HMS Espiegle

Eight ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Espiegle

• HMS Espiegle (1793) was a 16-gun French brig-sloop, launched at Bayonne in 1788. Nymphe and Circe captured her off Ushant on 30 November 1793.[1] She was sold in 1802.[2][3]
• HMS Espiegle (1794) was a French 12-gun aviso launched in 1793 at Saint-Malo. Iphigenia captured her in the Antilles on 16 March 1794.[a] She was commissioned under Lieutenant John Fishley. The Navy sold her in 1800.[8]
• HMS Espiegle (1804) was a 16-gun sloop, formerly the civilian vessel Wimbury (or Wembury), launched at Barnstaple in 1803. The Admiralty purchased her in 1804 and sold her in 1811 for breaking up.
• HMS Espiegle (1812) was an 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop launched in 1812 and sold in 1832.
• HMS Espiegle (1844) was a 12-gun brig launched in 1844 and sold in 1861.
• HMS Espiegle (1880) was a Doterel-class composite screw sloop launched in 1880. She became a boom vessel in 1899, was renamed HMS Argo in 1904 and was sold in 1921.
• HMS Espiegle (1900) was a Cadmus-class sloop launched in 1900 and sold in 1923.
• HMS Espiegle (J216) was an Algerine-class minesweeper launched in 1942 and broken up in 1967.

A gun-boat named Espiegle served in the navy's Egyptian campaign between 8 March and 2 September 1801. Her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal, which the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants.[9]

Notes

1. Both Demerliac and Winfield confuse the captor of this vessel with the captors of Espiegle (1793).[4][5] The National Maritime Museum database and Winfield and Roberts have the correct attribution.[6][7][8]

Citations

1. "No. 13601". The London Gazette. 7 December 1793. p. 1100.
2. Winfield (2008), p. 283.
3. "NMM, vessel ID 366391" (PDF). Warship Histories, vol i. National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
4. Demerliac (1996), p. 83, #544.
5. Winfield (2008), p. 336.
6. "NMM, vessel ID 366392" (PDF). Warship Histories, vol i. National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
7. "NMM, vessel ID 369032" (PDF). Warship Histories, vol i. National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
8. Winfield & Roberts (2015), p. 206.
9. "No. 21077". The London Gazette. 15 March 1850. pp. 791–792.

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• Demerliac, Alain (1996). La Marine de Louis XVI: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1774 à 1792 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 2-906381-23-3.
• 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.
• Winfield, Rif; Roberts, Stephen S. (2015). French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786–1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-204-2.

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