HMS Ballahoo (1804)

HMS ''Ballahoo'' (also ''Balahou'', ''Ballahou'' or ''Ballahon'') was the first of the Royal Navy's ''Ballahoo''-class schooners, vessels of four 12-pounder carronades and a crew of 20. The prime contractor for the vessel was Goodrich & Co., in Bermuda, and she was launched in 1804. She patrolled primarily in the Leeward Islands, taking several small prizes, before an American privateer captured her in 1814 during the War of 1812.

Service

She was commissioned in January 1804 under Lieutenant William Shephard. In September Lieutenant Eaton Stannard Travers took over. He was appointed to ''Ballahoo'' immediately after receiving his commission on 23 September 1804. When she was ordered to Halifax in February 1805 Admiral Sir John T. Duckworth transferred him to the frigate .

Command then transferred to Lieutenant H.N. Bowen, who was killed in 1806. Lieutenant James Murray replaced Bowen.

On 27 February 1807 the sloop and the schooner captured the brig ''Altrevido'', Nichola Valpardo, master. ''Ballahoo'' shared by agreement in the prize money due ''Express''.

On 4 August 1807, ''Ballahoo'' was in company with the schooner , of 10 guns, when they encountered the French letter of marque ''Rhone'' some five or six leagues N by E of Tobago. After a running fight of several hours, they captured her. In the fight ''Rhone'' suffered two dead and five wounded out of her crew of 26; the British had no casualties. ''Rhone'', under the command of Francis Goureu, was of 90 tons ( bm), mounted six long 6-pounder guns, and was 10 days out from Martinique, having captured nothing.

On 20 August ''Ballahoo''s boats, with the assistance of the 1-gun privateer ''Maria'' that ''Port d'Espagne'' had taken, destroyed a small privateer in the Bay of San Juan. Head money was paid some 21 years later.

On 12 September ''Ballahoo'' assisted ''Port d'Espagne'' in capturing another small privateer, ''Rosario'', in the same bay. ''Rosario'' also was armed with one gun, and had a crew of 34, all of whom escaped on shore. In October ''Ballahou'' was in North American waters and in the Leeward Islands.

In 1808 her commander was Lieutenant George Mills. On 3 July, whilst ''Ballahoo'' was cruising with the ship-sloop , under Commander Edward Crofton, and the schooner , Lieutenant George A. Spearing, between the islands of Anguilla and Saint Martin, the small squadron attempted an attack on St. Martin with a view to reducing the number of havens available to French privateers, but unfortunately the opposition proved stronger than intelligence had suggested.

A landing party of 38 seamen and marines from all three vessels, under Lieutenant Spearing, succeeded in capturing a lower battery with few losses and spiking six guns. The attack turned into a disaster. An attack on the upper fort failed, with Spearing being killed a few feet from the French ramparts. When the British tried to withdraw to their boats the French captured them. In all, the British lost seven killed and 30 wounded, all the dead and most of the wounded being from ''Subtle''. The French lost one man wounded.

Not surprisingly, French and British accounts differ substantially in several places. Crofton's account reports that the British landing party consisted of 153 men, and a French account talks of 200 men, all of whom were killed or captured, including Mills of ''Ballahoo''. (The total establishment of the three British vessels amounted to about 190 men.) Crofton negotiated a truce under which he was able to reclaim all the prisoners who could be moved. Crofton claimed that the French had been forewarned and had 900 men in the fort. The French claimed the fort had a garrison of 28 regulars and 15 militia men. That the French permitted their British prisoners to leave is more consistent with the French figures on their numbers than the British. Crofton reported that the French buried the English dead with full military honors with both the fort and the British firing salutes.

In January and February 1810 ''Ballahoo'', under Mills, participated in the capture of Guadeloupe. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Guadaloupe" to all still surviving participants of that campaign. At some point ''Express'' and ''Ballahoo'' captured the sloop ''Endeavour''.

Capture

In 1810 Lieutenant Norfolk King took command. On 29 April 1814, the American 5-gun privateer ''Perry'' captured ''Ballahoo'' off South Carolina. Apparently the chase took about an hour, including a fight of about 10 minutes. There was no report of casualties on either side. The Americans took her into the port of Wilmington, North Carolina. At the time of the capture, ''Ballahoo'' had two of her cannon stored below deck to lower her center of gravity in bad weather, and a crew of thirteen men. ''Perry''s five guns included one long 18 or 24-pounder on a pivot, and she had a crew of 80.James & Chamier (1837), Vol. 6, pp.167-8.

Fate

Apparently, as ''Ballahoo'' entered the port of Wilmington, a British brig chased her ashore, where she was destroyed.

Notes

Citations

References

*
* James, William, and Frederick Chamier (1837) ''The naval history of Great Britain: from the declaration of war by France in 1793 to the accession of George IV''. (London: R. Bentley).
*
* 1832)
*
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballahoo (1804)
1804 ships
Ballahoo-class schooners
Captured ships
Ships built in Bermuda