HMS ''Grampus'' was a 50-gun

fourth-rate In 1603 all English warships with a compliment of fewer than 160 men were known as 'small ships'. In 1625/26 to establish pay rates for officers a six tier naval ship rating system was introduced.Winfield 2009 These small ships were divided i ...

ship of the line of the ''Diomede'' class of the

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 ...

. She was launched in 1802

Napoleonic Wars

She was commissioned in March 1803 at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

by Captain

Hugh Downman Hugh Downman (c. 1765 – 4 January 1858) was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, eventually rising to the rank of admiral. Downman spent mo ...

, but in the following month command passed to Captain Thomas Gordon Caulfield. The ship was completed on 11 April 1803 and was ordered to the Downs on 7 May. As soon as her complement of men was completed and her bounty paid she sailed to join Admiral

Edward Thornbrough Admiral Sir Edward Thornbrough, GCB (27 July 1754 – 3 April 1834) was a senior, long-serving veteran officer of the British Royal Navy during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. He saw action in the American Revolutionary War, ...

's squadron off Goree. On 19 May 1803 ''Jalouse'' captured ''Jong Jan Pieter''. ''Jalouse'' shared the prize money with ''Grampus'' and the gun-brigs and , with whom she had been in company. ''Grampus'' returned to Portsmouth from Guernsey on 20 June to fit out for the

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around ...

and sailed with a convoy under her protection on 29 June. She carried £100,000 that the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

was shipping to

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

. On 16 October she was three days out of Rio and in company with the

74-gun The "seventy-four" was a type of two- decked sailing ship of the line, which nominally carried 74 guns. It was developed by the French navy in the 1740s, replacing earlier classes of 60- and 62-gun ships, as a larger complement to the recently-de ...

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 ...

ship of the line . The

East Indiamen East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vesse ...

they were escorting were ''Northampton'', ''Lord Melville'', , ''Princess Mary'', ''Anna'', ''Ann'', ''Glory'', and ''Essex''.''Lloyd's List'', no. 4446

- accessed 5 December 2014. ''Grampus'' spent 1805 in the East Indies. In March 1806 Captain James Haldane Tait took command of ''Grampus'', leaving HMS ''Sir Francis Drake'', while ''Grampus'' was employed in India. Later she was stationed at the Cape of Good Hope, and returned home in the summer of 1809, escorting a large convoy of East India Company ships that Captain Tait had taken under his protection at

St. Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constit ...

. He was presented by the Court of directors with a sum of money for the purchase of a piece of plate. ''Grampus'' was paid off because of her poor condition at the end of 1809. ''Grampus'' underwent a repair and refit at Chatham between then and February 1810; in January 1810 she was recommissioned under the command of Captain William Hanwell. On 28 April 1811 ''Grampus'' joined an East India convoy to see them through to the coast of Africa. On 30 September, back at

, a

court martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

was convened on board in Sheerness harbour to try Lieutenant John Cheshire of ''Grampus''. Captain Hanwell accused him of insolence, contempt, and disrespect on 11 April and similar conduct, coupled with neglect of duty, on 15 April. The court found the charges unfounded and acquitted Lieutenant Cheshire. In November 1811 Commodore

George Cockburn Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet, (22 April 1772 – 19 August 1853) was a British Royal Navy officer. As a captain he was present at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in February 1797 during the French Revolutionary Wars an ...

hoisted his broad pendant on board ''Grampus'', preparatory to proceeding as one of three commissioners (the others were Thomas Sydenham and John Philip Morier) nominated by the

Prince Regent A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch regnant, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness ...

to mediate between Spain and her colonies. They received final instructions on 2 April 1812, and arrived in

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

on 21 April to find the Spanish government and the majority of the

Cortes Cortes, Cortés, Cortês, Corts, or Cortès may refer to: People * Cortes (surname), including a list of people with the name ** Hernán Cortés (1485–1547), a Spanish conquistador Places * Cortes, Navarre, a village in the South border of ...

resolved to retain absolute control over their South American possessions instead of taking a liberal view as proposed by the British government. He returned from his unsuccessful mission on 4 August.

Post-war and fate

In 1816 ''Grampus'' was taken out of commission at

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained thr ...

, where she was converted to a troopship and then used as a hospital ship at

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home ...

from 1820 until being lent to the Society for Destitute Seamen at Deptford in 1824. She served as a

hospital ship A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating medical treatment facility or hospital. Most are operated by the military forces (mostly navies) of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones. I ...

until 1831. The society relocated at this time to and in due course provided the foundation for the UK's

Hospital for Tropical Diseases The Hospital for Tropical Diseases (HTD) is a specialist tropical disease hospital located in London, United Kingdom. It is part of the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is closely associated with University College Lon ...

and the Seamen's Dreadnought Hospital at Greenwich Hospital, later relocated to

St Thomas's Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large National Health Service, NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy' ...

Citations and references

;Citations ;References * Winfield, Rif. ''British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates''. 2nd edition, Seaforth Publishing, 2008. . * Winfield, Rif. ''The 50-Gun Ship: A Complete History''. 3rd edition, Mercury Books, 2005. .

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grampus (1802) Ships of the line of the Royal Navy Hospital ships of the United Kingdom 1802 ships Ships built in Portsmouth