HMS Belette (1806)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Belette |
| Ordered: | 16 July 1803 |
| Builder: | John King of Dover |
| Launched: | 21 March 1806 |
| Commissioned: | April 1806 |
| Honours and awards: |
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| Fate: | Wrecked 24 November 1812 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Cruizer-class brig-sloop |
| Tonnage: | 384 26⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 30 ft 7 in (9.3 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 12 ft 9 in (3.9 m) |
| Sail plan: | Brig rigged |
| Complement: | 121 |
| Armament: | 16 × 32-pounder carronades + 2 × 6-pounder bow guns |
HMS Belette (or Bellette) was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop, built by King at Dover and launched on 21 March 1806. During the Napoleonic Wars she served with some success in the Baltic and the Caribbean. Belette was lost in the Kattegat in 1812 when she hit a rock off Læsø.
Belette was commissioned in April 1806 under Commander Richard Piercy for the North Sea. Commander John Phillimore took command in September and sailed Belette in the English Channel and the Downs, taking part in Commodore Edward Owen's attack on Boulogne.
Belette was occupied in early 1807 with conveying supplies to the besieged town of Kolberg. In June 1807 Belette was off Suffolk when she tried to land a M. Bedezee, a Prussian envoy carrying some important despatches. The boat overturned a few hundred meters off shore and Bedezee drowned, as did a midshipman and three crewmen. A master's mate and a crewman were saved, but the despatches were lost.
Next, she was attached to Admiral James Gambier's fleet which returned to the Baltic to attack Copenhagen again in 1807. Phillimore distinguished himself during the battle, particularly in an engagement at the end of August, when Belette became becalmed off the Danish coast. Sixteen Danish gunboats attacked Belette, which sank three of them before boats from other British ships arrived and towed her clear. Gambier rewarded Phillimore for his courage by giving him the honour of carrying Gambier's despatches to the Admiralty. As a result, Phillimore received a promotion to post-captain on 13 October; however he remained with Belette.
The expedition to Copenhagen resulted in prize money for Bellette both for warships and merchant vessels. Belette was one of seven British warships sharing in the proceeds of the capture on 28 August of the Danish merchant vessel Sally. Then Belette is listed among the vessels sharing in the prize money for the ships and provisions that the British captured at Copenhagen.Bellette also shared with Gallant and a number of other warships in the captures of several merchant vessels: the Aurora (30 August), Paulina (30 August), Ceres (31 August), Odiford (4 September), and Benedicta (12 September). On 19 November Belette, with the gun-vessels Tigress and Safeguard in company, recaptured the ship Lively.
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