HMS Wilhelmina (1798)
Capture of the Furie & Waakzamheid, 23 October 1798
Thomas Whitcombe, 1816 |
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| History | |
|---|---|
 Batavian Republic
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| Name: | Wilhelmina |
| Builder: | Flushing |
| Launched: | 1787 |
| Renamed: | Furie in 1795 |
| Captured: | By the Royal Navy on 24 October 1798 |
 UK
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| Name: | HMS Wilhelmina |
| Acquired: | 24 October 1798 |
| Honours and awards: |
Naval General Service Medal (NGSM) with clasp "Egypt" |
| Fate: | Sold in January 1813 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 32-gun fifth rate frigate |
| Tons burthen: | 826 81⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 37 ft 9 in (11.5 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 12 ft 4 in (3.76 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Full rigged ship |
| Complement: | 244 (121 as troopship) |
| Armament: |
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HMS Wilhelmina was a 32-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was previously a Dutch ship and had been built in 1787 for the Dutch Republic as the Wilhelmina. She was renamed Furie in 1795, after the establishment of the Batavian Republic as a client state of the First French Empire. Like other Dutch ships at that time, she was pressed into service as part of French plans to support the Irish Rebellion of 1798 in the hope of destabilising Britain. The British captured her and the Dutch corvette Waakzaamheid in 1798 while the two were supporting French and Irish forces involved in the Irish Rebellion. The Royal Navy took both into service, with Furie regaining her original name. Sailing as HMS Wilhelmina, she spent the bulk of her later career in the East Indies, serving mostly as a troopship. Here she fought an unequal battle against a large French privateer, and succeeded in driving her off and protecting a merchant she was escorting. Wilhelmina was almost the ship that faced a superior French squadron at the Battle of Vizagapatam, but she was replaced beforehand by the larger HMS Centurion. She spent the rest of her days as a guardship in Penang, and was sold there in 1813.
Wilhelmina was built at Flushing in 1787, and armed with 32 guns. She sailed under that name for eight years for the Dutch Republic until the invasion of the Netherlands by the French in 1795 and the establishment of the Batavian Republic led to her being renamed Furie.
In 1798 she was part of the Dutch contribution hastily assembled to support the uprising of the United Irishmen in 1798. Furie, under the command of Captain Bartholomeus Pletz, and the 24-gun corvette Waakzaamheid under Captain Meindert van Neirop, were dispatched to carry men and supplies to Ireland.Furie embarked 165 troops and Waakzaamheid 122. In addition, the ships carried over 6,000 stands of arms and large quantities of other military stores with which to arm the Irish irregular forces that they expected to meet. The two ships sailed from the Netherlands on the night of 23/24 October, and by 08:00 were 30 nautical miles (56 km) northwest of the Texel, sailing westwards towards the English Channel. There the British frigate Sirius, under the command of Captain Richard King, spotted them.Sirius had been stationed off the Texel to watch for Dutch movements and intercept any ships of smaller or equal size entering or leaving the waterway. Although van Neirop's squadron outnumbered King's ship, the British vessel was much larger and faster, and the Dutch were also hampered by their position: the two ships were more than 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) apart, too far to offer mutual support against their opponent.
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