At the time of The Prince (1670) English 1st and 2nd Rate ships and Royal Yachts were usually fitted out with brass guns. Don't blacken them,leave them as they are.
I covered the first eight Cruizer-class brig-sloops that initially caught my attention. Now we go back to the beginning – and to the end.
Cruizers, part 9: HMS Cruizer
The Navy Board, on 19 December 1796, placed orders for four flush decked sloops based on designs by the two Surveyors of the Navy – Sir William Rule and Sir John Henslow. In order to evaluate the advantages and drawbacks of two masts compared to three, each hull design was built as a brig-sloop and as a ship-sloop. Before the Rule-designed sloops, Cruizer (brig) and Snake (ship), were 25% complete, one more of each were ordered, an unnamed brig and Victor (ship). The Board cancelled the brig before it received a name. Sisters to the Henslow-designed sloops, Busy (brig) and Echo (ship) were not ordered.
The Cruizer-class sloops proved themselves fast sailors and seaworthy. When armed with a battery of 16 x 32 pounder carronades (+ 2 x 6 pounder chase guns) they delivered a close range weight of broadside that exceeded the weight of a 36 gun, 12 pounder frigate’s broadside. To an Admiralty constantly constrained by a shortage of crews, the design had great appeal – it delivered that firepower with about one-third the crew.
Plan of lines, hull profiles, stern details of a typical Cruizer-class brig, Alert (1813)
National Maritime Museum, #ZAZ4599
HMS Cruizer’s Specifications
Length: 100 ft (gundeck), 77 ft 3 1/2 in (keel)
Beam: 30 ft 6 in
Tonnage: 382 (bm)
Rig: brig-rigged sloop
Armament at commissioning: 18 x 6 pounder guns
Armament later: 16 x 32 pounder carronades + 2 x 6 pounder chase guns
Complement: 121
HMS Cruizer launched on 20 December 1797, commissioned 2 February 1798 under Commander Charles Wollaston and joined Admiral Lord Viscount Duncan’s North Sea fleet.
Commander Charles Wollaston, 1798 – 1801
Cruizer captured the French privateer Jupiter (8 guns, 36 men) on 27 April 1798 after a three hour chase.
On 19 May, near Lowestoft, Cruiser pursued two French Republican luggers. After one dismasted herself trying to carry too much sail, Cruiser continued pursuit of the other until it became clear the lugger was widening her lead, and returned to take possession of the first. She was Chasseur (4 x 6 pounder guns, 48 men) and her escaped consort was Dragon (4), both vessels new and on their first cruise.
On 16 April 1799, Cruiser captured Commerce, and, while in company with the frigates Latona (38) and Astrea (32) and the hired cutter Courier (12), she captured the Dutch hoy Dolphin. [The consulted records do not indicate the order of these captures, only that they occurred on the same day.]
On 24 April, Cruizer in company with ship-sloop Scorpion (16) and hired cutters Fox (10) and Hazard (6) captured the Swedish brig Neptunus. Two days later Cruizer and Scorpion were present at the capture of the Adelaide.
Cruiser captured the Vrouw Etje on 12 May 1799 and Reformator the following day.
At 11 am on 21 May near St. Abb’s Head, Cruiser discovered two luggers to the south, well to windward, and gave chase. With unsettled and hazy weather, Commander Wollaston was not able to keep them in sight but found that he was steadily gaining on them in the intervals of clearer conditions. Just as Cruiser came into gun range at about 4:30 pm, a sudden gust of wind from shore carried away her fore topmast and main topgallant mast forcing her to heave-to to clear the wreckage. She soon made what sail she could and continued the pursuit until losing sight of them in the darkness at about 9 pm. Wollaston assumed that the luggers would continue on their southerly course along the coast of England. While sailing south during the night, Cruiser managed to erect another fore topmast and re-fit. At dawn, near Scarborough Castle, Cruizer found one of the luggers about 8 miles north of her, to leeward, and resumed the pursuit. Six hours later she captured the Deux Freres of 14 guns (12 of which had gone over the side during the chase) and 50 men. The other lugger, Tippoo Saib, had thrown overboard all 12 of her guns and her boat during the previous day’s chase and had separated from her companion during the night.
In the evening of 12 July 1799, Cruizer re-captured an English vessel with a French privateer’s prize crew on board. After learning the time and place of the capture, Wollaston ordered Cruizer to set sail to find the privateer. The next day, Cruizer found and captured at “56 degrees N latitude” the Courageux (14 guns, 47 men) after a six hour chase.
While in the process of inspecting two British brigs on 23 March 1800, Wollaston discovered a suspicious sail and immediately gave chase. After a five hour chase Cruizer captured the French privateer cutter Perseverant (14 guns, 47 men). According to Wollaston, “She is a remarkably fine vessel, copper bottomed, and has captured an amazing number of vessels in the North Sea.”
While inspecting a brig from Bremen two days later, Wollaston learned from her master that he had been hailed about three hours earlier by a French brig steering northeast. Cruizer caught up with her and accepted her surrender at about 8:30 am. She was the Flibustier (14 guns, 54 men). Cruizer arrived at Yarmouth later that day with her prize.
Cruizer and ship-sloop Pylades (16) captured Maria Charlotta on 22 May 1800.
On 25 August 1800, Cruiser captured the Catharina Magdalena.
Commander Charles Wollaston received promotion to post captain on 1 January 1801. Charles Wollaston advanced to the rank of Vice-Admiral on 23 November 1841 and died 19 February 1845 at the age of 78 years.
Commander James Brisbane, 1801
Commander James Brisbane received command of Cruiser and remained briefly in Admiral Lord Duncan’s North Sea Fleet. On 23 February 1801, Cruizer re-captured the Aberdeen Packet and the Harriet of Sunderland.
In April Cruizer transferred to a fleet assembling in Yarmouth under the command of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker and was subsequently assigned to Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson’s squadron. On 12 March, the fleet of 20 ships of the line, 5 frigates and several smaller vessels, totaling about 53, set sail to Copenhagen to persuade the Danes to return to peace negotiations.
On 30 March, Brisbane on Cruizer supervised the setting of buoys by boats from Cruizer and Amazon (38) to mark shallow water in the Outer Channel between the Middle Ground shoals and Saltholm Island and took soundings to draw a map of the shoals in preparation for the battle. Cruizer continued charting shoals on the 31st. Commander Brisbane so impressed Admiral Nelson with his handling of these tasks that Nelson praised “the unremitting exertions of Captain Brisbane” in the first sentence of his report of the 2 April Battle of Copenhagen. James Brisbane returned to Yarmouth, received promotion to post captain and the command of Saturn (74), flagship of Admiral Thomas Totty. Many other officers of all ranks also received promotion after the battle. Commodore Sir James Brisbane died on 19 December 1826 of dysentery in Penang, Malaya while in command of the East Indies Station. Throughout his career, Brisbane demonstrated adeptness and skill at coastal and riverine operations first shown while in command of Cruizer at Copenhagen.
The Battle of Copenhagen, 2 April 1801, by Nicholas Pocock
British bomb vessels at lower left, British line, Danish line, Copenhagen in background. Cruizer was at the south end of the line to the left off the painting.
National Maritime Museum
Commander John Hancock, 1801-1806
Commander John Hancock took command of Cruizer as part of the North Sea Fleet in April 1801.
Admiral Nelson in a letter to a friend dated 31 August 1801 wrote that Captain Hancock had landed two captured brass guns worth 400 to 500 pounds apiece at Yarmouth and that it was believed he had more aboard Cruizer. This bit of information suggests that Cruizer carried a pair of brass chase guns (6 pounders being the most likely) in the stern ports at about this time.
Cruizer captured Antonious and Jonge Jacob on 10 October 1801.
NMM records have Cruizer [re]commissioned in February 1803 with Commander Hancock still in command. It is possible that Cruizer had been refit and her armament changed to 16 x 32 pounder carronades + 2 x 6 pounder chase guns prior to that date. The Navy Board ordered six Cruizer-class brig-sloops on 27 November 1802, one of them in Cruizer’s home port of Yarmouth. It seems likely that Cruizer would have her armament upgraded to that of the new brigs soon after. In addition, after five years of operation since commissioning, Cruizer would be about due for a refit.
On 14 June 1803, boats of the Immortalite (36), Jalouse (18) and Cruizer took L'Inabordable and Merchante [James has the name as Commode] French gun-brigs near Gris Nez after they had run aground under the guns of a shore battery for protection.
Cruizer captured Neptunus on 18 July 1803, recaptured Margaretta on 4 August and captured Flore on 5 August.
On the night of 8 March 1804, boats of Cruiser and Rattler (16) cut out the cutter Colombe at Sluys but it ran aground and was burned to prevent recapture. Later that month thirteen armed vessels brought troops out from Vlissingen to attack the moored blockading brig Cruiser and ship-sloop Rattler near Blanckenberge. The sloops repulsed the boarding attempts and chased the boats back to shore until shoaling water and the Ostend batteries ended further pursuit.
On 22 April, James Douglas, a petty officer in Cruizer, was flogged around the fleet for beating and ill treating a prisoner on board a prize of which he was prize master.
The Vlissingen Flotilla, 15-16 May 1804
Commodore Sir William Sidney Smith in Antelope (50) commanded the squadron of smaller vessels, including Cruizer, blockading the coast from Ostend to Vlissingen. These widely separated vessels communicated using ensign-size signal flags with messages relayed from ship to ship. On the evening of 15 May, Cruiser and Rattler observed 22 one masted gun vessels and a schooner haul east out of Ostend and take up an anchorage westward of the lighthouse behind a sand bar. Commander Hancock signaled to Minx (14) and the other three gun-brigs on their way westward toward Calais to return. This signal was either misunderstood or not seen. He also dispatched the hired armed cutter Stag (14) at 9 pm to report the situation to the Commodore on Antelope which Stag found at 5:30 the next morning. Cruiser and Rattler, after darkness fell, anchored in position to cut off this flotilla from returning to Ostend at the extreme range of one of the Ostend batteries.
At daybreak on 16 May, Hancock again recalled the four British gun-brigs, still in sight, but again the signals were misunderstood or not seen. At 9:30 am, Rattler, being further east, made signal for five sail, then for a fleet to the east sailing towards Ostend from Vlissingen. This was the Vlissingen flotilla under the command of Rear Admiral Ver-Huell, which set sail at dawn bound for Ostend. The flotilla consisted of two ship-rigged prams of 12 x long 24 pounders, Ville D’Anvers, flagship, and Ville D’Aix, 19 schooners and 47 schuyts, in all 68 sail mounting over 139 guns 18 pounders or larger, 230 smaller guns, carronades or mortars and carrying 4000 to 5000 men.
At 10 am, the earliest the tide allowed, the two sloops set sail toward the enemy. At 11 am, the wind shifted to the south west, helping the sloops but almost dead foul for the Gallo-Batavian flotilla now near Blanckenberge, forcing the Dutch admiral to order the return to Vlissingen. At about noon, Commodore Smith on Antelope with Penelope (36) and Aimable (32) made their appearance from the north threatening to cut off the flotilla’s escape back to Vlissingen.
At about 1:30 pm, Cruizer came up with, fired at and compelled to strike, one of the rearmost schuyts mounting one 36 pounder and carrying five Dutch crewmen and 25 soldiers. While signaling to Rattler to take possession of the schuyt, Cruizer pursued the flotilla’s flagship. Further wind change allowed Admiral Ver-Huell to reverse the flotilla’s course again back towards Ostend; all but eight of the flotilla followed this order, those eight continued on to Vlissingen.
At about 1:45 pm, Ville D’Anvers fired a shot at Cruizer, passing over her and almost hitting Rattler. At about this moment the wind changed again, nearly setting Cruizer and Rattler aback and allowing Ville D’Anvers to close and commence firing on Cruizer. Within minutes both Cruiser and Rattler found themselves engaged on both sides by Ville D’Anvers and other vessels and under fire of the Blanckenberge batteries. At one point Cruizer fought off boarding attempts by several schooners that had closed to board, one of which had her bowsprit over Cruizer’s deck until it fell from a shot from a carronade [one of Cruizer’s? suggesting she was armed with them at this time]. Cruiser and Rattler managed to drive on shore the pram Ville D’Anvers and four of the schooners.
At 3:45 pm Aimable arrived and opened fire on a portion of the flotilla huddled under the Blanckenberge batteries. At 4:30 Penelope and Antelope also got into action and by their heavy fire drove several more schooners and schuyts on shore. At 7 pm Aimable came under fire of the grounded pram Ville D’Anvers and at 7:45 pm, Antelope signaled the squadron to withdraw due to the falling tide and they drew away to deeper water in good order.
Casualties on the British vessels were very light considering the duration and intensity of the action. Cruiser had one seaman killed and the captain’s clerk and three seamen wounded; Rattler, two killed and three wounded; Aimable, seven killed and fourteen wounded; total, 13 killed and 32 wounded. Besides cut rigging, only Cruizer suffered significant damage – two large shot holes near her waterline. The Gallo-Batavian flotilla lost 18 men killed and 60 wounded, 4 killed and 29 wounded on the two prams.
On 17 May, the gun-brigs, having rejoined the squadron, attempted to complete the destruction of the Ville D’Anvers but were unable to do so because of the shore batteries and newly set artillery batteries that drove them off. On 19 May, the gun-brigs in company with the 16-gun ship-sloops Galgo and Inspector, attempted a second attack on Ville D’Anvers but failed for the same reasons. Ville D’Anvers and five of the eight grounded schooners and schuyts managed to refloat and get into Ostend on a high tide later that day. The only British casualties suffered on these two days occurred in accidents with five dead and six injured.
On 16 October 1804 at 9 pm, Cruizer, in company with the gun-brig Bold (14), hired armed brig Ann (10) and the cutter Florence (6) all close in at Ostend, observed a strange brig standing in then suddenly turn away and set all sail. Cruizer and company immediately set all sail in pursuit and followed her all through the night. At 4:45 am, with a wind that had steadily freshened through the night, the strange brig lost both her top masts. Due to the morning haze and the darkness of the hour, Commander Hancock did not see the brig’s accident or her actions after - she had cleared all sails and dropped anchor in the hope that her pursuers would sail right on past giving the brig the weather gauge or would miss sight of her completely. Cruizer had outdistanced her three consorts (out of sight by midnight) and, upon losing sight of the brig, had reduced sail slightly to avoid exactly what the brig’s captain had hoped would happen. Cruizer passed within hail of the brig, and not receiving an answer except that the brig was from Philadelphia, in bad English, ordered three rounds fired from her carronades into her [a specific mention of her carronades, setting the end of a definite period of time in which Cruizer’s battery was upgraded]. The privateer Contre Amival Magon (18) surrendered as Cruizer prepared to fire a passing broadside into her quarter from ten yards. By Cruizer’s hourly log the eight-hour chase had covered 100 miles. This gives a documented average speed of no less than 12 knots.
The captain of Contre Amival Magon was the notorious privateer Captain Blackeman or Blauckman (spelling varies even in Hancock’s official reports) who had escaped capture on three previous occasions. The Contre Amival Magon was a new brig, pierced for 18 guns but carrying 17, out on its first cruise. Blankeman had captured three vessels, the ship Belisarius, and the collier brigs Scipio and Contents Increase in the preceding 18 days. A British brig recaptured Contents Increase just two hours after her capture on 10 October. The masters and crews from the three vessels were on board Contre Amival Magon when captured. She carried a crew of 84 French, Danish, Swedish and American sailors. Seven Americans, out of work and facing time in a prison hulk, promptly joined the crew of Cruizer.
Commander Hancock escorted his prize to Yarmouth and submitted his report that same morning, 17 October 1804. He left Blachman with the Rear Admiral of the North Sea Squadron, Thomas McNamara Russell on HMS Monmouth (64). Blanckman escaped soon after.
The Ostend Flotilla, 23-24 October 1804
On 23 October at 4 pm, a division of the Ostend flotilla consisting of two prams, one with a commodore’s pendant, and 18 armed schuyts put to sea from Ostend steering west. At about the same time Cruizer with gun-brigs Blazer (14), Conflict (12), Escort (14) and Tigress (12) and hired armed cutters Admiral Mitchell (12) and Griffin (8), stood in to reconnoiter and immediately gave chase. At 5:15 pm, Cruizer engaged the lead pram with support from the gun-brigs and cutters. At 6:35 pm, after the lead pram’s guns had fallen silent and Hancock realized he was on a falling tide in less than three fathoms of water – Cruizer drew over two – he hauled off todeeper water and anchored.
During that time, Conflict also engaged the prams but soon ran aground. Lieutenant Charles C. Ormsby, in command, tried to lighten Conflict but all efforts were futile in the falling tide. After the two prams passed by on either side of Conflict Ormsby decided that he needed to quit his brig and save the crew. Once in the boats they pulled towards the anchored Cruizer.
After Commander Hancock received Lt. Ormsby’s report, he ordered him and his crew back on their boats to affect either Conflict’s recapture or her destruction with support from the Admiral Mitchell. The ebb tide delayed their return for a time but when they eventually approached Conflict they found her high and dry on the beach defended by infantry and a battery of artillery and gave up the attempt. When they returned, Commander Hancock sent them back again with Admiral Mitchell, Griffon and a detachment of sailors and marines commanded by Acting Lieutenant Abraham Garland from Cruizer. This attempt was repulsed with one dead and seven wounded including Lt. Garland with his right leg severed at the thigh.
The next day the damaged, beached pram was refloated and sailed to the west. Conflict most likely broke up on the beach (as suggested by Hancock in his report) but the records do not confirm this. Cruizer had four wounded in the action; Conflict, one dead and five wounded; and Griffin, two wounded; total one dead and eleven wounded. The French lost no vessels and suffered unknown casualties.
On 11 February 1805, Cruizer and Ann captured Hoop.
On 8 March, Cruizer captured the privateer galliot Triton and her prize, Vriendjchap.
On 15 March, Cruizer, gun-brig Minx, and Bold captured Industria.
On 29 June 1805, Cruizer captured Johanna Tholen.
On 2 August, Cruizer and Ann captured Frederick and on 23 August, they, with Minx, Active (6) and Griper (14) captured Susannah Margaretha.
On 5 September, Cruizer, Minx, Active and Mariner (14) captured Sophia Amelia and on 29 September, Cruizer recaptured Rover.
On 12 November at 7 pm, Cruizer interrupted two French privateer luggers taking a brig and gave chase to the larger for two hours until bringing down her main topsail and main lugsail with Cruizer’s chase guns, forcing her to surrender. Vengeur of 14 guns and 56 men was two days out from Boulogne and on that same afternoon had captured two Swedish brigs.
On 27 January 1806, Commander Hancock disguised Cruizer as an American vessel looking for a pilot near Vlissingen, decoyed a cutter in close, captured her and manned her as a tender under Lieutenant John Pearse. Between them, they succeeded in capturing seven more blockade runners in the next few hours, six luggers and a schooner laden with cargoes including 26,000 gallons of spirits and several tons of tobacco.
Upon his return to Yarmouth with his eight prizes, Commander John Hancock found he was promoted to post captain and Commander Pringle Stoddart was to be in command of Cruizer.
Commander Pringle Stoddart, 1806-1807
Cruizer with Commander Pringle Stoddart in command remained part of the North Sea Fleet.
On 20 September 1806, Cruizer captured the fishing boat Fortuyn. and another, St. Wareld Beloop on 12 October.
At 8 am on 6 January 1807, Cruizer gave chase to a suspicious lugger and four hours later captured the privateer Jena, of 16 3 and 4 pounder guns. Jena had aboard the masters and crews of three vessels captured in the fourteen days after she was launched.
A brig chasing a pirate/privateer/smuggler by Thomas Buttersworth (1768-1842)
National Maritime Museum
At 2 am on 26 January, a lugger passed Cruizer on her weather beam on the opposite tack. Cruizer turned and attempted to follow but could not lie as close to the wind as the lugger but the wind soon veered further west allowing Cruizer to follow in the lugger’s wake. Cruizer eventually forced the lugger onto the beach three miles west of Blankenberge where the master and crew escaped. Commander Stoddart anchored and sent in his boats to take her off or destroy her. The officers and men succeeded in getting the privateer Brave (16) off the beach under musket fire from the dunes above the beach without incident. On board Brave were the masters and crews of two vessels she captured. One of these, Leander, was recaptured later that day. Cruizer also recaptured the Guardian, a prize taken by the privateer Revanche.
In August, Cruizer was transferred to Admiral James Gambier’s fleet for another battle at Copenhagen. On 22 August, three Danish Prams of 20 guns each and 28 to 30 smaller gun vessels positioned themselves for an attack the next morning on the seaward flank of British batteries (the Mill batteries) under construction opposite the Danish batteries near the entrance to the harbor of Copenhagen. In response, Admiral Gambier ordered the British inshore squadron to form up to defend that flank. The squadron consisted of Cruizer, her new sister Mutine, and Kite (16), bomb-vessels Thunder (8), Zebra (18), Fury (12), Aetna (8) and Vesuvious (8), gun-brigs Fearless (12), Indignant (12), Urgent (14), Pincher (14), Tigress (12), Desperate (14) and Safeguard (14), the hired armed ship Hebe (16), three armed transports and 10 ships’ boats outfitted as mortar-boats.
At 10 am 23 August, the Danish squadron, supported by the Trekronen Batteries, floating batteries, block ship Mars and the pram St Thomas, attacked the British squadron. At about 2 pm, seeing that the British carronades were ineffectual at the range of the long guns of the Danes, Captain Puget of Goliath, in command of the squadron, ordered it to withdraw. The squadron suffered the loss of one lieutenant (John Woodard of Cruizer) and three seamen killed and one lieutenant, seven seamen and five marines wounded. The gun-brigs, drawing the least water and being closest to the enemy, suffered the most physical damage. The Danish squadron turned its attention to the Mill battery but was driven off after taking damage and casualties while causing little to the British battery.
On 25 August, Danish gun boats attacked a different exposed seaward flank of the British line without opposition from the British fleet to little effect. The next day, the Danish gunboats returned to attack the Mill battery but were repulsed after one blew up from a British mortar shell exploding in its powder magazine with heavy loss.
On 31 August the Danish gun boat squadron attacked the Mill battery and inshore squadron, reinforced by the repaired gun-brigs. During this action, the British armed transport Charles blew up from a Danish mortar shell. The action ended inconclusively with the British losing 10 killed and 21 wounded (almost all from the explosion) and the Danes one killed and four wounded.
The naval activity at the Siege of Copenhagen amounted to little more than these small vessel actions and the landing of troops.
On 2 September, Cruizer captured the Emanuel near Copenhagen. Cruizer arrived in Yarmouth with dispatches from Copenhagen on 11 September.
On 8 December 1807, a notice published in the London Gazette announced the payment of salvage money for the recapture of Famalien to the officers and crew of Cruizer, Pringle Stoddart, Commander, but the date of the recapture is not mentioned.
Commander Pringle Stoddart relinquished command of Cruizer to Commander George Charles Mackenzie sometime after 11 September 1807.
Commander George Charles Mackenzie, 1807-1808
In the evening of 11 June 1808, Euryalus (36) and Cruizer, discovered several vessels at anchor in the Great Belt near Korsor. Captain the Honourable G. H. L. Dundas immediately dispatched the boats from the frigate and brig under the command of Lieutenant Michael Head to attempt their destruction. The boats attacked the vessels, despite the covering fire from a battery of three long 18 pounders and Danish musketry, and captured the gun boat E mounting two 18 pounders with a crew of 64 and burned two transports fitted to carry troops while suffering but one man slightly wounded.
Lieutenant Thomas Wells, 1808
On 1 October 1808, Cruizer, acting commander Lieutenant Thomas Wells in command, while close in at the entrance of Gottenbourg, encountered about twenty armed cutters, luggers, gun boats and row boats intent on capturing Cruizer. Lt. Wells responded quickly and captured a schuyt of ten 4 pounders and 32 men and compelled the rest of the flotilla to seek shelter under the guns of a shore battery.
Between 1 and 5 November, Cruizer captured the Danish vessels Rinaldo, Probert, Kirstina and Trende Brodre and recaptured Maria Elizabeth. Cruizer, with the gun-brig Starling (12), captured Elbe, St. Joanna, Vrou Sophia, Yonge Ness, Fier Brodre, Speculation, Erndte, Prince Charles, Aurora, Lawrence Caroline and Two Brothers from 22 to 25 November.
Lieutenant Thomas Wells received confirmation of his promotion to Commander and a different command.
Commander Thomas Richard Toker, 1808-1813
Commander Thomas R. Toker took command of Cruizer in late November or December 1808.
Between 12 and 21 March 1809, Cruizer captured the Danish vessels Albion, Printz Frederick, Erstatning and Unge Maria.
In April Cruizer captured St. Johannes on the 9th and Lille Peder on the 27th.
On 7 May 1809, Cruizer, off Pillau, delivered a letter for Louis Drusina, a diplomat turned secret agent.
On 8 May, Cruizer and the gun-brig Urgent captured the Danish privateer Tilsit and her prize Experiment. On 31 May, Cruizer with Rose (18) captured the Danish privateer brig Christianborg of 6 guns and 37 men off Bornholm.
On 19 June 1810, Cruizer captured the Danish galliot Frau Magdelena and on 26 June, the Prussian sloop Jonge Laura.
Cruizer, on 31 July 1810, captured the Prussian sloop Schwan
On 21 August, Cruizer and the cutter Cheerful (12) captured Albertina
On 17 September, Commander Toker captured the Danish galliot Familiens Well.
In the week ending 2 Oct, Cruizer captured Schwan, Blanch, Albertina and Byie.
Cruizer set sail from Yarmouth for the Nore on 20 January 1811, was refit at Chatham in November 1811, was in Portsmouth in February 1812 and was listed as being in Sheerness in 1814.
Cruizer was sold for breaking on 3 February 1819.
The Cruiser ship-sloop (1828)
The last sloop built from Sir William Rule’s plan first used for Cruizer is the ship-sloop Cruiser. She launched 19 January 1828, commissioned soon after and left Chatham with John Colpoys in command in October 1828 for duty on the East Indies Station.
After conversion to a brig in 1831, Cruiser returned to station in the East Indies, Commander John Parker in command.
In August 1833, Commander John M’Causland and Cruiser were assigned to the North America / West Indies Station primarily for piracy and slave trade suppression.
On 14 Jan 1835, acting commander Lieutenant James Vashon Baker, in command of Cruiser, captured the slave vessel Maria.
Commander W. A. Willis received command of Cruiser in October 1835.
Richard King took command in February 1838, on the East Indies Station. On 18 January 1839, Cruiser accompanied Volage (28) and several other vessels with troops on a strike against Aden, an Arab pirate stronghold, and captured it. The strike force destroyed 33 guns of several calibers in the pirate batteries, killed approximately 50 pirates and captured 140 more.
Commander Henry W. Giffard received command of Cruiser in May 1839 in the East Indies and participated in the campaign leading up to the bombardment and capture of Chusan, an island near the mouth of the Yangtze River, on 5 July 1840. Cruiser was reported at her station off Canton on 2 March 1841. [One source has Cruiser being converted back to a ship sometime in 1840, most likely after 5 July. However, NMM has a plan of Cruiser’s hold as a brig that casts doubt on an 1840 conversion, dated 14 September 1844, at Chatham, and signed by Commander E. G. Fanshawe and the brig’s Master.]
3 Jul 1841, Commander H. W. Giffard, Cruiser, promoted to Captain. Lieutenant W. Haskoll, Cruiser, promoted to Commander.
Cruiser was at Chatham in 1844.
Plan of Cruiser’s hold as a brig made at Chatham in 1844.
National Maritime Museum, #ZAZ4801
On the morning of 18 August 1845, a landing party of 300 sailors and 200 marines supplied from seven vessels of the East Indies Fleet, including Cruiser, assembled to attack the pirate stronghold of Seriff Housman in Maluda Bay, Borneo, defended by two or three batteries, a fort, a heavy boom spanning the river and 500 to 1000 men. The landing party loaded into all of the fleet’s boats, some fitted as gunboats, with Commander Fanshawe of Cruiser as second in command of the operation. This force attacked the boom under fire from the batteries. After fifty minutes, the boom gave way and the landing force swarmed along the river banks, stormed the batteries and fort and quickly swept away all opposition. The men wrecked or removed the guns and destroyed everything of value they could find. The landing party suffered eight dead or mortally wounded and thirteen wounded. The casualties among the pirates were not estimated, as they carried away their wounded and many of their dead, but were described as “immense”. Upon return to the ships, a second force was dispatched to return to the town and complete its destruction. This second group returned with the brass guns from the destroyed batteries.
Commander William MacLean received command of Cruiser in December 1846.
Cruiser was sold at Bombay in 1849.
Next: Weazel
Edited to add a photo
Sources:
The Naval History of Great Britain by William James, 1824
Naval Biographical Dictionary by William R. O’Byrne 1849
“NMM, vessel ID 383036” [Cruizer], Warship Histories, vol xii, National Maritime Museum
“Cruizer 1797”, “Cruizer 1828”, et al. www.ageofnelson.org
“Cruizer 1797”, “Cruizer 1828”, et al. www.pbenyon.plus.com
“HMS Cruizer (1797)”, “Cruizer-class brig-sloop”, “Battle of Copenhagen”, articles on Wikipedia (online)
London Gazette, 28 April 1798, #15011, p.354; 19 May 1798, #15017, p.424; 21 May 1799, #15136, p.491; 16 July 1799, #15160, p.718; 25 March 1800, #15242, p.298; 18 October 1800, #15303, p.1200; 3 March 1801, #15342, p.257; 7 March 1801, #15343, p.266; 14 November 1801, #15427, p.1374; 14 November 1801, #15427, p.1375; 17 November 1801, #15428, p.1393; 13 July 1802, #15497, p.751; 3 May 1803, #15581, p.528; 14 May 1803, #15584, p.507; 4 May 1805, #15804, p.607; 7 May 1805, #15805, p.624; 15 April 1801, #15354, p.402; 11 August 1801, #15396, p.994; 31 December 1803, #15662, p.7; 23 October 1804, #15748, p.1320-1322; 27 October 1804, #15749, p.1335; 6 November 1804, #15752, p.1368; 17 November 1804, #15755, p.1412; 1 June 1805, #15812, p.738; 12 November 1805, #15862, p.1412; 19 November 1805, #15864, p.1453; 10 December 1805, #15871, p.1556; 14 December 1805, #15872, p.1569; 24 December 1805, #15875, p.1603; 12 August 1806, #15945, p.1067; 12 August 1806, #15945, p.1069; 16 August 1806, #15946, p.1084; 30 August 1806, #15950, p.1141-1142; 3 February 1807, #15997, p.144; 10 February 1807, #15999, p.179; 14 February 1807, #16000, p.197; 26 May 1807, #16032, p.718; 4 August 1807, #16053, p.1034; 3 September 1808, #16179, p.1220; 6 September 1808, #16180, p.1233; 22 May 1813, p.999; 10 January 1807, #15990, p.34; 3 February 1807, #15997, p.141; 10 February 1807, #15999, p.179; 21 February 1807, #16002, p.229; 1 August 1807, #16052, p.1018; 5 December 1807, #16093, p.1636; 3 July 1810, #16384, p.990; 10 January 1810, #16341, p.222; 23 January 1820, #16336, p.125; 27 January 1810, #16337, p.139: 30 January 1810, # 16338, p.160; 9 June 1810, #16377, p.846; 21 May 1814, #16900, p.1066; 31 December 1816, #17205, p.2494; 4 January 1817, #17206, p.12; 10 June 1809, #16265, p.853; 24 February 1810, #16345, p.291;13 November 1810, #16424, p.1811;27 November 1810, #16429, p.1905; 12 November 1811, #16540, p.2197; 18 January 1812, #16564, p.133.
Next after fiddling with the lengths of the lower masts, here is what I arrived at....
These are just the raw dowels set in the mast holes - the rake in the mizzen isn't accurate and the rake in the foremast shouldn't be there at all. Anyway, this is just to demonstrate relative size...
Here are the foremast cheeks and bibbs which I made as 1 piece instead of separately, thinking that to make separate parts at this scale would simply be too tough.
Here is the foremast top, unfinished. Corel's laser cut part was accurate with respect to dimensions, except the thickness (1.5mm) which would have made the top much too bulky after adding the planking and the margins. So I traced the laser cut part onto a 1/32 thick sheet of lime and planked it using .5mm x 3mm strips. The margins are also 1/32"lime.
It looks a little mongrelly here, but after painting it's much better (sorry for the bad focus!)
Finally here are a couple of the shots of the fore mast dry fitted. It's not exactly finished yet - I still have to paint the bolsters and the mast head cleats and also reduce the latter's size so they don't look so bulky....
You may notice the holes drilled in the forward edge of the top for the crow's feet, which I plan on adding. My worry here is that the smallest blocks I have are 3mm, which even at that small size is too big for the crow's feet tackle. A suitable euphroe I can probably manage, but the tackle blocks will be a challenge. I'm not sure how much I can reduce the size of the 3mm blocks supplied by corel (which at any rate are very fragile things) though I might be able to do something with 1/8" blocks supplied by model shipways and leftover from previous builds (though these are slightly larger than the corel ones!!
Anyway that's a future worry. Hope you're all enjoying the day - now back to work!!
hamilton
Good morning friends...Here are some of the latest photos showing where my progress is at. As you can see I have finished the quarterdeck, forecastle and waist capping so I decided to finish painting the hull as I prepare to embolish the quarterdeck. Now that I am a year older I expect my progress will slow down a bit. Regards, jerry
Corel supplies laser cut walnut caps for the main and fore lower masts. These are each provided in 3 1.5mm thick parts that are glued together to form the final cap. I will likely use these when the time comes.
The bowsprit cap, as well as the mizzen mast cap and the fore and main topmast caps are cast metal and are useless - first because they make it impossible to add rigging features and second because the holes in them are not fully bored, and with only handtools to work with I could never get them into shape.
So, I'm faced with scratch building 4 mast caps - the bowsprit and mizzen caps are larger (about 2mm x 5mm) while the topmast caps are quite small (and may prove very difficult to craft...). Anyway, here is the only shot I have of the rough mast cap that I made. I gradually drilled holes at the appropriate locations and at an appropriate angle to account for the rake of the bowsprit. I then used round and square needle files to get the finished shape. After I took this shot, I sanded the sides down a bit more to match the size of Corel's part - something they seemed to get right.
The bobstays are a bit of an ambiguity. Goodwin (and Corel) shows only one, but Lees mentions that the 1719 Establishment allowed for 2 - he does not mention as he does elsewhere if this was only a practice on larger ships. I've taken the liberty of adding a second bobstay, less for historical reasons, then because I think it will look good.
However, Corel suggests using 5mm deadeyes for the bobstays and bowsprit shrouds but provides 4mm cast metal hearts for the fore stay, for preventer stay and main stay. Take a look.
I initially thought of ditching the metal hearts and making my own of a comparable size to the deadeyes, but again to my eye the deadeyes seemed too big and clunky for the model. So I decided to replace them with 3mm deadeyes, and to stick with the metal hearts.....sorry!!
Anyway, after agonising over how to make a single collar for all the deadeyes and the heart for the fore stay, I looked again at Lees only to discover that each of these rigging elements was put on with its own collar....! Filled with relief I went ahead and attached the remainder of the rigging elements, including
-- 3mm deadeyes for the bowsprit shrouds
-- 3mm deadeyes for the inner and outer bobstays
-- 4mm hearts for the forestay and fore preventer stay
-- ringbolts p/s on the upper sides of the cap for the bowsprit horses
-- two 3mm single blocks p/s on the lower sides of the cap for the spritsail lifts
-- two ringlbolts on the lower forward face of the cap for the jibboom footropes
-- a 4mm double block on the bottom of the cap for the spritsail jeers
-- a 4mm single block married to a 3mm single block for the fore topmast stay and the jib sail staysail downhaul.
-- a blackened brass ring service as a traveller
I also added the jibboom (3mm dowel cut to 72mm and tapered appropriately), the jibboom gammoning, the main stay heart and the bowsprit gammoning....here is the finished product....
All in all an eventful few days. On and on it goes....
hamilton
Best if the ratlines are left until the standing rigging is finally tensioned. I know that this leaves a lot of ratlines to do in one hit, but you have a better chance of ending up with better looking rigging.
STEP AWAY FROM THE BUILD ---- with your hands in the air.
Normally, at times when you feel like this, it's necessary to take a break. But you just had a break. The problem is you're probably not ready to settle back into the building routine.
My guess is that you have a million things on your mind and your normal 'escape' to the shop isn't working. It's acting like the one millionth and ONE thing. Give it a break for now and get those other things reduced to routine rather than crisis status. You will then look forward to returning to her.
I've been in the same place.......I'm sure many of us have.
Take a deep breath, relax and then whip that other 'stuff' into submission. Your gal, and your friends here on MSW will be patient.
To cut the slots for the sheaves into the catheads I first drilled a series of 0.9mm holes on the mill. The slots are drilled in a vertical plane, not at right angles to the arms of the catheads so they were set up to the same angles as on the ship :
After drilling the holes I used the mill to "join the dots". This needed a lot of careful passes for each slot - I went deeper in 0.5mm increments - to avoid breaking the drill. The results were pretty good :
The sheaves fitted up. A drop of CA holds the pins, and the sheaves move freely :
Made a small scale to measure the required length ...
... and put the blocks into my serving machine. The compass allows easy reading of the required length.
Fitted the lanyards, fixed with glue ...
... and wrapped around.
Looked strange and impracticable, so decided to consult the literature again. Then tried a final wrap in the middle and ended up with no major wrapping, just a big loop and some minor wrapping in the middle. Looks much more logical.
The the final assembly on the trucks and it finally worked the way I wanted!
So after months of no sleep, dafi finally will have a good rest tonight :-)
Extraordinary work, Alex! The craftsmanship of yourself and Dr Mike are among the best anywhere. Perhaps you could persuade him to post his latest work here also.
Try making your eyebolt by twisting a piece of wire around the appropriate diameter drill bit to give the correct ID. This leaves you with a "pig tail" rather than a single piece of wire to insert into the deck. Drill the hole in the deck slightly smaller than required and then screw the "pig tail" in to the hole after applying a little two-part epoxy. This gives a lot more surface area for the epoxy to take hold.
Somewhere, somehow, sometimes I was wondering what I was doing ...
... and tried to remember, how things should look like, took some Evergreen, drilled some blocks, took 2 of my etch parts hooks (ATTENTION: Product placement), took some line, and after some hooks and turns ...
... that easy, so easy, so lessens learned: No more cheating attempts!!! (Message to myself: Write this down a 100 times to never forget again)
So produced new blocks, punched some holes with the scriber on the 1 x 2 mm rod for the double blocks ...
... and on the 1 x 1 mm rod for the single blocks ...
... drilled with 0,5 mm ...
... and roughened the surface with a abrasive fleece.
While cutting to length I used the scalpel to round the surface and out came an amount of itzy-bitzy-teeny-wheeny extra small blocks.
Instead of painting I remembered tinting, a trick I once used successful while my studies on polyamide spheres: Tinting powder for synthetic fiber. But does this work for polystyrene?
So the powder with vinegar and the parts into the pot and boil well and long :-)
The toughest was to find the itzy-bitzy-teeny-wheeny extra small blocks in this mess in between the remains of undissolved color powder ...
... and it really worked! Not as well as I thought it would, but well enough for my needs.
On the bigger parts one can see how much the color was absorbed and on the smaller ones particles of the powder even gave darker spots.
Fixed the drill upside down ...
... used it to hold the block, knotted a thread onto one of my blackened hooks and attached it with some CA onto the block.
Then knotted the backside and fixed all well with CA. The single block was done accordingly, just one side of the thread was left long ...
... to serve as lanyard, the ensemble put to length and secured with CA. Then the lanyard was wound round on the serving machine, checked ...
... and fits :-)
A tad too short for this place, but this one will fit aft, where there is difference in lengths because of the curve of the hull. :-)
and once again a story of small things with great effect. The eye and ring bolts on the gun carriages have brought me to the brink of power capacity. But now it's done. The fasteners on the gun carriages are ready, now only missing the trunnion straps and rigging
The HMS Royal William in 1719 was the second ship of that name. The first HMS ROYAL WILLIAM was built in 1692 out of the 1670 HMS PRINCE forth. Rebuilt in this the extent of HMS PRINCE were retained, only the appearance has been significantly modernized. It was in honor of King William III. renamed HMS PRINCE in HMS ROYAL WILLIAM. The HMS ROYAL WILLIAM in 1692 was subjected to this Rebuilt in Chatham by shipwright Robert Lee.
William III. reigned from 1689 to 1702. He comes from the house of Oranien Nassau.
To make in England, he came through the „Glorious Revolution" 1688/89, at the Stuart King James II was deposed. William III. was married to Mary II Stuart. Mary II Stuart died on December 28, 1694th . After the death of William III. by Maria's sister, Anne Stuart power. Quenn Anne was the last British queen tables from the House of Stuart.
Anne reigned from 1702 to 1714. The English Parliament cleared the way for George I from the House of Hanover with the „Act of Settlement“. George I ruled Great Britain from 1714 to 1727. In the reign of George I., the second much Rebuilt HMS ROYAL WILLIAM. In 1719, she was subjected to this Rebuilt in Portsmouth by ship builder John Naish. You still kept the name HMS ROYAL WILLIAM. Rebuilt in 1756 during her next she was from a first rate to a seconde rate of 84 cannon built back. She was one of the ships of the Royal Navy with the longest period of service and was scrapped in 1813. Of the HMS ROYAL WILLIAM, there are three models in the NMM in London and one in Annapolis from the Rogers Collektion. Although the HMS ROYAL WILLIAM is one of the best documented ships of the Royal Navy, so there are very large differences in the models. In this I'll talk more about in the course of my building report.
My ROYAL WILLIAM is based on the plans of Euromodel. The keel and the frames are made of poplar plywood and the hull was built of pinewood. After a little bit of boxwood and pear only came to use. Now some pictures, I will soon, when I have more time, to write much more.
Regards Kay
I hope you understand my bad english, I will learn it here in the forum definitely better.
Hello Max.
What a lucky person you are
I agree with Crackers. Buy the admiral a small gift first.
My advice would be. Put it in your pocket and wait untill you NEED something. Then just go out and buy it.
I’ve finished the anchors. They are made from copper rod, bend and shaped with files. I’ve silver soldered the
parts and blackened with “BrassBlack” Unfortunately this time I missed to take pictures of every stage. Hoops
are brass strips first bend to shape then blackened and glued with CA.
For large and more detail photos see also: http://www.flickr.co...han_gokcay/sets http://www.flickr.co...57626433922489/
David if by Bullseyes you mean thimbles(?), these are easily made by cutting a small piece of brass (or copper) tube and either painting it black or chemically blackening it. That's what I did anyway.
davyboy got a reaction from Spiderpig in Cannon colour