HMS Dominica (1805)
| History | |
|---|---|
 UK
|
|
| Name: | HMS Dominica |
| Acquired: | 1805 (by purchase) |
| Captured: | 21 May 1806 (by mutineers) |
 France
|
|
| Name: | Napoléon |
| Acquired: | 21 May 1806 by capture |
| Captured: | 24 May 1806 |
|
UK
|
|
| Name: | HMS Dominica |
| Acquired: | 24 May 1806 (by capture) |
| Fate: | broken up 1808 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | schooner |
| Tonnage: | 85 bm |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Schooner or brig |
| Armament: | 6 guns |
HMS Dominica was a schooner that the British purchased in 1805 in the Leeward Islands. Her crew mutinied in 1806, turning her over to the French, who immediately sent her out as the privateer Napoléon. The British recaptured her four days after the mutiny and returned her to their service. In British service she captured some six small privateers. She was broken up in 1808.
The British commissioned Dominica under Lieutenant Robert Peter. On 11 August 1805 Dominica captured the small rowboat Hazard about two leagues off Scotts Head, Dominica. She had a crew of 14 men armed with small arms. She was three days out of Pointe-à-Pitre and had not captured anything. At about the same time, Dominica captured a schooner.
Later that month, on the 25th, Dominica chased a French rowboat privateer for several hours before catching her in the lee of Dominica. The privateer was the Ravanche, armed with a 12-pounder carronade in her bows and several swivel guns. She had only 15 men on board, having taken three small vessels during her eight weeks out of Guadeloupe.
A week later, on 2 September, at 8 am and about five leagues from The Saints, Dominica captured another rowboat, the Prudente. Prudente had not realized that Dominca was a warship and approached. As soon as she realized her mistake, she attempted to escape. The wind being calm, Peter send Midshipman Jackson and eight volunteers in a boat to capture Prudente, while shooting grape and canister at her from Dominica. Two hours and two leagues on, Dominica's boat caught up with the privateer. After the British had fired a few volleys of small arms fire, the enemy surrendered. The British had one man hurt when he broke his collarbone.
In 1806 Lieutenant William Dean took command of Dominica. On 21 May, while Dean was on shore at Roseau collecting dispatches for Admiral Lord Alexander Cochrane, a crewman attacked the master, Richard Osborne. Osborne disarmed the man, but then other crewmen came up, captured Osborne, and secured him and the other loyal crew below deck. The mutineers then sailed Dominica overnight to Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe.
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Wikipedia