HMS Gaiete (1797)
| Career (France) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | Gaieté or Gayette |
| Launched: | April 1797 |
| Fate: | Captured by Arethusa, 10 August 1797 |
| Career (UK) |  |
| Name: | HMS Gaiete |
| Acquired: | By capture, 10 August 1797 |
| Commissioned: | June 1798 |
| Fate: | Sold, 1808 |
| General characteristics (in French service) | |
| Type: | Corvette |
| Tons burthen: | 514 20⁄04 (bm) |
| Length: | 120 ft 3 1⁄2 in (36.665 m) (overall(; 100 ft ¾ in (30.499 m) (keel) |
| Beam: | 30 ft 1 in (9.17 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 8 ft 8 in (2.64 m) |
| Complement: |
|
| Armament: |
|
HMS Gaiete (also Gayette) was a French sloop of twenty guns that the British frigate HMS Arethusa captured off Bermuda in 1797. She then served the Royal Navy until she was sold in 1808.
Contents |
[edit] Capture
At daybreak on 10 August 1797 Arethusa, commanded by Captain Thomas Wolley, was in the Atlantic Ocean at 30°49′N 55°50′W / 30.817°N 55.833°W when she sighted three ships to windward. At 7:30 a.m. one of the ships bore down to within half gun-shot, and opened fire. She proved to be the French 514-ton corvette Gaieté, commanded by Enseigne de vaisseau Jean-François Guignier. Having taken on a ship almost twice her size, mounting forty-four 18-pounder guns, there could only be one outcome, and the French ship was captured within half an hour, having sustained considerable damage to her sails and rigging, and lost two seamen killed and eight wounded. Arethusa lost one seaman killed, and the captain's clerk and two seamen wounded.[1][2]
[edit]
Gaiete was commissioned into the Royal Navy in June 1798 under Commander Edward Durnford King for service in the North Sea.[3] On 4 March 1799 she sailed for Jamaica.[4]
In 1799 Gaiete captured the brig Rose on 7 April. Then on 11 January 1800 she captured the sloop Santa Christa.[5]
Between February and May 1800, Gaiete captured or detained several vessels:[6]
- schooner Speculator, 60 tons (bm), sailing from Guadeloupe to Copenhagen with a cargo of sugar and coffee (10 February);
- ship Albion, of six guns and 500 tons (bm), sailing from Sunderland to Jamaica with a cargo of coals (retaken 16 February);
- schooner Seaflower, of five men, sailing from Guadaloupe to Saint Thomas in ballast (18 February);
- ship Daedalus, of six guns, 17 men and 300 tons (bm), sailing from Deptford to Martinique with provisions for the government (retaken 28 February);
- brig Good Fortune, of six men and 70 tons (bm), sailing from Liverpool, North America, to Antigua with a cargo of fish (retaken 5 March);
- French schooner Success, of two guns, 60 men and 60 tons (bm), sailing from Saint Bartholomew to Guadeloupe (6 March);
- brig Renwick, 150 tons (bm), sailing from Norfolk, North America, to Antigua with a cargo of wheat and flour (retaken 10 March);
- schooner Betsey, of nine men and 69 tons (bm), sailing from Leghorn to Charlestown with a cargo of wine, oil, etc., (retaken 2 May);
- schooner Elianne and Delphine (French tender), of ten men, sailing from Guadeloupe to Saint Bartholomew with a cargo of wine and sugar (6 May).
On 22 August, Gaiete captured the Petite Fortuné (alias Fortuna).[7]
In late 1800, after Durnford King was promoted to Acting-Captain of Leviathan[8] Commander Richard Peacocke became captain.[4]
[edit] Fate
By 1807 Gaiete was in ordinary at Blackwall.[4] The ship was offered for sale at Woolwich Dockyard on 8 July 1808,[9] and sold on 21 July.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ London Gazette: no. 14045. p. 881. 12 September 1797.
- ^ James, William (1837). Naval History of Great Britain. Vol. II. London: Richard Bentley. pp. 87-88. http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Naval_History/Vol_II/P_087.html. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
- ^ a b Winfield (2008), pp. 233-4.
- ^ a b c "NMM, vessel ID 367313". Warship Histories, vol i. National Maritime Museum. http://www.rmg.co.uk/upload/pdf/Warship_Histories_Vessels_i.pdf. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
- ^ London Gazette: no. 15513. p. 962. 7 September 1802.
- ^ London Gazette: no. 15295. pp. 1084–1085. 20 September 1800.
- ^ London Gazette: no. 15810. p. 709. 25 May 1805.
- ^ Durnford-Branecki, Cynde (2011). "Other Famous Durnfords". durnfordfamily.com. http://www.durnfordfamily.com/famous2.html. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
- ^ London Gazette: no. 16162. p. 981. 12 July 1808.
- This article includes data released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported UK: England & Wales License, by the National Maritime Museum, as part of the Warship Histories project
 |
This article about a specific naval ship or boat of the United Kingdom is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
