Hebe (1804 ship)

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History
United Kingdom
NameHebe
NamesakeHebe (mythology)
BuilderLeith
Launched1804
Captured1814
General characteristics [1]
Tons burthen266,[2] or 267, or 2678794 (bm)
Armament
  • Hired armed ship:18 × 18-pounder carronades + 2 × 6-pounder guns
  • 1813:14 × 18-pounder carronades
  • 1814:2 × 6-pounder guns

Hebe was launched in 1804 at Leith. From 27 April 1804 to 30 October 1812 she served the Royal Navy as a hired armed ship and transport.[1] She spent her entire naval career escorting convoys to the Baltic. Afterwards, she became a transport that an American privateer captured in March 1814.

Career[edit]

Hebe first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1804.[3]

Year Master Owner Trade Source
1804 T.Bishop Strachan Leith transport LR
1805 Bishop Strachan Leith: government service RS

In February 1804 she escorted seven whalers from Leith, bound for Davis Strait and the British northern whale fishery. One was Rattler.[4]

From August 1807 Hebe formed part of Admiral Gambier's inshore squadron for the second battle of Copenhagen. On 23 August, Hebe was part of the advance squadron, which took up position near the entrance to the harbour. An engagement of four hours ensued between the squadron and the Danes, who marshaled the Crown Battery, floating batteries, three praams of 20 guns each, some 30 gunboats, and block ships. The shallowness of the water prevent the Royal Navy from bringing in any large ships to support the advance squadron of brigs, sloops, and ketches. Eventually the British withdrew.[5]

Year Master Owner Trade Source
1813 T.Bishop
J.Strachan
Strachan Leith transport LR
1814 J.Strachan Strachan Leith–London LR

Fate[edit]

Hebe was captured in 1814. In March the American privateer Surprize captured Hebe, of Leith, which had been carrying naval stores from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Bermuda.[6][a]

A US newspaper story reported that Hebe had been carrying coal, lumber, etc., and that Surprize, of Baltimore, had sent her into a southern port. Surprize was three days out of the Chesapeake when she captured Hebe.[8]

Hebe arrived at North Carolina.[9] LR for 1815 carried the annotation "captured" beneath her name.[10]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Surprize was a schooner of 302 tons (bm), commissioned in Baltimore. She was armed with 10 guns and had a crew of 120 men under the command of Captain Clement Cathell. On her first cruize, under Cathell's command, she captured 41 British vessels, of which 11 arrived in American ports.[7]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ a b Winfield (2008), p. 393.
  2. ^ Register of Shipping (RS), Seq.No.H259.
  3. ^ LR (1804), Supple pages "H", Seq.No.H71.
  4. ^ Caledonian Mercury,21 February 1805, (Edinburgh, Scotland), Issue: 13020.
  5. ^ "No. 16064". The London Gazette. 12 September 1807. p. 1191.
  6. ^ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. 14 June 1814. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735026.
  7. ^ Kert (2015), App.2.
  8. ^ Good (2012), p. 92.
  9. ^ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. 12 July 1814. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735026.
  10. ^ LR (1815), Seq.No.H320.

References[edit]

  • Kert, Faye M. (2015). Privateering: Patriots and Profits in the War of 1812. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 72. ISBN 9781421417479.
  • Good, Timothy S., ed. (2012). American privateers in the war of 1812: the vessels and their prizes as recorded in Niles' weekly register. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786466955.
  • Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.