HMS Heron was an unrated, 32pdr carronade-armed, 18-gun, brig-rigged sloop of war of the Cruizer Class, built under Navy Board contract at the shipyard of John King in Lower Upnor.
Designed by William Rule, Co-surveyor of the Navy, the Cruizer class was the most numerous class of warship built during the period of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, with 106 vessels being built in eight batches between 1797 and 1815. They were also the second-most numerous class of sailing warship to be built by any navy at any time after the slightly smaller Cherokee Class brig-sloops, also built for the Royal Navy. The Cruizer class brig-sloops featured a narrower than normal (for the time) hull, which combined with their fine, almost clipper-like bows, gave them a good turn of speed. They were very seaworthy vessels for their time and despite their small size, were true ocean-going warships. Their brig-rig (with two, rather than three masts) and carronade armament meant that they only required small crews, which was a god-send for the Royal Navy which at the time was desperately short of men despite the efforts of the Impressment Service. Their armament of carronades gave them a ferocious short-range broadside, which suited the Royal Navy's preferred tactic of engaging the enemy at close range. In fact, the weight of broadside they could fire was slightly heavier than that of the nominal armament of an 18 pdr-armed 36-gun frigate. All that firepower was delivered on a hull half the size of the frigate and manned only a third of the crew. The downside to this was that their brig rig in only having two masts, made them more vulnerable to being crippled by damage aloft. In addition, the short range of their carronades made them vulnerable to being picked off at range by the long guns fitted to enemy frigates. The Cruizer Class Brig-Sloops were flush-decked, that is they carried their guns on the main deck, out in the open, rather than on an enclosed gun-deck. Their main deck was a continuous deck between the bow and the stern and the whole crew, including the officers and warrant-officers lived on the lower deck, below the main deck.
The term 'sloop-of-war' itself was used to classify an ocean-going warship which carried less than the 20 guns required for the vessel to be rated under the Royal Navy's rating system. The first batch of Cruizer class vessels was to have comprised four vessels of which only one was to have been built in a Kent shipyard, by Thomas Pitcher at his Northfleet shipyard. The order for that vessel was cancelled before construction began. Of the intended four vessels, two were to be ship-rigged, with three masts and the other two, including the one to have been built in Northfleet, were to be brig-rigged with two masts. This was so that the Royal Navy could assess the performance of the two types. In the end, the two ship-rigged vessels became known as the Snake class, which apart from their different arrangement of masts, rigging and sails, were identical to their cousins of the Cruizer class. The different rigs were interchangeable, with vessels able to be fitted with either rig with only slight modifications required to deck fttings.
John King was the second son of Thomas King, who owned a successful shipbuilding and ship repair business in Dover, where amongst the many ships he built were number of vessels for the Royal Navy. John King bought the shipyard at Lower Upnor in 1806 with money given to him by his father in lieu of a settlement from his will. The Dover shipyard was bequeathed to his eldest son, Thomas Jones King. The Upnor shipyard stood on the current site of Patmans Wharf, adjacent to the great powder magazine. John King was already familiar with Lower Upnor, having been the Storekeeper at His Majesty's Storehouse at Upnor between 1788 and 1795.
HMS Heron was a part of the seventh batch, of 15 vessels ordered by what is known as Charles Yorke's Board, so-called because Charles Phillip Yorke was First Lord of the Admiralty in the government of Spencer Perceval between May of 1810 and July of 1812. The contract to build HMS Heron was one of a pair signed by John King on the 14th November 1811. The other contract was for another Cruizer Class vessel, HMS Despatch. HMS Heron's first keel section was laid down at Upnor during February of 1812. Her construction was overseen by overseers sent into the shipyard by the Resident Commissioner at the Chatham Royal Dockyard, who were there to make sure that the construction project proceeded on cost and on schedule, as well as making sure that the shipwrights did not use any sub-standard materials in her construction. HMS Heron was launched with all due ceremony in the presence of the Resident Commissioner on the 22nd October 1812. After launch, she was towed upstream to the great Royal Dockyard, where she was to be fitted with her masts, guns, sails and rigging. Up to her launch, HMS Heron had cost £5,845, while fitting out at Chatham added a further £5,883 to the bill.
On completion, HMS Heron was a vessel of 386 tons, she was 100ft 2in long on her main deck and 77ft 3in long at her keel. She was 30ft 8in wide across her beams, she drew 6ft 2in of water at her bows and 10ft 8in at the rudder. She was armed with 16 x 32pdr carronades on her broadsides with 2 x 6pdr long guns in her bows. In addition to her main guns, she also carried a dozen half-pounder swivel guns attached to her bulwarks and in her fighting tops.
Cruizer Class PlansFraming Plan:
Berth Deck and Main Deck Plans:
Sheer Plan and Lines:
A model of HMS Teazer. Also a Cruizer Class vessel, HMS Heron was would have been identical, apart from her figurehead:
Sloops-of-war like HMS Heron tended to be commanded by an officer in the position of 'Master and Commander', abbreviated to 'Commander'. It originally combined the positions of Commanding Officer and Sailing Master, but towards the end of the 18th Century, the Navy Board appointed Sailing Masters into unrated vessels, leaving the Commander free to concentrate on commanding the vessel. 'Commander' wasn't a formal rank as it is today and an officer in such a position held a substantive rank of Lieutenant. That stated, the Master and Commander would receive a substantially higher salary than a Lieutenant and would also receive the lions share of any prize and head money earned by his vessel and crew. If he was competent, he would eventually be 'Posted', or promoted to Captain and would either remain in command of the sloop or would be appointed to a rated vessel. If a war ended and the vessel was paid off, unless he was lucky and well-connected enough to receive another command appointment, the commander would revert to his substantive rank of Lieutenant and receive half-pay accordingly. Sloops-of-war therefore were generally commanded by ambitious, well-connected young men anxious to prove themselves.
HMS Heron commissioned under Mr William McCulloch in November of 1812. The vessel was his third command appointment, having first been appointed Master and Commander in the ex-French privateer Le Serpent of 16 guns, taken into the Royal Navy and renamed to HMS Asp. His first task on being appointed to a brand new vessel was to recruit a crew. Recruiting seamen was made easier for him by the Impressment Service and there was a ready pool of men available from the Receiving Ship. These men would have been a mixture of experienced seamen swept up by the Press Gang and men with little or no experience of the sea gathered under the Manning of the Navy Acts of 1795 and 1797. In these Acts, local County and Parish Councils were required under pain of a fine to send a quota of men for the fleet every year. These were supposed to be volunteers, for which the Council was paid a bounty, but many unscrupulous councils just used it as an excuse to empty their jails of debtors and petty criminals and claimed the bounties anyway.
HMS Heron's two lieutenants, ranked in order of seniority, were appointed by the Admiralty while her most senior Warrant Officers, including the Standing Officers, those men who would remain in the vessel whether or not she was in commission, were appointed by the Navy Board. The First Lieutenant was the most important of these appointments because he was not only second-in-command and the Commander's right hand man, but he was also responsible for the day-to-day organisation and running of the vessel. The Standing Officers in an 18-gun sloop of war were:
The Boatswain or Bosun. When the vessel was in commission, he would be assisted by a single Boatswains Mate. He was responsible to the First Lieutenant for the maintenance and repair of the vessels masts, sails, rigging and boats.
The Carpenter. He was assisted when the vessel was in commission by a single Carpenters Mate. A qualified and time-served shipwright, he was answerable to the First Lieutenant for the maintenance and repair of the vessels hull, decks and frames. Aboard an 18-gun sloop of war, he had no assigned crew and would be assisted by seamen as and when required.
The Gunner. He was answerable to the First Lieutenant and was responsible for the maintenance and repairs of the vessel's main guns, training the gun grews, the storage and distribution in action of the ships stocks of gunpowder and shot. He was also responsible for training the Midshipmen in the arts of gunnery. While the vessel was in commission, he was assisted by a single Gunners Mate.
The Cook. The lowest-ranking of the Standing Officers, he was answerable to the Purser and was responsible for the preparation and distribution of the vessel's victuals.
The Purser. He was responsible to the Commander for the purchase and distribution of all the vessels stores and supplies.
The other Warrant Officers appointed into HMS Harrier by the Navy Board were:
The Sailing Master. The highest ranking of all the Warrant Officers, he was answerable to the Commander for the day-to-day sailing and navigation of the vessel, training the Midshipmen in navigation and the storage of supplies in the hold to ensure the vessel had the optimum trim. He was assisted by a single Masters Mate, with a single Quartermaster with his own Mate responsible for the vessel's steering.
The Surgeon. He was answerable to the Commander and was responsible for the day-to-day healthcare of every man aboard. He was assisted by two Assistant Surgeons.
Other, less senior Warrant Officers would be appointed by the Commander having first applied for the posts and having presented their credentials to the First Lieutenant.
The Clerk. Answerable to the First Lieutenant, he was responsible for all the record-keeping and administration.
The Armourer. He was answerable to the Gunner and was responsible for the maintenance, repair and storage of the vessel's stocks of small-arms and bladed weapons. A qualified Blacksmith, the Armourer would also manufacture new bladed weapons as and when needed.
The Master at Arms. Answerable to the First Lieutenant, he was responsible for the day-to-day enforcement of discipline in the vessel and was assisted by a single Corporal (not related to the military rank of the same name).
The Caulker. Answerable to the Carpenter, he was responsible for ensuring that the hull and decks remained watertight. He was assisted by a single Caulkers Mate and seamen as and when required.
The Sailmaker. Answerable to the Boatswain, he was responsible for the maintenance, repair and storage of the sails, colours and flags. Unlike larger vessels, the Sailmaker had no assigned crew, but was assisted by seamen as and when required.
The Ropemaker. Answerable to the Boatswain and responsible for the storage and manufacture when needed of new cordage.
In addition to the commissioned and warrant officers, an 18-gun sloop of war like HMS Heron would have two Midshipmen, appointed on behalf of the Admiralty by the local Port Admiral or Commander-in-Chief. In addition to these officers in training, the Commander of a vessel with a crew of about 120 men could appoint up to four Midshipmen-in-Ordinary. These young men, at the start of their naval careers, would be the sons of friends or aquaintances of the Commander, or those of men he either owed a favour to or was doing a favour for. Wearing the uniform and performing the duties of a Midshipman, they were rated and paid as Able Seamen and were on the vessel's books as Commander's Servants. This was because the Commander of such a vessel would be allowed up to four servants per hundred of her company.
The rest of the crew would be comprised of Petty Officers, those men with previous experience in such roles, Able Seamen with plenty of sea-going experience, Ordinary Seamen with some and Landsmen with none. Those aged under 19 would be rated as Boys 1st, 2nd or 3rd Class, depending on their experience.
Sloops of war by this time also carried a small contingent of Marines, who came aboard as an existing unit. A vessel with a crew of 120 had a Marine contingent of a sergeant, a corporal and eighteen privates.
Once he had completed manning and storing HMS Heron, Commander McCulloch received orders to proceed to the great fleet anchorage at Spithead and place himself and his vessel under the orders of the Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's Vessels at Portsmouth, Admiral Sir Richard Bickerton, the Second Baronet Bickerton of Upwood, who flew his command flag in the old 84-gun Second Rate ship of the line HMS Royal Wiliam.
In addition to the ongoing war with France, from June 18th 1812, Britain was also at war with the United States, as well as with Denmark and Holland although by now, the British were now allied with Spain against the French.
On the 9th February 1813, while patrolling in the Bay of Biscay, HMS Heron captured the American Schooner Rachael of 50 tons, 5 guns and 6 men, bound for Corunna from Boston with a cargo of salt fish. Shortly after this success, Commander McCulloch received orders to take his vessel to Barbados and place himself and his vessel under the orders of Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Laforey, Commander-in-Chief Leeward Islands Station. HMS Heron left Spithead on the 28th March 1813. Her trip to the West Indies was not without incident. On the 7th April 1813, the Portugese ship Desirada Paz arrived at Spithead. This ship had been taken in mid-Atlantic by a French privateer and had been recaptured by HMS Heron en-route to Barbados.
Once she had arrived at Barbados, Rear-Admiral Laforey set Commander McCulloch and his crew to work patrolling the south-eastern seaboard of the United States and the Caribbean Sea, looking for merchant vessels trading out of American ports, together with French, Dutch and American privateers and naval units.
On 29th September 1813, HMS Heron captured the Andorinha, for which Commander McCulloch's share of the prize money was £224.12s.10d or about £15,500 in todays money.
On the 7th July 1814, HMS Heron captured the American brigantine privateer Mary of five guns and 32 men out of New York, whilst off the Iles de Saintes. The following day, Commander McCulloch was Posted, or promoted to Captain and was appointed to command the 12pdr-armed, 32-gun frigate HMS Cleopatra. His replacement in HMS Heron was Mr George Luke, appointed the same day. Mr Luke was only in command until the end of the month when he was replaced by Mr Francis Charles Annersley. An Irishman, Mr Annersley had entered the Royal Navy at the age of 11 in the 12pdr-armed 32-gun frigate HMS Greyhound as Midshipman-in-Ordinary in January of 1798. In his short life so far, he had seen plenty of action and on the 14th January 1808 he had passed his examination for Lieutenant at the age of 21. HMS Heron was his first command appointment.
In the meantime, on the 11th April 1814, the Napoleonic War had been ended by the Treaty of Fontainebleu. Although the war against France was over, the war against the United States rumbled on. On the 24th December 1814, the Treaty of Ghent was signed between the British and the Americans. Although the British Parliament ratified the Treaty the following day, it took until February 17th 1815 for the US Congress to do the same.
Shortly after the peace with the Americans was declared, the final spasm of the Napoleonic Wars began, the period known as the "Hundred Days". At the time, the British and their allies were busy repatriating their troops from France. On the 26th February 1815, the former Emperor of France, Napoleon Buonaparte escaped from exile on the Isle of Elba in the Mediterranean Sea. He arrived in Paris at the head of an army which had joined him and was immediately restored to his previous position as Emperor. With the resumption of hostilities against France, the ships bringing British and Russian troops back across the English Channel were ordered to sail in convoy and HMS Heron was involved with escorting these convoys back. The Hundred Days ended with Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo on the 8th July 1815.
In September 1815, Commander Annesley paid off HMS Heron at Spithead and handed command over to Mr Timothy Scriven.
Commander Timothy Scriven:
Mr Scriven remained in command until the 6th July 1816, when he handed command of the vessel over to Commander George Bentham, who had received orders to place himself and his vessel under the command of Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, the Baron Exmouth, then assembling a fleet at Spithead.
Up to the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the British were dependent on the Barbary States of Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli and the Sultanate of Morocco for supplies to the Mediterranean Fleet and the garrison at Gibraltar. During the war, the British had turned a blind eye to acts of piracy and enslavement carried on by the rulers of those states. Piracy, particularly that encouraged and supported by the rulers of the Barbary States had been one of the driving forces behind the founding of the United States Navy in 1794 and the Americans had twice been to war against the Barbary States over the issue. The First Barbary War, fought against all four Barbary States between 1801 and 1805 had ended in an American victory, as had the Second Barbary War which was fought between June 17th and June 19th 1815. With the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the British were no longer prepared to turn a blind eye to these and Admmiral Pellew was ordered to visit the Deys of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli and attempt to negotiate an end to them. Pellew's diplomacy was successful with the Dey of Tunis and the Dey of Tripoli and they agreed to put a stop to piracy and the taking of slaves without resistance. The negotiations with the Dey of Algiers were more difficult.
Omar Agha, the Dey of the Regency of Algiers was determined not to be dictated to be anyone. The Treaty he signed with the Americans had been denounced within days of his signing it and he was determined not to be pushed around by the British either. The Final Act of the Congress of Vienna, which was intended to sort out all the territorial disputes which had caused centuries of wars in Europe included clauses obligating all the Great Powers in Europe to put an end to slavery. After intense and stormy negotiations, the Dey finally agreed to Pellew's demands on the 18th May 1816. Unfortunately, his agreement came after he had sent a party to raid the town of Bona, now known as Annaba, on the modern-day border between Algeria and Tunisia. On the 23rd May, Algerian pirates attacked Annaba and massacred 200 or so out of around 800 Sicilian coral fishermen who had come ashore to celebrate the Feast of the Ascension. The Dey had issued orders recalling the raid on the 18th, but they didn't catch up with the raiding party until after the massacre had occurred.
When news of the massacre reached the UK, it caused a storm of outrage. Sicily was at the time allied to Britain, who regarded Sicilians almost as honarary British citizens. With the war over, there was no longer a need for a standing fleet in the Mediterranean Sea and Sir Edward Pellew had returned to the UK, confident that his diplomatic mission had been successful. That changed when he was summoned to the Admiralty and was ordered to return to Algiers with a fleet and deal with the Dey of Algiers once and for all. He immediately proceeded to Portsmouth where he hoisted his command flag in the 104-gun, first rate ship of the line HMS Queen Charlotte. When Sir Edward Pellew left Spithead bound for Gibraltar, he had the following vessels under his command:
HMS Queen Charlotte (104 guns, fleet flagship), HMS Impregnable (98, flying the command flag of Rear-Admiral David Milne, Pellew's second in command), HMS Albion, HMS Minden and HMS Superb (all of 74 guns), HMS Leander (24pdr-armed, spar-decked heavy frigate of 50 guns), HMS Severn and HMS Glasgow (24pdr-armed heavy frigates of 44 guns), HMS Granicus and HMS Hebrus (both 18pdr-armed frigates, 36 guns), HMS Heron, HMS Mutine and HMS Prometheus (all 32pdr carronade-armed brig-sloops of 18 guns), HMS Britomart and HMS Cordelia (both 18pdr carronade-armed brig sloops of 10 guns), the bomb vessels HMS Beelzebub, HMS Fury, HMS Infernal and HMS Hecla.
When Pellew's force arrived at Gibraltar, they were joined by a Dutch force of five frigates consisting of the Amstel (18pdr, 46), Diana and Melampus (both ex-British, sold to the Dutch at the end of the war, both 18pdr-armed ships of 46 guns), Frederica (18pdr, 46) and Dageraad (18pdr, 46) together with the corvette Eendragt of 20 guns.
Unfavourable winds prevented the fleet's departure from Gibraltar until the 25th August 1816. When the weather did turn to his favour, Pellew ordered a capains conference aboard HMS Queen Charlotte, where he outlined his plan of action.
The Council of War on HMS Queen Charlotte by Nicolaas Bauer. HMS Queen Charlotte is the three-decked ship in the foregound while HMS Impregnable is ahead of her:
The fleet sailed later that day and arrived off Algiers and the ships took up their planned positions the following day, with the exception of HMS Impregnable, which had anchored about 400 yards short of where she should have been. HMS Granicus and HMS Heron were ordered to fill the gap created by the error. In negotiations initiated by Pellew in a last-ditch effort to avoid bloodshed, both parties agreed that they would not fire the first shot. The Dey however, planned to send a large number of men in boats to board the allied fleet. The Algerian boats headed towards Pellew's fleet, which had prepared for just such an eventuality. The Algerian discipline failed to hold and one of the Algerian boats opened fire. This gave Pellew the excuse he needed and at 15:15 on the 27th August 1816, the British and Dutch unleashed a storm of fire on the hapless Algerians, with guns, mortars and rockets.
The positions of the Anglo-Dutch fleet at the Bombardment of Algiers. HMS Heron is shown moored astern of the flagship:
The bombardment had reduced the harbour and town of Algiers to rubble and smoking ruins by the time it stopped at 22:15. Twenty-eight of the 40 or so Algerian gunboats were destroyed, the rest of them beaching themselves to avoid being destroyed by the withering broadsides being spewed by the British vessels. By 16:15, the fortifications on the mole or harbour wall were destroyed and the Algerian guns silenced. The British then turned their guns on the shipping in the harbour, which was destroyed by about 19:30. HMS Impregnable bore the brunt of the Algerian fire and received the most damage and casualties. By the time the British weighed anchor and moved out of range, Pellew's fleet had fired over 50,000 rounds and used 118 tons of gunpowder. The bomb-vessels had fired almost a thousand explosive bombs into the town and harbour, doing immense damage.
The following day, Pellew sent a letter to the Dey of Algiers:
"
Sir, for your atrocities at Bona on defenceless Christians, and your unbecoming disregard of the demands I made yesterday in the name of the Prince Regent of England, the fleet under my orders has given you a signal chastisement, by the total destruction of your navy, storehouse, and arsenal, with half your batteries.
As England does not war for the destruction of cities, I am unwilling to visit your personal cruelties upon the unoffending inhabitants of the country, and I therefore offer you the same terms of peace which I conveyed to you yesterday in my Sovereign's name. Without the acceptance of these terms, you can have no peace with England."
The threat was a bluff, Pellew's force was almost out of ammunition, but it worked. The Dey of Algiers signed a Treaty on the 6th September 1816, the European slaves awaiting sale were freed and about £80,000 in ransom money, paid by the Kingdom of Sardinia, was repaid. HMS Heron was given the task of transporting the money back to Syracuse.
The Bombardment of Algiers by Thomas Luny:
On September 16th 1816, Commander Bentham was Posted and appointed to command the 20-gun Post Ship HMS North Star. His place in HMS Heron was taken by Commander Henry Powell.
HMS Heron spent the rest of her service with the Royal Navy engaged in the typical role of a Sloop of War in peacetime, policing trade routes, enforcing the ban on the slave trade and showing the flag.
In August of 1831, HMS Heron was broken up at Portsmouth.
