HMS Drake (1777)

HMS Drake was a 14-gun sloop-of-war of the Royal Navy. Originally the ship Royal Oak*, captain Samuel Chase, 250/275 tons, built in New England in 1775 by John W(h)arton from Philadelphia. She belonged to Browers, trading between London and Stettin as a tobacco-ship. Some trades: departure from Gravesend for Stettin on 12.9.75. Departure from Elseneur for London on 23.10.75. Arriving at Gravesend from Stettin on 11.11.75. She was sold to one Murray in 1776 and renamed Resolution, fitted with 20 guns for London transport, captain Ed.Hawker : some trades: on 12.7.76 from London to Boston, on 8.1.77 from Cork to London. On 3.4.1777 she was purchased at Plymouth by the ROYAL NAVY for 3000 Pounds, completed fitting 24.5.77 and became the ship-rigged Sloop-of-War the DRAKE with 14/18/20 guns, 100/200 men. She served in the American Revolutionary War, her first mission, starting 17.7.77, being the protection of the Packet-boats between Harwich and Gorée [1]

*note: The Royal Oak is the tree within which the future King Charles II of England hid to escape the Roundheads following the Battle of Worcester in 1651.
For other ships with the same name, see HMS Drake.

History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Drake
Acquired: by purchase, 1777
Fate: Captured by USS Ranger, 24 April 1778
General characteristics
Type: Sloop-of-war
Tons burthen: 274 ​61⁄94 bm
Length:
  • 91 ft 5 in (27.9 m) (gundeck)
  • 75 ft 10.75 in (23.1 m) (keel)
Beam: 26 ft 1 in (8.0 m)
Depth of hold: 18 ft 3.5 in (5.58 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement: 100
Armament: 14 x 4-pounder guns

-On 24 April 1778, off Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, she fought the North Channel naval duel with the 18-gun sloop Ranger of the Continental Navy, commanded by Captain John Paul Jones. Five of Drake's crew, including her captain, George Burdon, were killed, and after an hour-long engagement, Drake surrendered to the Americans. Jones was able to evade capture and deliver Drake to Brest, France as his prize on 8 May 1778. This was the first, and most complete, American victory over any Royal Navy vessel in British waters [2]. [3]

-At Brest, Jones sold her to his friend Jonathan Williams, who handed her over the next year to Jean Pel(le)tier-Dudoyer for Mont(h)ieu in Nantes (both Beaumarchais’ associates). In July 1779, she left Nantes for Brest, under captain Jean-Baptiste Cotton de Chaucy, being chartered by the King of France into a 10-vessel convoy between Brest and the Antillas, escorted by Le Fier-Rodrigue frigate. But the latter was suddenly requisitioned by the French Navy and the expedition was cancelled. Still chartered by the King, between March 1780 and January 1781, the Dra(c)ke (Drak), captain J.B.Cotton de Chaucy, made two trips to America and West-Indies, transporting Rochambeau’s troops in Charles-Henri-Louis d'Arsac de Ternay's squadron and coming back to France with packets for the King.[4]

-At the beginning of 1781, Jean Peltier Dudoyer prepared in Nantes 5 ships for the V.O.C., Dutch East India Company, in order to go and protect Cape of Good Hope against England. The Drake, captain Marc Antoine Fauvet, was at The Cape in November 1781, joining the de Pernier’s squadron whose mission was to bring victuals and troops to Suffren’s fleet at Isle de France (Maurice Island). The Drake came back to the Cape 20.5.1782. There, on 2.9.1782, she was sold to the King of France by Robert Pitot for 849.000 livres and incorporated into the French Navy. She went once more to Isle de France in November, left on 1.12.82 and arrived at [[Trinquemalay] (Ceyland) on 10.3.1783. In the meantime, the Peace was declared and announced to the East-Indian fleet on 29.6.1783. Suffren sailed back home, but de Pernier stayed in the Indian Ocean with 5 ships-of-the line and some frigates and sloops-of-war. From December 1784 to February 1786, the French “Flûte Royale Dracke”, captain Deshayes, was sent by the governor Marquis de Bussy from Pondicherry, India to Bago, Burma, to bring help to the other royal “flûte” the Baleine, captain Flouest, and to try diplomatically to get her out of the River where she was retained by the local authorities, and to allow her to get back to France. That will happen during the Autumn 1785 for we see her leaving the Isle of France on 24 July 1785 and arriving first at Lorient, and then at Rochefort, being decommissioned there on 28.3.1786. As for the Drake, her departure from Bago (Pég(o)u), which was scheduled for March 1785, could only occur eleven months later, first because of a bill of exchange having not been paid in Pondicherry, and secondly because of a war suddenly breaking out between Burmese and Siamese. Our ship finally arrived at Pondicherry in May 1786 and from there we no longer find any trace of her! She might have been sold or destroyed there, having been out of France for 4 long years……[5]

Small description of the vessel: 3 masts, 5 windows at the stern gallery, a quarter deck, a figurehead representing a warrior in armour with a sword (probably the King of England Charles II- see on top of the page the note over the Royal Oak). According to John Paul Jones the Drake was very similar to his former ship : the USS Alfred American frigate ex-Merchant ship the Black Prince/1774.[6]

Model of an XVIIIth century American built16-gun coppered sloop-of-war


References
  1. Lloyd’s Registers of Shipping 1775 to 1777/ Lloyd’s lists 1775 to 1777/ Three Decks Warships in the Age of Sail/ Granville Hough’s ships listing.
  2. "USS Ranger". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. 2003. Retrieved 9 January 2012
  3. "He Bought HMS Drake". Seacoast New Hampshire. 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  4. Samuel Eliot Morison/1959 « John Paul Jones »/Archives Départementales de Loire-Atlantique:notaire Briand-le-Jeune’s papers May 1782.
  5. fr.wikipedia.org Jean Peltier Dudoyer / Jonathan Williams Jr “The Papers of Benjamin Franklin-1.10.1778”/ Henri Cordier: ”Mémoires sur le Pégu” pages 121 to 152/ Secrétariat d’Etat à la Marine-Personnel Colonial ancien-Lettre D : Deshayes, subrécargue des flûtes du Roi La Baleine et Le Drake, chargé d’une expédition de Pondichéry au Pégou (1784-1786) code réf. COL E 125 folios 390 to 397/ Secrétarie d’Etat à la Marine. Correspondance à l’arrivée extrême-orient : ‘’Expédition du Pégu par le sieur Deshayes, commandant la flûte du Roi le Dracke. Années 1784, 1785 et 1786 ‘’, selon les instructions de Bussy du 18 décembre 1784 (30 janvier 1787). Code Communication : 202 MIOM 11 Code de référence : COL C1 21 folios 173 to 186.
  6. ‘’John Paul Jones’’ by Samuel Eliot Morison 1959 + Various paintings showing the capture of the Drake by the Ranger.
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