Hired Armed Brig Ann

There were two, and possibly three, vessels named His Majesty's hired armed brig ''Ann'' (or ''Anne'') that served the British Royal Navy. The first participated in an engagement in 1807 that would earn her crew the Naval General Service Medal. She is sometimes referred to in sources as the hired armed cutter ''Ann'' or the hired armed brig ''Anne''. Little or nothing is known of the second and third hired armed brigs ''Ann'' or ''Anne''.

First hired armed brig ''Ann''

The first hired armed brig ''Ann'' served the Royal Navy from 21 May 1804 to 28 July 1809. She was of 120 tons ( bm) and carried ten 12-pounder carronades.

Prize taking

In June 1804 ''Ann'' was under the command of Lieutenant John Sherriff. Later that year she was in company with when ''Cruizer'' captured the French privateer ''Contre Amiral Magon'' on 16 October 1804. The gun-brig and the hired armed cutter were also in company. The French brig was under the command of Captain Blauckman, was newly built and on her first cruise. She was pierced for 18 guns but mounted 17, fourteen 6-pounder guns, two 18-pounder carronades, and one 9-pounder gun. Her crew of 84 men consisted of Frenchmen, Danes, Swedes, and Americans. She had been out from Dunkirk 18 days and had captured several vessels:
*The ship ''Belisarius'', of Newcastle, commanded by Matthew Hunter, on 3 October, off Tynemouth
*The brig ''Scipio'', commanded by Richard Robertson;
*The ''Content's Increase'', commanded by George Bell.
The last two had cargoes of coal and the privateer had sent them straight into Dunkirk. A Royal Navy brig had recaptured ''Belisarius'' within two hours of her capture. The masters of all three British vessels, together with their crews, some 20 men in all, were on ''Contre Amiral Magon'' at the time of her capture and ''Cruizer'' took them on board.

Then on 31 March 1805 ''Ann'' was again in company with ''Bold'' when they captured ''Neptune''. On 5 June ''Ann'' and others captured ''Dogter Catharina''. ''Ann'' was again in company with ''Cruizer'' on 2 August 1805 when they captured ''Frederick''. Then on 22 August 1805 they captured ''Susannah Margaretha''.

Medal action

In 1807 ''Ann'' was under the command Lieutenant James MacKenzie (or M'Kenzie). On 20 November 1807 she captured the Spanish privateer lugger ''Vensejo'' (or ''Venzego'' or ''Vinsigo''). ''Vensejo'' was pierced for 14 guns, but only mounted six 4-pounder guns and one long 12-pounder. She had a crew of 45 men, was eight days out of Ferrol and had not made any captures. MacKenzie took off her crew and put a prize crew of nine men aboard her but kept her with him.

On the morning of 24 November 1807, at about 9am, ''Ann'' was sailing in the Straits of Gibraltar when she observed 10 gunboats coming towards her and ''Vensejo''. The leading gunboat raised Spanish colours at 10am and opened fire. The wind was too weak to permit the two British vessels to escape so MacKenzie prepared for action. Two more gunboats came up with the first and opened fire.

''Vensejo'' struck at half-past ten, having signaled that she had three dead of her crew of nine. By 11am ''Ann'' had dismasted one gunboat and two others had struck. However, MacKenzie did not try to take possession as he had only 30 men of his crew aboard ''Ann'', but had 42 prisoners and dispatches. ''Ann'' then engaged five gunboats that had taken possession of ''Vensejo''. The Spanish attempted to close with and board ''Ann'' but MacKenzie used his sweeps to manoeuvre her, thus maintaining fire on them. At 1pm the Spanish departed, taking ''Vensejo'' with them. Although six of the largest Spanish gunboats had been within pistol-shot of ''Ann'' for an hour and a half, she had no casualties.

In 1847 the Admiralty awarded any surviving claimants the Naval General Service Medal with a clasp that commemorated the vessel's name and the date of the action, however no one came forward to collect it. MacKenzie in particular died within two years of the action. The Admiralty had promoted him to commander for his role in the engagement and in 1809 appointed him to command of the . While returning from Halifax, Nova Scotia ''Foxhound'' foundered in the Atlantic in August 1809 with the loss of her entire crew.

Second hired armed brig ''Ann''

This vessel served from 15 July 1809 to 17 October 1809. She was of 77 tons burthen.

Third hired armed brig ''Anne''

There exists a record of a hired armed brig ''Anne'' that served from 1810 to 1813 under the command of Lieutenant J. Williams.

Citations and references

Citations

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ann, Hired armed brig
Hired armed vessels of the Royal Navy