HMS Nile (1806)

The British Royal Navy purchased HMS Nile on 3 November 1806. She was the hired armed cutter Nile. After a brief, undistinguished career, the Navy sold her in 1810 only to have to break her up in 1811.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Nile, Hired armed cutter Nile, and Hired armed lugger Nile.

History
Royal Navy EnsignUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Nile
NamesakeBattle of the Nile
AcquiredNovember 1806
FateSold 1810 but then broken up 1811
General characteristics [1]
Tons burthen166 20⁄94 (bm)
PropulsionSails
Complement55
Armament12 × 12-pounder carronades

Career

Between 15 November 1806 and 13 January 1807 Nile was at Portsmouth undergoing repairs. Lieutenant James Lloyd had commissioned her in November 1806.[1]

On 12 February HMS Atalante was wrecked off the Île de Ré, near Rochefort. She had been cruising to watch enemy vessels in Rochefort when she hit the Grande Blanche rock. Despite attempts to lighten her that included cutting away her masts, she continued to founder. At daybreak three British vessels approached and took off the crew, enduring fire from shore batteries as they did so. The first was Nile, followed later by the frigates Penelope and Pomone.[2]

Lloyd proved a disappointment.

Lieutenant Lloyd always in his cabin — sea sick, I suppose, ... [Nile] has been no manner of use to Commodore Keats, nor will be to anyone, unless an officer who is a cutter sailor has the direction of her. Little Simmons of Plymouth would do it well.

— Admiral John Jervis, Earl St Vincent (9 March 1807)[3]

Within 1807, Lieutenant Thomas Johnson, who had commanded the hired armed cutter Nile, replaced Lloyd. Unfortunately, Johnson was imprisoned for smuggling.[4]

Lieutenant Symons replaced Johnson for the Channel,[1] but on 4 December Symons sailed for the Mediterranean.[5] On 25 December 1807 she captured Industry.[6] At about the same time, Nile also detained, and sent into Dartmouth Æolus, Angel, master, which had been sailing from Caediz to St Petersburg.[7]

At end-April 1809 Symons brought Nile into Falmouth with dispatches from Lisbon and Seville. These were rushed overland to London. Nile then sailed to Plymouth.[8]

Fate

The "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" sold Nile on 18 October 1810.[9] However the purchaser withdrew from the sale. The Navy then broke her up at Plymouth in November 1811.[1]

Citations
  1. Winfield (2008), pp.370-1.
  2. Hepper (1994), p.117.
  3. Publications... (1904), Vol. 28, p.65.
  4. United States Naval Institute Proceedings, Vol. 69, p.795.
  5. "NMM, vessel ID 372141" (PDF). Warship Histories, vol viii. National Maritime Museum. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
  6. "No. 16469". The London Gazette. 26 March 1811. p. 580.
  7. Lloyd's List №4215.
  8. The Lady's Magazine: Or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex, Appropriated Solely to Their Use and Amusement (1809), Vol. 40, pp.235-7.
  9. "No. 16410". The London Gazette. 2 October 1810. p. 1564.

References
  • Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot. ISBN 0-948864-30-3.
  • Publications of the Navy Records Society (1904), Vol. 28. (Navy Records Society).
  • Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.

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