Cruizer class brig-sloop

Cruizer class brig-sloop
HMS Pelorus
The Cruizer-class brig-sloop HMS Pelorus aground at low water
Class overview
Name: Cruizer-class brig sloop
Operators:  Royal Navy
In service: 1797–1826
Completed: 110
General characteristics
Type: Brig-sloop
Tons burthen: 384 bm[1]
Length: 100.5 ft (30.6 m)
Beam: 30.5 ft (9.3 m)
Sail plan: Brig
Complement: 121
Armament:

18 cannon

The Cruizer class was an 18-gun class of brig-sloops of the Royal Navy. Brig-sloops were the same as ship-sloops except for their rigging. A ship-sloop was rigged with three masts whereas a brig-sloop was rigged as a brig with two masts — a fore mast and a main mast.

The Cruizer class was the most numerous class of warships built by the British during the Napoleonic wars, with 110 vessels built to this design, and the second most numerous class of sailing warship built to a single design for any navy at any time, after the smaller 10-gun Cherokee-class brig-sloops.[2]

Of the vessels in the class, eight (8%) were lost to the enemy, either destroyed or taken. Another was taken, but retaken. Fourteen (13%) were wrecked while in British service. Lastly, four (4%) foundered while in British service. In all cases of foundering and in many cases of wrecking all the crew was lost. Many of the vessels in the class were sold, some into mercantile service. One at least was wrecked. The fate of the others is generally unknown.

Contents

Design

In December 1796, the Navy Board placed new orders for four flush-decked sloops, to differing designs by the two Surveyors of the Navy — Sir William Rule and Sir John Henslow. In order to compare the qualities of ship-rigged and brig-rigged vessels, one vessel to each design was to be completed as a ship-sloop and the other as a brig-sloop. While the Henslow-designed vessels (the brig-sloop edit] Service in the War of 1812

During the Anglo-American War of 1812, several of the class fell victim to larger American sloops of war of nominally the same class. The American vessels generally enjoyed a slight advantage in weight of broadside and number of crew[citation needed]. The ship rigged sloops enjoyed the ability to back sail and the rigging proved far more resistant to damage whereas a single hit to the brig sloop's rig could render it unmanageable. In many cases, however, the advantage was in the quality of crew[citation needed], as the American sloops generally had hand-picked volunteer crews, while the brigs belonging to the overstretched Royal Navy had to make do with crews filled out with landsmen picked up by the press gang[citation needed].

Ships

The following table lists the Cruizer-class brig-sloops by the date on which the Admiralty ordered them.

External images
Model of HMS Cruizer
Another model of HMS Cruizer
HMS Pelorus ca. 1830, after conversion to a three-masted ship-sloop.
The USS Wasp rakes the Cruizer-class HMS Avon, 1814
An earlier USS Wasp boards the Cruizer-class HMS Frolic, 1812
The Cruizer-class HMS Recruit (foreground) harries the French 74-gun D'Hautpoult, 1809
Sketch of a brig-sloop, probably HMS Clio, by Cmdr. William Farrington, ca. 1812, Peabody Essex Museum
HMS Surinam struck by lightning, 11 December 1806, by Nicholas Matthews Condy, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
Name Ordered Builder Launched Fate
Cruizer 19 December 1796 Stephen Teague, Ipswich 20 December 1797 Broken up February 1819
unnamed 15 March 1797 Thomas Pitcher, Northfleet never commenced order subsequently cancelled

St Vincent's Board

The Board ordered 19 in 1802 and 1803.

Name Ordered Builder Launched Fate
Scorpion 27 November 1802 John King, Dover 17 October 1803 Sold 1819
Dispatch 27 November 1802 Richard Symons, Falmouth 26 May 1804 Broken up 1811
Scout 27 November 1802 Peter Atkinson, Hull 7 August 1804 Sold 1827
Musquito 27 November 1802 John Preston, Great Yarmouth 4 September 1804 Sold 1822
Dartmouth 24 December 1805 Broken up 1815
Ferret 27 November 1802 Benjamin Tanner, Dartmouth 4 January 1806 Abandoned as a wreck 1813
Leveret 16 July 1803 John King, Dover 14 January 1806 Wrecked 1807
Belette 16 July 1803 John King, Dover 21 March 1806 Wrecked 1812
Amaranthe 15 October 1803 John Dudman, Deptford Wharf 20 November 1804 Sold 1815
Calypso 15 October 1803 John Dudman, Deptford Wharf 2 February 1805 Broken up 1821
Dover 22 September 1804 Broken up 1821
Surinam 7 November 1803 Obadiah Ayles, Topsham January 1805 Sold for breaking up 1825
Wolverine 7 November 1803 Thomas Owen, Topsham 1 March 1805 Sold 1816
Dover October 1804 Sold 1815
Weazle 7 November 1803 Thomas Owen, Topsham 2 March 1805 Sold 1815
King's Lynn 14 June 1805 Broken up 1814
Racehorse 7 November 1803 Hamilton & Breeds, Hastings 17 February 1806 Wrecked 1822
Avon 9 December 1803 Richard Symons & Co., Falmouth 31 January 1805 Foundered as a result of damage in fight with U.S. 22-gun sloop-of-war Wasp 1814
edit] Melville's First Board

The Board ordered ordered six vessels to this design during May 1804, all of fir. Building of fir (pine) made for speedier construction at the cost of reduced durability in service.

Name Ordered Builder Launched Fate
Beagle 22 May 1804 Perry, Wells & Green, Blackwall Yard 8 August 1804 Sold 1814
Elk 22 May 1804 Frances Barnard, Sons & Co., Deptford Dockyard 22 August 1804 Broken up 1812
Raven 23 May 1804 Perry, Wells & Green, Blackwall Yard 25 July 1804 Wrecked 1805
Saracen 23 May 1804 Perry, Wells & Green, Blackwall Yard 25 July 1804 Broken up 1812
Reindeer 23 May 1804 Samuel & Daniel Brent, Rotherhithe 15 August 1804 Taken by USS Wasp and burnt 1814
Harrier 23 May 1804 Frances Barnard, Sons & Co., Deptford Dockyard 22 August 1804 Believed to have foundered near Rodrigues Island in the Indian Ocean in March 1809[3]

Barham's Board

The Board ordered 22 vessels to this design, seventeen of which were launched in 1806 and five in 1807.

Name Ordered Builder Launched Fate
Forester 16 July 1805 John King, Dover 3 August 1806 Sold 1819
Foxhound 16 July 1805 John King, Dover 30 November 1806 Foundered 1809
Mutine 22 July 1805 Henry Tucker, Bideford 15 August 1806 Sold 1819
Emulous 21 August 1805 William Row, Newcastle June 1806 Wrecked 1812; crew saved but Emulous was unsalvageable.[4]
Texel and surrendered to the Batavian Republic on 25 December 1811, with no loss of life among her crew,[5] though the pilot was killed.[6] She became the Dutch brig Irene; broken up at Flushing in 1822.
Sapientza Island, Greece; Captain and master were reprimanded for having only one anchor down.[7]
Scaw Reef off the coast of Jutland. The ship's boats were frozen to the deck so it was only the next day that the Danes were able to rescue most of the crew; 29 of her crew of 121 died and the rest became prisoners.[8]
Alacrity 14 January 1806 William Row, Newcastle 13 November 1806 Taken by French brig Abeille 1811; in French Navy as Alacrity until broken up in 1822.
Brightlingsea 30 August 1806 Foundered 1827 after leaving Sierra Leone; wreckage washed ashore in November near Mataceney suggested that lightning had started a fire that destroyed her.[9]
Ringdove 27 January 1806 Matthew Warren, Brightlingsea 16 October 1806 Sold 1829
Taken and sunk by U.S. brig Hornet 1813. Peacock sank with four of her crew and three Americans aboard.[10]
Sappho 27 January 1806 Jabez Bailey, Ipswich 15 December 1806 Broken up 1830
Recruit 27 January 1806 Thomas Hills, Sandwich 31 August 1806 Sold 1822
Bideford 3 October 1807 Taken by French brig Palinure 1808 and burnt 1809
Clio 29 January 1806 James Betts, Mistleythorn 10 January 1807 Broken up 1845
Bridport 11 September 1806 Sold 1817
Frolic 4 February 1806 (Nicholas) Bools & (William) Good, Bridport 9 December 1806 Taken by U.S. 22-gun sloop-of-war Wasp but retaken; broken up 1813

Grenville's Board

The Board ordered 10 vessels to this design - all on 1 October 1806, nine of which were launched in 1807 and one in 1808.

Name Ordered Builder Launched Fate
Plymouth 23 May 1807 Sold 1817
Brightlingsea, Essex 8 July 1807 Broken up 1831
Eclipse 1 October 1806 John King, Dover 4 August 1807 Sold for mercantile use 1815
Northam, Southampton 6 August 1807 Sold 1828
King's Lynn 7 October 1807 Sold 1835
Magnet 1 October 1806 Robert Guillaume, Northam, Southampton 19 October 1807 Wrecked 1809
Peruvian 1 October 1806 George Parsons, Warsash 26 April 1808 Broken up 1830

Mulgrave's Board

This Board ordered 14 vessels to this design during 1807 and 1808.

Name Ordered Builder Launched Fate
Pelorus 30 July 1807 (contract 7 October 1807) Robert Guillaume, Northam 25 June 1808 Sold for mercantile use at Singapore 1842 and wrecked 1844
edit] Charles Yorke's Board

This Board ordered 15 of the design between January 1811 and January 1812.

Name Ordered Builder Launched Fate
Belmullet on the coast of Mayo, Ireland, in 1823.[7]
edit] Melville's Second Board

The Board ordered 20, of which only eighteen were built; two were cancelled.

Name Ordered Builder Launched Fate
Trincomalee 1824
Penguin 20 August 1812 William Bottomley, King's Lynn 29 June 1813 Taken by U.S. brig Hornet and scuttled 1815
Lynx (ex-Pandora; renamed 24 September 1812 7 September 1812 M/Shipwright Edward sison Cancelled
East India Company, Bombay (M/Shipwright Jamsetjee Bomajee Wadia) 29 October 1814 Foundered in 1842 with all hands while en route from Vera Cruz, Mexico to Halifax.[12]
Zebra 2 October 1812 East India Company, Bombay (M/Shipwright Jamsetjee Bomajee Wadia) 18 December 1815 Wrecked 1840
edit] Notes
  1. ^ Colledge, p. 84.
  2. ^ a b c Winfield (2008), pp. 282 & 291.
  3. ^ Gossett (1986), p.71.
  4. ^ Gossett (1986), p.84.
  5. ^ Gossett (1986), p.82.
  6. ^ Grocott (1997), p.335.
  7. ^ a b c Gossett (1986), p.100.
  8. ^ Gossett (1986), p.78.
  9. ^ Gossett (1986), p.102.
  10. ^ Gossett (1986), p.88.
  11. ^ Gossett (1986), p. 102.
  12. ^ Gossett (1986), p.108.

References

Reading

  • Petrejus, E W (1970). Modelling the brig-of-war Irene (A handbook for building a Cruizer-class model). De Esch. ASIN B0006C7NRA. [Note that there was no actual vessel which carried the name Irene.]

External links


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