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Here's another 1814 frigate-fight between the fir-built 24-pounder HMS Eurotas (HMS Shannon sister-ship) and the French 18-pounder Chlorinde. From the same above source: " It is uncertain on what day, previous to the capture of the Ceres, her consort, the Clorinde, parted company ; but we find the latter on the 25th of February, in latitude 47 40' north, longitude (from Greenwich) 9 J 30' west, on her way to Brest, after a tolerably successful cruise. It was at 2 P.M., when standing close hauled on the starboard tack, with the wind at south-west by south, that the Clorinde was descried by the British 24-pounder 38-gun frigate Eurotas, Captain John Philli- more, then on the former's weather-beam steering by the wind on the larboard tack. The Eurotas quickly bore up in chase ; and at 2h. 30 m. P.M. the Clorinde, whose national character and force was by this time ascertained, also bore up, under a press of sail. While the chase is going on, we will proceed to point out some peculiarities in the armament of one of these ships, a knowledge of which will be necessary to render fully intelligible the details we have to give of the action fought between them. At the commencement of the year 1813, under the head of " British and American Navies," we stated that, among the means taken to meet the large American frigates on equal terms, some of the British 38-gun class were mounted with medium 24-pounclcrs, and allowed an increased complement of men. The first two frigates so fitted were the Cydnus and Eurotas, both built of red pine and recently launched. The Cydnus was fitted with the 24-pounder of General Blomefield, measuring 7 ft. 6 in., and weighing about 40 cwt. ; and the Eurotas, after having, by mistake we believe, received on board a set of long or 49 cwt. 24s, was fitted with the 24-pounder of Colonel Congreve, measuring only 7 ft. G in., and intended to weigh 41 cwt. 1 qr. 12 Ibs., but actually weighing only 40 cwt. 2 qrs. 21 Ibs. With 28 of these guns on the main deck, 16 carronades, 32-pounders, two long nines, and the usual 18-pounder launch- earronade, on the quarter-deck an4 forecastle, as her regular establishment, and with, we are inclined to think, one additional 24-pounder upon General Blomefield's principle, the Eurotas, commanded by Captain John Phillimore (promoted from the Diadem troop-ship, which he had commanded since June, 1810), sailed from the Nore in the middle of the month of August, bound off Brest. On the 30th the Eurotas joined" the blockading squadron, which was under the command of Commodore Pulteney Malcolm, in the 100-gun ship Queen Charlotte, Captain Eobert Jackson. On some day in September (we believe the 14th) Captain Phillimore invited the commodore and all the captains of the squadron on board the Eurotas to witness a trial of her 24-pounders. The guns were tried eight times, with the full allow- ance of powder, and double-shotted ; and they stood remarkably well. Commodore Malcolm said he should like to have Colonel Congreve's 24-pounders on the Queen Charlotte's second and third decks ; and every one of the captains went away pleased with the gun. The following captains, with the exception of one or two, but which we cannot say, Avere present at this successful trial of the guns of the Eurotas : Captains AVilloughby Thomas Lake, Eobert Lambert, Thomas Elphinstone, Sir Michael Sey- mour, Henry Yansittart, George M'Kinley, George Tobin, George Harris, and Eobert Jackson. Captain Phillimore sub- sequently declared that, if well manned, he could light both sides of the Eurotas with ease ; was delighted with the guns in a gale of wind ; and found that, when the Eurotas was carrying a press of sail off Ushant, the guns did not work in the least, nor the ship seem to feel the smallest inconvenience from them. 1 On the 25th of November the Eurotas sent six of her 24-poundcrs on board the Cydnus, and received in exchange the same number of the latter's guns ; but on the 5th of the ensuing February, when the two ships again met, the Eurotas received back her six 24s, and returned to the -Cydnus those belonging to her. We must now show what ensued between the Eurotas and the French frigate Clorinde ; whose force, it may be necessary to state, was 28 long 18-pounders, 14 carronades, 24-pounders, and two long 8-pounders, total 44 guns. At 4 P.M. the wind shifted to the north-west and fell consi- derably ; but the Eurotas, nevertheless, gained in the chase. At about the same time the Clorinde, then not quite four miles distant in the east-north-east, suddenly shortened sail, and endeavoured to cross the hawse of her pursuer. This only 1 For a copy of & Icttei from Captain Phillimore, stating most of these particulars, see Appendix, No. 4. hastened the junction ; and at 4 h. 45 m. the Eurotas fired a shot and hoisted her colours, as did also the Clorinde. At 5 P.M., having bore up, the Eurotas passed under the stern of the Clorinde and discharged her starboard broadside. Then, luffing up under the Clorinde's quarter, the British frigate received so close and well-directed a fire, that in the course oi 20 minutes, and just as she had reached the larboard bow of her antagonist, her mizenmast fell by the board over the starboard quarter ; and, nearly at the same time, came down the fore-top- mast of the Clorinde. The French frigate now, shooting ahead, endeavoured to cross the bows of the Eurotas, with the intention of raking her. To evade this, and at the same time lay her antagonist on board, the Eurotas put her helm hard a-port and luffed up ; but, being obstructed in her manoeuvre by the wreck of the mizenmast, she could only pass close under the stern of the Clorinde, and pour in her larboard broadside. The two frigates again got side by side, and cannonaded each other with redoubled fury. At 6h. 20m. P.M. the Eurotas, then close on her opponent's starboard beam, had her mainmast shot away ; and which, fortunately for her, fell over the starboard or unengaged quarter. Almost at the same instant the mizenmast of the Clorinde came down. At 6h. 50m., the two ships being nearly in the same relative position, the foremast of the Eurotas fell over the starboard bow .; and in a minute or two afterwards the mainmast of the Clorinde shared the same iate. The Eurotas was now quite, and the Clorinde almost, unmanageable. At 7 h. 10 m. P.M., being then on the larboard bow of the Eurotas, the Clorinde set the remains of her foresail and her fore staysail and stood to the south-east, out of gun-shot. Captain Phillimorc, who since the early part of the action had been dangerously wounded in the shoulder by a grape-shot (the loss of blood from which, according to a published state- ment, 1 had caused him to faint three times on deck), now con- sented to go below ; and the command of the Eurotas devolved upon Lieutenant Eobert Smith. The boats' masts were imme- diately stepped on the booms, and the sails set, to endeavour, with a light westerly breeze, to keep after the enemy, still in the south- east. The wreck of the masts were also cleared away, and preparations made for getting up jury-masts ; and in the mean- while the ship laboured much, owing to her dismasted siate and a heavy swell from the westward I Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxi., p. 184. By great exertions throughout the night, the Eurotas, at 5 A.M. on the 26th, got up a spare maintopmast for a jury mainmast and at 6 h. 15 m., a foretopmast for a jury foremast, and a rough spar for a inizenmast ; the Clorinde still preserving the same line of bearing as on the preceding evening, but having increased her distance to nearly six miles. At 11 h. 30 m. A.M. Lieute- nant Smith spoke the English merchant-schooner Dungarvon, from Lisbon bound to Port Glasgow, and requested her master to keep between the Eurotas and Clorinde, and, in the event of the Eurotas not overtaking the Clorinde before night, to show a light and fire guns. At noon the Eurotas and Clorinde were about eight miles apart ; but in so different a state with respect to ability to renew the action, that while the latter had only partially cleared away the wreck of her main and mizen masts, the former had jury-courses, topsails, staysails, and spanker set, going with a northerly wind, six and a half knots through the water, and evidently gaining in the chase. But at this moment, Captain Phillimore justly observes, "to the great mortification of every one on board " the Eurotas, two sail were descried on the lee bow. The nearest of these was the British 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Dryad, Captain Edward Galwey ; the other the 16-gun brig-sloop Achates, Captain Isaac Hawkins Morrison. At 1 h. 15 m. P.M. the Clorinde hoisted French colours aft and English forward, and despatched a boat to the Dryad, who then shortened sail and hove to to receive it. The purport of Captain Denis-Lagarde's communi- cation, as it has appeared in print, was to require terms before he would surrender. The doubt expressed by the French officers as to the ship in sight to windward being that which had reduced the Clorinde to such a state, was far from unreasonable ; consi- dering that, not only had a night intervened, but the ship now seen was masted, rigged and under sail, where the ship engaged the evening before had been left as bare as a hulk. The French lieutenant was quickly sent back to the Clorinde. to get ready her " resources," and the Dryad filled and stood towards her, to give her an opportunity of trying the eifect of them. At 1 h. 35 m. P.M., having placed herself on the Clorinde's quarter, the Dryad fired one shot into her ; when the French frigate hauled down her colours, and was taken immediate possession of. At this time the Eurotas was between four and five miles off to windward, and the Achates about the same distance from the Clorinde to leeward. Out of a complement on board of 329 men and boys, the Eurotas had two midshipmen (Jeremiah Spurking and Charles Greenway), one first-class volunteer (John T. Vaughan), 13 seamen, four marines, and one boy killed, her commander (very severely), one lieutenant of marines (Henry Foord), one midship- man (John R. Brigstock), 30 seamen, and six marines wounded ; total, 21 killed and 39 wounded. Out of a crew on board num- bering, according to the depositions of Captain Denis-Lagarde and his two principal officers, 344 men and boys, the Clorinde had 30 officers and men killed and 40 wounded. From the great proportion of killed, it is probable that the severely wounded only are here reckoned. They may have amounted to 20 more ; making the killed 30, and the wounded 60. In the letter which Captain Galwey, with a proper feeling, permitted Captain Phillimore to write, the latter states, that the Clorinde had "a complement of 360 picked men," and that " M. Gerrard," one of the French officers, calculated their loss at 120 men. With respect to the complement, judging by the number of men usually found on board frigates of the Clorinde's class, and allowing, if necessary, that some may have been absent in prizes, we consider the sworn amount, 344, and that for which the head-money was afterwards paid, as likely to be the most correct. In regard to the alleged declaration of " M. Gerrard," unless the slightly wounded were in a very unusual proportion, the statement extracted from the Dryad's log is more to be depended upon ; especially, as it specifies both killed and wounded, and accords exactly, as we shall proceed to show, with the number and distribution of the prisoners. Owing to there being three British men-of-war in company, it is natural to suppose that all the prisoners would be taken out of the French ship, with the exception of the badly wounded. Accord- ingly, out of the 314 assumed survivors of the French crew, the Dryad received on board 125, the Eurotas 92, and the Achates 57 ; leaving on board the Clorinde, by a singular coincidence, the exact number stated by the French officers as the amount of their wounded. Every one of those officers, not left in the Clorinde, appears to have been on board the Dryad ; among whom we find Captain Denis-Lagarde, M. Joseph Lemaitre, his first, and M. Yincent Moulac, his second lieutenant ; but we do not see in the list the name of " Gerrard," nor any name re- sembling it. This person, therefore, was probably one of the wounded left on board the Clorinde. Although we are by no means satisfied that the Eurotas did not mount one of General Blomefield's 24-pounders in addition to her established armament already particularized, we shall not include that gun, nor, of course, the 18-pounder launch carro- nade, in the following Comparative Force of the Combatants. Broadside-guns . Had the Eurotas been armed the same as the generality of her class, this would have been a remarkably fair match ; but the British ship's 24-pounders destroyed the equilibrium. Yet, with a distance which would even have suited carronades, and with the exclusive advantage of two raking fires, those 24- pounders did not do so much execution, in proportion to the time they were acting, as had been done on many other occa- sions by an equal number of 18s. The ship, it is true, had not been quite 10 months in commission, and had not had her guns on board many days over six months ; but even the shorter of those two periods was long enough for the men to have been taught as much of practical gunnery as should have enabled them, in a close action of nearly two hours with an inferior antagonist, to have done greater execution, in reference to what they themselves suffered, than appears to have been inflicted by the Eurotas upon the Clorinde. But, deficient as the crew of the Eurotas may have been at their guns, they were by no means so at the various other duties of their calling. The quickness with which the seamen refitted their ship was as great a proof of their spirit as it was of their skill ; and, contrasted with the evidently unprepared state of the Clorinde, 18 hours after the battle, showed, in a very clear manner, the superiority of a British over a French crew. It was the capability to go ahead and manoeuvre, thus given, that would again, in a short time, have brought the Eurotas alongside of the Clorinde ; and it was a perfect readi- ness to renew the action, with, owing to the preceding day's two hours' practice at the guns, an actual increase of power, that would have made the Clorinde the prize of the Eurotas, even had the Dryad not interposed her unwelcome presence. The arrival of the Dryad and Achates, although it certainly robbed the Eurotas of her trophy, went a very little way towards dignifying the surrender of the Clorinde ; who, notwithstanding her captain's previous threat, did not fire a shot in return for the one discharged at her by the Dryad. We formerly expressed a belief, that the Achates alone would have produced the same result ; but, much as was to be expected from the tried gallantry of the brig's commander, we now, looking at the number of unwounded prisoners received out of the Clorinde, and the impunity with which her principal officers escaped, think other- wise. Nor do we feel disposed to award so much credit to M. Denis-Lagarde as we formerly did ; not only because of the tarneness of his surrender, but because, with so many officers and men in an effective state, he ought, in the 18 hours that had elapsed, to have cleared away his wreck, and partially refitted his ship. The dismasted state of the Eurotas, and her serious loss in men, prove that the French crew knew in what way to handle their guns; and considering how long the Clorinde had been in commission, and how many months of the time at sea, 1 we must suppose that her men were competent to perform the other duties of men-of-war's men, had their officers issued the proper directions. A\ r ith good management, therefore, the Clo- rinde might have effected her escape before the Dryad and Achates fell in with her ; and, even had 'the prevailing westerly wind begun to blow strong, soon after the close of the action, and lasted through the night, the probability is, that the French frigate, unrefitted as she was, would still have gained a port of France. Taking the prize in tow, the Dryad proceeded with her to Portsmouth ; and the Clorinde was afterwards added to the British navy by the name of Aurora, a Clorinde (also a French frigate) being already in the service. For his gallantry in this action, and his unremitting exertions in getting the ship cleared, masted, and under sail in so short a space of time, Lieutenant Robert Smith, first of the Eurotas, was deservedly promoted to the rank of commander. A litigation afterwards took place on the subject of the head-money for the crew of the Clorinde ; and it was at length decreed to the Dryad, as having been the actual captor. With the exception of the particulars entered into respecting the guns of the Eurotas, and respecting the state of the prisoners received out of the Clorinde, the above account of the action between these frigates is essentially, and almost verbally, the game as that given in the preceding edition of this work. The accuracy of that account having been publicly impugned, we i See vol. v., pp. 48, are bound, either to admit that we are misinformed on the subject, or to bring forward such proofs as will place beyond the reach of further contradiction the validity of our statements. As far as we have been able to glean them, the following are the principal, if not the only objections that were raised: 1. That the Eurotas' 24-pounders were experimental guns, and proved, defective in some (but what, we cannot say) particular, when tried in the action. 2. That the crew of the Eurotas had been taught how to fire with precision ; consequently, that the com- paratively slight execution done by the Eurotas to the Clorinde did not arise from the inexpertness of her men, but from the ineffectiveness of her guns. Unfortunately, the newspapers of the day used their endeavours to circulate a much more import- ant objection than either of these ; no less than that the main- deck guns of the Eurotas were 18, and not 24 pounders. Let us hasten to do Captain Phillimore the justice to state, that he never made, although we do not remember that he contradicted, an assertion which could have been so easily refuted. A con- temporary saw the paragraph, and, putting aside the news- paper, kept it until he could give the statement again to the public, with a post-captain's name as a voucher for its accuracy, in the following words : "A frigate-action, of an interesting nature, was fought in February, 1814, between the Eurotas, a British ship, of 44 guns, 18-pounders, and La Clorinde, of the same force." 1 Taking the two serious objections in the order in which they are stated, we shall begin with the quality of the guns. As far as a trial before the action could speak for the Congreve 24-pounders, we have already shown, that Captain Phillimore himself, Commodore Malcolm, and several experienced post- captains, were "delighted with them." Now for their behaviour in the action. The moment we learnt that Captain Phillimore had a complaint to allege against the guns, for some ill quality or deficiency that discovered itself in the action between the Eurotas and Clorinde, we turned again to the official letter. Finding no complaint there, we once more looked into the ship's log ; knowing that there at least a minute of the circumstance ought to have been noted down. Not a word could we discover on the subject. We then took the pains to ascertain, if any official report, complaining of the guns, had reached the navy board. Except an application, made in March, to have the breeching-bolts of the carronades, and the cat-heads of the i Breaton. vol. v, p. Eurotas made different from those of any other ship in the service, and a refusal of both requests, we could find no correspondence between Captain Phillimore and the commissioners of the navy. Pursuing our inquiries, we at last discovered that, on the 15th of March, 1814, an examination took place of the officers of the Eurotas on the very subject on which we desired informa- tion ; and the following (all we have been able to procure) is a transcript of what purports to be the testimony of the second- lieutenant of the Eurotas, Eichard Wilcox Graves : ' ' That, when the said guns were tried at Sheerness against the common 24-pounder long gun, they seemed to carry the shot, both double and single, as far as the latter ; that they bounded a little more than the long gun, but not dangerously so ; that they can be worked with two men less than the common long gun, are easier to train, and embrace a larger range or circle; that, in the action, one bolt only was drawn on the main deck, and one seizing broken, the latter of which might have been badly made , that, upon the main deck, two shot were fired from each gun in the first three rounds, and one round and one grape during the remainder of the action; that .the quantit of gunpowder was 8 lb., which was considered 2 Ib. too much, no difference of range being perceived when the guns were fired with only 6 lb. ; that there is only one gim on board the Eurotas, similar to those on board the Cydnus, upon Lieutenant-general Blomefield's principle, on account of there not being a complete set at Wool- wich when the Eurotas was fitted out." From the time of her action, except to land them when docked to have her damages repaired, the Eurotas retained these same guns, until Captain James Lillicrap paid the ship off on the 6th of January, 1816 ; when the Eurotas landed her " 28 Congreve's 24-pounders " at the arsenal at Woolwich. Conse- quently, there could have been no well-grounded complaint against the guns, otherwise the board of admiralty would not have suffered the Eurotas again to go to sea with them onboard. On the contrary, the lords of the admiralty were so pleased with the report made of the 40 cwt. Congreve 24-pounder, after a series of experiments tried at Sutton Heath, that, in the latter end of the year 1813, they ordered 300 more of the same de- scription of gun to be cast ; and, as a proof that the behaviour of the guns in the action of the Eurotas with the Clorinde, rather confirmed than lessened the previous good opinion entertained of them, the board of admiralty, on the 28th of April, 1815, 1814.] ordered that all the first-rate ships in the British navy should thenceforward be established, upon their upper or third decks, with the Congreve 24-pounder. After this full exposition of the perfect adequacy of the Eurotas' 24-pounders to perform, in a close contest especially, quite as well as any guns of the same caliber, we might answer the second objection, by simply pointing to the execution clone by English 24 and 32, against French 18 and 24 pounders, and vice versa, as unfolded in our detailed account of this action ; but we shall not blink the question : we stated, that the ship's company of the Eurotas had not been sufficiently practised at the guns, and we are prepared to prove our assertion. We must premise that, at the time the Eurotas was commissioned and armed with 24-pounders, three American 24-pounder frigates had recently captured three English 18-pounder frigates, and that with such impunity as to indicate that the art of gunnery had been much neglected in the British navy." Again, please forgive the scanning errors

Taken from Volume 5 of 'The Naval History of Great Britain', by William James. "In the latter end of October, 1813, the two French 40-gun frigates Etoile and Sultane, Captains Pierre-Henri Phillibert and Georges Du-Petit-Thouars, sailed from Nantes on a cruise. On the 18th of January, at 4A.M., latitude about 24 north, longitude (from Greenwich) 53 west, these two French frigates discovered in the north-west the British 24-pounder 40-gun frigate Severn, Captain Joseph Nourse, escorting a convoy from England to the island of Bermuda, and steering west by north, with the wind a light air from the south-east. At 7 h. 30 m. A.M. the Severn proceeded in chase; and at 8 h. 40m., finding the strangers did not answer the private signal, the British frigate bore up north by east, and made all possible sail from them, signalling her convoy to take care of themselves. At 10 h. 30m. A.M. the Severn commenced firing her stern- chasers at the leading enemy's frigate, and at noon lost sight of her convoy steering to the westward. At 4 h. 5 m. P.M. the headmost French frigate, the Etoile, hoisting her colours and broad pendant, began firing her bow-guns. A running fight now ensued, which, without doing the slightest injury to the Severn, lasted until 5 h. 30 m. P.M. ; when the Etoile then distant less than two miles (the Sultane astern of her about one), ceased firing. The chase continued all night, rather to the advantage of the Severn. At 8 A.M on the 19th the two French frigates gave up the pursuit, and hauled to the wind on the starboard tack. The Etoile and Sultane afterwards proceeded to the Cape de Yerds, and anchored in the port of English Harbour, island ot Mayo. On the 23rd of January, at about 9 h. 55 m. A.M., the two British 18-pounder 36-gun frigates Creole, Captain George Charles Mackenzie, and Astrea, Captain John Eveleigh rounding the south-east end of Mayo on their way from the neighbouring island of Fort-aventura, with the wind at north-east, 125 blowing fresh, discovered over a point of land the mast-heads of the two French frigates, and of two merchant-ships, one brigan- tine, and one schooner, lying in their company. At 10 h. 15 m. the two British frigates having cleared the point, wore and hauled to the wind on the larboard tack, under their topsails. On a supposition that the strangers, whose hulls were now plainly visible, were Portuguese or Spanish frigates, the Creole hoisted the Portuguese, and the Astrea, by signal from her, the Spanish, private signals. No answer being returned, the strange frigates were considered to be enemies ; and at 11 h. 30 m. A.M. the Creole and Astrea wore and made sail for the anchorage in which they lay. At noon, when the two British frigates were about a mile distant from them, the Etoile and Sultane, having previously hoisted their topsail-yards to the mast-head, cut or slipped, and made sail free on the larboard tack, with a strong wind still from the north-east. The two former now set topgallantsails in chase ; and the Astrea, owing to a gust of wind suddenly striking her, had the misfortune to split all three topsails, the mizen- topsail very badly, to replace which a fresh sail was soon got into the top. At about 30 minutes past noon the south-west end of the island of Mayo bore from the Creole, the leading British frigate, east-north-east distant four miles. In another quarter of an hour the Creole, both British frigates having previously hoisted their colours, fired a shot ahead of the sternmost French ship, the Sultane, then on the former's lee or starboard bow. The two French frigates immediately hoisted their colours. The Creole continued firing her bow-guns occasionally at the Sultane until 1 P.M. : when the former discharged a few of her larboard-guns, and then, as she ranged up on the Sultane's lee beam, received the French ship's first broadside. The Astrea also opened her fire in crossing the stern of the Sultane, and then gallantly passed between the latter and the Creole, just as the two ships had exchanged the fourth broad- side. After giving and receiving two broadsides, within pistol- shot, the Astrea, at 2 h. 15 in. P.M., stood on to engage the Etoile, then about half a mile ahead of her consort, with her mizen topsail aback. Having extinguished a fire that had caught in the foretopmast staysail and mizen chains, the Creole, at 2 h. 30 m., recommenced the action with the Sultane, and presently shot away her mizenraast. About this time the wad- ding from the French ship's guns again set the Creole on fire, in the forecastle hammocks and on the booms. The flames were again extinguished, and the action continued for nearly half an hour longer ; making about two hours from its commencement. Having now had every brace and bowline, tack, and sheet shot away, her main stay and several of her shrouds cut through, her three masts, particularly her foremast, badly wounded, the Creole put her helm a-lee, and, steering to the north-west in the direction of the island of St. Jago, abandoned the contest. It took the Astrea, when at 2 h. 15 m., she had quitted the Sultane, until 2 h. 30 m. before she got alongside of the Etoile to leeward. After an exchange of broadsides, the Astrea, having, from the great way upon her, ranged too far ahead, luffed up and raked the Etoile on her starboard bow. The Astrea, just at this moment losing her wheel, fell roundoff ; and the Etoile, Avcaring, passed close astern of her, separating her from the boat she was towing, and poured in a most destructive raking fire; which cut the Astrea's lower rigging to pieces, shot away both deck- transoms and four quarter-deck beams, burst a carronade, and ripped up the quarter-deck in all directions. Backing round, the Astrea soon got her starboard guns to bear; and the two frigates, each with a fresh side opposed to the other, recom- menced the action, yard-arm and yard-arm. In a few minutes Captain Eveleigh fell, mortally wounded by a pistol-shot just below the heart, and was carried below. The command now devolved upon Lieutenant John Bulford ; and the engagement between the Astrea and Etoile continued in this close position, with mutual animation, although it was no cheering sight to the Astrea, at about 3 P.M., to observe her consort, on the starboard tack, apparently a beaten ship, and the Etoile's consort approaching to double the force against herself. At 3 h. 5 m. r.M. the .topsail, which lay in the Astrea's mizen top to replace the split one, caught fire, but the flames were soon extinguished. Seeing the near approach of the Sultane, the Astrea would have boarded the Etoile, and endeavoured to decide the contest that way ; but the motion of the ships was too great, and the British frigate could only continue to keep her antagonist under her guns to leeward. At 3 h'. 30 m. the Sultane, as she passed to leeward, raked the Astrea, and did her considerable damage. In five minutes the Sultane wore from the Astrea, and stood before the wind, leaving the latter and the Etoile still in close action. At 3 h. 45 m. the Etoile also wore round on the starboard tack ; and in five minutes afterwards the Astrea's mizenmagt, with the topsail a second time in flames, went by the board, carrying some of the firemen with it. In a short time after she had wore and ceased firing, the Etoile stood towards her consort, who was waiting for her under easy sail ; and the Astrea, having by this time had the whole of her lower and topsail braces shot away, and being otherwise greatly damaged in rigging and sails, was in too unmanageable a state to follow. At 4 h. 15 m. the Sultane's maintopmast went over the side ; l and the Astrea, having soon afterwards partially refitted herself, wore round on the starboard tack with her head towards San-Jago. At this time the Creole was not visible to the Astrea; and the two French frigates were about four miles distant in the south-west, steering south by west. At 4 h. 30 m. P.M. the Creole was discovered under the land, standing into Porto-Praya bay ; where at 4 h. 45 m. she anchored, and where, in about an hour after- wards, the Astrea joined her. The principal damages of the Creole have already been related : her loss, out of a complement of 284 men and boys, amounted to one master's mate, seven seamen, and two marines, killed, and 26 petty officers, seamen and marines wounded. The Astrea, besides the loss of her mizenmast and the damage done to her rigging and sails, had her fore and main masts wounded, and was a good deal struck about the stern and quarter. Her loss, out of the same complement as the Creole's, consisted of her commander and eight seamen and marines killed, and 37 petty officers, seamen, and marines wounded, four of them dangerously and 11 severely; making the loss on board the two British frigates 19 killed and 63 wounded. The two remaining masts of the Sultane, and all three masts of the Etoile, were badly wounded : and, that their hulls escaped no better is most likely, because the acknowledged loss on board of each, out of a complement of 340 men and boys, was about 20 men killed and 30 wounded, or 40 killed and 60 wounded be- tween them. Here were two pairs of combatants, about as equally matched, considering the character of the opponent parties, as could well be desired ; and who fought so equally, as to make that a drawn battle, which, under other circumstances, might have ended de- cisively. Had the Creole, having already witnessed the fall of the Sultane's mizenmast, been aware of the tottering state of that 1 The logs of the Creole and Astrea concur in stating it to have been the mainmast that fell, but both ships were mistaken. The frigate's maintopmast, Captain Mackenzie would not, we presume, have discontinued the engagement, simply for the pre- servation of his wounded foremast ; especially when the Creole's main and mizen masts were still standing, as well as all three of her topmasts, and when, by his early retirement, he was exposing to almost certain capture a crippled consort. No frigate could have performed her part more gallantly than the Astrea ; but two such opponents, as the one that had so long been en- gaging her, were more than she could withstand. Fortunately for the Astrea, both French frigates had seemingly had enough of fighting ; and the Etoile and Sultane left their sole antagonist in a state not less of surprise than of joy at her extraordinary escape. "On tho 26th of March, at 9 A.M., these two frigates (the Sultane with jury topmasts and mizenmast), when about 12 leagues to the north-west of the Isle de Bas, steering for Saint Malo, in thick weather, with a moderate breeze at south-west, fell in with the British 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Hebrus, Captain Edmund Palmer, and 16-gun brig-sloop Sparrow, Captain Francis Erskine Loch. The latter was so near to the French frigates that, in crossing them, she received seven or eight shot from each ; which greatly damaged her rigging and sails, killed her master, and wounded one seaman. The brig now tacked towards the Hebrus, who was on her weather-quarter, standing on the larboard tack. The latter, as she passed the French frigates to windward on the opposite tack, exchanged distant broadsides with them, and fired her weather or larboard guns as a signal to her consort, the 74-gun ship Hannibal, Captain Sir Michael Seymour. At 9 h. 30 m. A.M., the Hebrus again tacked, and in 10 minutes afterwards, on the fog clearing, observed the Hannibal coming down under a press of canvas. At 10 A.M., being joined by the 74, the Hebrus crowded sail after the two French frigates, then bearing from her south-east by east distant about four miles. At 11 A.M. the wind suddenly shifted to the north-north-west, and blew very fresh. On this the two French frigates, finding their pursuers rapidly approaching, separated : the Sultane changed her course to east by north, and the Etoile hauled up to south-east. Directing by signal the Hebrus, as the best sailing-ship, to chase, in company with the Sparrow, the most perfect frigate, the Hannibal herself went in pursuit of the other. At 2 P.M. the Hebrus lost sight of the Hannibal and Sultane, and at 5 P.M. of the Sparrow ; and the Etoile then bore from her south-east by east, distant three miles. Soon afterwards the Etoile gradually hauled up to east-north-east, but was still gained upon by the Hebrus. About midnight the French frigate reached the Bace of Alderney ; when, the wind getting more northerly, the Hebrus came up fast, and took in her studding- sails. At Ih. 35m. A.M. on the 27th, having run the length of Point Jobourg, the Etoile was obliged to attempt rounding it almost within the wash of the breakers. At 1 h. 45 m., while, with her courses hauled up, the Hebrus was following close upor. the larboard quarter of the Etoile as the latter wore round the point, the French frigate opened a fire upon the British frigate's starboard bow. This fire the Hebrus quickly returned within pistol-shot distance, running athwart the stern of the Etoile, to get between her and the shore ; and that so closely, that her jib-boom passed over the French ship's taifrail. The Hebrus was now in eight fathoms water, and the land within musket- shot on her starboard beam. At 2h. 20m. A.M., while crossing the bows of the Hebrus to get again inside of her, the Etoile shot away the British frigate's foretopmast and foreyard, and crippled her mainmast and bowsprit, besides doing considerable injury to her rigging, both standing and running. It had been nearly calm since the commencement of the ac- tion, but at 3 A.M. a light breeze sprang up from the land. Taking advantage of this, the Hebrus succeeded in pouring several raking fires into her antagonist, and at 3h. 45m. shot away her mizenmast by the board. At 4 A.M. the Etoile ceased firing ; and, after a close and obstinate combat of two hours and a quarter, hailed to say that she had struck. No sooner was possession taken of the prize, than it became necessary to turn the heads of both ships off the shore, as well to prevent them from grounding as to get beyond the reach of a battery, which, having been unable in the darkness of the morning to distinguish one frigate from another, had been annoying them both with its fire. The tide fortunately set the ships round Pointe Jobourg, and at 7 A.M. they anchored in Vauville bay, about five miles from the shore. Although the principal damages of the Hebrus were in her masts and rigging, her hull had not wholly escaped, as is evident from her loss ; which, out of a crew of about 284 men and boys, amounted to one midshipman (P. A. Crawley) and 12 seamen killed, and 20 seamen, 2 marines, and three boys wounded ; four of the number dangerously, and six severely. The Etoile's principal damages lay in her hull, which was extremely shattered, leaving her at the close of the action with four feet water in the hold : her loss, in consequence, out of 327 men and boys (including the wounded in the former action), amounted to 40 killed and 73 wounded. The guns of the Hebrus, one of the new yellow-pine frigates, were the same as those of the Belvidera. The Etoile mounted 44 guns, including 14 carronades, 24-pounders, and two 8- pounders on the quarter-deck and forecastle. Of her acknowledged crew of 327, we shall allow 12 for the badly wounded, and not yet recovered, of the action of the 26th of January. As the crew of the Hebrus was quite a new ship's company, with scarcely a single draught from any other ship, while the crew of the Etoile had been formed out of the united ships' companies of the Arethuse and Eubis, and had even since fought a creditable, if not a victorious action with an equal force, a great share of credit is due to Captain Palmer, his officers, and crew, for the successful result of this action ; con- sidering, especially, how near it was fought to the French shore, and how critically circumstanced the Hebrus was, both during its continuance and at its termination. We formerly concluded, that the stock of ammunition on board the Etoile must have been considerably diminished when she fell in with the Hebrus ; but it has since been proved to us, that, after her capture by the latter, the Etoile had a considerable quantity of powder and shot left: consequently we erred in our supposition, and are extremely gratified that the inaccuracy has been pointed out in time to be corrected in these pages. We must not omit to mention, that Captain William Sargent, of the navy, who was a passenger on board the Hebrus during the action, evinced much skill and intrepidity ; as is very handsomely acknowledged by Captain Palmer in his official letter." Note: HMS Hebrus was a fir-built sister ship to HMS Euryalus, identical except for the square-tuck stern

Captain Frederick Maryatt's contemporary sea novels, written by an officer who actually served with Lord Cochrane, the real prototype for Jack Aubrey. They have never been out of print: Peter Simple, Mr. Midshipman Easy, Frank Mildmay, The King's Own, Percival Keene, and many others, written in the 1830's.

One reason that American Revolutionary War privateers might carry decorations, would be to blend in with the rest of the sea traffic. There is nothing more suspicious that a bland, austere ship edging down on you, giving you an early chance to make your escape. So both merchant built conversions like the Oliver Cromwell (ex-Juno) , and purpose built privateer like the Rattlesnake, were richly adorned, just like the average merchantman would be. But by 1812, however, the 'baltimore clippers' were so fast and weatherly, that it didn't much matter. Their rig alone would have given them away. The few surviving plans and paintings show them to be rakish, mostly black, plain and sinister looking. The general naval and private style of that period was to replace full figureheads with busts or fiddleheads, and to substitute the stern figures with scroll work and rope tracery, in the "French Fashion".

Of the six great British luxury four-stackers at sea, or building, in 1912, fully half will have sunk within four years - Titanic in 1912, Britannic in 1916, and Lusitania in 1915. The three survivors were Olympic, Mauritania and Aquitania.

I know of at least one BC, the Siro , that was described as "coppered to the bends". She was designed and built by Thomas Kemp of Baltimore in early 1812 (pre-war) as a French coast blockade runner. She was captured in 1813, but sold out of RN service. Renamed the British letter of marque Atalanta, she was retaken by the USS Wasp in October, 1814, and was noted as being remarkably well built. I would assume that the other Kemp built BC's, like the Grecian and the Lynx, the only two 1812 BC's of which named plans survive, would have been coppered also. Siro was described in one paper as the most expensively built, lavishly equipped private vessel built in Baltimore to date. There is also a surviving contemporary built rigged model of the Schooner privateer Comet, also Thomas Kemp built, which appears to be coppered (green paint). Comet was briefly leased to the US Navy in 1813 because of the high quality of her construction. Kemp was thought to have owned the model. Note. They were never actually called 'baltimore clippers' during the war of 1812. This term first popped up later about the 1830's. They were known as 'Chesapeake Bay Pilot Schooners', or some variation of that, by those who knew them. See Geoffrey Footner's "Tidewater Triumph: The Development and Worldwide Success of the Chesapeake Bay Pilot Schooner", Tidewater Press, Centerville Maryland, 1998. Highly recommend ...

I just want to say that "Rat-fink-a-booboo' is an awesome name!

By the way, that's me singing .... knot.

From the makers of "What does the Fox Say". This video will help with your rigging ...

I'm surprised that there was any surviving, original hull planking above Victory's waterline to get a sample. These ships replaced nearly everything above water every few decades. Nothing above the Constitution's waterline is original. Only her keel, deadwood, floors, and first and second futtocks, and a few other lower chunks, are thought to date back to 1812. The key is that they rebuild the timbers just the way they found them, keeping what the academes call their historical "provenance".

Log of Victory, May 3, 1805: "Dismissed ye carpenter, Jonathan Grey, who had, before having been discovered by the doctor to be completely colour-blind, ordered the ship's sides painted a light pink while the Capt. was away. He had thought it was instead the normal tan-ochre. We cruise against the French tonight without chance of repainting. Landsman Grey sentenced to receive 50 lashes."

Remember, the figurehead shown on the Philadelphia's sail plan is Hercules.

Seems awfully small compared to the first photo's house siding, and the second photo's wall corner wainscoating, to be the center of a large frigate's tafferail ...

No davits on sloops of war during the War-of-1812, at least according to an 1813 letter written by Jacob Jones of the Wasp I, following the battle with the Frolic. He saw an approaching British ship, bow on, which carried davits, and so he ran away because, according to him, davits meant a frigate or a ship-of-the-line. The ship was the 74-gun liner Poictiers, which captured him.

I read somewhere long ago (weasel disclaimer, don't recall) that the Boston's carvings were done by the Skillins family of Boston. There are unidentified sketches of ships' sterns in the Peabody Museum of Salem by Samuel Skillins, according to their catalog. I think the elder Skillins did the Confederacy's carvings ... ?

No, McIntire did the Essex's, and maybe also the Pickering's and the Merrimack's. Its all guess-work at this point, since no one bothered to preserve any carving details, but if you are willing to guess, I think you are probably right about the New York's stern, Charlie. The tafferail of the USS Maryland had the seal of Maryland in the center, if I recall correctly. I would go with the female figure of "Columbia" as a figurehead, since Columbia University is in the city. Use perhaps the figure on Chapelle's draught of the Congress as a guide, since the New York was basically a reduced Congress, according to contemporary sources.

I believe the Naval Historical Center in Washington has Bill's old data files. I don't have Philadelphia's file. I never thought the NA tafferail looked very Rush-like either (not sufficiently detailed), but maybe they sub-ed the job out to a local carver. I wondered if the dimensions of that tafferail survives. I once speculated that maybe the fastenings holes in it, might betray how far apart the counter timbers were, and thus, how many windows she had. I looked at that same engraving of Phillies stern, and I thought I counted seven windows. There is a frame drawing for an unknown 36 gun frigate (14 gun ports aside) in the Fox Papers labeled "proposed deck for Chesapeake", but the plan shows eight counter-timbers (seven windows, not counting the two additional false windows on the back of the galleries), two more than the Chesapeake had, and I wondered if this wasn't the Philadelphia's proposed gun deck plan instead ... Your Essex drawing sounds very McIntire-ish to me. He carved many fireplace mantels in Salem, exactly as you described, but he always replaced the Indian in the State Seal's shield with an eagle ... and put him instead on the Essex's bow.

Hal !!! OMG!!! I'm glad you're alive - and well - and still modeling! I tried looking for you online a while back, but came up empty. I wondered if you had retired to Hawaii, or somewhere equally special. I tell people all the time that there is this guy on long Island who is scratch-building the entire Federal Navy in 1/8th scale! Your models of Johnston Blakeley's early ships really made my book something truly special. Thanks again, Brother!

Captain Jack Aubrey would often cry, "Clew up! Clew up!", during a battle.

Jack Aubrey: "All brutes ashore! Hurry it up lads! Let us conclude our business here! And watch the paintwork ladies ... Remember, all venereals shall be docked from pay and prize shares, and on that happy aside, the good doctor is now on the half deck, eagerly preparing your comfort ... A moment with Venus, a lifetime with Mercury, I always say ... Prepare to weigh anchor!" Barrett Bondon atop the capstern: "Stamp and go! Stamp and go! The ladies come from Mexico ..." Ok, so I read too much Patrick O'Brien.

I 've always been interested in HMS Tartarus, 1807, since she chased and almost caught the Wasp in 1814. When I get time, I'll post some stuff on her, if anyone is interested. Tartarus is on the long build-wish list, but well behind the long-dragged-out Frolick/Wasp (II), the USS John Adams, and the mighty Razee Cumberland. Then again, there is that fleeting time element ...

The "French Style" for that period generally means a central coat of arms, or stack of flags and cannon, with surrounded with heavy rope and vine tracery, and few, if any figures, unless they are a part of the coat of arms. President was definitely not in the French Style.

From wiki, we again get: "HMS Thais was built for the British Royal Navy in 1806 and was the name-vessel of her class of fireships. Between 1811 and 1813 she served in the West Africa Squadron, which was attempting to suppress the slave trade. During this service she captured several slave traders and an American privateer. She made one voyage to the East Indies. Thais was sold in 1818. She then became a merchantman. She was last listed in 1826. Commander Isaac Ferrieres commissioned Thais in June 1807 as a fireship. Thais was among the naval vessels at Plymouth on 27 and 28 August 1807 and so shared in the proceeds arising from the detention of the Danish vessels Elizabeth, Tiesco, and Aurora, in the run-up to the Gunboat War with Denmark. Ferrieres sailed Thais on 9 September for the West Indies. There she participated in the capture of the Danish West Indies during December. By February 1808 Thais was back at Plymouth and undergoing refitting as a sloop, a process that took into April. On 21 January 1809 Thais was at Cape Town. There Admiral Bertie, admiral in charge of the Cape of Good Hope Station, sent her out to look for Diana, which had been reported damaged, and for the East Indiamen Experiment, Glory, and Lord Nelson, which were overdue. It turned out that the three East Indiamen had foundered without a trace. Later in 1809 Thais served in the North Sea. In August Thais was part of a squadron under the command of Sir Home Riggs Popham in the Scheldt during the Walcheren Campaign. On 23 May 1810 she escorted a convoy to the Mediterranean. In November 1810 Commander Edward Scobell assumed command. On 14 December Thais left Gibraltar as an escort to a convoy for Britain. Service with the West Africa Squadron. Thais was re-rated as a sixth rate in 1811, and on 3 April Scobell received promotion to post captain. Thais and Scobell then sailed for the West Coast of Africa. On 28 July 1811 Thais captured the brig Havannah. The capture took place off "Trade Town". Havannah was suspected to be a British vessel sailing under a foreign flag. She had 100 slaves aboard, of whom 98 survived to be landed at Freetown, where the Vice admiralty court condemned her. On 30 August, Thais captured the Portuguese brig Venus off Badagry. She too was condemned at Freetown, and 21 slaves were landed there. Three days later, Thais captured another Portuguese brig, Calypso, off Lagos. She landed 13 slaves at Freetown, but the court returned her to her owners. On 24 June 1812 Thais captured the American schooner Dolphin south of Gorée. She landed 79 slaves at Freetown, where the court condemned her. Then on 14 August Thais captured the Spanish brig Carlotta at Loango Bay. She had no slaves aboard. On 29 August, Thais captured the Portuguese brig Flor d'America, also at Loango, that was carrying 364 slaves. The court at Freetown condemned both vessels. On 5 September Thais captured the Portuguese schooner Orizonte at Mayumba Bay. She landed 18 slaves at Freetown, where the court condemned her. On 31 March 1813 Thais captured the U.S. brig Rambler. Rambler, of 160 tons (bm), was armed with twelve 9 & 6-pounder guns, and had a crew of 88 men. She had sailed from Rhode Island on 28 January and had not made any captures. The capture took place off Cape Mount (6.80663518°N 11.37337442°W). Then on 28 May 1813 Thais was involved in apprehending Juan a ship sailing near the Rio Pongo, which was then taken to Sierra Leone. She was an American sloop carrying no slaves; British records indicate that the capture took place off Cape Sierra Leone. The court at Freetown condemned her. Thais assisted the privateer Kitty after she captured two slave traders, San Jose Triumfo and Phoenix, on 4 June. On 27 June Thais and the colonial armed schooner Princess Charlotte captured three small craft off Cape Mesurado. In January 1814 Captain Henry Weir replaced Scobell, who had resigned his commission. In late March Thais was at Hellevoetsluis to transport French coins that Nathan Rothschild had collected. Rothschild had a contract to deliver £600,000 to the south of France by 14 March. By the time Thais and Comus were able to deliver to Bordeaux the £450,000 that Rothschild had gathered Napoleon had abdicated. From Bordeaux Thais carried General Balyley and his staff to Plymouth. Between October and December 1814 Thais was at Plymouth being cut down, losing her spar deck, and having her armament being reduced to 16 guns. In 1815 she sailed to the East Indies, escorting East Indiamen. On 6 April Thais took Mercury, Browsse, master, into Madeira. She had been sailing from Bordeaux to Martinique when Thais intercepted her. Thais then sent Mercury to England. Mercure, Brouessett, master, reached Lisbon. There she was released to resume her voyage to Martinique. On 10 September Thais left Penang for China. Between 6 and 11 April 1816, Weir was president of a court-martial that took place on HMS Cornwallis in Madras roads. The board found that Captain Robert O'Brien, captain of Cornwallis, had exceeded his authority in appointing himself a Commodore and dismissed him from the service. Weir then assumed command of Cornwallis. Weir returned to Thais. Under his command she arrived at St Helena on 28 September from India, and sailed two days later for England. By 1817 Thais was in ordinary at Plymouth. The "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered "Thais, of 22 guns and 431 tons", lying at Plymouth, for sale on 13 August 1818. She sold on that day for £1,400. Thais appears in Lloyd's Register for 1819 at London with Robson, master, and Brown & Co. owners. This entry continues unchanged until 1826, which is the last time Thais is listed."

Many of us lament the lack of 1812-era plank-on-frame plans for sloops-of-war. But there is an solution already presented to us, in the form of the fireship HMS Comet of 1783. David Antscherl and Seawatch Books recently gave us the monograph of the aforementioned ship, "The Royal Navy Fireship Comet of 1783" (or as I call it, "TFFM Vol. 5" ) complete with lofted frames in 1/48 scale. HMS Comet proved to be such a fine, fast ship, that the Royal Navy launched six more copies of her between 1806 and 1807, but by the time they were commissioned, Trafalgar had eliminated the need for fleet -destroying fireships, so all were converted to badly-needed sloops of war. They were the Thais, Tartarus, Prometheus, Lightening, Erebus and Comet (II). They were small, quarter-decked ship-sloops of about only 109 feet on the gun-deck, rather short actually, and they were armed with 26 guns, viz, sixteen 24-pounder carronades on the main-deck (some reportedly had 32-pounders instead), with eight 18-pounder carronades and two long nine-pounders on the spar deck. All were fast, and had successful careers. They looked larger and more powerful than they actually were, since only eight of their eleven main deck ports were armed, and they had a full, flush spar deck fore-and-aft, with built up bulwarks amidships, complete with three more (unarmed) ports. The Tartarus of 1807, in particular, was actually able to mount twenty-two 24-pounder carronades in 1814, arming all her main deck ports, bringing her total number of guns up to an astonishing 32! The draught of the updated Comets appears on page 149 of Davis Lyon's "The Sailing Navy List". In comparison, the USS Wasp (I), also launched in 1806, was only four feet shorter on the gun deck, but was flush-decked, and could carry only eighteen guns. Anyone wanting to build one of these quarter-decked ship-sloops just has to get David Antscherl's Comet plans, and you're good to go. The only major differences are the lack of ornate carvings, the newer ships probably having only bust or billet heads and scroll-work on their sterns, and normally hinged gun-ports, etc. Two of the sloops, Thais and Prometheus, were cut down into flush decked, 16-gun ships later in their careers. The most famous of the six was HMS Erebus. The following history comes from that infallible source, Wikipedia: "HMS Erebus was originally built as a Royal Navy fireship, but served as a sloop and was re-rated as such in March 1808. She served in the Baltic during the Gunboat and Anglo-Russian Wars, where in 1809 she was briefly converted to a fireship, and then served in the War of 1812. In 1814 she was converted to a rocket vessel to fire Congreve rockets. While serving off America, Erebus participated in the sack of Alexandria, Virginia, and launched the rockets that bombarded Fort McHenry in Baltimore on September 13th, 1814. In March 1815, off Georgia, she fired the second-to-the-last-shot of the war. She was laid up in 1816 and sold for breaking up in 1819. Baltic Commander William Autridge commissioned Erebus in January 1808, and she sailed for the Baltic in April. In July, Vice-Admiral Sir James Saumarez and his British fleet were blockading Rager Vik (Ragerswik or Rogerswick or Russian: Baltiyskiy) where the Russian fleet was sheltering after the British 74-gun third rates Implacable and Centaur had destroyed the Russian 74-gun ship of the line Vsevolod. Saumarez wanted to attack the fleet and ordered that Erebus and Baltic be prepared as fireships. However, when the British discovered that the Russians had stretched a defensive chain across the entrance to the harbour, precluding an attack by fireships, Saumarez abandoned the plan and the two vessels returned to normal duties. Between 28 October and 9 November, Erebus captured the Danish sloops Debitor, Ellen Maria and Rengende Jacob. On 28 October Erebus captured the Danish galliot Emanuel. On 29 November Erebus and Devastation captured the Danish galliots Ellen Maria, Gertrude Maria and Fem Sodskende. Between 30 November and 6 December, Erebus captured the Danish vessels Neptunus, Neptunus and Frau Maria. At some point Commander Henry Withy assumed command. On 4 August 1809, Captain Thomas Byam Martin of Implacable, while off Hogland, assigned Erebus to patrol between Aspo and Sommars rock. Her mission was to harry Russian shipping and give warning should she spot the Russian fleet exiting Kronstadt. On 24 October Erebus, again under the command of Autridge, captured the Courier. Almost a month later, on 16 November, Rose, with Erebus in company, captured the Concordia. That day Rose was in company with Erebus, the cutter Cheerful and the hired armed cutter Mary when they captured the Catherine Elizabeth. The next day Erebus captured four vessels. One was the Chriftina, N. Jorgensen (or Jergensen), master. Erebus was in company with Rose when they captured the Danish sloop Anna Catherina, H.P. Larsen, master. Rose, Cheerful and Mary were in sight as Erebus captured the Twende Brodre, H. Holmer, master. Rose was also in company when she and Erebus captured the Danish sloop Anna Margaretha. On 29 December Erebus captured the Crown schooner No. 27. The next day Erebus captured the Elizabeth Christina. The day after that Erebus captured the Victoria, Hans Larsen, late master. Erebus was employed on convoy duties and on 21 June 1810 she and Loire escorted 100 vessels through the Great Belt into the Baltic. On 6 July 1810, Erebus captured the Vrou Sitske. On 28 July Erebus captured the Maria, J. Schumacha, master. Then on 13 August she captured the Maria Sophia, J.C. Guhlstoff, master. War of 1812 Erebus was at Hull on 2 October, having just detained the Hopper, Somanberg, and Maria Sofie Guhlstorff, from Saint Petersburg. On 17 December 1811, Erebus captured the Danish sloop Fuldmannen, A. Anderson, master. In 1812 Erebus was again employed on convoy escort in the Baltic under Saumarez. On 12 May Erebus, under the command of Commander George Brine, the Danish sloop Snelvegen. Then on 25 May Erebus recaptured the Diverdina. On 15 June Erebus, again under the command of William Autridge, captured the Danish sloop Henrietta, Anders Jergensen, master. On 18 August 1812, Commander Henry Lyford took command and served on her until he was made post-captain on 4 December 1813. On 4 October Podargus captured the Danish sloop Speculation and shared the prize money with Persian, Erebus, Woodlark and Plover by agreement. Then on 17 October Persian and Erebus were again in company with Podargus when Podargus captured the Danish vessels Anna Maria, Twende Brodre, and two market-boats. Next month, on 11 November Podargus captured Syerstadt, with Persian and Erebus in company. On 16 December Persian captured the Danish galliot Ebenetzer, with Thracian in company. Erebus shared in the prize money by agreement with Persian. On 27 July 1813 Sheldrake, Erebus, Thracian, and Woodlark captured the Forsoget, Stephanus, and Erskine. Prize money was paid on 15 January 1819. Then on 20 October Ariel, Erebus, and Hamadryad captured the Venus. Prize money for this vessel too was paid on 15 January 1819. After Lyford, Erebus then came under the command of Commander John Forbes. In early 1814, during the War of 1812, while under the command of John Forbes, Erebus was again in Baltic. However, in April, while under Commander David Ewen Bartholomew, she was at Woolwich, fitting as a Congreve rocket ship and for the North American station. On 23 May Erebus attempted to leave Portsmouth for the North American station but contrary winds forced her to put back. Still, on 29 May she was at Cork and got underway with the convoy for Newfoundland, Halifax and Quebec. Potomac On 17 August 1814, Vice-Admiral Alexander Cochrane detached Devastation, Euryalus, Ætna, Meteor, Manly and Erebus, all under Captain Alexander Gordon in Seahorse, to go up the Potomac and bombard Fort Washington, which was on the left bank of the river, some ten or twelve miles below Washington itself. The British suffered from several disadvantages. First, they lacked pilots that knew the Kettle- Bottoms, a difficult stretch of the river. Second, the winds blew in the wrong direction, slowing their advance. Consequently, it took them ten days to reach the fort, and during the journey all the ships grounded at least 20 times. For five successive days they had to warp over a distance of 50 miles. On the evening of 27 August the bomb vessels started bombarding Fort Washington. This caused the garrison to flee. However, suspecting trickery, Captain Gordon ordered the vessels to continue to fire, only ceasing when the powder magazine exploded at eight o'clock. The following morning the British occupied the defenses. The principal fort contained two 52-pounder, two 32-pounder and eight 24-pounder guns. On the beach there was also battery of five 18-pounders; there was also a Martello tower with two 12-pounders and a battery in the rear with two 12 and six 6-pound field guns. Before they fled the Americans had spiked the guns; the British landing party of seamen and marines completed the destruction, especially of the gun carriages. The loss of the forts and batteries left the town of Alexandria undefended. Between 31 August and 6 September Erebus and the squadron continued on the Potomac River. They took Alexandria and also captured 21 merchant vessels. While there the British looted stores and warehouses of 16,000 barrels of flour, 1,000 hogsheads of tobacco, 150 bales of cotton and some $5,000 worth of wine, sugar and other items. The Americans had placed two field guns in a battery situated high on a bluff at White House Plantation (modern day Fort Belvoir), and had fired on Fairy as she sailed to reach Gordon. On 1 September, Gordon sent Fairy and Meteor to engage the battery to impede its completion, but they were unsuccessful. In all, the Americans had established batteries with a total of 11 guns - five naval long guns and eight artillery field pieces. The British spent most of 2 September mustering their ships and prizes for the run down river while awaiting favourable winds. At the same time they were working to free Devastation, which had run aground. On 3 September the bomb vessel Ætna and Erebus joined in the effort to suppress the American batteries. That same day, Commodore John Rodgers, with four U.S. gunboats and some fireships, made an unsuccessful attempt to destroy Devastation. Sniping and gunfire continued throughout 4 and 5 September, as the Virginia militia arrived to block British landings at the batteries. On 6 September the frigates Seahorse and Euryalus came down the river and joined Fairy. The three vessels shifted their ballast to the port side to enable their combined 63 starboard guns to elevate sufficiently to engage the batteries. They then opened fire and within 45 minutes had silenced the American cannons. All eight British warships and their prizes, 22 merchant vessels, brigs, ships and schooners, moved back to the main fleet. During the run down the river the British had suffered only seven dead and 35 wounded, including Charles Dickson, Fairy's second lieutenant. However, Erebus alone lost one man killed and 16 men wounded; two died, eight were severely wounded and Commander Bartholomew, Lieutenant Reuben Paine and four others were slightly wounded. The Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with the clasp "The Potomac 17 Augt. 1814" to those members of the vessels' crews that had survived to 1847. Baltimore Erebus was one of the ships involved in the bombardment of Fort McHenry in the Battle of Baltimore. She was equipped with a battery of 32-pound Congreve rockets installed below the main deck, which fired through portholes or scuttles pierced in the ship's side. This was an improved version of the design that Congreve had first installed in HMS Galgo. Erebus, Meteor, Ætna, Terror, Heron, and Devastation moved up the Patapsco River on 12 September 1814 in preparation for an attack on Baltimore. They commenced their bombardment on Fort McHenry and the water batteries on 13 September, but were ordered to withdraw the next day. It was fire from Erebus that provided the "rockets' red glare" that Francis Scott Key described in The Star-Spangled Banner. Georgia In February 1815 Erebus was with Sir George Cockburn's squadron off Georgia. She contributed her boats to a force of 186 seamen and marines under Captain Phillott of Primrose. This force then proceeded to sail up the St Mary's River to attack an American detachment. The force had navigated fairly far up river when they came under unexpected fire from Spanish Florida. The British soon silenced the fire, but Phillott decided to retreat as the river ahead was narrow (only 30 to 40 yards wide), with commanding heights and houses to their rear. During the withdrawal, the expedition was exposed to harassing fire for over ten hours. In all, the expedition cost the British three men killed and 15 wounded. Bartholomew, of Erebus, was hit four times. He took his first hit in his head and then a second ball hit his middle finger and thumb when he put his hand up to feel the first wound. He was also hit in the neck and throat. Phillott too was wounded twice. On 16 March 1815 Erebus fired the second-to-the-last shot of the war when she fired a shot at Gunboat No. 168 in Wassaw Sound, off Georgia, even though Bartholomew knew the war was over and the gunboat's master, Mr. John H. Hurlburd, had announced that he was carrying letters for Cockburn. No. 168 fired one shot pro forma across the bows of Erebus and then struck. When Hurlburd came aboard Erebus, Bartholomew apologized and stated that he had not given any order to fire. Fortunately, Erebus's shot had been fired high and had only done a little damage to some ropes and the sail on No. 168. Erebus returned to England on 28 April. Bartholomew received promotion to post-captain on 13 June, but remained with Erebus until after she had assisted in the repatriation via Ostend of the British wounded from Waterloo. Still, in June 1815 Erebus came under the command of Commander Francis le Hunte. On 25 June and again on 5 July Erebus and Foxhound arrived at Deal from Ostend with French prisoners. On the first trip she convoyed transports that between them were carrying 8,000 French prisoners. Erebus was laid up at Deptford in 1816. The Admiralty sold her on 22 July 1819 for ₤1,150 to Mr. Manlove for breaking up." I'll add more ships histories as I get them ...

Interesting resource! While Britain may have lost her empire, she apparently kept her records ...