HMS ''Racoon'', sometimes spelled HMS ''Raccoon'', was an 18-gun

ship sloop In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enc ...

of the 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 Fr ...

. She was built by John Preston, 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 ...

, and launched on 30 March 1808. She sailed as far as

Fort Astoria Fort Astoria (also named Fort George) was the primary fur trading post of John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company (PFC). A maritime contingent of PFC staff was sent on board the ''Tonquin (1807 ship), Tonquin'', while another party traveled overl ...

on the

Columbia River The Columbia River ( Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia ...

. She became a hospital ship in 1819 and finally was sold in 1838.

Service

Her first commander was Commander James Welsh, under whom she was sent to operate off the African coast. He sailed her to

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...

on 16 June 1809, but died there in November. His replacement was Commander William Black. She returned to

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 d ...

in 1812. On 14 January 1813 ''Racoon'' captured ''Hope'', which the enemy recaptured. Still, a £25,000 insurance payment was payable to ''Racoon''. ''Racoon'' sailed from

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

on 6 July 1813 in company with , , and sailing around

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramí ...

to the Juan Fernandez Islands. The Royal Navy had been under pressure from the

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

-based

North West Company The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great weal ...

, who were agitating for them to capture the base of their rival, the

Pacific Fur Company The Pacific Fur Company (PFC) was an American fur trade venture wholly owned and funded by John Jacob Astor that functioned from 1810 to 1813. It was based in the Pacific Northwest, an area contested over the decades between the United Kingdom o ...

. Captain Frazer Smith, of ''Isaac Todd'', had acquired a letter of marque, and her task was to seize

, the Pacific Fur Company's trading outpost on the

. However, she was a slow sailer and could not keep up with the warships. ''Racoon'' then sailed on to Fort Astoria while ''Phoebe'' and ''Cherub'' set off to search for . On the way to the Columbia River an accident during gunnery exercises killed eight men and wounded 20 on ''Racoon''. Before ''Racoon'' arrived at Fort Astoria on 30 November 1813, the North West Company had completed a deal with the Pacific Fur Company that since British ships would be imminently arriving to "take and destroy everything American on the Northwest coast," that they would purchase the assets, for a third of their value. Black arrived to find the matter already settled, though he went through a ceremony of possession and renamed the facility Fort George. (''Isaac Todd'' finally arrived on 23 April 1814. She then sailed for China on 26 September.Canadian Encyclopedia: ''Isaac Todd''/
/ref>) One person aboard ''Racoon'' when she arrived at Fort Astoria was

Naukane Naukane (c. 1779 – February 2, 1850), also known as John Coxe, Edward Cox, and Coxe was a Native Hawaiian chief who traveled widely through North America in the early 19th century. He was either considered a member of the royal household of Kam ...

(also known as John Coxe), a

Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawa ...

. The North West Company had hired him as a laborer and to serve as an interpreter for future visits to the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost ...

. ''Racoon'' sailed to San Francisco. From 13 to 19 March 1814, ''Racoon'' underwent repairs on the beach at Ayala Cove on the northern portion of Angel Island. This event gave the name

Raccoon Strait The Raccoon Strait is a waterway of the San Francisco Bay between Angel Island and the Tiburon Peninsula, mainland Marin County, California, United States. During the ice ages, when sea levels were considerably lower and San Francisco Bay was a g ...

to the deep-water channel between Tiburon and Angel Island. Black then sailed to

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...

. On 15 January 1815 ''Cherub'' and ''Racoon'' left Rio de Janeiro, escorting a convoy that included the storeships and , and seven merchantmen. They left

Pernambuco Pernambuco () is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,148 km², being the ...

on 6 March.
''LL'' 5 May 1815.] Lieutenant James Mangles (Royal Navy), James Mangles (acting) was in command of ''Raccoon'' at the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is ...

in 1815. Captain Alexander Montgomerie replaced Black in 1815. Captain John Cook Carpenter was appointed to command in May 1815.

Post-war and fate

''Racoon'' was re-rated as a 20-gun

sixth rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a sixth-rate was the designation for small warships mounting between 20 and 28 carriage-mounted guns on a single deck, sometimes with smaller guns on the upper works a ...

in January 1817, under Captain Robert Worgan Festing in 1817. Between September and October 1819 she underwent conversion to a convict

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 ...

at Portsmouth. She remained in service until the Navy sold her for £820 to Mr. Soames on 16 August 1838.

Notes, citations, references

Notes Citations References *
''History of British Columbia from its earliest discovery to the present time''
p. 108, Alexander Begg, publ. William Briggs, Toronto, 1894
''British Columbia from the earliest times to the present. Vol. 1''
p. 432, E.O.S. Scholefield & F.W. Howay, Vancouver, British Columbia: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1914

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Racoon (1808) Cormorant-class ship-sloops War of 1812 ships of the United Kingdom Pre-statehood history of Oregon Fur trade History of the Pacific Northwest 1808 ships Convict ships Prison ships

Service

Post-war and fate

See also

Notes, citations, references

External links