Hired Armed Ship Charles

His Majesty's hired armed ship ''Charles'' served the Royal Navy from 17 May 1804 to 13 May 1814. Prize money notices and other accounts referred to her interchangeably as the "hired armed brig", "hired armed ship", and "hired sloop".

''Lady's Adventure'', Darby, master, arrived at Elsinore on 10 June 1806, having received assistance from ''Charles''. ''Lady's Adventure'' had lost her rudder on "Trindall Rock" while sailing from Newcastle to Copenhagen.

In about March 1807 ''Charles'' came under the command of G. Davies Robert Clephane on the North Sea station. Between 12 April and 22 May she assisted at the siege of Danzig, together with the hired armed sloop ''Sally'', and . ''Charles'' proved herself useful during the siege and when the British squadron left, evacuated some of General Nikolay Kamensky's troops. On 19 August ''Charles'' detained ''Flensburg'' and sent her into Grimsby. ''Flensburg'', of Copenhagen, was coming from Messina. In October, by one report, Clephane transferred to , but this is not borne out by ''Nautilus''s history.

On 17 January 1808 the "armed brig" ''Charles'' arrived at Grimsby much damaged and having lost her masts. She had captured a lugger privateer off the Dogger Bank and sent her into Yarmouth. In March 1808 Clephane assumed command of .

From April 1808, ''Charles''s commander reportedly was James Welsh. However, in June ''Charles'' brought into the Humber two Danish schooners laden with grain, ''Hercules'' and ''Saint Peter''. The prize money announcement reports the capture occurred on 3 June, and that commander of the "hired armed brig ''Charles''" was Lieutenant R. Hexter.

On 1 August "His Majesty's Hired Armed Ship ''Charles''", R.H. Hexter, "late commander", captured ''Vrow Christine''.

Then on 13 May 1809, the "hired armed ship ''Charles''", under the command of R.H. Hexter, in company with , captured ''Dredokken''.

On 23 October Captain Thomas Byam Martin, of , and chief of the Gottenberg station, sent Hexter and ''Charles'' to St Kalf Sound, which is a few miles north of Wingo Sound, Sweden. There she was to protect the vessels of a convoy that a storm had scattered, and send them to Flemish Roads, before bringing the rest of the convoy as soon as possible.

On 14 November, three Danish sloops arrived at Leith, prizes to ''Talbot'', the sloop ''Charles'', and the cutter ''Hero''.

On 4 September 1810 she brought into Grimsby two vessels that she had detained, ''Jonge Johanes'' and ''Neptunus'', which was carrying a cargo of fish.

In 1811, Lieutenant Lawrence Smith commanded. In February gales caused the ship ''Americano'', from , to run afoul of ''Charles'', resulting in extensive damage to ''Americano''.

Smith was followed in 1812 by Lieutenant J. Mitchell. On 1 August ''Charles'' detained and sent into Dover ''Mars'', of and for Wilmington. ''Mars'' had been sailing from London. British authorities released ''Mars'' a few days later.

On 20 July 1813 she captured the American ship ''Eliza''. ''Eliza'', Wheeler, master, was carrying a cargo of silks to New York. She arrived at Leith on 22 July.

On 18 August ''Charles'' captured ''Emanuel'', Humanus Von Leick, master.

The French privateer captured ''Nancy'', Morrison, master, off Beachy Head on 8 October as ''Nancy'' was sailing from London to Madeira. ''Charles'' recaptured ''Nancy'' and brought her into Dover; unfortunately, the master had been killed.''Lloyd's List'', no. 481

- accessed 28 March 2015.

One source states that in 1814 Lieutenant J. Little commanded ''Charles''. However, Lieutenant John Little was in command of HM hired armed schooner ''Charles'' between 1811 and 1814.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Charles, HM hired armed ship
Hired armed vessels of the Royal Navy