HMS Salorman (1808)
| History | |
|---|---|
 Denmark-Norway
|
|
| Name: | HDMS Søormen |
| Builder: | Stibolt, Bodenhofs plads |
| Launched: | 13 November 1789 |
| Captured: | 11 August 1808 |
 UK
|
|
| Name: | HMS Salorman |
| Acquired: | 11 August 1808 (by capture) |
| Fate: | foundered 23 December 1809 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Cutter |
| Length: | 68'2" (Danish) |
| Beam: | 21' (Danish) |
| Draught: | 9' (Danish; laden); 7'3" (Danish; unladen) |
| Sail plan: | Cutter |
| Complement: | 43 (Danish service) |
| Armament: |
|
HMS Salorman was the Danish cutter Søormen, of twelve guns, built in 1789, which the British captured in 1808. She was wrecked in 1809.
Søormen was built in Copenhagen to a design by Ernst Stibolt. She was launched on 13 November 1789.
Søormen was designated as a mail boat [hence the Danish "kongensbåd" or "kongenjagt" -king’s boat or king’s sloop – in the record], and armed for self-defence. Until August 1808 the Danes considered such vessels non-combatants. Captain Trampe, in command of a sister ship (Ørnen) in the postal service based in Korsør, was reprimanded for putting his ship in harms way when he captured a British barge in the Great Belt later that month. However, Frederick VI of Denmark later approved Trampe's action.
When word of the uprising of the Spanish against the French in 1808 reached Denmark, some 12,000 Spanish troops of the Division of the North 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 brig 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 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.
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Wikipedia