HMS Scourge (1803)

HMS Scourge was the former merchant sloop Herald, launched in 1799, that the Admiralty purchased in 1803 for service as a convoy escort. The Admiralty had her laid up in 1805, and sold in 1816. Subsequent owners returned her to mercantile service and she sailed until 1835 when she was lost.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Scourge and Herald (ship).

History
United Kingdom
Name: Herald
Owner: Robert Waite, and J. Barry
Builder: J. Barry, Whitby[1]
Launched: 1799, or 1800[2]
Fate: Sold to the Admiralty 1803
UK
Name: HMS Scourge
Acquired: June 1803 by purchase
Fate: sold 1816
United Kingdom
Name: Herald
Owner: Ward & Co.
Acquired: 1816 by purchase
Fate: Lost 1835
General characteristics [3]
Type: Sloop
Tons burthen:
  • Originally:338,[4] or 339, or 340[2] (bm)
  • After lengthening in 1823: 357 (bm)[5]
Length:
  • 107 ft 0 in (32.6 m) (overall)
  • 84 ft 3 in (25.7 m) (keel)
Beam: 27 ft 6 in (8.4 m)
Depth of hold: 12 ft 9 in (3.9 m)
Sail plan: Sloop
Complement: 100
Armament:

Merchantman

Herald entered the 1800 volume of the Register of Shipping with R. White, master, J. Berry, owner, and trade Newcastle—St Petersburg.[4] In the 1803 volume of Lloyd's Register her master is R. Waite, her owner "Capt. & Co.", and her trade Hull—Baltic.[6]

HMS

With the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars, the Admiralty faced a sudden need for vessels to escort convoys in Home waters and protect them from French privateers. As stop-gap measure the Admiralty therefore purchased 20 ship-rigged vessels and armed them.[3]

The Admiralty appointed Commander William Wooldridge, late of the hired armed brig Sir Thomas Pasley, to command Scourge. [7] She was fitting in Deptford between July and September.[8] In August he commissioned her for North Sea.[3]

On 10 January 1804, pursuant to orders from Admiral Edward Thornbrough, Wooldridge took Scourge off Vlie, where he encountered a Prussian coming out of Amsterdam. The Prussian advised Wooldridge that there was a large vessel flying a flag designating her as a prize in the Vlie Roads awaiting for wind to enable her to sail up the passage. The Prussian further reported that the pilots had said that the vessel was an English ship carrying a cargo of timber. Wooldridge decided that it would be a worthwhile endeavour to deprive the enemy of the vessel and her cargo so after dark he brought Scourge into the State Mille Passage, where he anchored her a musket shot's distance from the quarry. Wooldridge then sent in Scourge's boats. These succeeded in cutting out the ship without sustaining any casualties though their quarry was armed with eight guns and lay under the protection of shore batteries. The vessel turned out to be of 400 tons burthen (bm), and to have been carrying lumber from Hull to Memel when on 19 December the Dutch 18-gun privateer brig Union had captured her off Norway.[9]

The vessel was the Stranger, Law, master. Wooldridge sent her into Yarmouth.[10] Scourge underwent fitting at Deptford between March and the beginning of May.[3]

Scourge spent May to September convoying vessels in the Channel.[11] She then went into ordinary at Deptford in October,[3] where she remained for the remainder of the Napoleonic Wars.

Disposal

The Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy offered the "Scourge sloop, of 339 tons" for sale at Deptford on 18 April 1816.[12] She sold that day for £800.[3]

Herald

New owners registered her in London in 1816,[2] and resumed her original name. She is first listed in Lloyd's Register in 1818 with Foreman, master, Ward & Co., owner, and trade London—Île de France. The listing gives her launch year as 1800.[2]

Her owners had Herald lengthened in 1823, which increased her burthen.[5]

In 1827, Herald, of Shields, Sopwith, master, was on a voyage from Danzig to Portsmouth when she grounded at Yarmouth. She was gotten off.[13]

Year Master Owner Trade
1820 Stranach Ward & Co. London—St Vincent
1825 A. Young Ward & Co. London—Halifax
1830 R. Sopwith J.Ratcliffe Bristol—Newcastle
1835 T. Simkin
Blackburn		 Smiths Newcastle—Quebec
1836 Blackburn Smiths Newcastle—Quebec

The 1836 volume of Lloyd's List has the notation "LOST" besides Herald's name. It shows her as launched at Whitby in 1799, and with Newcastle as her port of registry.[14]

Citations and references

Citations

  1. Weatherill (1908), p.100.
  2. Lloyd's Register (1818), Seq. №H449.
  3. Winfield (2008), p.270.
  4. Register of Shipping (1800), Seq. №H214.
  5. Lloyd's List (1830), Seq.№H521.
  6. Lloyd's Register (1803), Seq. №H395.
  7. Naval Chronicle, Vol. 10, p.174.
  8. Naval Chronicle, Vol. 12, p.175.
  9. Naval Chronicle, Vol. 11, pp.159-60.
  10. Lloyd's List, no. 4420, - accessed 12 May 2014.
  11. Naval Chronicle, Vols. 11 & 12.
  12. "No. 17126". The London Gazette. 9 April 1816. p. 666.
  13. Lloyd's List (18 December 1827).
  14. Lloyd's List (1836), Seq. №H386.

References

  • Weatherill, Richard (1908) The ancient port of Whitby, and its ships. (Whitby: Horne & Son.)
  • 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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