HMS Musquito (1804)
| History | |
|---|---|
 UK
|
|
| Name: | HMS Musquito |
| Ordered: | 27 November 1802 |
| Laid down: | May 1803 |
| Launched: | 4 September 1804 |
| Fate: | Sold 1822 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Cruizer-class brig-sloop |
| Tonnage: | 384 51⁄94 bm |
| Length: |
|
| Beam: | 30 ft 7 in (9.3 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 12 ft 9 in (3.9 m) |
| Sail plan: | Brig-rigged |
| Complement: | 20 |
| Armament: |
|
HMS Musquito (or Mosquito). was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by John Preston at Great Yarmouth and launched in 1804. She was commissioned in October 1804 under Commander Samuel Jackson. She served in the North Sea and the Baltic, and Jackson supervised the first successful rocket attack in Europe at Boulogne in 1806. After the war she served off Africa and captured some slavers. She was broken up in 1822, having been laid up since 1818.
Musquito was 13 miles off Scarborough on 12 April 1805 when Jackson saw two ships firing their guns at a third. Jackson caught up with the quarry, which turned out to be a sloop from Guernsey carrying contraband goods. Her captain informed Jackson his pursuers were French privateers. Jackson sailed in pursuit and captured one of the privateers at midday and the other early the following morning.
The privateers were the Dutch-built doggers Orestes and Pylades. Each was armed with a 24-pounder carronade and six swivels and had a crew of 33 men. They had been at sea for three weeks, flying false Prussian colours. Their plan had been to attack merchant shipping off Scotland but bad weather had foiled them.Musquito sent both into Yarmouth.
Later that year Musquito escorted transports carrying some 5,000 troops to Lord Cathcart's army in Hanover. By trusting his judgment over that of the pilots he was ordered to use, Jackson saved the convoy from grounding on the Haak Sand off Texel, although one transport did ground with the result that the Dutch captured her and the 250 men of the Fifth Regiment of Foot she was carrying. Later, Musquito drove five French armed schooners ashore on the Calais-Boulogne coast.
On 27 March 1806, Musquito was with Ariadne and the gun-brig Monkey when they captured Vrow Cornelia, R.R. Cruzenga, Master. On 7 April Musquito, Monkey, Bold and Urgent captured Bradford. Two days later, Musquito and Ariadne, and the gun-brigs Blazer, Bold, and Furious captured Anna Margaretha, Klinkammer, Master. On 14 April Musquito, Ariadne, Monkey, and Blazer captured the merchant vessel Elizabeth Anna. Then on 5 June Musquito was among the vessels that shared in the capture of Prospere, J.G. Huret, Master. Almost two months later, on 28 July, many of the same vessels shared in the capture of Jonge Jacob.
...
Wikipedia