HMS Defender (1809)

HMS Defender was the French privateer lugger Bon Marcel (Beau Marseilles in British records), that Royalist captured in 1809. Defender served without distinction in Home Waters for slightly more than three years before being sold in 1814.

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

Defender
History
France
Name: Bon Marcel
Commissioned: 1809[1]
Captured: 10 December 1809
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Defender
Acquired: 1809 by capture
Commissioned: January 1811
Fate: Sold 1814
General characteristics [2]
Tons burthen: 139​23⁄94 (bm)
Length:
  • 65 ft 0 1⁄2 in (19.8 m) (overall
  • 54 ft 2 1⁄2 in (16.5 m) (keel)
Beam: 17 ft 2 1⁄2 in (5.2 m)
Depth of hold: 7 ft 4 in (2.2 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Lugger
Complement: 40
Armament: 8 x 12-pounder carronades

Career

Royalist captured Beau Marseille on 10 December 1809. She was armed with 14 guns, had a crew of 60 men and was three months old. Commander John Maxwell, captain of Royalist, described her as "a very beautiful vessel" and "one of the fastest sailers out of Boulogne."[3][Note 1][Note 2]

The Royal Navy took Bon Marcel into service as Defender. From 15 February to 16 March 1811 she underwent fitting out at Sheerness.[2]

In January 1811 Lieutenant Moses Cannadey commissioned her for The Downs.[2][Note 3]

On 24 June 1813 Defender captured Hope.[5] Defender shared the prize money for Hoop with Decoy.[6]

Fate

Defender was offered for sale in August 1814.[7] She was sold at Chatham for ₤280 on 1 September 1814.[2]

Notes, citations, and references

Notes

  1. The prize's name was Bon Marcel, which the British misread as Beau Marseille or Bonne Marseille. She was a lugger commissioned at Boulogne in 1809, of 70 tons ("of load"), 120-ton displacement, 20.4-metre long (18.0 at the keel), 5.25 m beam and 2.44 m draft.[1]
  2. Bon Marcel was one of six privateers that Maxwell captured between May 1809 and February 1810. For this productivity Maxwell received promotion to post-captain in June 1810.[4] In 1847 the Admiralty rewarded the surviving claimants from Royalist the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Royalist May & June 1810". Long points out that the dates given on the official list are wrong.
  3. For several prior years Cannadey had served as the captain of the hired armed lugger Black Joke, which the French captured in the Mediterranean in 1810.

Citations

  1. Demerliac (2004), p. 247, N°1786.
  2. Winfield (2008), p. 366.
  3. "No. 16323". The London Gazette. 9 December 1809. p. 1974.
  4. Long (1895), p. 174.
  5. "No. 16903". The London Gazette. 31 May 1814. p. 1140.
  6. "No. 16866". The London Gazette. 12 March 1814. p. 546.
  7. "No. 16927". The London Gazette. 20 August 1814. p. 1684.

References

  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
  • Demerliac, Alain (2004). La Marine du Consulat et du Premier Empire: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1800 A 1815 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 2-903179-30-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Long, William H. (1895) Medals of the British navy and how they were won: with a list of those officers, who for their gallant conduct were granted honorary swords and plate by the Committee of the Patriotic Fund. (Norie & Wilson).
  • Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1-86176-246-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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