HMS Active was an 18pdr armed, 38 gun, 5th rate frigate built at the Royal Dockyard, Chatham and was a one-off, the only ship built to that design.


Designed by John Henslow, Co-Surveyor of the Navy, HMS Active's design was based on an enlargement of his previous Artois Class. Compared to the Artois Class, HMS Active was four feet longer on both the keel and the gundeck and fifty tons heavier, but was less heavily armed.


HMS Active was ordered by the Navy Board from the Royal Dockyard at Chatham on 27th April 1796. On receipt of the 1/48 scale sheer draught, the Mould Loft floor was prepared and the drawings were expanded into full size in chalk on the floor and those were used to prepare moulds to be used by the sawyers to cut the timbers required for the construction of the new ship. In the case of HMS Active, by the time the order from the Navy Board was received, the Dockyard at Chatham was running flat out with the construction of new vessels and the repair and refit of those damaged in action. So busy were they, that construction of the new frigate was not to start for more than two years, with the laying of the first keel section not happening until July 1798.


The project was overseen by Mr Edward Sison, Master Shipwright in the King's Dock Yard at Chatham. Edward Sison was first appointed Master Shipwright in 1790 at Sheerness. In 1793 he had been promoted to Master Shipwright at Plymouth before further promotion to the position at Chatham in 1795, where in July, he oversaw the completion and launch of HMS Ville de Paris of 110 guns, then the largest and most powerful warship ever to have been built for the Royal Navy. After overseeing the construction of HMS Active, he was to complete another frigate, HMS Leda, before further promotion took him to the position of Master Shipwright at the Woolwich Royal Dockyard where he was to spend the rest of his life.


HMS Active was launched into the River Medway on 14th December 1799, her hull complete. After her launch, the ship was fitted with guns, masts and rigging at Chatham. HMS Active commissioned at Chatham in December 1799 under Captain Charles Sydney Davers. Captain Davers was an experienced commander who had first been appointed Master and Commander in the 16 gun ship-sloop HMS Bulldog in 1794. His previous appointment had been commanding the 64 gun third rate ship of the line HMS Scipio, when he had been her final commander before she decommissioned and was broken up at Chatham at the end of 1797.


On completion, HMS Active was a ship of 1,052 tons. She was 150ft long on her gundeck and 125ft 2in long at the keel. She was 39ft 9in wide across her beam and her hold (the space between the orlop deck and the ships bottom) was 13ft 9in deep. She drew 10ft 10in of water at her bow and 15ft 3in at the rudder. The ship was armed with 28 x 18pdr long guns on her gundeck, 6 x 32pdr carronades and 8 x 9pdr long guns on her quarterdeck, with 2 x 32pdr carronades and 2 x 9pdr long guns on her forecastle. In addition to these guns, she carried around a dozen half-pounder swivel guns around her upper decks and in her fighting tops. This means that although officially rated as a 38 gun frigate, she actually carried 46 guns. She was manned by a crew of 284 officers, men, boys and marines.


Plans of HMS Active


Orlop Plan:





Lower Deck or Berth Deck Plan:





Upper or Gundeck Plan:





Quarterdeck and Forecastle Plan:





Inboard Profile and Plan:





Sheer Plan and Lines:





HMS Active completed fitting out at Chatham on 4th February 1800 and assigned to the Channel Fleet, then commanded by Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Hood, the Viscount Bridport. Her first task was to escort a convoy of merchant ships from the anchorage at the Downs (off Deal) through the English Channel as far as Portsmouth from where they were to join other convoys bound for Opporto, the Mediterranean and the West Indies, arriving at Portsmouth on 9th April 1800. On 7th May, HMS Active left Portsmouth in company with the 18 gun brig-sloop HMS Weazle, bound for Torbay carrying sealed orders for ships of the Channel Fleet assembled there. The ship returned from Torbay to Portsmouth on 20th May in company with the fireship HMS Megaera of 8 guns and the 74 gun third rate ship of the line HMS Achille.


On 28th June 1800, HMS Active left Portsmouth again, this time escorting a convoy of East Indiamen comprising the ships Lord Walsingham, Earl Spencer, Melville Castle, Herculean, Skelton Castle, Tellicherry, Cornwallis and the brig Margaret. She was ordered to escort the convoy as far as the island of St Helens in the Atlantic Ocean and then return as soon as the winds allowed.


On 1st September 1800, Captain Davers was temporarily replaced in command of the ship by Captain John Giffard. The reason was that Captain Davers, on previous service in the West Indies, had contracted Yellow Fever and was suffering from a bout of that disease and was unable to continue in command. Captain Giffard was another experienced frigate commander, having held three previous frigate commands. Under Captain Giffard, life continued as it had done before for HMS Active and her crew, engaged in patrolling the English Channel and the Western Approaches. On 21st October 1800, HMS Active and her crew had their first taste of action when in company with the 12pdr armed 32 gun frigate HMS Castor, they recaptured the merchant brig Stour. On 26th January 1801, HMS Active captured the French privateer cutter Le Quinola, armed with 14 guns, a mixture of 6 and 2 pounders and 48 men. The Frenchman was captured after a chase lasting two hours, she had left Morlaix the previous day and had not yet taken any British vessels.


In early 1801, HMS Active was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet and by October that year was assigned to duties off the northern coast of Egypt. This was in support of the blockade there. Since the Battle of the Nile in 1798, a French army was left stranded in the desert and the blockade was to ensure that the French were unable to resupply them. A British campaign in Egypt was to eventually lead to their surrender later in 1801. Whilst operating off the Egyptian coast, Captain Giffard was appointed to command the 74 gun third rate ship of the line HMS Magnificent and Captain Davers had recovered his health sufficiently to return to duty. While the ship was waiting for the return of Captain Davers, Thomas George Shortland was temporarily appointed as Master and Commander in her. In the meantime, on 25th October 1801, HMS Active captured the Genoese vessel St Anna.


By the end of 1801, HMS Active had been ordered to return to the UK, with Captain Davers back in command. On calling at Lisbon on 27th March, an incident occurred whereby the ship and her consort, HMS Constance had been ordered by the Port Authorities to stay in quarantine. At the packet-boat stairs, the crews of both ships barges were seized by the authorities for breaking the quarantine and when the captains both went ashore to protest, they too were arrested and kept in cells until the following day.


On 13th July 1802, HMS Active returned to Portsmouth and was assigned once more to the Channel Fleet. Her time there was uneventful as by now the French Revolutionary War had been ended by the Treaty of Amiens. By March 1803, she was back in the Mediterranean and was lying at Malta when the Napoleonic War began that month. In August 1803, Captain Davers fell ill again and this time, resigned his command permanently. He returned home and never fully recovered from this bout of Yellow Fever, from which he died in 1805. Later in August, Captain Richard Hussey Mowbray was appointed to command the ship by the new Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean Fleet, Vice-Admiral Horatio, the Viscount Nelson. The new captain had orders from Nelson to join the force blockading the French fleet in Toulon.


At 6:30pm on 17th January 1805, while patrolling off Toulon in company with the frigate HMS Seahorse (38), HMS Active spotted the entire French Toulon fleet, consisting of 11 ships of the line, seven frigates and two brig-corvettes, putting to sea and heading south. The two British ships shadowed them until the 19th, when they made all sail and headed east to Sardinia to inform Nelson and the rest of the fleet of their discovery. The British had earlier received intelligence that the French ships had embarked some 7,000 soldiers before their departure and Nelson guessed that the French may have been heading towards Egypt, but had no real idea what they were up to.


After Nelson's fleet had been battered by a severe storm on the 20th January, HMS Active was ordered to accompany HMS Seahorse to Cagliari, to see if the French had taken shelter from the storm there. After failing to find the French force there, HMS Active and HMS Seahorse parted company, with HMS Seahorse returning to the fleet and HMS Active carrying dispatches to the British Consul at Naples. After delivering Nelson's dispatches at Naples, HMS Active returned to the fleet east of Sardinia. A few days after HMS Active's return, Nelson received news that the French had been battered by the same storm which had hit his force and that they had returned to Toulon. On 31st March 1805, HMS Active was again patrolling off Toulon, this time in company with the 36 gun frigate HMS Phoebe when they spotted the French leaving in force again. This time, HMS Active followed the French and HMS Phoebe was sent alone to inform Nelson of the discovery. HMS Active lost contact with the enemy during the night of 1st April. On receiving the news, Nelson dispatched ships in all directions to search for the enemy, while HMS Active was sent to carry the news to the squadrons blockading the French in Brest and on the Irish Station in the Western Approaches. HMS Active was then assigned to the Channel Fleet and so missed Nelson's pursuit of the French admiral Villeneuve which culminated in the Battle of Trafalgar.


On 27th April 1806, HMS Active captured the French schooner Les Amis, operating with a Letter of Marque and carrying 4 6pdrs and 20 men. The enemy vessel had left Bordeaux with a cargo of wine and was headed to her home port of Cayenne, in modern day French Guiana, on the north-eastern coast of South America.


By the end of 1806, the French were working to drive a wedge between British ally Russia and their neighbours Turkey, with the intention of closing the Dardanelles, thus closing the trade route into the Black Sea. France had threatened to declare war on Turkey if they did not comply with French demands to close the Dardanelles. By this time, HMS Active had been redeployed back to the Mediterranean. On 22nd October, the Admiralty ordered Vice-Admiral the Lord Collingwood to send a force to carry out a reconnaisance of the Turkish forts along the Dardanelles should an attack on them be required at some later date. Collingwood detached Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Louis in his flagship, the ex-French 80 gun third rate ship of the line HMS Canopus, in addition to the 74 gun ship HMS Thunderer and the 64 gun ship HMS Standard, the 24pdr-armed, 40 gun Heavy Frigate HMS Endymion and the 18 gun ship-sloop HMS Nautilus. HMS Active was ordered to join this force. Sir Thomas Louis' force detached from the main body of the fleet off Toulon on 5th December 1806. The squadron called in at Malta and resupplied, leaving the harbour at Valetta on 15th December and arrived at the island of Tenedos, situated some 14 miles to the south of the entrance to the Dardanelles on 21st December. After waiting for pilots and for favourable winds, the squadron left Tenedos in the early hours of 27th December and anchored in Azire Bay at the entrance to the Dardanelles later that day. In the meantime, Britain had opened negotiations with the Turks in an attempt to prevent them from caving in to French pressure to close the Dardanelles. After all, the British had enough on their plates already. Britain by this time was at war with France, Spain and Holland and trouble was brewing with Denmark as well. The last thing they wanted was a war with the Ottoman Empire, which would surely be triggered if the British kept the Dardanelles open by force.


On 4th January 1806, the Russian Ambassador came aboard HMS Active and the ship carried he and his staff to Malta. On 31st January, HMS Endymion rejoined the squadron in Azire Bay after having evacuated the British Ambassador in Constantinople and the whole of the British merchant community from that city. The ship had left the city in a hurry, having cut her anchor cable and set sail in the middle of the night on the 28th. The reason for the hurry was that news had reached the British Ambassador that the Turkish plan for preventing British aggression over the closure of the Dardanelles involved abducting the Ambassador, all his staff and the entire British community in Constantinople and holding them hostage. Should the British attack Turkish fortifications along the Dardanelles the Turks threatened, all the hostages would be tortured to death. In addition, intelligence had reached the Ambassador that the Turks were planning to seize HMS Endymion, which was in the port at the time, with Rear-Admiral Louis aboard. Such was the value that the British placed on this intelligence that the Rear-Admiral ordered the ship to leave immediately. Having rejoined the squadron and shifted his command flag back to HMS Canopus, Louis ordered that the squadron withdraw back to Tenedos on 1st February. Meanwhile, in anticipation of the failure of negotiations with the Turks, the Admiralty ordered Lord Collingwood to detach a further force of ships of the line to be commanded by Vice-Admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth, flying his command flag in the 100 gun First Rate ship of the line HMS Royal George, who was to join with Louis, now promoted to Vice-Admiral and take command of operations in the Dardanelles. Duckworth's orders were that in the event of the failure of the negotiations with the Turks, that he was to demand that the Turks hand over their entire fleet, comprising 12 ships of the line and nine frigates to the British. If they refused, Duckworth's force was to bombard Constantinople until the Turks complied. In addition Vice-Admiral Louis' squadron, Duckworth's force was also to consist of his flagship, plus the 98 gun Second Rate ship of the line HMS Windsor Castle, the ex-French HMS Pompee of 80 guns, the 74 gun Third Rate ships of the line HMS Repulse and HMS Ajax, with the bomb vessels HMS Lucifer and HMS Meteor.


On 30th January 1806, Duckworth's force arrived in Malta and he dispatched HMS Active to carry his orders for Vice-Admiral Louis off Tenedos. Duckworth's force joined that of Louis at Tenedos on 10th February. After receiving Louis' report on the state of the Turkish defences along the Dardanelles. Duckworth was relieved to learn that his task of forcing his way through to Constantinople didn't appear to be as difficult as he had feared. The majority of the forts were delapidated and the bulk of the Turkish fleet at Constantinople was laid up inthe ordinary, but preparing for sea. The exception to this was one Turkish 64 gun ship and four frigates, which were ready for sea. Duckworth also learned that the Turkish forts were in the process of being upgraded and restored by French engineers, so he realised that it was only a matter of time before his mission became unrealistic. On the night of 14th February, disaster struck Duckworth's force when a serious fire broke out aboard HMS Ajax. In the darkness and thick smoke, her crew were unable to launch the boats or fight the fire effectively. At 5am on 15th, the ship blew up. Out of the 633 people aboard, 250 died.


At 7am on 19th February, Duckworth's force including HMS Active weighed anchor and headed for the Dardanelles. At 8am, the lead British ship, HMS Canopus drew abreast of the first of the Turkish forts which opened fire. The British did not return fire, with the exception of the two bomb vessels, which fired their mortars into the forts. At 9:30 am, the leading British ships drew abreast of the next set of fortifications, which opened fire at pistol-shot range, about 30 yards. This time, the British did return fire. Most of the bigger British ships suffered some caualties, but HMS Active did not. The British now came up to those Turkish ships which were ready for sea, a 64 gun ship of the line, a frigate of 40 guns, two frigates of 36 guns each and one of 32 guns. In addition to these ships, there were four corvettes, one of 22 guns, one of 18 guns and two of ten guns each as well as two armed brigs and two gunboats. One of the brigs immediately set sail and headed towards Constantinople. As soon as the British squadron drew up, the Turkish ships opened fire, which was returned by the British. After returning fire, the lead British ships, HMS Royal George, HMS Windsor castle, HMS Canopus and HMS Repulse sailed on to an anchorage three miles further up, while HMS Pompee, HMS Thunderer and HMS Standard with the frigates including HMS Active ran in and anchored within a musket shot of the Turkish ships and commenced a heavy fire on them. The Turkish ships cut their anchor cables in an attempt to escape, but all the ships, with the exception of one of the frigates, a corvette and a gun-boat, ran aground. The corvette and the gunboat were captured but the frigate evaded the British and stood out for the European side of the channel. HMS Active was ordered to give chase and weighed anchor and set off after the Turkish frigate.


HMS Active pursuing the Turkish Frigate:





To prevent the British taking their ship, the Turks ran their frigate ashore. Captain Mowbray sent Lieutenants George Wickens Wills and Walter Croker with boarding parties tasked with taking off the Turkish crew and burning their ship.


Once the destruction of the Turkish squadron was complete, the men of the ships set to driving off the defenders of the fortifications ashore and destroying the gun emplacements. HMS Active was left with the two prizes and a division of men from HMS Pompee, who completed the destruction of the batteries ashore while the rest of the ships followed the squadron up the Dardanelles, past Gallipoli into the Sea of Marmora towards Constantinople. On 20th February, the rest of the squadron arrived off Constantinople. Everyone in the squadron assumed that their task would then be to wait at anchor until they heard word about the outcome of the negotiations. In fact, Duckworth already knew that with the British community evacuated from Constantinople, thus depriving the Turks of all their aces, and with combat already having taken place between his ships and the Turks, the outcome of the negotiations was irrelevant and that he was now free to do as he pleased. In fact, Sir John Duckworth had decided to err on the side of caution and preferred to consult with the British Ambassador, Sir John Arbuthnot. In fact, the Turks were continuing their preparations for war, something which had not gone un-noticed by Duckworth. On 22nd, Arbuthnot fell ill and his health deteriorated rapidly, leaving the whole responsibility for the negotiations and command of the naval operation on Sir John Duckworth's shoulders. Duckworth did not want to be the one to start the war, so on 28th March he decided that his ships would weigh anchor and cruise off Constantinople and try to provoke the Turks into attacking him. When they failed to do he decided to head with his ships back down the Dardanelles to Tenedos. The British ships were fired upon by the Turkish batteries as they passed down the channel, with HMS Canopus leading. All of the British ships received damage and took casualties and HMS Active was hit by a granite shot, which made a hole six feet in diameter and weighing 800 pounds which struck the ship two feet above the waterline and lodged on her orlop deck. If the ship had had to change tack, she would certainly have sunk. HMS Active's casualties came to four seamen, three marines and her Boatswain wounded, although her Boatswain was to later die from his injuries. The expedition to Constantinople was regarded as a failure, but Sir John Duckworth's reputation was saved by the fact that several of his ships were hit by the same huge sized shot which had struck HMS Active and that in the light of the fact that the Turks clearly had guns which would fire shot that size, any attempt to force the Dardanelles was bound to end in failure.


By February 1808, a powerful squadron of French ships of the line under Vice-Admiral Ganteaume had broken out of Rochefort in poor weather and had made their way to the Mediterranean. On 6th February, the French force arrived at Toulon and left again the following day, headed east. On 23rd February, Ganteaume's force arrived off Corfu and landed troops and their provisions on the island. They had been followed to Corfu by the 22 gun 6th rate post ship HMS Porcupine, which had been on her way to join HMS Standard, already stationed at Corfu. With HMS Porcupine's arrival, HMS Standard left Corfu for Syracuse to inform Lord Collingwood. On 24th, HMS Active arrived and Captain Mowbray took HMS Porcupine under his command and for the next two weeks, the two ships kept a very close eye on what the French were doing. On 16th March, the French force left Corfu and returned to Toulon.


In June 1809, Captain Mowbray was replaced in command of HMS Active by Captain James Alexander Gordon. Captain Gordon had first held a command in March 1804 when he was appointed Master and Commander in the 16 gun brig-sloop HMS Raccoon. His appointment prior to HMS Active was in the 28 gun sixth rate frigate HMS Mercury, where he had distinguished himself during the Action off Rota on 4th April 1808.


James Alexander Gordon, painted in 1839, when he was a Rear-Admiral:





In June 1810, HMS Active was a member of a small squadron of three frigates cruising off Trieste. The squadron came under the orders of Captain William Hoste in the 18pdr armed 32 gun frigate HMS Amphion. The other ship in the squadron was another 18pdr armed 32 gun frigate, HMS Cerberus. On 28th June, the boats of HMS Amphion chased a convoy of vessels into the harbour at Groa. Captain Hoste was aware that the vessels were carrying naval stores for the French arsenal at Venice and decided that they should be taken. Because of the shoals in the approach to the harbour, Captain Hoste decided that the enemy vessels should be taken with a boat action. That evening, Captain Hoste signalled the other ships in the squadron to send their boats to him in HMS Amphion by midnight, but Captain Gordon was unable to comply by the deadline because of the distance between HMS Active and HMS Amphion. Nevertheless, the raid went ahead as planned and HMS Active's boats and men, commanded by Lieutenant James Mears arrived after the other boats had achieved their objective of seizing all 25 of the enemy vessels and just in time to assist in repelling a counter-attack by French troops stationed in the port. Such was the ferocity of the British defence to the counter-attack that 22 French soldiers and the officer commanding them laid down their arms and surrendered. By the end of the following day, the whole force had returned to the ships. The action was not without loss however. The British suffered casualties of four Royal Marines killed with one Royal Marine officer, four Royal Marines and three seamen wounded. The loss on the French side was ten killed, of which eight were killed by bayonet, giving an indication of the nature of the fight, with eight wounded. Of the 25 enemy vessels taken, ten had to be burned as they were too large to pass over the sandbars outside the harbour at that state of the tide. Their cargoes were transferred to smaller vessels before departure. The prizes were sent on to the British held island of Lissa. Captain Hoste on his part, refused to take any credit for the success of the raid, in fact, in his dispatches he wrote:


"No credit can attach itself to me, sir, for the success of this enterprize; but I hope I may be allowed to point out those to whose gallant exertions it is owing". He then went on to give the surnames and christian names of all those involved in the action.


In the autumn of 1810, a Franco-Venetian force of frigates was cruising in the Adriatic Sea and was under the command of Commodore Bernard Dubourdieu. The force comprised the French 40 gun frigates Favorite (the flagship) and Uranie, the Venetian 40 gun frigate Corona, the Venetian 32 gun frigates Bellona and Carolina and the brig-corvettes Jena and Mercure. Captain Hoste with his squadron was ordered to watch this force. On 29th September, the Franco-Venetian force left Chiozzo and arrived a few days later in Ancona, where they were joined by an armed schooner and a gunboat. In the morning of 6th October, the Franco-Venetians were spotted in the harbour at Ancona by HMS Amphion in the process of weighing anchor. By this time, Captain Hoste's squadron had been reduced to two ships with Captain Hoste having sent HMS Cerberus to Malta with dispatches. Once Commodore Dubourdieu had gathered all his vessels, he set off in pursuit of HMS Amphion and HMS Active. Dubourdieu arranged his ships into two columns, one comprising three of the frigates sailing close-hauled on the port tack, the other column with the rest of the vessels stretched out on the starboard tack. This was so that his force would not be thrown into confusion by any change in the wind. The two British frigates sailed towards the enemy until their numbers could clearly be seen. Captain Hoste decided that the enemy's superior numbers would be impossible to overcome and changed course away from them. At this point, the weather began to deteriorate and fearful of being caught in a storm, Dubourdieu headed back to Ancona and anchored his ships there. Captain Hoste, seeing the enemy ships in the harbour, headed for the island of Lissa and on arrival there on 9th October, found HMS Cerberus. She had called in on her way to Malta and had not yet departed.


On 12th October, the squadron weighed anchor. By now, the 18 gun ship sloop HMS Acorn had joined the squadron and Captain Hoste now felt confident that he could engage and defeat the enemy squadron. The squadron now headed directly back to Ancona, but were delayed by the weather having been becalmed for three days, so they didn't arrive until the 20th. By the time they got there, Dubourdieu and his force had left. Captain Hoste guessed that the enemy were headed towards Corfu, so the squadron pressed on all sail and headed in that direction. On 21st October, the British squadron sighted Corfu and HMS Active boarded a Sicillian privateer who informed Captain Gordon that they had been pursued by the enemy force six hours before off Vasto and that the enemy were headed south-south-east under a press of sail. The privateer's intelligence confirmed Captain Hoste's view that the enemy were indeed headed towards Corfu. The British squadron then steered to where they were confident that they would intercept the enemy the next day, but on daybreak on 22nd October, Dubourdieu and his force were nowhere to be seen. The British force then spent the next two days in a fruitless search of the Adriatic Sea between Brindisi and Corfu. Having not seen the enemy, the British then retraced their steps to the northward.


The enemy force for their part, arrived off Port St. George, on the island of Lissa in the morning of 22nd October. Favourite, Bellona and Corona tricked their way into the harbour by flying British colours, leaving the Uranie and the other vessels outside the harbour in order to keep watch for any approaching British vessels. Dubordieu's men then took possession of some 30 or so vessels, of which 10 were privateers and burnt another 64 vessels while troops were landed and took the town, encountering little resistance. That evening, Dubordieu's ships left the harbour.


Captain Hoste by now had given up hope of finding the Franco-Venetian squadron and head decided to head back to Lissa. By the time he got there however, Dupordieu and his ships were already entering the harbour at Ancona. He was to remain there for the rest of the year, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, he was aware that the British 74 gun third rate ship of the line HMS Montagu, under the command of HMS Active's former commander Captain Mowbray had arrived in the Adriatic. Secondly, he was under orders to be ready to receive the new Venetian 74 gun ship Rivoli, which was to join his command.


On 4th February 1811, HMS Active was cruising off the north-eastern coast of Italy in company with HMS Cerberus when they discovered four small merchant vessels lying at anchor in the enemy-held port of Pescaro. The two captains, Captain Gordon of HMS Active and Captain Henry Whitby of HMS Cerberus hatched a plan to cut them out. The mission  was to be commanded by Lieutenant George Haye of HMS Active and he was to take the barges of both frigates, enter the harbour and seize the vessels. After entering the harbour through a hail of enemy musket-fire, which wounded one man, Lieutenant Haye and his men succeeded in taking three of the vessels and burned the fourth after removing its cargo.


The morning of the 12th February saw the launch of another cutting-out raid, this time on the port of Ortona and involving a greater number of men and all the boats from both ships. This time, the raid was to be commanded by Lieutenant James Dickinson, First Lieutenant in HMS Cerberus, who was assisted by Lieutenant Haye and Lieutenant George Cumpson, Lieutenant Peter Mears of the Royal Marines, Mr James Gibson, Masters Mate and Mr James Rennie, also a Masters Mate. The largest of the boats, the launches from the frigates had been fitted with a 32pdr carronade each to provide heavy fire support should it be needed. At 10am, the boats entered the harbour and came under fire from guns and small arms on a previously unseen Venetian trabaccolo and from soldiers on the beach and high ground overlooking the harbour. The British sailors and marines gave three cheers then rushed to the attack. Lieutenant Dickinson and his men in HMS Cerberus' gig, supported by Mr Rennie and his men in the barge quickly took the trabaccolo while the marines supported by sailors landed and stormed the enemy positions ashore, supported by fire from the carronades. Having secured the harbour, the British took possession of ten enemy vessels carrying supplies for the enemy garrison on Corfu in addition to the armed trabaccolo and had returned to their ships by 3pm having sustained casualties of four men slightly wounded.


On 11th March, Commodore Dubourdieu and his squadron sailed from Ancona. His force had been reinforced by the arrival of the French 40 gun frigates Danae and Flora, although the Uranie had returned to France. His force now comprised of his flagship, the French 40 gun frigate Favourite, the two aforementioned 40 gun French frigates, the Venetian 40 gun frigate Corona, the Venetian 32 gun frigates Bellona and Carolina, the Venetian 16 gun brig-sloop Mercure, a ten-gun armed schooner, a six-gun armed xebec and two gunboats. They had aboard some 500 troops under the command of the Italian Colonel Gifflenga and the soldiers were intended as a garrison for the island of Lissa, which Dubourdieu intended to take.


Captain Hoste's force in the meantime had been joined by the carronade-armed, 22 gun, sixth rate post-ship HMS Volage, although HMS Acorn had by now been deployed elsewhere. By way of explanation, a post-ship was nothing to do with the Royal Mail. It was, rather a vessel which is best described as being like a small frigate, but carrying less than the 28 guns required for the ship to be classified as such. HMS Volage's main armament was comprised of carronades rather than the long guns carried by the frigate, so despite her small size, HMS Volage had a ferocious broadside at close range armed as she was with 22 32pdr carronades on the gundeck and 18pdr carronades on her quarterdeck and forecastle. In fact, HMS Volage at close range outgunned even a large frigate like HMS Active.


At 3am on 13th March 1811 while patrolling with the squadron off Lissa, HMS Active spotted the enemy squadron and immediately made the night signal for "Enemy in Sight". After making the signal, Captain Gordon ordered that his ship close with the rest of the squadron. At daybreak, the enemy squadron could be clearly seen. Captain Hoste knew that he was outnumbered by more than two to one by the enemy and that if his squadron was to win the forthcoming battle, their seamanship, gunnery and leadership had to be of the highest order; there was no room for error or hesitation. Hoste ordered that his ships set all sail in pursuit of the enemy and the British ships formed a tight line of battle with his ship, HMS Amphion in the lead, followed by HMS Active, HMS Volage with HMS Cerberus bringing up the rear; the ships sailing so close to each other that they were almost touching. Commodore Dubourdieu ordered his ships to form up in two columns, with his flagship, the Favourite leading one, followed by Flore, Bellona and Mercure, with the other column led by the Danae, followed by Corona, Carolina and the small craft. The British ships were festooned with ensigns and Union Flags flown not only at their mastheads, but in their rigging too. Hoste ordered a signal to be hoisted from HMS Amphion, "Remember Nelson", which caused all the men in his ships to give a loud roar of approval which was clearly audible from the enemy vessels.


Commodore Dubourdieu intended to follow the example of Nelson at Trafalgar and cut the British line in two places, but this was frustrated by the British ships sailing so close together. At 9am, HMS Amphion opened fire on the Favourite, closely followed by HMS Active. Frustrated in his intention to cut the British line, Dubourdieu now intended to board HMS Amphion on her starboard quarter, but Captain Hoste had already anticipated this move and had mounted a brass 5.5in howitzer on his ship's quarterdeck, loaded almost to the muzzle with musket balls. As HMS Amphion and Favourite came to touch, with the majority of the French crew assembled on the French ship's forecastle with their Commodore at their head, ready to lead the assault in person, this gun was fired into the packed mass of enemy sailors. The effect was as instant as it was horrific and Commodore Dubourdieu was one of the first to be killed. Up to this point, Captain Hoste and his ships had been sailing along the coast of Lissa, as close to the rocky shore as they dared. The enemy vessels in their approach to the British line had been sailing directly towards the shore. The British line had been sailing at about three knots, causing the angle of the enemy's approach to become more oblique. Not wishing for the enemy line to become parallel to his own, which would allow the enemy to exploit their superior firepower and numbers, Captain Hoste, at about 9.10am, ordered his ships to wear ship together (that is, to change tack by passing the stern of the ship through the eye of the wind) and sail in the opposite direction. Favourite at this point was manoeuvring to pass HMS Amphion's bow and rake her. It had been Captain Hoste's intention that the enemy should run ashore once they had passed either through or around his line of battle and his manoeuvre had the desired effect. As the Favourite was attempting to wear ship and pass to leeward of HMS Amphion, she struck the rocks.


Battle of Lissa - 9:10am. The British wear ship together and Favourite runs aground. Diagram taken from Clowes:





Aboard HMS Cerberus, an enemy shot had lodged between the rudder and the sternpost, meaning that the ship took longer to complete the manoeuvre, forcing the little HMS Volage to overtake her and take the lead in the British line of battle. The manoeuvre had allowed the French frigate Flore to pass HMS Amphion's stern, firing as she passed. Flore then took up station on HMS Amphion's leeward quarter, while the Bellona took a station on the other side and both enemy frigates then proceeded to pound HMS Amphion. The Danae had worn ship and after avoiding coming into HMS Active's line of fire and thinking that the little HMS Volage would present an easy target, bore up on the little ship and got a nasty surprise when HMS Volage opened fire with her 32 and 18pdr carronades. The French captain, having learned an expensive lesson, hauled out of range of the carronades and began to pour in fire with his 18pdr long guns. The only gun with which HMS Volage could effectively reply was her 6pdr bow chaser on the engaged side. An attempt to increase the gunpowder charge in the carronades, to increase their range, only had the effect of breaking the breeching ropes and upending them.


>The 32 gun HMS Cerberus in the meantime had become engaged with the larger 40 gun Corona and it wasn't long before the Venetian ship's superior artillery began to tell and HMS Cerberus found herself being badly damaged by the enemy's fire. Captain Gordon saw that the two smaller ships were in trouble and that HMS Amphion was holding her own against her two opponents and ordered that HMS Active make all sail to support HMS Volage and HMS Cerberus. The moment that they saw HMS Active coming up under all sail, the Corona, the Danae and the Carolina, which was supporting the Corona in her engagement against HMS Cerberus, made off to the west.


Battle of Lissa - 10:30am. HMS Active moves to support HMS Cerberus and HMS Volage. Diagram taken from Clowes:





Having been badly damaged by her two opponents, HMS Amphion bore up to the larger of the two, the 40 gun Flore and stationed herself off the enemy ship's starboard bow, from where she began a furious artillery bombardment which forced the enemy ship to strike her colours in surrender after about 5 minutes. Immediately that HMS Amphion had begun her bombardment, the Venetian 32 gun frigate Bellona took a station off HMS Amphion's stern and also began a bombardment of her own. Once the Flore had struck her colours, HMS Amphion manoeuvred across the Bellona's bows. Although the Bellona's gunners were careful in their aim, some of her shot struck the Flore, which caused one of her surviving officers to make a show of throwing her French colours, complete with halliards over the stern. Once HMS Amphion had begun her bombardment of the Bellona, it didn't take long for the Bellona's captain to realise that he was unable to return fire at the British frigate once she was in position ahead of his ship, so he also, wisely, ordered his colours to be hauled down in surrender. Captain Hoste sent Lieutenant Donat Henchy O'Brien to take possession of the Bellona, but HMS Amphion was only able to launch the one boat, due to the damaged state of her rigging. The captain of the Flore decided to take advantage of the fact that the British were unable to board his ship and made to escape, an act widely seen as being dishonourable considering that they had previously made a great show of surrendering.


Captain Gordon faced a choice, pursue the enemy vessels he originally set off after, or turn around and attack the crippled, but escaping Flore. Attacking an already beaten enemy was something he regarded as being as dishonourable as making off after having surrendered, especially when there were unbeaten enemy vessels in the area, especially when his friends needed his help. At 13:45, HMS Active caught up with the Corona and a furious firefight erupted between the two roughly evenly-matched frigates. All the while the two frigates were tearing pieces out of each other, they were drawing closer to the shore batteries on the French-held island of Lessina. It was not to be for the Corona. Within sight of safety, he decided that he had had enough and surrendered his ship at about 14:30. By the time the Corona's captain decided to surrender his ship to Captain Gordon, the Carolina and the Danae were already safely in the harbour at Lessina. They could have assisted him and maybe driven off HMS Active, but they didn't.


Battle of Lissa - 14:30. Bellona surrenders to HMS Amphion, Flore escapes and HMS Active takes the Corona. Diagram taken from Clowes:





By 15:00 it was over. Captain Hoste, his men and ships had won a stunning victory. Outnumbered two to one and against larger and more powerful enemy ships, they had captured two very fine frigates, destroyed one and driven off the rest. The men of the Favourite had set fire to their ship and at 16:00, she blew up in a spectacular explosion. Altogether, the British had sustained casualties of 45 men killed and 145 wounded. HMS Active had suffered casualties of four killed and 18 seamen and 6 marines wounded. Among the wounded marines was Lieutenant Peter Mears. The Corona had suffered over 200 killed and wounded. Although the battle had been won, the drama was not over yet for the men of HMS Active. After taking the Corona in tow, at about 21:00, the Corona's main top caught fire and within moments, the entire mast was engulfed in flames. The British prize crew on the Corona was comprised of men from both HMS Active and HMS Cerberus and it took until about 23:30 to put the fire out. This success was not without a cost however. Four of HMS Active's seamen and one of her marines were drowned and Lieutenant Haye was badly burned, as was Mr Midshipman Siphus Goode and two seamen from HMS Cerberus.


Of the two enemy ships captured in the Battle of Lissa, the Corona was purchased into the Royal Navy and was put into British service as HMS Daedalus. The Bellona was renamed HMS Dover and put into service as a troop ship. All the First Lieutenants of Captain Hoste's ships were rewarded with commands of their own. HMS Active's First Lieutenant, Mr William Wilmot Henderson was appointed as Master and Commander in the gun-brig HMS Rosario of ten guns in April 1812.


The Battle of Lissa by Thomas Whitcombe. This painting shows the early stages of the battle, after Captain Hoste's squadron has worn ship and shows the French frigate Favourite about to cross the stern of HMS Amphion, shortly before the Frenchman struck the rocks. HMS Active is the ship ahead of HMS Amphion:





After repairs, HMS Active continued with her duties of patrolling the Adriatic Sea. On 27th July 1811, HMS Active anchored off the town of Ragosniza, on the island of the same name. HMS Active had sighted a convoy of some 28 enemy vessels, laden with grain and stores for the French garrison on Corfu take shelter in the creek leading to the town. Captain Gordon had decided to launch a raid on the harbour and to seize as many of the ships as possible. The First Lieutenant, Mr Henderson was to lead the raid, assisted by Mr Haye, who despite not having fully recovered from his burns, had volunteered for the mission and by Lieutenant Robert Gibson. Also assisting were Lieutenant Mears of the Royal Marines, Masters Mate Mr Charles Friend and Mr Midshipmen Henry Lew, Redmond Moriarty, Norwich Duff, William Simpkins, Joseph Camelleri, Nathaniel Barwell, Charles Bentham, George Moore, William Wood and William Todd Robinson. The entrance to the creek was very narrow and protected by three gunboats as well as a total of 300 men on high ground on either side. The attack had been very well planned. Lieutenant Henderson, assisted by Mr Mears, Mr Haye and Mr Friend landed first with the marines and after coming under fire, drove the enemy soldiers from their position at the top of the hill. Once the hilltop was secure, the shore party signalled the men in the boats under Mr Gibson, who rushed in and attacked the gunboats, supported by small arms fire from Mr Henderson's men ashore. The gunboats were quickly taken and their guns turned on the rest of the enemy vessels in the creek. They surrendered without a fight and the sailors took possession of their vessels, burning ten and making off with the rest, along with the gunboats.


By late November 1811, HMS Active was back with the squadron and was in the harbour at Port St.George, Lissa. By this time, Captain Hoste had been replaced in command of both HMS Alceste and of the squadron by Captain Murray Maxwell. The squadron now comprised of HMS Alceste, HMS Active, the 18pdr armed 36 gun ex-French frigate HMS Unité and the 18 gun ship-sloop HMS Acorn. At 7am on 28th November, the telegraph on Whitby Hill made a signal for three strange sail to the south. Captain Maxwell assumed that these vessels were the French 40 gun frigates Danae and Flore and the Venetian 32 gun frigate Carolina, which had escaped from the Battle of Lissa. Maxwell was also aware of a strong French force on the nearby island of Scisina, which was preparing to invade Lissa. With that in mind, he made preparation for the defence of Lissa before setting off in pursuit of the three strangers. All the frigates marines were disembarked together with around 80 sailors from each of the ships and this force was left under the command of Captain George Miller Bligh, who's ship, HMS Acorn was ordered to stay behind. Maxwell then took the three frigates out of the harbour, but because of adverse winds, the ships had to be towed out by their boats, a process which took the whole day and the ships didn't set any sails and start the pursuit until about 7pm. At 21:30, while the ships were south of Lissa, another strange sail was sighted to windward, which proceeded to fire two guns. On being boarded by men from HMS Unité, the vessel was found to be carrying a passenger, Lieutenant John McDougal of HMS Unité. He had taken passage in the neutral vessel to Malta, but on the way they had sighted three French frigates and Mr McDougal had persuaded the master of the vessel to head back to Lissa, had sighted the British force soon after they had left Port St. George and had fired towo guns to attract their attention. Mr McDougal rejoined his ship. At


9:20 on 29th July, HMS Active sighted three strange sails to the east-north-east, which were quickly identified as being the French 40 gun frigates Pauline and Pomone and the frigate-built storeship Persanne of 26 guns. This force was known to be commanded by Commodore Francois-Gilles Monfort and the three enemy ships formed into a line and stood towards the three British frigates, in the mistaken belief that they were friendly. After realising that the three frigates were British, Monfort ordered his ships to make all sail and head away. The three British frigates made all sail and set off in pursuit. At about 11:00, the Persanne, finding that she was unable to keep up with the other two ships, separated and headed off to the north-east. HMS Active initially set off after her, but Captain Gordon was recalled and the smaller HMS Unité sent in her place. Presumably, Captain Maxwell wanted the bigger frigate to remain with him. HMS Active and HMS Alceste were rapidly overhauling the two French frigates and at about 11:50, Captain Maxwell signalled HMS Active "Remember the Battle of Lissa". At about 12:30, the Persanne and HMS Unité were seen to open fire on each other. At 13:20, HMS Alceste opened fire on the Pomone with her bow chaser on the starboard side and the Pomone returned fire with her stern chasers. A shot hit HMS Alceste's main topgallant mast, but did not bring it down. The Pomone then hoisted her colours, as did the Pauline, in addition to a Commodore's Broad Pendant. At 13:24, as HMS Alceste was overtaking the Pomone in order to get to the Pauline, she gave her a full broadside and received one in return. This brought the British ship's main topmast crashing to the deck and over the side, which caused her to slow dramatically. Captain Maxwell wrote about this in his report of the action "Cheers of "Vive L'Empereur" resounded from both ships, they thought the day their own, not aware of what a second I had in my gallant friend Captain Gordon who pushed the Active up under every sail". By 14:00, HMS Active had gained a position on the Pomone's starboard quarter and began a furious bombardment of the enemy ship at close range. At 14:20, the French Commodore changed tack and brought his flagship alongside HMS Alceste and within 10 minutes the two ships were closely engaged in another furious firefight. At 15:05, the French Commodore realisng that the British were winning the fight and seeing what later turned out to be the British 18 gun ship sloop HMS Kingfisher approaching in the distance, broke off the engagement with HMS Alceste, set all sail and headed off to the west. Shortly after that, HMS Active ceased fire after having moved ahead of her opponent. At 15:40, HMS Alceste had moved up to the Pomone's other side and had begun to pour in broadside fire, which shattered the French frigate's main and mizzen masts at deck level, bringing them down. Immediately after those masts fell, the Pomone surrendered. Neither of the two British frigates were in any condition to pursue her, so the Pauline made good her escape, leaving their compatriots in the Pomone to their fate.


In about the middle part of the action, while on HMS Active's quarterdeck, standing on a shot-bag and leaning on the after capstan, Captain Gordon was directing his men in his usual calm manner. A 36 pound shot from an enemy carronade came in through a gunport, glanced off a carronade slide, took off a seaman's leg, then struck him on the knee. leaving his leg hanging on by just the tendons. Captain Gordon fell to the deck, but did not lose consciousness. He ordered the First Lieutenant, Mr William Bateman Dashwood to assume command and continue the fight. As he was being carried below to have his leg amputated, Captain Gordon told the Second Lieutenant, Mr Haye, that if anything were to happen to Mr Dashwood, that he was to do his best. Shortly after that exchange, Mr Dashwood was also badly wounded, his right arm was shot away and Mr Haye took command of the ship for the rest of the action.


The Pomone had been utterly shattered, to the point where she had five feet of water in her hold. Her crew had fought until further resistance was pointless, her main and mizzen masts were gone and the foremast fell shortly after she struck her colours. Out of a crew of 332 men, the Pomone had suffered 50 killed and wounded, including her commander, Captain-de-fregate Claude-Charles-Marie Ducamp-Rosamel, who had received grapeshot in the face. HMS Active had taken casualties of Mr Midshipman George Osborne, five seamen and two marines killed. In addition to Captain Gordon and Mr Dashwood, Lieutenant Haye had also been wounded, as had 21 seamen and three marines. HMS Active had taken on and defeated an enemy frigate roughly equal to her in firepower, but having a significantly larger crew. Captain Rosamel of the Pomone surrendered his sword to the senior officer present, as was expected by the ettiqiette of the day, but Captain Maxwell felt that he was unworthy of it, as it had been HMS Active which had done the bulk of the work in bringing about the Pomone's surrender. Captain Maxwell took the French captain's sword below and gave it to Captain Gordon himself. On inspection, the Pomone's hold was found to be full of guns; 42 18pdr iron guns and 9 brass guns, together with 220 iron wheels for gun carriages. The Pomone had been built for the French Navy in Genoa in 1803 and had been presented to Jerome Buonaparte. On being returned to the UK, she was found to be beyond economical repair and was broken up.


Eventually, HMS Unité had managed to catch up with the Persanne and after a brief exchange of broadside fire, the Persanne had also surrendered. She was also found to be full of guns. The Persanne was found to be unsuitable for Royal Navy service and was sold to the Dey of Tunis.


As rewards for their conduct and bravery in the taking of the Pomone, Lieutenants Dashwood and Haye were both appointed as Master and Commander in the gun-brigs Pelter and Snap respectively, each vessel being of 12 guns.


The Action against the Pomone by Thomas Whitcombe. This painting shows the earlier part of the action, when HMS Alceste has lost her main topmast and HMS Active (in the foreground) is in action against the Pomone:





Another view of of the action between HMS Active, HMS Alceste and the Pomone. In this painting by the French artist Pierre Julien Gilbert, HMS Active is the British frigate on the right, HMS Alceste is on the left and the Pomone is the dismasted ship in the centre.





Captain James Alexander Gordon recovered from the loss of his leg and was fitted with a wooden one, which he used for the rest of his life. After the action against the Pomone, HMS Active was sent to Malta and remained there while her captain recovered from his wound. In June 1812, Captain Gordon returned to the UK in command of HMS Active and paid the ship off at Sheerness. On arriving in the UK, Captain James Alexander Gordon married and was appointed in command of the 18pdr armed 38 gun frigate HMS Seahorse and was sent to the war in America. After distinguishing himself during the 1812-1815 was against the USA, particularly in the Battle of Lake Borgne in 1814, he was knighted in January of 1815. In 1832, he became Captain Superintendent at Chatham Royal Dockyard and was promoted to Rear-Admiral in 1837. In 1840, he became Lieutenant-Governor of the Naval Hospital at Greenwich and was promoted to full Admiral in 1853. He was promoted to Admiral-of-the-Fleet on 30th January 1868 and died just under a year later on 8th January 1869, aged 86. He is buried in the grounds of the Greenwich Naval Hospital, now of course the site of the National Maritime Museum. It is thought that James Alexander Gordon was the main model for the life and career of the fictional Horatio Hornblower.


HMS Active had been in front line service for 13 years and was badly in need of repairs. After paying off at Sheerness in June 1812, she was placed in the Ordinary. After being moved from Sheerness to Woolwich, she entered the Royal Dockyard there to begin a "Middling Repair" in June 1814. By the time the work was complete in early 1815, the wars against France and the USA had ended. The ship was fitted for sea at Sheerness between November 1815 and April 1816 and the ship was assigned to the Caribbean. The ship returned to the UK under Captain Phillip Carteret on 30th September 1817. She paid off again on 11th October 1817 and went into the Ordinary at Portsmouth.


During her time in the Ordinary at Portsmouth and in a portent for things to come later in the 19th century, the ship was fitted with a pair of man-powered paddle wheels, designed by a Lieutenant Burton. Up to that time, the smaller ships in the Royal Navy, such as sloops, cutters and gun-brigs, usually carried a set of sweeps, or large oars, to be used when the vessel needed to manoeuvre when becalmed. These were very labour-intensive and were usually only used as a last resort.


Here is a painting of HMS Active working out of Portsmouth Harbour using her experimental paddle wheels:





A line drawing of HMS Active fitted with the paddle wheels by John Christian Schetky:





In January 1819, with the paddle wheels removed, the ship recommissioned, this time for the Halifax Station, under her old commander, Captain Sir James Alexander Gordon. He remained with the ship after she returned to the UK on 3rd January 1820. On 3rd September 1820, the ship received orders to go to Brighton, to attend the King, George IV. Adverse winds prevented her from sailing, so she remained at Portsmouth. On 24th December 1821, Sir James Alexander Gordon finally left the ship for good, being replaced in command by Captain Andrew King, from 7th January 1822. In 1824, she departed for the Gut of Gibraltar, to protect British trade in the western Mediterranean. Later in 1824, she was assigned to the Lisbon Station under Captain Sir Robert Rodney.


The ship returned to the UK in the summer of 1825 and between October that year and February 1826, was fitting out as a receiving ship at Plymouth. On 15th November 1833, the ship was renamed HMS Argo. The ship remained in that role until as late as 1860, when she was broken up at Plymouth.