HMS Columbia (1812)

For other ships with the same name, see Curlew (ship) and HMS Columbia.

History
United States
Commissioned	16 July 1812
Captured	24 July 1812
United Kingdom
Acquired	1812 by purchase of a prize
Fate	Sold 1820
General characteristics [1]
Tons burthen	278,[2] or 29412⁄94 (bm)
Length	Overall:94 ft 4 in (28.8 m) Keel:80 ft 3 in (24.5 m)
Beam	26 ft 3 in (8.0 m)
Depth of hold	13 ft 0 in (4.0 m)
Complement	Privateer: 154 At capture: 172
Armament	Privateer: 16 guns RN: 16 × 18-pounder carronades + 2 × 6-pounder chase guns

HMS Columbia was the United States privateer brig Curlew, which the British Royal Navy captured in 1812 and took into service as HMS Columbia. The Navy sold her in 1820.

Capture

On 24 July 1812 HMS Acasta captured the privateer Curlew 44°15′N 62°30′W.[3] Curlew, of 240 tons, was pierced for 18 guns but carried only sixteen, and had a complement of 172 men;[4][a] She was under the command of Captain William Wyer.[6]

Curlew arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia at the end of July.[7]

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy took Curlew into service as HMS Columbia. In March 1813 she was under the command of Lieutenant John Kinsman.[1] On 28 May Commander Henry Chads replaced Kinsman. Columbia then brought home a number of invalids from Halifax.[8]

Columbia underwent fitting at Portsmouth between 19 November 1813 and 18 April 1814.[1] She then sailed for the Leeward Islands.

On 4 December 1814 Columbia captured the United States schooner Dolphin, of 62 tons, one gun, and 20 men.[9] Dolphin, under the command of Captain A. Johnson, of Massachusetts, apparently had accomplished little.[10]

Columbia participated in the Invasion of Guadeloupe (1815). On 8 August 1815 Columbia, under the command of Captain Fleming, was part of the British force that captured Guadeloupe from Bonaparte loyalists. French Royalist troops from Martinique, two corvettes, and a schooner assisted the British. Columbia, Fairy, and Barbadoes covered the landing of the troops; they helped silence a shore battery and drive the defenders back from the beach. Columbia, Chanticleer, and Muros then supported a third landing on a different part of the island.[11][b]

Fate

Columbia was paid off and went into Ordinary in November 1815. The Navy sold her there on 13 January 1820.[1]

Notes

1. A first-class share of some gunpowder and other stores aboard her was worth £11 5s 0¼d; a sixth-class share was worth 2s.[5]
2. In an allocation of bounty money in March 1823, a first-class share was worth £30 10s 6½d; a sixth-class share was worth 11s 7½d.[12]

Citations

1. Winfield (2008), p. 322.
2. Kert (2015), Appendix 2.
3. "No. 16647". The London Gazette. 19 September 1812. p. 1907.
4. "No. 16644". The London Gazette. 8 September 1812. p. 1837.
5. "No. 17411". The London Gazette. 24 October 1818. p. 1901.
6. Vice-Admiralty Court (1911), p. 108.
7. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4702. 15 September 1812. hdl:2027/hvd.32044105232920.
8. Marshall (1831), pp. 254–254.
9. "No. 17003". The London Gazette. 15 April 1815. p. 701.
10. Maclay (2004), p. 469, fn.
11. "No. 17062". The London Gazette. 18 September 1815. pp. 1913–1914.
12. "No. 17183". The London Gazette. 19 October 1816. p. 1997.

References

• Kert, Faye M. (2015). Privateering: Patriots and Profits in the War of 1812. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 72. ISBN 9781421417479.
• Maclay, Edgar Stanton (2004) [1899]. A History of American Privateers. New York: D. Appleton.
• Marshall, John (1831). "Chadds, Henry Ducie" . Royal Naval Biography. Vol. 3, part 1. London: Longman and company. pp. 237–255.
• Vice-Admiralty Court, Halifax (1911). American vessels captured by the British during the revolution and war of 1812. Salem, Mass.: Essex Institute.
• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.