HMS Aetna (1803)
| History | |
|---|---|
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| Name: | HMS Aetna |
| Namesake: | Mount Etna |
| Acquired: | by purchase, 1803 |
| Commissioned: | December 1803 |
| Decommissioned: | Late 1815 |
| Honours and awards: |
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| Fate: | Sold, 1816 and disposed in Woolwich |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Bomb vessel |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Armament: |
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HMS Aetna was one of the Royal Navy bomb vessels involved in the attack on Fort McHenry in the Battle of Baltimore and the bombardment of Fort Washington, Maryland in 1814, during the War of 1812. In these actions she was commanded by Richard Kenah. Prior to this, Aetna participated in the second Battle of Copenhagen in 1807 and the Battle of the Basque Roads in 1809. In both these actions, she was commanded by William Godfrey.
Aetna was the merchant vessel Success, that the Admiralty purchased in 1803. She was commissioned in December 1803 under Commander George Cocks and first served in the Mediterranean. His replacement was Commander Richard Thomas.
In December 1805 she came under the command of Captain John Quillam and in February 1807 or so under Commander William Peake, still in the Mediterranean. She was recommissioned in June 1807 under Commander William Godfrey for the Baltic. There she took part in the siege and bombardment of Copenhagen between 15 August and 20 October 1807, resulting in the capture of Danish Fleet by Admiral Gambier.
On 6 April 1809, Aetna, eight fire ships and a transport with Congreve rockets, joined Captain Lord Cochrane's fleet of frigates, sloops and gunbrigs off the Chasseron lighthouse where it was preparing to attack French warships in the Basque Roads.
Aetna was the only vessel of her class present. On the night of 11 April Aetna, the frigate HMS Indefatigable and the sloop Foxhound were stationed near the north-west of the Île-d'Aix while the fire ships were launched against the enemy. At 11:00 on the 13th Aetna, HMS Beagle, the gun-brigs and the rocket cutters moved up to the mouth of the Charante to fire on the French ships Océan, Régulus and Indienne which had been driven ashore. Aetna split her 13-inch mortar in the attack. At 16:00 the falling tide forced them to return to their former anchorage under fire from shore batteries. By the evening of the 14th she had fired away all her 10-inch shells, but she did not leave the mouth of the Charente until the 29th. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the then still surviving participants in the battle the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM) with the clasp "Basque Roads 1809".
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