Hired armed cutter Black Joke
| History | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Name: | Black Joke |
| Namesake: | Black Joke - a bawdy song |
| Commissioned: | 12 January 1795 |
| Decommissioned: | 19 October 1801 |
| Renamed: | Suworow, 1799 |
| Fate: | Returned to owner, 1801 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Cutter |
| Tons burthen: | 98 86⁄94 (bm) |
| Armament: | 10 × 6-pounder guns |
The hired armed cutter Black Joke was a cutter that served the Royal Navy from 12 January 1795 to 19 October 1801. In 1799 she was renamed Suworow, and under that name she captured numerous prizes before she was paid off after the Treaty of Amiens.
In May 1795, the "lugger" Black Joke, under the command of Lieutenant Richard Clark, was part of Sir Sidney Smith's squadron in the Channel. On 24 February 1796, His Majesty's cutter Black Joke captured the Poor Jack.
In 1796, the armed lugger Black Joke, under the command of Lieutenant Boarder, protected the Hull whaling fleet sailing to Lerwick.
By some accounts, in 1797 Black Joke alerted the Fleet to the Dutch entry into the North Sea before the Battle of Camperdown. The majority of accounts attribute the warning to the hired cutter Active. Also in 1797, the lugger Black Joke recaptured the Ceres and Good Intent.Black Joke was in company with the hired armed vessel Liberty and the Excise cutter Lively at the time of the recapture of Ceres, and the Liberty at the time of the recapture of the Good Intent.
On 10 March 1798 His Majesty's hired armed lugger Black Joke was briefly under the command of Lieutenant Mauritius Adolphus Newton de Stark when she captured the fishing vessel Saint Petre. On 26 May Black Joke and the sloop Hound captured the brig Minerva.
On 27 April 1799, while under the command of Lieutenant James Nicolson (or Nichelson), Black Joke captured the French chasse-marée Rebecca, of four swivel guns and seven men, just out of Brest having on board a capitaine de frégate with dispatches for Ireland. The dispatches were a ruse that drew British attention to the Irish coast, when the Brest fleet had sailed to reinforce French forces in Corfu, Malta, and Egypt (see: Bruix' expedition of 1799).
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