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HMS Foxhound (1806)

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History
NameHMS Foxhound
NamesakeFoxhound
BuilderKing, Dover
Launched1806
CommissionedMay 1807
Honors and
awards
Naval General Service Medal with the clasp "Basque Roads 1809"[1]
FateFoundered 31 August 1809
General characteristics
Class and typeTemplate:Sclass-
Tons burthen384 2694 (bm)
Length
  • 100 ft 0 in (30.5 m) (gundeck)
  • 77 ft 2+78 in (23.5 m) (keel)
Beam30 ft 7 in (9.3 m)
Draught
  • 7 ft 0 in (2.1 m) (unladen)
  • 11 ft 0 in (3.4 m) (laden)
Depth of hold12 ft 9 in (3.9 m)
Sail planBrig
Complement121
Armament

HMS Foxhound was an 18-gun Template:Sclass- built by King at Dover and launched in 1806. She participated in the battle of the Basque Roads in early 1809 and foundered later that year.

Service

Commander Pitt Burnaby Greene, late commander of the hired armed brig Cockatrice, commissioned Foxhound in May 1807.[2] On 26 August Foxhound captured the Danish vessel Adetheid Margaretha.[3] Two days later she captured the Danish vessels Gimlé and De Gode.[3]

On 28 June 1808 Foxhound captured the French chasse maree Susanne. Then on 11 January 1809 Foxhound recaptured the Hamburg ship Vierininguen.[4]

On 17 March 1809, Foxhound joined Admiral Lord Gambier's Channel fleet anchored off the Basque Roads. The British plan was to use the 60 vessels (of all kinds) to attack the French fleet lying within. The 15 French vessels there, commanded by Vice-Admiral Zacharie Allemand, lay behind a boom protected by 30 guns.

During this time Foxhound participated in the capture of two vessels, the Danish ship Neptunus on 24 March and the French ship Nymphe on 28 March.[5] For the capture of Neptunus, Foxhound was in company with Indefatigable and the sloop Goldfinch.[6] Foxhound was also in company with Indefatigable for the capture of Nymphe.[6]

On 11 April, two explosion ships, twelve fire ships, accompanied by bomb vessels and escorted by men-of-war, some 27 vessels in all, under the command of Captain Lord Cochrane, broke the boom under a heavy fire. Foxhound covered the bomb vessel Aetna near the Île-d'Aix, which was making a diversionary attack. The British main attack captured two French vessels and two were blown up, all with a total loss to the British of only eight men killed and 24 wounded. Still, Cochrane was highly critical of Gambier's failure to act more aggressively. (Gambier had earlier objected to the plan to use explosion (Cochrane's invention) and fire ships, calling it "a horrible and anti-Christian mode of warfare".)

Two of Foxhound's sister ships, Doterel and Beagle were also present at the Basque Roads. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the then-surviving participants in the battle the Naval General Service Medal with the clasp "Basque Roads 1809".[7]

On 16 May 1809, Foxhound sailed for Quebec with a convoy.[8]

Fate

While under the command of Commander James MacKenzie, Foxhound was returning from Halifax when she foundered in the Atlantic with the loss of all on board.[9] The loss occurred in August, and perhaps on 31 August 1809.[10] The vessels in company were unable to render any assistance.[11]

Citations and references

Citations

  1. ^ "No. 20939". The London Gazette. 26 January 1849. p. 243.
  2. ^ The Gentleman's Magazine Vol. 163. p.89.
  3. ^ a b "No. 16498". The London Gazette. 22 June 1811. p. 1158.
  4. ^ "No. 16253". The London Gazette. 2 May 1809. p. 629.
  5. ^ "No. 16362". The London Gazette. 17 April 1810. p. 584.
  6. ^ a b "No. 16308". The London Gazette. 21 October 1809. p. 1674.
  7. ^ "No. 20939". The London Gazette. 26 January 1849. p. 243.
  8. ^ "NMM, vessel ID 367137" (PDF). Warship Histories, vol i. National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ Hepper (1994), p.130.
  10. ^ Gossett (1986), p.72.
  11. ^ Grocott (1997), p.283.

References

  • Gossett, William Patrick (1986) The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793-1900. (London:Mansell). ISBN 0-7201-1816-6
  • Grocott, Terence (1997), Shipwrecks of the revolutionary and Napoleonic eras, Chatham, ISBN 1-86176-030-2
  • Hepper, David J. (1994) British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. (Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot). ISBN 0-948864-30-3
  • Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1-86176-246-1.

This article includes data released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported UK: England & Wales Licence, by the National Maritime Museum, as part of the Warship Histories project.