HMS Sheldrake (1806)
| History | |
|---|---|
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| Name: | HMS Sheldrake |
| Builder: | Richards Brothers, Hythe, Hampshire |
| Launched: | 1806 |
| Commissioned: | April 1806 |
| Decommissioned: | August 1815 |
| Fate: | Sold, 6 March 1817 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Seagull-class brig-sloop |
| Tons burthen: | 282 36⁄94 bm |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 26 ft 5 in (8.05 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 12 ft (3.7 m) |
| Sail plan: | Brig-rigged |
| Complement: | 95 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Sheldrake was a Royal Navy 16-gun Seagull-class brig-sloop. She was built in Hythe and launched in 1806. She fought in the Napoleonic Wars and at the Battle of Anholt during the Gunboat War. She was stationed in the mouth of the River Loire in 1814 after Napoleon's abdication to prevent his escape to America. She was sold in 1816.
Commander John Thicknesse commissioned Sheldrake in April 1806 for the Channel Islands. On 12 October 1806, Sheldrake was in company with Constance, Strenuous and the hired armed cutter Britannia sailing to reconnoiter Saint Malo when they spotted and gave chase to a strange sail near Cape Fréhel. The British squadron chased the vessel, mostly using their sweeps, and at noon caught up with her. She had taken refuge on shore and near the rocks at Bouche d'Arkie (Bay of Erqui), under the protection of the French battery on the hill and some troops and field pieces. Captain Burrowes of Constance decided to attack. At 2pm a two-hour action began, during which both Burrowes and the French captain were killed. During the battle, Constance too ran aground. Thickness sent his first lieutenant in boats to take possession of the French vessel after she struck.
The French vessel was the frigate-built transport Salamander, armed with twenty-six long 12 and 18-pounder guns and carrying a crew of 150. She had been sailing from Saint Malo to Brest with a cargo of ship timber. A month earlier, Constance, Strenuous and Sharpshooter had run the same ship on shore before leaving her, apparently wrecked.
Thicknesse was unable to get either vessel off the rocks. He was, however, able to get many of Constance's officers and crew on board Sheldrake. When her crew abandoned Constance, under heavy fire from shore, they could not set her on fire because of the number of wounded still on board. A party of her crew made a second attempt to retrieve her, but all were killed or captured. Next morning, Sheldrake destroyed Salamander by gunfire. At that time Thicknesse saw that the action of the sea had destroyed Constance.
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Wikipedia