HMS Pert (1804)
| History | |
|---|---|
 France
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| Name: | Bonaparte, |
| Builder: | American |
| Captured: | 1804 |
| History | |
 |
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| Name: | HMS Pert |
| Acquired: | by capture 1804 |
| Fate: | Wrecked 1807 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Brig-sloop |
| Tons burthen: | 206 (bm) |
| Length: | 84 ft 6 in (25.8 m) (overall); c.73 ft 3 in (22.3 m) (keel) |
| Beam: | 23 ft 0 in (7.0 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 11 ft 4 in (3.5 m) |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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HMS Pert was the French privateer Bonaparte that HMS Cyane captured in November 1804. The Royal Navy took Bonaparte into service as HMS Pert. Pert was wrecked off the coast of what is now Venezuela in October 1807.
On 21 June 1804 Bonaparte encountered the 18-gun HMS Hippomenes off Antigua. Captain Kenneth Mackenzie (or M'Kenzie) of Hippomenes took advantage of her Dutch design had disguised her as a Guinea trader. Buonaparte, of Guadeloupe, was armed with 18 long 8-pounders and a crew of 146 men under the command of Captain Paimpéni. He sighted Hippomenes and sailed to take her. The two vessels exchanged fire until Buonaparte ran into Hippomenes. Mackenzie had his crew lash the privateer's bowsprit to the mainmast and jumped on board the privateer, followed by his officers and a few men, some 18 in all. Unfortunately, the rest of the crew, a particularly poor lot, refused to follow. In the fight on the privateer, the British lost five dead and eight wounded; only nine of the original 18 managed to escape back to Hippomenes (two officers and two men remained on board Buonaparte as prisoners). The boarding party barely got back in time before the lashings gave way and the vessels parted, at which time Bonaparte sailed away. On Hippomenes his wounds rendered Mackenzie himself senseless for a while. In the engagement prior to the boarding, Buonaparte had lost five dead and 15 wounded. She then returned to Pointe-à-Pitre roads.
Early in the morning of 11 November 1804, Cyane was off Marie-Galante when she encountered a French privateer brig. After a short chase and a running fight of half an hour, the brig surrendered. She had no casualties but Cyane had some men injured when a cartridge exploded on deck. The French brig was the Bonaparte, pierced for 22 guns but carrying 18. Captain George Cadogan of Cyane described Bonaparte as "a very fine Brig", but in a shattered state, having lost her foremast, bowsprit, and top-masts in an engagement with three English letters of marque three days earlier.
The Royal Navy commissioned Bonaparte as HMS Pert in June 1805 under the command of Commander James Pringle. On 16 August 1806 Pert captured the schooner Catalina, Quaremberg, master. Then on 17 September Pert captured the schooner General Eaton, Robinson, master. Next, Pert shared with Jason, Hart, and Maria in the capture on 4 October, of the schooner Rebecca, Cook, master.
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Wikipedia