HMS Curlew (1812)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Curlew |
| Namesake: | Curlew |
| Ordered: | 30 August 1811 |
| Builder: | William Good & Co., Bridport |
| Laid down: | October 1811 |
| Launched: | 27 May 1812 |
| Commissioned: | July 1812 |
| Decommissioned: | 1822 |
| Fate: | Sold, December 1822 |
 United Kingdom
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|
| Name: | Jamesina |
| Owner: | James Matheson |
| Route: | India–China |
| Acquired: | 1822 |
| Fate: | Unknown |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Cruizer-class brig-sloop |
| Tons burthen: | 385 51⁄94, or 494 (bm) |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 30 ft 7 1⁄2 in (9.3 m) |
| Draught: | 6 ft 6 in (2.0 m) (unladen); 11 ft 6 in (3.5 m) (laden) |
| Depth of hold: | 12 ft 10 in (3.9 m) |
| Sail plan: | Brig |
| Complement: | 121 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Curlew (1812) was a Royal Navy Cruizer class brig-sloop built by (William) Good & Co., at Bridport and launched in 1812. She served with the Navy for only 10 years. During the War of 1812 she sailed from Halifax and captured several American privateers. Her greatest moment was her role in the 1819 British occupation of Ras al-Khaimah. Curlew was sold in 1822 in Bombay. She then had a 13 or so year career as an opium runner for James Matheson, one of the founders of the firm Jardine Matheson.
Commander Michael Head was appointed to Curlew on 27 June 1812 and commissioned her in July. She was still at Portsmouth on 31 July when the British authorities seized the American ships there and at Spithead on the outbreak of the War of 1812. She therefore shared, with numerous other vessels, in the subsequent prize money for these vessels: Belleville, Aeos, Janus, Ganges, and Leonidas.
Head sailed Curlew for North America on 28 August. On 31 October, Curlew was in company with Shannon, Nymphe and Tenedos when Shannon captured the privateer brig Thorn. Thorn was armed with eighteen long 9-pounders and had a crew of 140 men.Thorn, of Salem, was under the command of Captain T. Harper and was three weeks into her first cruise. Prior to being herself captured, Thorn had captured a brig carrying salt.
Next month, on 6 November, Curlew and the same squadron recaptured the brig Friendship. A privateer had captured her while she was sailing from Quebec to Tenerife.
Curlew was among the vessels that shared in the capture on 1 February 1813 of the ship Hebe. Hebe had been sailing from Smyrna to London.
In March 1813, Nymphe, Hogue and Curlew sent in to Halifax a ship from Wiscasset, that had been bound for Saint Barts. On April 2, Curlew brought into Halifax the American letter of marquee Volante of 22 guns, or 14 guns, and 90 men. Actually, Volante was pierced for 22 guns but carried only ten 24-pounder carronades and four long 9-pounders, giving her a broadside roughly half that of Curlew's. Taking Volante involved an exchange of shots but no casualties were reported.Lloyd's List describes Volant, of Boston, as being of 550 tons bm, armed with twenty 24-pounders, and having a crew of 90 men. She had been sailing from Bayonne with a cargo of wine, silks, brandy, and the like.
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