HMS Swift (1804)

HMS Swift was the whaler Pacific launched in 1802 that the British Royal Navy purchased in 1804 on her return from the Galápagos Islands. She served briefly in the Caribbean where she was involved in one notable capture of a Spanish garda-costa. She then served in the North Sea. The Navy laid her up July 1807, but then returned her to duty in 1810 as a storeship. The Navy sold her in 1814. She then resumed the name Pacific and returned to mercantile service. She was wrecked in 1828 but remained listed in 1833.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Swift.

History
United Kingdom
Name:	Pacific
Owner:	Peter & William Mellish
Builder:	Rotherhithe
Launched:	1802
Fate:	Sold 1804
UK
Name:	HMS Swift
Ordered:	13 July 1807
Acquired:	June 1804 by purchase
Fate:	Sold 1814
United Kingdom
Name:	Pacific
Owner:	Various
Acquired:	1814 by purchase
Fate:	Wrecked in 1828 though still listed in 1833
General characteristics [1]
Tons burthen:	307,[2] or 321,[3] or 326,[4] or 327
Length:	Overall: 101 ft 10 in (31.0 m) keel: 84 ft 10 ^1⁄4 in (25.9 m)
Beam:	26 ft 11 in (8.2 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Complement:	70 (HMS)
Armament:	HMS Swift Upper deck: 16 × 12-pounder carronades QD: 2 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 4-pounder guns Pacific: 6 × 6-pounder guns[4]

Pacific

Pacific enters Lloyd's Register in the issue for 1802 with T. Hooper, master, P. Mellish, owner, and trade London–Southern Fisheries.[2] The whaler Pacific, Thomas Hopper, master, and Peter & William Mellish, owners made a voyage to the coast of Peru in 1802. She was reported to have been at the Galapagos on 23 March 1803. She returned to England on 17 May 1804.[3]

HMS Swift

In July Swift underwent fitting, and in August Captain John Wright commissioned her. She sailed for the Leeward Islands on 23 December 1804 as part of the escort to a convoy of West Indiamen, including Scarborough. A gale on 5 January dispersed the vessels.

In 1805 Swift captured the Spanish 10-gun schooner Marianne. As they were sailing in company in the bay of Honduras, Wright received intelligence that a Spanish garda-costa had been raiding British commerce in the area. Wright put Lieutenant Smith on Marianne and sent her to look for the garda-costa. Near the island of Bonacca Smith encountered some fishermen who informed him that the garda-costa was sheltering under the guns of the forts at Trujillo, Honduras, and that she had taken two captured vessels into port, the schooner Admiral Duckworth, of Jamaica, and another vessel of unknown name from Honduras.[5]

After dark on 13 August Smith sailed into the bay without being detected. he then sent in two boats of volunteers, each manned by six men, one under the command of the bosun and the other under the command of a midshipmen. All were volunteers and under orders to reconnoiter to verify the information. Smith also sailed closer to be able to provide covering fire if necessary.[5]

The boat with the midshipman came up to the garda-costa. The British clambered aboard and rapidly captured it before the other boat could arrive. Most of the crew of the garda-costa were ashore and had left only the captain and 14 men aboard, and all fled when the British attacked. The noise alerted the men in the batteries in the forts, which started firing. The British seamen on the garda-costa cut her cables and got her out of the harbour while returning fire on the forts from her guns, with Smith and Marianne also firing. The British were able to withdraw without having suffered a single casualty.[5]

The guarda-costa's name turned out to be Caridad-Perfecta. Wright described her as "a very fine new Vessel, and in my Opinion, every way fit for His Majesty's Service."[5] Unfortunately, the Navy did not take her into service.

Swift returned to England. On 6 July 1806 Admiral Bartholomew Rowley, at Sheerness, wrote to Admiral Markham in the Admiralty. Rowley reported that Swift had recently returned from Honduras Bay. He reported that Wright had stowed 13 mahogany logs betwixt decks, claiming they were ballast, and then had them publicly sold at Chatham. Wright had also engaged in some other pecuniary concerns that were not to his credit. Rowley stated that he would not have Wright at his table.[6]

Wright remained in command of Swift and she moved to the North Sea. then in July 1807 she was paid off and placed in Ordinary at Sheerness.[1]

Between September and December 1810 the Navy had her fitted as a storeship at Deptford. Then December December 1810 and November 1811 the Navy had her fitted at Woolwich for foreign service. In 1812 she was under the command of Mr. W. Moubray, master. She then sailed to Halifax. In 1813 she was under the command of Mr. J. Engledon, master.[1]

Disposal: By 1814 Swift had returned to Deptford. On 3 November the "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered for sale the "Swift store-ship, of 327 tons", lying at Deptford.[7] She sold on that day for £3,200.[1]

Pacific

Pacific, of 386 tons (bm), river-built (i.e., built on the River Thames) in 1802, returns to the Register of Shipping (RS) in 1816. She does not reappear in Lloyd's Register.

Year	Master	Owner	Trade	Notes
1816	Edmonson Richie	R&N. Neal Miller	London–West Indies London–Virginia	RS[4]
1820	Richie	Miller	London–Virginia	Surveyed in 1816
1825	Taylor	Captain	London–Madeira	Large repair in 1820

On 9 December 1828 Lloyd's List reported that Pacific, Taylor, master, had been driven ashore at Reval. Then on the 26th, Lloyd's List reported that Pacific, Taylor, master, had been driven on shore at Neckmannes Ground and/but carried away by gale. Another report has it that she was wrecked on 16 November on Nickman's Ground, in the Baltic Sea off Hiiumaa, Russia. She was on a voyage from Vyborg, Russia, to Hull, Yorkshire.[8]

However, Pacific remained listed, with stale data, in the Register of Shipping until 1833, which is the last time the Register published. Again, unfortunately, Lloyd's Register did not carry her.

Year	Master	Owner	Trade	Notes
1830	Taylor	Captain	London–Madeira	Last surveyed 1828
1833	Taylor	Captain	London–Madeira	Last surveyed 1828; overdue for survey

Citations and references

Citations

1. Winfield (2008), p. 263.
2. Lloyd's Register (1802), Supplemental pages, Seq.№P41.
3. University of Hull - British Southern Whale Fishery - Voyages: Pacific.
4. Register of Shipping (1816), Seq. №P2.
5. "No. 15880". The London Gazette. 11 January 1806. pp. 42–43.
6. Markham (1904), p. 180. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFMarkham1904 (help)
7. "No. 16949". The London Gazette. 22 October 1814. p. 2105.
8. "Ship News". The Standard (487). 8 December 1828.

References

• Markham, John (1904) Selections from the Correspondence of Admiral John Markham During the Years 1801-4 and 1806-7, Volume 28. (Navy Records Society)
• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.