HMS Fama (1808)
| History | |
|---|---|
 Denmark-Norway
|
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| Name: | HDMS Fama |
| Builder: | Nyholm, Copenhagen |
| Launched: | 1802 |
| Captured: | 11 August 1808 |
 UK
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|
| Name: | HMS Fama |
| Acquired: | 11 August 1808 (by capture) |
| Fate: | foundered 23 December 1809 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Brev Drageren-class |
| Type: | brig |
| Length: | 82'10" (Danish) |
| Beam: | 21'6" (Danish) |
| Draught: |
|
| Complement: | 57 (Danish service) |
| Armament: |
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HMS Fama was the Danish brig Fama, of fourteen guns, built in 1802, which the British captured in 1808. She was wrecked at the end of the year.
Fama was built in Copenhagen to a design by F.C.H. Hohlenberg. She was the second of three vessels of the Brev Drageren-class and was launched 1802.
When word of the uprising of the Spanish against the French in 1808 reached Denmark, some 12,000 Spanish troops stationed in Denmark and under the Marquis de la Romana decided that they wished to leave French service and return to Spain. The Marquis contacted Rear-Admiral Keats, on Superb, who was in command of a small British squadron in the Kattegat. They agreed a plan and on 9 August 1808 the Spaniards seized the fort and town of Nyborg. Keats then prepared to take possession of the port and to organize the departure of the Spanish. Keats informed the Danish authorities that if they did not impede the operation he would spare the town. The Danes agreed, except for the captains of two small Danish warships in the harbour.
On 11 August Keats sent in the boats from Edgar, under the command of her captain, James Macnamara. The boats captured the Fama, of 18 guns and under the command of Otto Frederick Rasch, and the cutter Søormen, of 12 guns and under the command of Thøger Emil Rosenørn. Despite the odds Rasch and Rosenørn refused to surrender and put up a stiff resistance before they struck. British losses were an officer killed and two men wounded; the Danes lost seven men killed and 13 wounded. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issue of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "11 Aug. Boat Service 1808" to all surviving claimants of the action.
The British organized the evacuation of the Spanish troops using some 50 or so local boats. Some 10,000 troops returned to Spain via Britain.
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Wikipedia