HMS Demerara (1804)

HMS Demerara was the mercantile schooner Anna that the British Royal Navy purchased in 1804. A French privateer captured her that same year and Demerara became the French privateer Hebe. She had an unsuccessful single-ship action in 1806. The Royal Navy recaptured her and she returned to service that year as HMS Anna. She was broken up in 1809.

History
United Kingdom
Name: Anna
Fate: Sold 1804
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Demerara
Acquired: 1804 by purchase
Fate: Captured July 1804
France
Name: Hebe
Acquired: 1804 by capture
UK
Name: Anna
Acquired: 1806 by capture
Fate: Broken up 1809
General characteristics [1]
Tons burthen: 106 (bm)
Length: 72 ft 8 in (22.1 m)
Beam: 18 ft 8 in (5.7 m)
Depth of hold: 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)
Sail plan: Schooner
Complement: 55
Armament:
  • Demerara:10 × 4-pounder guns
  • Hebe:14 guns

HMS

The Navy appointed Lieutenant Thomas Dutton to command Demerara.[2]

On 14 July 1804 Demerara was cruising off Demerara when at daylight she sighted a ship at anchor. The ship got under weigh and approached Demerara, which attempted to escape what was clearly a well-armed privateer. Within an hour the privateer had caught up with her quarry and started firing small arms and a broadside. Within 10 minutes Demerara had lost one man killed and nine wounded, and Dutton struck. The privateer was Grande Décidée.[3] She was armed with 22 guns and had a crew of 155 men.[2]

Privateer

Lloyd's List of 18 April 1806 reported that a 14-gun privateer had captured Shipley, but that Shipley had been recaptured and had arrived at Barbados.[4] In February Shipley had encountered a French three-masted schooner privateer, the former HMS Demerara. Wilson and Shipley resisted for an hour and three-quarters until after he was severely wounded, as were the mate and the steward, and she had had four men killed. (The French had lost six men killed, including her second captain, and many men wounded.) The French plundered Shipley of her cargo. It was HMS Galatea that recaptured Shipley.[5] On 25 July Shipley Williams & Co., Shipley's owners, presented Wilson with a silver cup as a token of appreciation. The cup's inscription names the French privateer as Hebe.[6]

HMS

It appears that the Royal Navy may have retaken Demerara. The vessel resumed the name Anna on 15 August 1806,[1] i.e., after the above engagement, and after the commissioning of a new Demerara. Anna was broken up in 1809.[1]

Citations and references

Citations

  1. Winfield (2008), pp.369-70.
  2. Marshall (1833), Vol. 4, p.33.
  3. Hepper (1994), p.105.
  4. Lloyd's List №4045.
  5. Williams (1897), p.402.
  6. Object ID:PLT0189 "Silver cup presented to Captain John Wilson in 1806."

References

  • Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot. ISBN 0-948864-30-3.
  • Marshall, John (1823–1835). Royal naval biography, or, Memoirs of the services of all the flag-officers, superannuated rear-admirals, retired-captains, post-captains, and commanders, whose names appeared on the Admiralty list of sea officers at the commencement of the present year 1823, or who have since been promoted ... London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown.
  • Williams, Gomer (1897; since republished) History of the Liverpool Privateers and Letters of Marque: With an Account of the Liverpool Slave Trade. (W. Heinemann).
  • Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.
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