HMS Calpe (1800)
| History | |
|---|---|
 Spain
|
|
| Name: | San José |
| Launched: | 1796 |
| Captured: | By the Royal Navy, 27 October 1800 |
| General characteristics (in Spanish service) | |
| Type: | Polacca |
| Complement: | 34 seamen & 22 soldiers |
| Armament: | 14 guns |
 United Kingdom
|
|
| Name: | HMS Calpe |
| Acquired: | By capture, 27 October 1800 |
| Honours and awards: |
Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Gut of Gibraltar 12 July 1801" |
| Fate: | Sold, 1802 |
 United Kingdom
|
|
| Name: | Calpe |
| Owner: | W. Boyd |
| Acquired: | By purchase |
| Fate: | Wrecked 1805 |
| General characteristics (in British service) | |
| Type: | Sloop-of-war |
| Tons burthen: | 209, or 211, or 212 (bm) |
| Length: |
|
| Beam: | 26 ft 3 in (8.0 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 12 ft 6 in (3.8 m) |
| Complement: | 49 seamen + 22 soldiers |
| Armament: |
|
HMS Calpe was the former 14-gun polacca San José of the Spanish Navy, originally built in 1796 in Greece. The British captured her in 1800 and commissioned her as a sloop-of-war. She served at the Battle of Algeciras Bay before the Navy sold her in 1802. She underwent repairs and reappears as a merchantman in the 1805 registers; however, she wrecked at the Dardanelles in 1805.
On 25 October 1800 the frigate Phaeton chased a Spanish polacca to an anchorage under a battery of five heavy guns at Fuengirola, where she joined a French privateer brig. The following night the brig escaped while the polacca tried twice, unsuccessfully, to escape to Málaga. On the night of 27 October, Francis Beaufort, later inventor of the Beaufort Wind-Scale, led Phaeton's boats on a cutting out expedition. Unfortunately the launch, with a carronade, was unable to keep up and was still out of range when a French privateer schooner, which had come into the anchorage unseen, fired on the other boats. The barge and two cutters immediately made straight for the polacca. The boarding party suffered one man killed and three wounded, including Beaufort who received, but survived, 19 wounds. The boarding party succeeded in securing the polacca by 5 am. The captured ship was San José, alias Aglies, of 14 guns. She had been employed as a packet, carrying provisions between Málaga and Velilla. She had a crew of 34 seamen and there were also 22 soldiers on board. The Spanish sustained at least 13 wounded. The British immediately commissioned San José as a British sloop-of-war under the name of Calpe, the ancient name of Gibraltar. Although it would have been usual to promote Beaufort, the successful and heroic leader of the expedition, to command Calpe, Lord Keith chose Commander George Dundas instead, who not only was not present at the battle, but was junior to Beaufort.
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Wikipedia