HMS Superieure (1803)
Lines of Superieure, from the National Maritime Museum, Greewich
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| History | |
|---|---|
 France
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| Name: | Superior |
| Launched: | 1801 |
| Acquired: | By purchase |
| Renamed: | Supérieure on purchase |
| Captured: | 2 July 1803 |
 UK
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| Name: | HMS Superieure |
| Acquired: | 2 July 1803 (by capture) |
| Honours and awards: |
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| Fate: | Sold 1814 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Schooner |
| Tonnage: | 197 (bm) |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 23 ft 6 in (7.16 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 9 ft 5 in (2.87 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Schooner |
| Complement: | 70 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Superieure was the French privateer Supérieure, which was built in 1801 in Baltimore, Maryland, and which the British captured in 1803 in the West Indies, and took into the Royal Navy. She spent most of her career on the Jamaica and Leeward Islands stations, where she captured numerous privateers. She participated in several notable single-ship actions, including one in which she harassed a frigate, and two campaigns that would, in 1847, earn her surviving crew members the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM). She was laid-up in Britain in 1810 and sold in 1814.
Supérieure was launched in Talbot County, Maryland, as Superior. Her owners, Robert Charles Boislandry and Felix Imbert, received a temporary registration at the Baltimore Customs House on 7 January 1801. Notations on the record report that Superior was sold to the French navy while she was anchored at Saint Barthélemy.
On 2 July 1803, the squadron under Captain Henry William Bayntun captured Supérieure and Poisson Volant. The actual captor of Supérieure was Vanguard.
The Royal Navy purchased Supérieure on 15 October, and then commissioned her soon after under Lieutenant Edward Crofton. Cumberland, Hercule, Bellerophon, Elephant, and Vanguard all shared in the bounty money for her capture.
Lieutenant William C. Fromow replaced Crofton almost immediately. Fromow was in command on 6 February 1804 when Superieure captured the French privateer schooner Serpent after a chase of two hours. Serpent, of 60 tons (bm), was armed with one gun, had a crew of 60 men, and was sailing in ballast. Head money for the crew of Serpent was finally paid in September 1827.
On 28 February, Superieure recaptured the British sloop Phoenix, sailing from Bermuda. Before 9 March, Superieure also destroyed the barge Mardigras, which was armed with two guns and had a crew of 24 "White Men", who were sent to Jamaica.
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Wikipedia