheldrake'' captured the Danish gunboats ''No. 2'', which was under the command of Lieutenant Jørgen Conrad de Falsen, and ''No. 5''.
In February 1812 Commander James Gifford replaced Stewart. On 11 April, ''Sheldrake'' was in company with when they captured the ''Fosogern''. On 13 May ''Sheldrake'' captured the ''Freihaden'' and on 11 August the ''Elias Jonas''. Then on 13 August Commander George Brine replaced Gifford.

At some point in the summer, ''Sheldrake'' assisted in destroying seven large British merchant vessels that had run aground near Stralsund. They were carrying a cargoes of hemp. The British were not able to get the vessels off due to the presence of 1500 French troops on cliffs above the vessels and so contented themselves with first scuttling the vessels and then setting them on fire.

On 16 October ''Sheldrake'' captured the French privateer ''Aimable D'Evrilly''. ''Sheldrake''s commander at the time was D. L. St. Clair, who apparently was promoted to the rank of commander on 12 November, that is, after having assumed command of the vessel. The capture took place in the vicinity of Möen Island. Prize money was paid in March 1818.

''Sheldrake'', now under the command of Captain George Brine, was in company with , when they captured the ''Aageroe'' on 6 November 1812. ''Sheldrake'' then captured the ''Ebenetzer'' on 16 March 1813.

Next, ''Sheldrake'' was in company with when they captured the vessels ''No. 35'' and ''Lilla Maria'' on 23 and 24 March 1813. By this time St. Clair was captain of ''Reynard''.

Between 23 May 1813 and 20 June ''Sheldrake'' was in company with and other vessels when they captured the ''Lilla Catherina'', Tonsberg packet, ''Bergen'', ''Cerberus'', ''Caron Maria'', ''Margaretha'', ''Diana'', ''Recovery'', ''Gebhardina'', and sundry boats and parcels of corn. Immediately thereafter, i.e., between 20 June 1813 and 24 July, ''Sheldrake'' was in company with , , , and . They captured the ''Erstatning'', ''Gode Hensight'', ''Freden'', ''Falken'', ''Freedshaabet'', a boat (name unknown), and "corn ex Sheldrake".

On 27 July ''Sheldrake'', ''Erebus'' and ''Thracian'' captured ''Forsoget'', ''Stephanus'' and ''Erskine''.

Fate

One of ''Sheldrake''s last assignments was to sit at the mouth of the Loire to prevent Napoleon from fleeing to America. joined her in this assignment, sitting further out to sea.

In about August 1815 ''Sheldrake'' was paid off into ordinary at Portsmouth. Brine was assigned to on 12 August and joined her on 25 August. On 6 March 1817 ''Sheldrake'' was sold at Chatham to Mr. Manclerk for £700.

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External links

Ships of the Old Navy

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheldrake (1806)
Brigs of the Royal Navy
1806 ships