HMS ''Snipe'' was a
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 ...
and the first Royal Navy ship to bear the name ''Snipe''. Her grounding in 1807 inspired the invention of the
Manby Mortar, an important development in maritime lifesaving equipment.
History
HMS ''Snipe'' was a
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 ...
of the ''Bloodhound'' class, designed by
Sir John Henslow
Sir John Henslow (9 October 1730 – 22 September 1815) was Surveyor to the Navy (Royal Navy) a post he held jointly or solely from 1784 to 1806.
Career
He was 7th child of John Henslow a master carpenter in the dockyard at Woolwich . ''Snipe'' and nine other similar vessels were ordered on 7 January 1801, the draught was approved three days later, and all were being built by the end of the month. She was built by Balthazar and Edward Adams of
Bucklers Hard
Buckler's Hard is a hamlet on the banks of the Beaulieu River in the English county of Hampshire. With its Georgian cottages running down to the river, Buckler's Hard is part of the Beaulieu Estate. The hamlet is some south of the village of ...
and was launched on 2 May 1801.
1807 grounding
On the 18th of February 1807, HMS ''Snipe'' ran aground during a storm off shore at
Gorleston
Gorleston-on-Sea (), known colloquially as Gorleston, is a town in the Borough of Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk, England, to the south of Great Yarmouth. Situated at the mouth of the River Yare it was a port town at the time of the Domesday Book ...
, south of
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...
, with a total of 67 people drowned, including French prisoners of war, women and children. The wreck was witnessed by captain
George William Manby
Captain George William Manby FRS (28 November 1765 – 18 November 1854) was an English author and inventor. He designed an apparatus for saving life from shipwrecks and also the first modern form of fire extinguisher.
Early life
Manby was bo ...
. Following this tragedy, Manby experimented with mortars, and so invented the
Manby Mortar, (later used with the
breeches buoy
A breeches buoy is a rope-based rescue device used to extract people from wrecked vessels, or to transfer people from one place to another in situations of danger. The device resembles a round emergency personal flotation device with a leg harn ...
), that fired a thin rope from shore into the rigging of a ship in distress. A strong rope, attached to the thin one, could be pulled aboard the ship.
Anholt
On 18 May 1809 the 64-gun
third rate
In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third r ...
, under Captain
Askew Paffard Hollis, the 36-gun frigate , , , , and ''Snipe'' captured the Danish island of
Anholt. A party of seamen and marines under the command of Captain William Selby of ''Owen Glendower'', with the assistance of Captain
Edward Nicolls
Sir Edward Nicolls ( – 5 February 1865) was an Anglo-Irish officer of the Royal Marines. Known as "Fighting Nicolls", he had a distinguished military career. According to his obituary in ''The Times'', he was "in no fewer than 107&nb ...
of the ''Standard''s marines, landed. The Danish garrison of 170 men put up a sharp but ineffectual resistance that killed one marine and wounded two; the garrison then capitulated. The British took immediate possession of the island. Hollis stated that Anholt was important as a source of water to the Navy, and as a good anchorage for merchant vessels going to or coming from the Baltic.
Later career
''Snipe'' became a
mooring lighter in 1815.
[''British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793 1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates'' Rif Winfield 2014] She was broken up in May 1846. A
second Royal Navy ship bearing the name HMS ''Snipe'' was launched in 1828.
See also
*
List of gun-brigs of the Royal Navy
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 ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snipe (1801)
1801 ships
Ships built in England
Brigs of the Royal Navy
Maritime incidents in 1807
Shipwrecks of England