HMS Sophie (1809)

HMS ''Sophie'' was an 18-gun ''Cruizer'' class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. She served during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. During the War of 1812 ''Sophie'' participated in the economic war against American trade, capturing or destroying numerous small merchant vessels, and in an unsuccessful attack on Fort Bowyer, Alabama. Later, she moved to the East Indies where she served in the First Anglo-Burmese War. The Admiralty sold ''Sophie'' in 1825.

Construction and commissioning

''Sophie'' was launched and completed in 1809. She commissioned under Commander Nicholas Lockyer in October that year Lockyer was to command her for the next five years.

Initially, ''Sophie'' served out of Portsmouth. On 30 November 1810 ''Sophie'' recaptured the ship ''Fountain'', which a privateer had captured. ''Fountain'', Walker, master, had been sailing from Quebec to Lynn. She arrived at Ramsgate on 1 December.

War of 1812

On 14 August ''Sophie'' accompanied Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, who was sailing to Halifax, Nova Scotia, on , together with , , and . ''Magnet'' disappeared during the voyage and was presumed foundered with all hands. ''Sophie'' went on to have an active career taking prizes and operating against American privateers during the War of 1812.

Prize taking

On 10 May 1812 ''Sophie'' was in company with when they captured ''Brick''.

On 31 August ''Sophie'' captured the merchant vessel ''Alexander'', and on 25 November the brig ''Experience'' from Rio and bound for Boston. ''Sophie'' sent ''Experience'' (or ''Experiment'') into Bermuda.

On 11 December ''Sophie'' took the schooner ''Fanny and Maria'' and the ship ''Cyrus'', and on 16 December the schooner ''Eagle'' and the brig ''Little Arnold''. The American privateer ''Revenge'' had captured ''Cyrus'', Donaldson, master, on 17 November as she was sailing from Newfoundland to Jamaica. With ''Maidstone'', ''Sophie'' captured the ''Mary Ann'', sailing from Philadelphia to Charleston.

Her success continued the following year, when in January 1813 she made prizes of the schooners ''Polly Merrick'' from Norfolk and ''George Washington'' from Windsor, both bound for New York. Together with ''Aeolus'' she captured the American vessels ''Jacob Getting'', with a cargo of rice and corn, on 18 February, ''Elizabeth'', with a cargo of cotton, on 24 February, the ''Federal Jack'', with a cargo of "lighthouses", on 2 March, and the Spanish ship ''Anna'', with a cargo of flour and bread, on 9 March. On 10 May and ''Sophie'' captured the ''Brick''.

On 22 June ''Sophie'' captured the letter of marque ''Amelia''. Late in 1812 or early in 1813, ''Sophie'' shared in the capture of the schooner ''Spencer''.

While stationed in the Chesapeake in 1813, as part of a squadron under Captain Barrie in the 74-gun third-rate , ''Sophie'' participated in several cutting out expeditions in the Potomac. On 27 October boats from ''Dragon'' and ''Sophie'' burnt a brigantine of 110 tons. On 30 October, boats from the two British ships burnt a schooner. That same day they also captured the ''Two Brothers'', of 70 tons and three men. After removing her cargo, the British burnt her. The next day the British captured the schooner ''Gannet'', of 36 tons and two men, which they also burnt. That same day they captured the schooner ''Minerva'', of 29 tons and three men. Here too they removed the cargo before burning the vessel.

In November, boats from ''Dragon'' and ''Sophie'', under Lieutenant Pedlar of ''Dragon'', brought out, without loss, three American vessels from a creek in the Potomac. Then between 6 and 19 November, ''Sophie '' burned two schooners, captured one sloop, and burned another. On 14 November she captured the ''Frankling'', of 12 tons and two men, sailing from New York to South Carolina. Three days later she burnt a brig of 50 tons. Then she burnt a sloop off Smith's Island.

Between 22 and 28 November she joined forces with to destroy two schooners and a sloop and capture three schooners and two sloops. All these vessels were coasters. The first was the ''New York'', of 28 tons and four men. Then came the ''Phoebe'', of 48 tons and five men. Next came the sloop ''Caroline'', of 45 tons and five men. The fourth was the schooner ''Fredricksburgh'', of 38 tons and two men. The fifth and sixth were the sloop ''Polly'' and the schooner ''Peggy'', both of which they burnt. The seventh was the schooner ''Lucy and Sally'', of 48 tons and four men, sailing from Fredericksburgh to Onnacohe. The last was the schooner ''Poor Jack'', of 26 tons and three men, also sailing from Fredericksburgh to Onnacohe.

''Sophie'' shared, with a number of other vessels, in the prize money for the ''Regulator'', captured on 22 November. On 25 November, ''Sophie'' captured the brig ''Experience'', sailing from Rio de Janeiro to Boston.

In December, ''Sophie'', again working with , destroyed or captured seven small prizes. On 11 December they burnt a schooner of 37 tons. The next day they captured the 76-ton schooner ''Erie'' and its crew of nine men.''Bulletins of the campaign ompiled from the London gazette', (1814), p.98-100. (The ''Erie'', under the command of John Hearn, had been sailing from Havana to Baltimore with a cargo of sugar and coffee. The British unloaded the cargo and afterwards sent it to Bermuda, thereafter employing ''Erie'' as a tender to the British squadron in the Chesapeake. There ''Erie'' too captured several prizes.) Still on 12 December, ''Sophie'' and ''Acteon'' burnt two small schooners, one of 25 and one of 60 tons. Then on the 16th they burnt the ''Little Elenea'', of 59 tons and two men, sailing from Charleston to Baltimore. On the same day they also burnt a 69-ton sloop. The next day ''Sophie'' burnt the ''Antelope'', also of 69 tons and also sailing from Charleston to Baltimore. In addition, ''Sophie'' and a number of other vessels shared in the prize money for the capture of the brigs ''George'' and ''Betsey'', both taken on 23 December.

By 26 December 1813 ''Sophie'' was operating in company with the 36-gun fifth rate frigate , and together they captured the merchant vessel ''Mary Ann'', sailing from Philadelphia to Charleston. On 31 December, ''Sophie'' burnt the privateer ''Pioneer'' in the Chesapeake. ''Pioneer'', of 320 tons burthen, was armed with 17 guns and had a crew of 170 men. She was out of Baltimore, on a cruise.

On 24 April 1814 ''Sophie'' captured the American privateer ''Starks''. ''Starks'' was armed with two guns and had a crew of 25 men. She was 24 days out of Wilmington but had not taken any prizes.

Mobile

At the beginning of August 1814 ''Sophie'' sailed to Pensacola, carrying brevet Captain Woodbine to meet with friendly Indians whom the Americans had driven into Spanish territory. On 23 August ''Sophie'' and , the Hon. William Henry commanding, landed a detachment of troops under Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Nicolls to fortify Fort San Miguel. The troops landed and hoisted the British flag alongside the Spanish. Henry only did this after having received a letter from the Spanish governor in Havana requesting British help.

Six days later, Captain Percy sent Lockyer and ''Sophie'' to Barataria Bay to meet with the Indians and freebooters there to try to enlist them as allies in return for which they would be considered British subjects and would get lands in His Majesty's colonies assigned to them. Jean Lafitte, their leader, feigned interest but then passed the proposals on to the Governor of Louisiana while offering his services to the Americans.

''Sophie'' was one of the four British ships that conducted the first and unsuccessful British attack on Fort Bowyer at Mobile Point on 15 September 1814. The ''Sophie'' had 6 killed and 16 wounded, and ''Hermes'' had 25 killed, 5 mortally wounded and 19 wounded, and was herself blown up. Their defeat caused the British to overestimate the defences at Mobile and decide to move against New Orleans instead.

In a case of mistaken identity on his maps, Lossing erroneously plots ''Alligator'' with ''Sophie'' in September 1814, but this is factually incorrect as it was ''Childers'' that was there.

Battle of Lake Borgne

On 8 December 1814, two US gunboats fired on ''Sophie'', and the sixth-rate frigate while they were passing the chain of small islands that runs parallel to the shore between Mobile and Lake Borgne.Letter from Lockyer to Cochrane dated 18 December 1814, reproduced in

Between 12 and 15 December 1814, Lockyer led a flotilla of some 50 boats, barges, gigs and launches to attack the US gunboats. Lockyer drew his flotilla from the fleet that was massing against New Orleans, including the 74-gun Third Rate , '' Armide'', ''Seahorse'', and ''Meteor''.

Lockyer deployed the rowboats in three divisions, of which he led one. Captain Montresor of the gun-brig ''Manly'' commanded the second, and Captain Roberts of ''Meteor'' commanded the third. After rowing for 36 hours, the British met the Americans at St. Joseph's Island. On 13 December 1814, the British attacked the one-gun schooner USS ''Sea Horse''. On the morning of the 14th, the British engaged the Americans in a short, violent battle.

The British captured the entire American force; the tender, USS ''Alligator'', and five gunboats. The British lost 17 men killed and 77 wounded; ''Sophie''s only casualty was Lockyer, who was badly wounded. then evacuated the wounded. In 1821 the survivors of the flotilla shared in the distribution of head-money arising from the capture of the American gun-boats and sundry bales of cotton. In 1847 the Admiralty issued a clasp (or bar) marked "14 Dec. Boat Service 1814" to survivors of the boat service who claimed the clasp to the Naval General Service Medal.

New Orleans

In yet another case of mistaken identity on his maps, Lossing erroneously plots ''Sophie'' in the Mississippi alongside in January 1815, but this is factually incorrect as it was that was there. Remini makes the same error too, and reclassifies her as a bomb vessel. ''Sophie'' was with Cochrane's fleet, moored off the coast while the Battle of New Orleans was being fought on land. ''Sophie'' temporarily came under the command of Lieutenant James Barnwell Tattnall in December 1814. Following Nicholas Lockyer's promotion, he was succeeded in April 1815 by Commander Silas Hood. Hood was followed in an acting capacity by Lieutenant William G. Roberts, who paid her off at Portsmouth in 1815.

Post-war and First Anglo-Burmese War

Significant repairs were carried out between 1815 and 1817, with ''Sophie'' not returning to service again until December 1818, having been recommissioned under Commander Sir William Wiseman in August. Wiseman and ''Sophie'' were based at Jamaica until 1820, when she returned to Britain for further fitting out and a return to service under Commander George French in December. French took ''Sophie'' to the East Indies, where she subsequently sailed under a number of commanders, including Commander Robert Dunlop from July 1822 to April 1823. George Ryves, the first lieutenant of , became acting commander in ''Sophie'' on 8 April 1823 and received confirmation of his appointment in October.

At the outbreak of the First Anglo-Burmese War, Captain Frederick Marryat, of the 20-gun and who would go on to be a novelist, took command of a squadron consisting of ''Sophie'', the 50-gun , and the small paddle steamer . On 5 May 1824, ''Larne'', ''Sophie'' and ''Liffey'' sailed from Port Cornwallis in the Andaman Islands for Rangoon, the principal initial point of attack, with four cruisers belonging to the East India Company, under Captain Henry Hardy, together with other vessels, including ''Diana''. They arrived on the 10th, and launched the attack on the 11th. On 3 June she and ''Larne'' attacked some stockades at Kemmendine (a suburb of Rangoon) in an action that cost her one-man drowned and four wounded.

In August 1824, the naval force in India consisted of (26 guns), (28), (20), the 18-gun ''Cruizer''-class , and ''Larne'', ''Sophie'', and ''Liffey''. Of this force only ''Larne'' was at Rangoon; ''Sophie'' had been dispatched to Bengal to bring back provisions.

By September 1824, nearly one fourth of the ''Sophie''s crew had died, and as many more were sick. The surviving officers, seamen, and marines were authorized the medal "India, No. 1", with clasp for Ava.

Between September 1824 and February 1825, ''Sophie'', together with other vessels including ''Alligator'', ''Arachne'', ''Diana'' and , took part in some half-a-dozen small operations. On 19 September 1824, the British conducted offensive operations against Penang that included the boats of ''Arachne'', ''Sophie'', and ''Diana''. Then on 30 October, ''Sophie'' and ''Arachne'' co-operated with the army in the attack on Martaban, about 100 miles east of Rangoon. On 30 November ''Sophie'' participated in the defence of Kemmendine. On 8 December ''Sophie'' participated in the destruction of several Burmese war canoes at Pagoda Point. Then on 11 and 12 January 1825 she participated in the attack on the factory and stockades of Syriam, an action that resulted in one of her seamen being wounded. Lastly, between 11 January and April, men and boats from ''Sophie'' participated in the attack on the Burmese capital at Ava.

In the middle of May 1825, Lieutenant Ryves was invalided. Lieutenant Edward Blanckley of ''Alligator'' was promoted to the acting command of ''Sophie'', which departed Rangoon shortly thereafter. The Admiralty confirmed the appointment in December, by which time ''Sophie'' had been sold.

Fate

''Sophie'' was sold in the East Indies for £3,200 on 15 August 1825.

Notes

Citations

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sophie (1809)
Cruizer-class brig-sloops
Ships built on the River Medway
1809 ships
War of 1812 ships of the United Kingdom