Hermes, Gypsey Schooner and Belle Poule.

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Anatol
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Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:13 pm

Hermes, Gypsey Schooner and Belle Poule.

Post by Anatol » Mon Mar 19, 2018 9:12 pm

HMS HERMES was a 20-gun class sixth-rate post ship built in Milford Dockyard in 1811. On 11 February 1812 Hermes captured the American brig Flora. Then on 26 April Hermes captured the American brig Tigress. Four days later, HERMES and BELLE POULE captured the American privateer schooner GIPSY (or Gipsey). She was on her way from New York City to Bordeaux with a cargo worth ₤50,000 when the British vessels captured her in the mid-Atlantic after a three-day chase. Gipsey surrendered twice to Hermes and twice got away again before Belle Poule caught her. Gipsey was of 300 tons (bm) and was armed with twelve 18-pounder carronades and an 18-pounder gun on a pivot mount.In September 1814, master Percy led her in an unsuccessful attack on Fort Bowyer. The Louisiana State Museum has a map of the battle. The attack took place on 15 September at about 4:30pm. Two of the four British vessels could not get close enough to fire. The fort was more strongly armed than expected, the British fire was ineffective, and a parallel ground attack failed. Furthermore, as she tried to withdraw, Hermes grounded under the guns of the fort. Percy evacuated her crew on boats from Sophie and then set fire to Hermes, which blew up after the fire reached her magazine at around 10pm. In all, Hermes had lost 17 killed in action, 5 mortally wounded and 19 wounded. (The medical journal of the Hermes has survived. ) She was destroyed in 1814 to prevent her falling into American hands after grounding during her unsuccessful attack on Fort Bowyer on Mobile Pointoutside Mobile, Alabama. On 18 January 1815, Percy faced a court martial on board Cydnus, off Cat Island (Mississippi). The court acquitted him of all blame, finding that the circumstances justified the attack and that all involved had behaved with great gallantry. HMS BELLE POULE was a Royal Navy fifth rate frigate, formerly Belle Poule, a Virginie-class frigate of the French Navy, which was built by the Crucy family's shipyard at Basse-Indre to a design by Jacques-Noël Sané. She was launched on 17 April 1802, and saw active service in the East, but in 1806 a British squadron under Sir John Borlase Warren captured her off La Palma in the Canary Islands. The Admiralty commissioned her into the Royal Navy as HMS Belle Poule. At the time of her capture Belle Poule was armed with forty 18-pounder guns, had a crew of 320 men, and was under the command of Captain Brouillac. Marengo and Belle Poule had lost 65 men killed and 80 wounded. The British on London and Amazon had 13 officers and men killed and 26 officers and men wounded. Belle Poule returned to Portsmouth on 17 May 1815. A week later she sailed for Cork. She was converted to a prison hulk in 1815. She was sold on 11 June 1816 for ₤2,700. The design stamp is made after painting of John Bentham Dinsdale: “Hermes, Gypsey Schooner and Belle Poule”.
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Source:wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hermes_(1811). wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Belle_Poule_(1806).
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