His Majesty's hired armed cutter ''Ann'' served the British

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 ...

from 9 May 1795 to 19 October 1801 during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...

. She was of 104 tons (bm) and carried twelve 3-pounder guns.

Service

In 1798 Lieutenant Robert (or Richard) Young came to command ''Ann''. On 31 January 1798 she captured the fishing boat ''Leopold.'' On 28 March she captured ''Greffwen'', of Gothland. On 20 July she was in company with when they captured the luggers ''Mayflower'' and ''William''. At some point she also captured the luggers ''Joseph'' and ''Edward''. On 23 May 1799, while engaged in the protection of the fisheries off

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...

, at 8pm Ann gave chase to a lugger. After a two-hour running fight she succeeded in capturing ''Aimable Therese'', a small French privateer lugger of four guns and 27 men. At the time, ''Ann'' was in company with sloop and the hired armed cutter ''Nox''. On 11 October ''Ann'' and the hired armed cutter ''Lion'' recaptured three small vessels. On the evening of 21 November, after a chase of five hours, ''Ann'' captured the French privateer cutter ''Petit Diable'' some three to four leagues south-southwest of Beachy Head. Commanded by Simon Robert Saltitat, ''Petit Diable'' was two days out of Dieppe and carried only eight men with small arms. The rest of the crew had been sent back to France in a small sloop the privateer had cut out from Seaford Roads the previous night. On 28 November ''Ann'' captured the fishing boats ''Brune'' and ''St Joseph''. ''Ann'' captured the vessel ''Grosser Steir'' on 27 March 1800. In July 1800, ''Ann'' participated in the Raid on Dunkirk, which resulted in the cutting out of the French frigate ''Désirée''. During the action on 8 July, ''Ann'', together with the

gun-brig A gun-brig was a small brig-rigged warship that enjoyed popularity in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, during which large numbers were purchased or built. In general these were vessels of under 200 tons burthen, and thus smaller than ...

''Biter'' and the hired armed cutter ''Kent'', engaged some French gunboats and prevented them from intervening. ''Biter'' had three officers and men wounded and each of the cutters suffered one man wounded. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded all surviving claimants from the action the Naval General Service Medal with the clasp "Capture of the Desiree".

Notes, citations, and references

Notes Citations References * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ann, Hired Armed Cutter Hired armed vessels of the Royal Navy