HMS Recruit (1806)

Intrepid behaviour of Captn Charles Napier, in H M 18 gun Brig Recruit for which he was appointed to the D' Haupoult. The 74 now pouring a broadside into her. 15 April 1809. Hautpoult can be seen in the background.
History
UK
Name:	HMS Recruit
Ordered:	27 January 1806
Builder:	Andrew Hills, Sandwich, Kent
Laid down:	April 1806
Launched:	31 August 1806
Honours and awards:	Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Martinique"
Fate:	Sold for breaking up 7 August 1822
General characteristics
Class and type:	18-gun Cruizer class brig-sloop
Tons burthen:	382 91⁄94 (bm)
Length:	100 ft (30 m) (overall) 77 ft 3 1⁄2 in (23.559 m) (keel)
Beam:	30 ft 6 in (9.30 m)
Depth of hold:	12 ft 9 in (3.89 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Brig-sloop
Complement:	121
Armament:	16 × 32-pounder carronades 2 × 6-pounder bow chasers

HMS Recruit was an 18-gun Cruizer class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1806 at Sandwich, Kent. She is best known for an act of pique by Cmdr. Warwick Lake, who marooned a seaman, and for an inconclusive but hard fought ship action under Cmdr. Charles John Napier against the French corvette Diligente. She captured a number of American vessels as prizes during the War of 1812 before being laid up in 1815 and sold for breaking up in 1822.

Recruit was ordered on 27 January 1806 from the shipwright Andrew Hills, of Sandwich, Kent. She was laid down in April 1806 and launched on 31 August 1806.

Recruit was commissioned under Commander George Ackholm in March 1807. On 28 August, Tromp detained the Danish ships Diamond and Karen Louisa. Recruit, Humber, Cheerful, and experiment were in sight and shared in the proceeds of the seizure.

Next, Recruit sailed to the Caribbean under Commander Warwick Lake, supposedly in July, but clearly later. During the voyage, a young sailor named Robert Jeffery was discovered to have stolen the midshipmen's beer and Lake furiously ordered him to be marooned on the island of Sombrero. (Jeffery had been born at Fowey but moved to Polperro before becoming a merchant seaman and was then pressed into the navy.) Some months later, Lake's commanding officer Sir Alexander Cochrane discovered what had happened and immediately ordered Lake to retrieve Jeffery. When Recruit arrived at Sombrero, Jeffery could not be found. Eventually the story got out and a court martial dismissed Lake from the service for his actions. As it turned out, Jeffery had been picked up by an American ship and was eventually discovered in Massachusetts three years later, working as a blacksmith. He returned to Britain and received compensation.