HMS Falcon (1802)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
|
|
| Name: | Diadem |
| Builder: | Almon Hill & Sons, Limehouse |
| Launched: | 20 October 1798 |
| Fate: | Purchased by the Royal Navy in 1801 |
 United Kingdom
|
|
| Name: | HMS Diadem |
| Acquired: | 28 February 1801 |
| Renamed: | HMS Falcon |
| Fate: | Sold in 1816 |
|
United Kingdom
|
|
| Name: | Duke of Wellington |
| Owner: | Short & Co. |
| Launched: | 1816 by purchase |
| Fate: | Wrecked at Batavia 1820 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 14-gun sloop |
| Tons burthen: | 366 28⁄94 or 368 bm |
| Length: | 102 ft 10 in (31.3 m) (overall); 80 ft 8 in (24.6 m) (keel) |
| Beam: | 29 ft 3 1⁄2 in (8.9 m) |
| Sail plan: | Sloop |
| Complement: | 75 |
| Armament: |
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Diadem was launched in 1798. The Admiralty renamed her HMS Falcon after purchasing her in 1801 to avoid confusion with the pre-existing third rate Diadem. Falcon served in the north Atlantic and the Channel, and then in Danish waters during the Gunboat War. She was sold in 1816. Her new owner sailed her to the Indies under a license from the British East India Company. She was wrecked in 1820 at Batavia.
Commander James Nash commissioned Falcon in February 1801. His replacement, in 1802, was Commander Henry M. Ommaney, who sailed her to Newfoundland.
Near Newfoundland, Falcon captured two prizes – Caroline on 17 July 1803, and on 28 July the apparently British-built Mercure.
Commander George Sanders took over command in Newfoundland February 1804. Early in 1804 Falcon was refitting in Plymouth, before going on to serve in the Channel, where she engaged shore batteries at Le Havre. Falcon was also awarded prize money for the recapture, on 3 November, of the sloop John and Thomas.
Falcon then operated in the North Sea. On 10 June 1805, Falcon, with Chiffone, Clinker, and Frances chased a French convoy for nine hours until the convoy took shelter under the guns of Fécamp. The convoy consisted of two corvettes (Foudre under capitaine de vaisseau Jacques-Felix-Emmanuel Hemelin, and Audacieuse, under Lieutenant Dominique Roquebert), four large gunvessels and eight others, and 14 transports. The British suffered some casualties from gunfire from shore batteries, with Falcon suffering four men wounded and some damage to her rigging. In company with Chiffone, Steady, and the hired armed cutter Frances, Falcon was involved in the capture of Zeeluft on 20 June 1805, and also shared in prize money from the cargoes of another two vessels captured that year.
At the ultimately unsuccessful British defence of Danzig in April 1807, Falcon was involved in bringing reinforcements and the Russian General Nikolay Kamensky to the area. Volunteers from Falcon went on board the hired armed ship Sally, which then entered the relatively shallow waters at the mouth of the Vistula to take the battle to the French.
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Wikipedia