HMS Corso (1796)

On 2 December 1796 HMS Southampton encountered the Spanish naval brig El Corso off Monaco as El Corso was on her way from Genoa to Barcelona. Southampton captured El Corso by boarding. She was armed with eighteen 6-pounder guns and had a crew of 136 men under the command of Don Antonio Oacaro.[2] The Royal Navy took the brig into service as HMS Corso.

Commander Bartholomew James commissioned Corso in the Mediterranean in December 1796.[1]

On 6 August 1798 Corso and Espoir captured Liguria.[lower-alpha 1]

On 24 August Corso captured the French privateer Francois near Corfu. Francois was armed with two guns on carriages and six swivel guns. She had a crew of 23 men under the command of Clement Roux. She was five days out of Malaga and had captured nothing.[4][lower-alpha 2]

On 18 October Corso and Espoir captured Madona del Ydra.[lower-alpha 3]

Commander Lord William Stuart was appointed to command Corso on 24 December 1798, but Lieutenant Corydon Boger, from Majestic was in temporary command on 20 November 1798 in Stuart's place. Corso was in Tangier Bay, having the day before brought a convoy into the Bay of Gibraltar. Boger encountered and chased two French privateers. He captured one of them, Adolphe, of six guns on carriages, and with a crew of 42 men. The other privateer ran on shore about two miles west of Tariff. Because dusk was approaching and the weather was hazy, Boger could not safely attempt to destroy her.[6][lower-alpha 4]

Then on 1 December Lieutenant Boger chased a French privateer on shore three leagues eastward of Cape Malabar.[lower-alpha 5] With the assistance of boats from Espoir the British were able to bring her off. When the boarding party arrived at the vessel they found that her crew had deserted her. The privateer, of unknown name, was armed with two carriage guns, two swivels, and small arms.[8] Corso and Espoir shared the prize money for the vessel, which the London Gazette, apparently mistakenly, described as the barque Adolphe.[9]

By January 1799 Commander Stuart was in command of Corso.[lower-alpha 6] In February–March 1799 Corso was in the Ionian Islands. She had been sent there to encourage the joint Russian-Ottoman squadron under Admiral Ushakov conducting the Siege of Corfu (1798–1799) to send some vessels to join the British at Messina. Corso may have participated in the seizure of the island of Vido.[lower-alpha 7]

Stuart received promotion to post captain and took command of Spartiate at Plymouth on 9 November 1799. In November Commander William Ricketts assumed command of Corso.[1]

A French convoy carrying troops and supplies to Malta left Toulon around 7 February 1800. The convoy consisted of the 74-gun French ship Généreux (1785), the 20-gun corvettes Badine and Fauvette, the 16-gun Sans Pareille, and two or three transport ships.

On 18 February 1800 Corso was in company with a number of ships under the command of Lord Nelson when lookouts on HMS Alexander sighted the French and gave chase. Alexander caught up with one of the French ships, which struck after Alexander fired a few shots. Nelson ordered HMS Audacious and Corso to take charge of the captured French ship while he in his flagship HMS Foudroyant, with Alexander, HMS Northumberland, and the frigate HMS Success continued the chase. The British eventually caught up with Contre-amiral Jean-Baptiste Perrée's flagship Généreux and forced her to surrender.

On the 19th Corso arrived at the British blockade of Malta with the vessel that Alexander had captured. The captured vessel was Ville de Marseilles, a transport armed en flûte, was carrying salt meat, brandy, wine, clothing, stores, etc.[lower-alpha 8]

In March 1800 Corso captured three merchantmen:[14]

• Swedish brig Catherine, from Barcelona to Leghorn, with a cargo of wine, brandy, and cochineal (14 March);
• Genoese gondolo Signora della Latera, from Cabic to Genoa, with a cargo of wheat (16 March);
• Ragusan brig Assunta, from Marseilles bound to Leghorn and Ragusa, with a cargo of wine and copper (20 March).

While Napoleon Bonaparte and his army were in Egypt, Bonaparte sent an emissary with gifts to the Bashaw of Tripoli, who consequently expelled the British consul general there. Nelson had Corso convey the consul general back to Tripoli with Ricketts negotiating the consul's reinstatement. Over subsequent months Corso sailed to and from Tripoli several times.[15]

Corso also assisted at the siege of Genoa (6 April – 4 June 1800). Her dispersal of a grain convoy helped the Austrian forces to capture the city, albeit only temporarily.[15]

In June and July Corso captured more merchant vessels:[16]

• French tartane, name unknown, carrying flour (25 June);
• Ragusan brig Pastor Fidele, from Barcelona to Leghorn, carrying brandy (11 July);
• Ragusan brig San Gaetano, from Barcelona to Leghorn, carrying wine(13 July);
• Genoese settee, name unknown, from Port Maurice, with no cargo (destroyed 24 July);
• Genoese polacre ship Saint Gio Baptiste, from Marseilles to Port Maurice, carrying wine (25 July);
• Genoese settee Misericordia, from Marseilles to Savona, carrying hoops (25 July); *Genoese settee Nostra Signora Montresero, from Port Maurice to Marseilles (25 July).

On 28 August 1800, Corso and Pigmy were at Cesenatico. Their orders were to destroy the vessels in its harbour, and "make a proper example of the town". The British were unable to approach closely enough so during the night of 30 August Ricketts sent in boats of both vessels under the overall command of Lieutenant James Lucas Yeo, first lieutenant of Corso. The attackers were able to capture the town, sink two boats, and burn 11 others. One of the sunken vessels was deeply laden with copper, money, and bale goods. Four of the vessels sank in the mouth of the harbour, and fire consumed both piers. The British sailors were able to hold off some French infantry, but when Ricketts observed French cavalry approaching he ordered the boats to withdraw.[17]

Afterwards, Ricketts sent the authorities of the town the following note:[17]

To the Inhabitants of Cesenatico.

The Treachery of your Municipality, in causing to be arrested an Officer with Dispatches, has been long known to the British Admiral in these Seas. That Municipality may now sadly know that the Severity of Judgment, long delayed, is always exemplary. That the Innocent suffer with the Guilty, though much to be regretted, is the natural Feature of War; and the more terrible Infliction on this occasion, the more striking the Example should prove to surrounding Municipalities.

(Signed) W. RICKETTS[15]

In September 1800 Corso captured numerous vessels carrying salt from Trapani to Ponte Gori:[lower-alpha 9]

On 6 September 1800 Corso captured:[18]

• Neapolitan polacre ship Madona del Carmina;
• Neapolitan polacre ship Madona del Laura;
• Neapolitan polacre ship Madona del Gratia; and
• Imperial polacre bark Madona del Jossata.

Six days later Corso captured the Neapolitan polacre brig Archimede.[18]

On 16 September Corso captured:[18]

• Neapolitan polacre ship Rachele;
• Neapolitan polacre ship Divini del Providenza;
• Neapolitan polacre ship Vicenza di Tripani;
• Imperial Ireballo Pleni Luno;
• Imperial Ireballo Successo; and,
• Neapolitan polacre ship Annunciate Angiolo.

Lastly, on 17 September captured the Neapolitan polacre Madona del Picta.[18]

Next, Corso and Pygmy captured a number of vessels in the Adriatic.

On 16 November they captured a Cisalpine trabaccolo carrying pine and another trabaccolo in ballast, both sailing from Ravenna to Pesaro.[19]

On 4 January 1801 some merchants of Trieste presented Ricketts with a diamond ring in appreciation of his efforts against French privateers in the Adriatic.[20][15]

On 17 January they captured two vessels:[19]

• Imperial ship Sfinge, sailing from Barcelona to Trieste with a cargo of brandy (17 January 1801);[lower-alpha 10]
• Russian polacca ship Madona Turgliana, which sailing from the Morea to Trieste with a cargo of leather.

On 13 February they detained the Danish ship Adonis, which was sailing from Copenhagen to Trieste with a cargo of stockfish.[19]

On 16 February they detained the Danish brig Madellina Christiana, which was sailing from Venice to Zante with a cargo of planks.[19]

On 27 February they recaptured the Imperial trebaccolo Madona del Annunciade, which was sailing from Trieste to Fiume with a cargo of hemp. She had been a prize to a French privateer.[19]

On 15 March Pygmy captured the French trebaccolo privateer Achille, from Ancona, with Corso in company.[19]

On 11 April Corso captured two Imperial brigs, Padre Armoroza, which was carrying cotton from Messina to Triest, and Nuova Armicize, which was sailing from Cyprus to Trieste.[19]

On 17 April Corso captured the Cisalpine trebaccolo St. Luizi, which was sailing from Eipidore bound for Siniglis with a cargo of wheat.[19]

On 19 April Corso recaptured the imperial brig Imperetore, which was sailing from Trieste to Zante with a cargo of merchandise.[19] Corso also took two brigs and a trabaccolo.

On 27 May 1801 Corso was off Manfredonia. There she captured Corivesse (or Ecrivisse), a small vessel of one brass gun and 16 men under the command of M. Bernard du Bourdier, a lieutenant of Régénérée. He and another officer were carrying dispatches from Alexandria to Ancona.[22][19]

On 23 June 1801 from Mercury and Corso were in the Tremiti Islands where they destroyed the pirate tartane Tigre, of eight 6 and 12-pounder guns and a crew of 60 French and Italians.[23] The Royal Marines landed and captured some of the pirates, who had mounted a 4-pounder gun on a hill. Meanwhile, the cutting out party brought out Tigre, together with bales of cotton and other goods that she had taken from vessels she had robbed.[23]

An attempt to attack Pesaro with the aid of Italian partisans came to nothing. Corso and Pigmy then answered an appeal from Venice and took all necessary measures to protect the city against a reported French force.[15]

On 10 July 1802 Corso arrived at Spithead from the Mediterranean. On the 15th she sailed from Spithead or Woolwich to be paid off.[lower-alpha 11] Between 20 July and 24 March 1803 Corso underwent fitting at Deptford for service as a receiving ship. Lieutenant Joshua Kneeshaw recommissioned her at Woolwich.[1]

On 27 March 1803 Corso was ordered to Gravesend to serve under Captain Motley, the Regulating Officer there. Her role was to receive men pressed from merchant vessels, such as East Indiamen, returning to England.

In 1804 Lieutenant George A. Spencer replaced Kneeshaw. In 1808 she was under the command of Lieutenant George Taylor. In 1813 she was under the command of Lieutenant Curry William Hillier, and later Lieutenant Charles Carter.[1]

Corso was paid off at Woolwich in 1814. The "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered "El Corso, of 234 tons", "lying at Woolwich" for sale on 1 September 1814.[24] She sold there on that day for £500.[1]

• Demerliac, Alain (1999). La Marine de la Révolution: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1792 à 1799 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 9782906381247. OCLC 492783890.
• Jervis, Henry Jervis White (1863). The Ionian Islands During the Present Century. Chapman.
• Marshall, John (1825). "Ricketts, William" . Royal Naval Biography. Vol. 2, part 2. London: Longman and company.
• 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.
• Winfield, Rif; Roberts, Stephen S. (2015). French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786–1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-204-2.