AFRICA HMS 1781

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aukepalmhof
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Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

AFRICA HMS 1781

Post by aukepalmhof » Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:35 pm

She was built as a 3rd Rate ship of the line by Adams & Barnard at Deptford, on the Thames for the Royal Navy.
11 April 1781 launched under the name HMS AFRICA.
Tonnage 1.415 ton (bm), dim. 160 x 46ft.
Armament 64 guns.

1782 Under command of Capt. Robert M’Douall, as part of a squadron of five ships under command of Commodore Sir Richard Bickerton sent out to the East Indies.
Took part in the action with Sir Edward Hughes’s fleet against the French fleet under command of Admiral Pierre-André de Suffren Saint-Tropez off Cuddalore on 20 June 1783, where the British fleet covered an attack by British troops from Madras on Cuddalore. No ships were taken and losses in men were roughly equal but Hughes had a great number of crew down with scurvy and retired to Madras allowing Suffren to enter Cuddalore.
On 29 June HMS MEDEA (28 guns), brought the news that peace had been concluded.
AFRICA returned home in April 1784.

1796 Under command of Capt. Robert Home in the West Indies.
In March AFRICA, LEVIATHAN and SWIFTSURE provided covering fire for the troops and inshore ships, which included CERES and IPHEGENIA, attempting an attack on Leogane in San Domingo.
The port was strongly defended, and AFRICA was considerably damaged aloft by shore fire.

September 1798 under command Lieutenant John Bryant, harbour service at Sheerness.

1803 Out of commission.
1805 Under command of Capt. Henry Digby.
21 October 1805 took part in the Battle of Trafalgar, first she became by missed signals detached from Nelson’s fleet, but on the 21st October after setting all sails to rejoin the fleet. She bore down on the van of the combined French-Spanish fleet and she received fire from each vessel when she passed along them.
At least she joined a cluster of ships around the Spanish SANTISSIMA TRINIDAD, and when after 02.00pm the fire from the Spanish flagship ceases, Captain Digby thinking that she had struck her colours, sent over Lieutenant John Smith with a prize crew to take possession of her.
He was greeted by a Spanish officer who informed Smith that the ship was still fighting but permitted him and his crew to return to the AFRICA and resumed their action on the AFRICA.
The AFRICA then at 03.20 pm engaged the French INTREPIDE (74 guns) and suffered severely in a three-quarters of an hour fight against this ship, before HMS ORION came to her aid.
During the battle she lost 18 men killed and 44 wounded.

1807 Under command of Capt. H.W.Bayntun.
February 1808 after Denmark declared war on Sweden, a fleet of British warships including AFRICA was sent in April that year to prevent French troops crossing to Norway.
The ships sailed for Gothenburg as they got ready and they were joined on 17 May by an army of 10.000 men under Sir. John Moore. The troops returned home without disembarking in Sweden.

August 1808 under command of Captain John Barrett.
On 18 August Africa was attacked off Copenhagen by 12 gunboats and had to retreat to Malmo, Sweden.
AFRICA together with the THUNDER a bomb vessel, and two brigs sailed from Karlskrona on 15 October with a homebound convoy of 137 merchantmen. Early on the 20th she anchored to allow the other ships to escort the convoy into Malmo, losing four on the way.
About midday she was discovered by nineteen Danish gunboats and three mortar boats and with no wind, the enemy was free to attack from the bow and stern where her big guns would not bear. The action lasted for more as three hours when, with increasing wind and approaching darkness, the Danish retired.
AFRICA lost 9 men and 53 men got wounded, she had to return to Karlskrona for repair.
The Danish losses were 28 killed and 36 wounded. The remainder of the British fleet sailed for home on 25 October and reached the Downs on 08 December.

April 1809 under command of Capt. L O’Bland, the late commander of the FLORA, which had been wrecked on the Dutch coast in January.
AFRICA was to be anchored in the Baltic as a protection to British trade.
September 1809 under command of Capt. Thomas Dundas.
March 1810 under command of Capt. George Frederick Ryves in the North Sea and Baltic, where she took part in the blockade of Copenhagen.

In October a boat of the AFRICA under command of Lieutenant Finnisnere destroyed a Danish privateer on the Falstubo Reef (most probably Falsterbo Reef).

Captain Ryvess escorted 200 merchantmen through the Great Belt, Denmark during a gale, without losing a single vessel. After delivering his convoy to Yarmouth, England he experienced a severe gale in the English Channel while on passage to Portsmouth. Against the advice of his pilot he resolved to anchor and AFRICA rode out the gale in comfort for four days.

October 1810 Captain Ryves was appointed to HMS MARS, and he was relieved by Captain Cardew.
The first lieutenant Mr. John H Marshall, along with 19 other lieutenants was promoted to commander on 21 October in commemoration of Trafalgar.
11 November1811 under command of Captain John Bastard, and she sailed from Falmouth to Halifax as flagship of Rear Admiral Herbert Sawyer.

The frigate HMS BELVIDERA escaped from an action with an American squadron off New York on 23 June, and brought news of the war to Halifax three days later.
On 05 July Admiral Sawyer dispatched a squadron consisting of SHANNON, BELVIDERA, AFRICA and AEOLUS on a cruise and four days later they were joined by GUERRIERE.
On the 16 July they captured the US brig NAUTILUS despite her desperate efforts to escape, even throwing her lee guns overboard.
The following afternoon the squadron gave chase to a strange sail, which proved to be the US frigate CONSTITUTION (44 guns), which had sailed from Chesapeake on the 12th. On the morning of the 18th GUERRIERE, approaching CONSTITUTION, signaled to the remaining British ships, getting no reply, assumed them to be American so wore round and stood away. Two hours later the wind dropped and soon all the ships were towing.
SHANNON, with nearly all the British squadron’s boats towing her, managed to exchange a few shots against the CONSTITUTION, the CONSTITUTION with also all her boats towing, wetted her sails, and kedged to draw her slowly ahead of her pursuers, her crew were kept busy for two days.
Finally the wind increased and she sailed away from the British squadron, arriving safely in Boston on the 26th.
The AFRICA had been left far behind in the chase.
1813 She returned to England and the following year she was in Portsmouth waiting to be broken up.
May 1814 broken up at Portsmouth.

Jamaica 2005 $60 sg?, scoot?
Nauru 2005 75c sg?, scott? (see is the vessel on the right side of the stamp)

Source: mostly copied from http://www.cronab.demon.co.uk/A1.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Africa_(1781) http://www.treeforall.org.uk/trafalgar/ ... ds/Africa/
Ships of the Royal Navy by J J Colledge.
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