HMS Peterel was a Pylades Class, unrated, 6pdr armed, 16 gun ship rigged Sloop of War built under Navy Board contract for the Royal Navy by Wilson & Co at their Frindsbury shipyard, on the banks of the River Medway. The shipyard stood on the foreshore opposite Acorn Wharf and adjacent to the current site of Strood railway station.
The Pylades Class was a group of 5 ship-sloops of which HMS Peterel was the only one built in a Kent shipyard. The were designed by Sir John Henslow, Co-Surveyor of the Navy.
The term Sloop in this context was used to describe an ocean-going warship carrying less than the 20 guns required for her to be included in the Royal Navy's rating system. Because they were unrated, sloops were usually commanded by an officer with a substantive rank of Lieutenant, appointed to the post of Master and Commander in her. This position was abbreviated to "Commander", although the rank of Commander did not yet exist as it does today. The position of Master and Commander originally combined the roles of Sailing Master and Commanding Officer although from the mid-18th century, the Navy Board began to appoint Sailing Masters into Sloops of War freeing the Commander to concentrate on commanding the vessel. An officer in such a position in a sloop was paid substantially more than a Lieutenant's wages in addition to receiving the lions share of any Prize or Head Money. If he was successful, a Commander would be "Posted", or promoted to Captain and given command of a rated vessel, or, would be promoted to Captain while still in command of the sloop. If a war should end and he was laid off before he was posted, a Commander would revert to his substantive rank of Lieutenant and receive half-pay accordingly. For this reason, sloops tended to be commanded by ambitious young men anxious to prove themselves.
The contracts for all five ships of the Pylades Class were signed on the same day, Monday 18th February 1793. Britain had been actively preparing for war with France since late 1792 and on 21st January 1793, the former King of France, Louis XVI was executed. Following the execution, the British expelled the French Ambassador and on 1st February 1793, France responded by declaring war on Britain and Holland.
Once the courier from the Navy Board had delivered the letter enclosing the plans and specifications, the 1/48 scale drawings were expanded into full size in chalk on the Mould Loft floor. Once the moulds were built from those drawings, the full-sized timbers were cut and steamed into shape and assembled on the slipway with the first keel section laid during May of 1793. On Tuesday 4th March 1794, in the presence of the Resident Commissioner of the Royal Dockyard at Chatham, waiting in his barge on the river, the ship was launched with all due ceremony into the River Medway. In line with ship-building practice at the time, the hull was fully complete when launched. Her construction at Frindsbury had cost the nation £3,936. Immediately after her launch, the ship was towed the half-mile or so downstream to the great Royal Dockyard at Chatham, where her build quality and workmanship were inspected by the Dockyards shipwrights. Once safely secured fore and aft to a mooring buoy, the Dockyard's sheer hulk was brought alongside and the enormous sheerlegs aboard the hulk were used to lift the masts out of the river and into the ship. Once that task was complete and the masts were complete, the yards were fitted, the ship was rigged and the sails bent on. Her guns and many tons of stores were put into the ship and in June 1794, the ship was declared complete. Fitting the ship out at Chatham added £7,694 to the bill.
The ship had commissioned in April 1794 when Mr Stephen George Church received written orders to take upon himself the position of Master and Commander in His Majesty's Ship the Peterel, fitting out in the Kings Dock Yard at Chatham, with all the privileges attached thereto. His previous appointment had been as Master and Commander in the 16 gun brig-sloop HMS Scourge. He was ordered to take his ship, once she was declared complete to join the Downs Squadron, part of the North Sea Fleet. When she was declared complete, HMS Peterel was a ship of 361 tons. She was 105ft long on her gundeck and 86ft 7in long at the keel. She was 28ft wide across her beams. The hold, between the orlop and her bottom was 13ft 6 in deep. On completion, she was armed with 16 x 6pdr long guns on her gundeck, six x 12pdr carronades on her quarterdeck and two 12pdr carronades on her forecastle. In addition to these, she carried four half-pounder swivel guns attached to her quarterdeck handrails. Although officially classed as a 16 gun ship, she actually carried 24. She was manned by a crew of 121 officers, men and boys.
Pylades Class Plans:Orlop and Lower or Berth Deck plans:
Gundeck or Upper Deck, Quarterdeck and Forecastle Plans:
Framing Plan:
Inboard Profile and Plan:
Sheer Plan and Lines:
Mr Church did not remain in HMS Peterel for long, he was replaced in command of the ship on 10th October 1794 by Sir Charles Ogle. HMS Peterel was his first command appointment. The ship remained in the Downs Squadron until January 1796. On 11th January, Mr John Temple was appointed as HMS Peterel's Master and Commander and was ordered to take his ship to join the Mediterranean Fleet, then under the overall command of Vice-Admiral Sir John Jervis, flying his command flag in the 100 gun first rate ship of the line HMS Victory. On arrival, she was ordered to join a small squadron commanded by a rising star in the Royal Navy at the time and a protege of Jervis at the time, Commodore Horatio Nelson, flying his command Broad Pendant in the 64 gun third rate ship of the line HMS Agamemnon.
On 23rd April 1796, Nelson's small squadron which in addition to HMS Agamemnon and HMS Peterel also comprised another 64 gun third rate ship, HMS Diadem and the 12pdr armed 32 gun frigate HMS Meleager, was ordered by Jervis to detach from the fleet and patrol off the north-eastern coast of modern day Italy, to harrass enemy shipping in the area and to blockade the enemy-held port of Genoa. In the afternoon of the 25th April, Nelson took his squadron to Laona Bay because he had received intelligence that a large convoy of ships laden with stores for the French army ashore had anchored off the town of Finale at the bottom end of the bay. Nelson decided on a boat attack and HMS Peterel was tasked with leading the boats into the attack. On arrival however, only four vessels were sighted and they were anchored under cover of shore batteries which opened fire on HMS Peterel as she led the boats in. The rest of the squadron opened fire on the batteries ashore, which allowed the boats to head for their targets, board and bring out the enemy ships.
By 31st May, the squadron had been reinforced by the arrival of the 12pdr armed 32 gun frigate HMS Blanche and the small 4pdr armed 14 gun brig-sloop HMS Speedy. On that day, the squadron chased a small convoy of four French merchant vessels escorted by a ketch and a gun boat along the shore near Oneglia, where they anchored under the cover of a shore battery. At 15:00, HMS Agamemnon in company with HMS Peterel, HMS Meleager and HMS Speedy anchored in four fathoms (24 feet) and opened fire on the shore batteries, silencing them. As before, Nelson decided on a boat action and the boats of the squadron went to the attack. They did so despite coming under fire from the French ketch Genie, armed with three 18pdr long guns and a gun boat mounting a further 18pdr gun. The four merchant vessels were deliberately run ashore by their crews, who abandoned their ships. Despite coming under intense small-arms fire from the beach, the raiding parties took not only the gunboat and the Genie, but also refloated the merchand ships and brought the whole lot out to sea. The transport ships were found to be laden with field artillery, entrenching equipment, ordnance stores and provisions intended for use by the French army in the seige of Mantua. It was because of the squadron's seizure of these ships and the denial of the use of their cargoes by the enemy that the seige of Mantua failed.
In June 1796 Commander Temple was appointed to command the 18 gun, ex-French brig sloop HMS Jalouse and was replaced in command of HMS Peterel by The Honourable Phillip Wodehouse, whose previous appointment had been in HMS Peterel's sister-ship HMS Albacore. Commander Wodehouse was posted on 23rd December 1796 and was appointed to command the 9pdr armed 28 gun frigate HMS Aurora. He was replaced in HMS Peterel by Mr William Allen Proby, for whom HMS Peterel was the first command appointment. He in turn was posted in December 1797 and was appointed to command the 18pdr armed 36 gun frigate HMS Emerald. He was replaced in HMS Peterel by Mr Thomas Gordon Caulfield who only remained in the post for a month before being replaced in September by Lieutenant Sir Adam Drummond. Drummond was also only in command for a month until he was replaced by Captain Henry Digby, in October 1797.
Captain Digby was a bit of a celebrity in the Royal Navy at the time. He had a reputation for being an aggressive prize-taker, earned in his previous commands, HMS Aurora, mentioned earlier and before that, the 14 gun fireship HMS Incendiary. Before that, he had been personally commended by no less a man than Sir John Jervis. On 25th March 1794, while serving as Second Lieutenant in the 18pdr armed 32 gun frigate HMS Pallas, he had personally taken a small boat and rescued hundreds of men who had jumped overboard from the burning 98 gun Second Rate ship of the line HMS Boyne when that ship caught fire in Portsmouth Harbour. This was despite the risk of instant death if or when the fire reached the tons of gunpowder in the ship's magazine, which it did later that day. HMS Boyne had been Jervis' flagship at the time.
Captain Digby was very popular with his crews on account of his habit of paying out prize money from his own pocket straight away, rather than waiting for an Admiralty Court to decide the value of the vessel and order payments to be made, a process by which it could and often did, take years for the money to reach it's intended recipients. There was never a shortage of men volunteering to serve under Captain Henry Digby. It was unusual for an officer with the rank of Captain to be appointed to command an unrated vessel like HMS Peterel. Digby was a friend of the officer commanding the squadron to which the ship now belonged, Commodore John Thomas Duckworth, who flew his command Broad Pendant in the 74 gun third rate ship of the line HMS Leviathan. Digby had been left without a job when his appointment in HMS Aurora had come to an end and Commodore Duckworth, like many senior officers was always willing to help out a friend in need and did him a favour. There was a certain amount of self-interest in Duckworth's actions; as the officer commanding the squadron, he was entitled to a one-eighth share of any prize money Digby's ship earned.
On 30th April 1798, HMS Peterel under Captain Digby captured the French privateer Le Leopard of 12 guns.
In October 1798, Duckworth did his friend another favour and appointed him to command the squadron flagship HMS Leviathan. His place was taken in HMS Peterel, firstly by Mr Hugh Downman for a month and then by Mr Charles Long. Commodore Duckworth received orders from Sir John Jervis, by now known as the Earl St Vincent on account of his victory in the Second Battle of Cape St Vincent, that he was to assist the army in taking the island of Minorca. Duckworth's force now comprised HMS Leviathan, HMS Centaur (74), the 44 gun two decker HMS Argo, HMS Argo's sister ship, now converted to a Hospital Ship, HMS Dolphin, HMS Aurora, the ex-French 20 gun post-ship HMS Cormorant, HMS Peterel, another of HMS Argo's sister ships, now converted to a troop ship HMS Ulysses and the armed transport ship HMS Calcutta. In addition to this there were several merchant ships hired for the operation and the hired armed cutter Constitution. These vessels were all carrying a force of troops commanded by General the Honourable Charles Stewart.
On 7th November 1798, the force arrived off Minorca and Commodore Duckworth brought his force to within five miles of the port of Fournella, but because of adverse winds, the transport ships proceeded to Addaya Creek, accompanied on Duckworth's orders by HMS Argo, HMS Aurora and HMS Cormorant. The two ships of the line patrolled off Fournella in order to create a diversion. In the meantime, as the frigates and transport ships rounded a point on Addaya Creek, a shore battery comprising eight 12pdr guns fired a warning shot at them. When HMS Argo and the other warships presented their broadsides to the battery, the Spanish gunners spiked their guns, blew up the magazine and fled. This allowed the transport ships to land their troops and by 11am on 7th November had managed to get a battalion of soldiers ashore without opposition. The troops quickly took possession of a nearby hill and with supporting fire from the warships in the creek, drove off two divisions of Spanish troops who were intent on retaking the battery. By 6pm, all the soldiers plus 8 6pdr field guns, two howitzers and eight days worth of supplies had been successfully landed. That same evening, HMS Leviathan, HMS Centaur and HMS Argo approached Fournella, while HMS Aurora, HMS Cormorant and seven transport ships proceeded to the island's capital, Port Mahon to create a further diversion. On arriving off Fournella, Commodore Duckworth discovered that the Spaniards had abandoned the forts covering the harbour. He ordered HMS Leviathan and HMS Centaur to patrol off Addaya Creek and Fournella in order to prevent the Spanish from resupplying thir troops there while he transferred to HMS Argo and directed landings at Fournella from that ship. By 9th November, the British had reached Port Mahon and a force of 300 men under Colonel Paget had forced Fort Charles, overlooking the harbour there to surrender.
On 12th November 1798, HMS Peterel was cornered by a force of four large Spanish frigates, the Flora and Proserpina of 40 guns each and the Pomona and Casilda, each of 34 guns. Commander Long had no choice but to surrender his ship. Despite striking her colours in surrender, one of the Spanish ships fired a broadside into her. Commander Long and his crew were removed from the ship by the Spaniards and became prisoners of war and the Spanish sailors set about looting the ship. When one of her seamen tried to defend his meagre possessions, he was murdered. The Spanish appointed Don Antonio Franco Gandrada to command their prize crew and the ship sailed under Spanish colours in company with the four frigates. Meanwhile, on 11th November, while laying at anchor off Fournella, news reached Duckworth in HMS Leviathan that enemy force, possibly of four ships of the line had been sighted between Minorca and Majorca. He immediately ordered that HMS Leviathan, HMS Centaur, HMS Argo and the armed transport ships Calcutta, Coromandel and Ulysses put to sea and intercept the enemy force. At daybreak on 15th November, 5 ships were sighted and the British force immediately gave chase. The force turned out to be the four Spanish frigates plus the now former HMS Peterel. The four frigates escaped but the Peterel was caught by HMS Argo and against her much superior artillery, the Spanish had no choice but to surrender. On HMS Peterel being taken back into the Royal Navy, Commodore Duckworth ordered that HMS Leviathan's First Lieutenant take up the vacant position of Master and Commander in her and so the ship came under the command of Mr George Jones.
Commander Jones remained in command of the ship until 3rd February 1799, when he was replaced by Mr Francis William Austen, the brother of Jane Austen, the author. HMS Peterel was his first command appointment. On 13th May, Commander Austin was posted, but remained in HMS Peterel.
On 20th March 1800, HMS Peterel was operating in company with the 12pdr armed 32 gun frigate HMS Mermaid, under Captain Robert Dudley Oliver off Marseilles. Captain Oliver ordered Captain Austen to work his ship inshore and run along the coast to see what they could catch by way of coastal shipping. The following day, HMS Peterel sighed a convoy some 50 strong making its way from Toulon to Marseilles and gave chase. The convoy was escorted by an armed ship, a brig and a xebec. HMS Mermaid at this stage was too far away to be able to assist, but undaunted, Captain Austen took his ship into action. The enemy escort turned out to be the ship-corvette Cerf of 14 x 6pdr guns, the Xebec Lejoille of 6 6pdr guns and the brig-corvette Ligurienne of 14 6pdr long guns and 2 36pdr carronades. On seeing HMS Mermaid beating up towards them, despite still being too far away to affect things, the Cerf and the Lejoille ran themselves ashore, leaving the Ligurienne to fight it out with HMS Peterel. The running fight between the two relatively well-matched vessels lasted an hour and a half and at times, both vessels were within 200 yards of the shore. Eventually, the Ligurienne struck her colours and surrendered to Captain Austen and his men. They were within six miles of Marseilles. For part of the time, HMS Peterel was coming under fire from a shore battery mounting four 24pdr long guns and also for a short time, the ship was aground, her stern having struck a rock although she was undamaged by this. She sustained slight damage to her sails and four of her carronades were knocked over. With 30 men, including her most senior officer and the second in command, the First Lieutenant and one of her most senior Warrant Officers, the Gunner, being away in prize crews, HMS Peterel had captured the Ligurienne manned by only 89 men and boys. She sustained no casualties in the action.
HMS Peterel vs Ligurienne, 21st March 1800:
Ligurienne suffered casualties of her commander and one seaman killed, one seaman and one marine wounded. She turned out to be a most unusual vessel. She was held together with screw-bolts, which enable the vessel to be easily dismantled and transported in pieces overland and then quickly reassembled. Because of this and for other reasons, the Admiralty decided not to purchase this vessel into service and she was instead sold into merchant service.
By August of 1800, HMS Peterel was operating under the orders of Commodore Sir William Sidney Smith, flying his command Broad Pendant in the ex-French 74 gun third rate ship of the line HMS Tigre. Smith and his squadron were employed in operations against the French in Egypt. On 13th August at 10:00, HMS Peterel was standing in towards Alexandria when she sighted what turned out to be a Turkish 80 gun two-decker dismasted and hard aground in Aboukir Bay. At noon, Captain Austen ordered that his ship anchor about a mile and a half off Aboukir Island in four fathoms of water. Shortly after that, three Turkish corvettes were seen to anchor further out. Boats were seen to be heading from the grounded ship to the shore and Captain Austen made a decision that the Turkish ship must be destroyed to stop the French from looting it of stores and guns. By 14:30, Mr John Thompson, HMS Peterel's Sailing Master and his party of nine men had boarded the Turkish ship of the line and had set fire to her. It turned out that the Turkish Captain had surrendered to the French and the ships crew had escaped in boats and were aboard the Turkish corvettes also anchored in the bay. At 17:00, HMS Peterel weighed anchor and departed the scene.
Later in 1800, Captain Austen resigned his command and returned to the UK. He was replaced in HMS Peterel by Mr Charles Inglis. On 2nd March 1801, HMS Peterel supported the landings in Aboukir Bay which began the campaign ashore against the French in Egypt. Commander Inglis stayed in command of the ship until he was posted in April 1802 and took command of the 74 gun third rate ship of the line HMS Vanguard. He was replaced in command by Mr John Lamborn. In May 1804, HMS Peterel departed the Mediterranean and sailed to Jamaica and remained in the West Indies for the rest of her active service career.
On 23rd January 1805, she destroyed a small privateer felucca armed with a single 4pdr gun and a single swivel gun. On 13th May, she took the Spanish privateer schooner Santa Anna off Cuba. Santa Anna was armed with a single 18pdr long gun and four 6pdr long guns and was manned by 106 men.
In October 1806, HMS Peterel was escorting a convoy when it was attacked by the French privateer Superbe of 14 guns and 150 men. Superbe mistook HMS Peterel for a merchant vessel and attempted to board. She was driven off by HMS Peterel's crew and a French prisoner reported that HMS Peterel's opening broadside had killed some 30 men as the Frenchman closed to board.
In 1811, HMS Peterel returned to the UK and found unfit for further sea service, was converted to a Receiving Ship at Plymouth. The ship was decommissioned in 1825 and was sold for £730 on 11th July 1827.
