HMS Vengeur (1810)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Vengeur.

Vengeur in Naples Bay with the Neapolitan flag at her main masthead, 1820, by Nicolas S. Cammillieri
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Vengeur
Ordered	20 October 1806
Builder	Graham, Harwich
Laid down	July 1807
Launched	19 June 1810
Fate	Broken up, 1843
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Vengeur-class ship of the line
Tons burthen	1765 bm
Length	176 ft (53.6 m) (gundeck)
Beam	47 ft 6 in (14.5 m)
Depth of hold	21 ft (6.4 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns QD: 4 × 12-pounder guns + 10 × 32-pounder carronades Fc: 2 × 12-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades Poop deck: 6 × 18-pounder carronades

Plan for the Vengeur

HMS Vengeur was a 74-gun third-rate Vengeur-class ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 19 June 1810 at Harwich.[1] She had an uneventful career, having participated in no battles or engagements.

Service

On 30 August 1810, Captain Thomas Brown took command of Vengeur, the flagship of Admiral Sir Joseph Sidney Yorke. Brown escorted to Portugal a large body of troops sent as reinforcements to the Duke of Wellington's army there. Vengeur then cruised the Western Isles to protect an inbound fleet of East Indiamen.

Brown's replacement in November 1811 was Captain James Brisbane. Robert Tristram Ricketts took command of Vengeur in October 1813.

Vengeur, Lightning, and Madagascar were in company on 6 March 1814 at the recapture of the Diamond.[a]

In May 1814, the 9th Regiment of Foot marched from Bayonne to Bordeaux and embarked on York and Vengeur to sail to Quebec to lend support to the British Army in the fight against the Americans during the War of 1812.

Vengeur then joined Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane's fleet moored off New Orleans on New Year's Day, having escorted troopships carrying the battalions of the 7th Regiment of Foot and 43rd Regiment of Foot.[3] The Commanding Officer of the Vengeur's Marine detachment, Brevet Major Thomas Adair,[4] was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath for leading a party of 100 Royal Marines on a successful assault on the left bank of the Mississippi River.[5][6] Although the strongpoint was taken, and seventeen cannons were captured,[7] the battle was lost as the right bank remained impregnable. Of the two fatalities among the Royal Marines, one was from HMS Vengeur.[8][9]

Ricketts commanded the British naval forces at the Second Battle of Fort Bowyer, the British attack on the American fort at Mobile Point in 1815.[10] The British then attacked and captured Fort Bowyer at the mouth of Mobile Bay on 12 February. The British were making preparations to attack Mobile when news of the peace treaty arrived. The British Parliament had ratified the Treaty of Ghent, but Congress and the President would approve it in mid-February.

Captain Thomas Alexander took command in August 1815. Vengeur served as a guardship at Portsmouth from June 1816 to May 1818. From October to December, she was fitted out for sea.

Frederick Lewis Maitland took command of Vengeur in October 1818 and in 1819 sailed her to South America. He took Lord George Beresford from Rio de Janeiro to Lisbon in 1820 and then returned to the Mediterranean. He then carried Ferdinand I, King of the Two Sicilies, from Naples to Livorno on his way to attend the Congress of Laibach (modern Ljubljana). The passage was rough and lasted seven days, but they arrived safely on 20 December. After His Majesty landed, he invested Maitland with the insignia of a knight-commander of the order of St. Ferdinand and Merit. He gave him a gold box with the king's portrait set in diamonds.[11] Maitland and Vengeur then returned to England, arriving at Spithead on 29 March 1821. Vengeur was found to be defective and was paid off on 18 May 1821 at Sheerness.[12]

Fate

She was fitted as a receiving ship between July 1823 and February 1824. She then went to Shearness, where she served as a receiving ship until 1838. She was broken up in 1843.[1]

Notes

1. A first-class share for Diamond was worth £59 3s 3½d; a sixth-class share was worth 10s 3¾d.[2]

Citations

1. Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 188.
2. "No. 16945". The London Gazette. 12 April 1814. p. 2040.
3. Levinge, p. 217.
4. The Navy List, Corrected to the end of January 1815, pg 72. John Murray. 1814. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
5. "Obituary.—Major Gen. Thomas Benjamin Adair, C.B." The Gentleman's Magazine. Vol. II. 1849. p. 219.
6. "Obituary.—Gen. Sir Edward Nicolls, K. C. B." The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review. Vol. 218. 1865. pp. 644–646. the decoration of the Bath was conferred on Major Adair, R.M. [in lieu of Nicolls], who so nobly led [the party of Marines]
7. "No. 16991". The London Gazette. 9 March 1815. pp. 440–446.
8. "No. 16991". The London Gazette. 9 March 1815. p. 445.
9. "Royal Marines on the Gulf Coast". Retrieved 1 February 2015. Extracted information from the muster of HMS Vengeur
10. "No. 17004". The London Gazette. 18 April 1815. p. 728.
11. Anderson (1862), Vol. 2, p.637.
12. Marshall (1824), p. 400.

References

• Anderson, William (1862) The Scottish nation: or The surnames, families, literature, honours, and biographical history of the people of Scotland.(Google eBook)
• Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
• Marshall, John (1827). "Maitland, Frederick Lewis" . Royal Naval Biography. Vol. sup, part 1. London: Longman and company. p. 381–400.
• Levinge, Sir Richard (2009) [1868]. Historical Records of the 43rd Regiment Monmouthshire Light Infantry. Clowes. OCLC 866065464 – via Google Books.
• 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.