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02-17-2013, 15:41
Feb. 17, 1805 Frigate Cleopatra 32, Captain Sir Robert Laurie, Bart., Captured by the Ville-de-Milan French frig. off the coast of North America.
On the 16th of February, at daybreak, in latitude 28° north, longitude 67° west, the British 12-pounder 32-gun frigate Cleopatra, Captain Sir Robert Laurie, Bart., saw a ship in the south-east, standing to the east-north-east, with the wind at north-west, and immediately went in chase of her. At 11 A.M. the stranger was discovered to be a large frigate, with 15 ports of a side on the main deck. The Cleopatra, whose force was that of her class, † with the exception that four of her nines had been exchanged for ten 24-pounder carronades, making her guns in all 38, cleared for action, and hoisted American colours, to induce the stranger to bring to. Instead, however, of doing so, the latter made more sail. She was the French 40-gun frigate Ville-de-Milan, Captain Jeane-Marie Renaud, armed with 46 guns, eight more long 8-pounders than the establishment, ‡ no carronades apparently, and her two aftmost maindeck guns left at Martinique ; from which island she was 19 days, with despatches for France, and with express orders not to speak any thing during the passage.
Under these circumstances, a trial of speed was alone to determine, whether or not there should follow a trial of strength. Each ship spread all the canvass she could set, and night left the two frigates still in chase. At daybreak, on the 17th, they were only about four miles apart. The British frigate continued to gain upon the French frigate ; and, at 10 h. 30 m. A.M., the Ville-de-Milan took in her studding sails, and hauled more up. The Cleopatra, as soon as she approached within three quarters of a mile, did the same. At 11 h. 30 m. A.M. the Ville-de-Milan hauled up her mainsail and kept more off the wind ; but, upon the Cleopatra's steering to close with her upon her quarter, the Ville-de-Milan again set her mainsail and staysails, in the hope to gain the wind of her adversary, that being her own best point of sailing. Each ship now hoisted her colours ; and, the Ville-de-Milan seeming to draw rather ahead, the Cleopatra, when at the distance of about half gun-shot, fired her bow-chasers. An occasional well-directed fire in return from the stern-chasers of the Ville-de-Milan obliged the Cleopatra to steer more upon the latter's quarter ; a course which, although it prolonged the chase, became necessary, in order to avoid being raked by what were now discovered to be heavy shot.
At 2 h. 30 m. P.M., latitude at noon 29° 24' north, longitude 64° 20' west, just as the Cleopatra had got within 100 yards of the Ville-de-Milan, the latter luffed close to the wind, and gave her two broadsides. The former, as soon as she had approached to half the distance, returned the compliment, and a warm action ensued ; both ships trimming sails, and steering, sometimes close to the wind, and at other times about three points free, in which latter case the Cleopatra had considerably the advantage. At about 5 P.M., having shot away the Ville-de-Milan's maintopsail yard, the Cleopatra forged ahead, and this although the mizen topsail was squared and both jib-stay and halliards gone. Having neither fore nor main clue-garnets left by which to haul up the courses, her running rigging being cut to pieces so as to render it impossible to shorten or to back her sails, the main and the spring stay being shot away, and the mainmast supported only by the storm stay-sail-stay, the Cleopatra prepared to cross her opponent's bow, so that by luffing up she might rake the Milan, in preference to exposing her stern to the latter's powerful broadside. Just as the Cleopatra was in the act of attempting this manoeuvre, a shot struck the wheel, and the broken spokes, becoming jammed against the deck, rendered the rudder, already choked by splinters, totally immovable.
Availing herself of this ungovernable state of her antagonist, and of her own windward position, the Ville-de-Milan bore up and gave the Cleopatra her stem ; running her head and bowsprit over the latter's quarterdeck, just abaft the main rigging. Covered by a heavy fire of musketry, the French crew now attempted to board, but were repulsed. A continued stream of musketry from the Ville-de-Milan's forecastle and tops soon cleared the Cleopatra's decks; and all the resistance the latter could offer in return was by two maindeck guns, which, as their shot passed in a line with the Milan's lower deck, did very little injury. In this dilemma, with her principal sails shivering, or partly aback, and a ship more than a third larger pressing upon her with all the accumulated force of a strong wind and heavy sea, the Cleopatra attempted to hoist the foretopmast staysail and set the sprit-sail ; but the fire from the French musketry, and from the swivels in the enemy's tops, was too destructive to admit of its being done. At length, at about 5 h. 15 m. P.M., the Ville-de-Milan boarded and took possession of her shattered and defenceless antagonist. Almost immediately afterwards till Cleopatra's fore and main masts went over the side, her bowsprit soon followed ; and she lay almost in a foundering state under the bows of the Ville-de-Milan.
Being 10 able seamen short of her complement, the Cleopatra mustered at quarters, including one supernumerary lieutenant, only 200 men and boys and several of these were so sick as to be of very little service. Of this comparatively small crew the Cleopatra had 16 seamen, three marines, and one boy killed, her first and second lieutenants (William Balfour and James Crooke) ; one acting lieutenant (Charles Mitchell), one supernumerary lieutenant (William Bowen), one lieutenant of marines (Thomas Appleton), her master (John Bell), boatswain (John McCarthy), one midshipman (Robert Standly), 23 seamen, and seven marines (two of the latter mortally) wounded : total, 22 killed and dead of wounds, and 36 wounded.
The loss on board the Ville-de-Milan, out of a crew, as deposed to by her officers, of 350, although admitted to have been severe, has not been enumerated. The last shot fired by the Cleopatra killed Captain Renaud ; and a previous shot had badly wounded the frigate's second in command, M. Guillet. The surviving crew of the Ville-de-Milan, after the action had ceased, amounted to 340, including the wounded. This would give 10 as the number killed, which is perhaps near the amount. As a proof that the Cleopatra's shot had done considerable execution on board the Ville-de-Milan, the latter's main and mizen masts went over the side in the course of the night succeeding the action.
COMPARATIVE FORCE OF THE COMBATANTS
Cleopatra
Broadside Guns = 19; lbs = 282
Crew No. = 200
Size in tons = 689
Ville-De-Millan
Broadside Guns = 23; lbs = 340
Crew No. = 350
Size in tons = 1097
Had it not been for the carronades of the Cleopatra, more than a twofold disparity in weight of metal would here have been exhibited ; and, in crew and size, the relative proportion still stands nearly as seven to four. Moreover the Cleopatra's was quite a young ship's company, many of the men being under 20 years of age ; and of the marines, three only had joined that corps more than two weeks before they embarked in the summer of 1804.
A less ardent mind than Sir Robert Laurie's might have suggested some reasons, and those of a substantial kind, for not persisting to bring to action a ship so decidedly superior. It will not take a particle from the gallantry displayed upon this occasion, to suppose that the mere circumstance of a ship, of such apparent force as the Milan, flying from the Cleopatra, ended greatly to augment the confidence of the officers and crew of the latter. But it was not only a 32 hours' chase, a more than three hours engagement, close engagement, followed. Nor did the Cleopatra yield until a fourth of her crew lay dead or disabled upon her decks ; until her sails and rigging were destroyed, her masts left tottering, and her riddled hull pressed upon, and nearly borne beneath the waves by, the large and heavy body of her antagonist.
Having disengaged his prize, placed on board of her his first : lieutenant and 49 petty officers and men, shifted the prisoners, and partially refitted the two ships, Capitaine de frégate Piérre Guillet, the late first lieutenant of the Ville-de-Milan, slowly continued his route towards a French port. On the 23d, at noon, the British 50-gun ship Leander, Captain John Talbot, obtained a distant view of the Cleopatra, bearing south, the weather at this time being hazy, with squalls of wind and rain from the northward. The Leander instantly made sail, but, the haze increasing, lost sight of the chase. At 2 h. 30 m. P.M., the weather clearing a little to the southward, the Cleopatra again presented herself to view, and was now made out to be a frigate, under jury-masts, standing to the south-east. At 3 P.M. another and a much larger ship, also under jury-masts and steering the same course, was seen a short distance ahead of the Cleopatra. In about a quarter of an hour the two frigates closed for mutual support. Each then fired a gun to leeward, and hoisted a French ensign at her main stay. At 4 P.M. the Leander arrived within gun-shot. The two frigates immediately separated, the Cleopatra putting before the wind, the Milan steering with it on the larboard quarter. At 4 h. 30 m. P.M., being within half musketshot of the Cleopatra, the Leander gave her one of the maindeck guns ; when, after a slight hesitation, the newly-made French frigate hauled down her colours and hove to.
Those of the Cleopatra's original crew, that had been left on board, now came on deck and took possession of their recovered ship. Observing this, the Leander directed them to follow her, and immediately made sail after the Ville-de-Milan. In another hour the British 50 got alongside of the French frigate ; and the Ville-de-Milan, without waiting for the discharge of a shot on either side, surrendered to the Leander. " It is not possible, " says Captain Talbot in his official letter, "for officers to speak in stronger terms than the French officers do, in praise of Sir Robert Laurie's perseverance in so long a chase, except it is in the, praise they bestow upon him, his officers, seamen, and marines, for their gallant conduct during so long and severe are action. " These sentiments, no less than the candid avowal of them, reflect the highest honour upon those by whom they were uttered. Captors of every nation may here take a lesson, and learn how much they exalt themselves by a promptitude in doing justice to the merits of an enemy.
Excerted from Naval history of Great Britain
by
William James
Vol. iV
1805 Light Squadrons and Single Ships pg. 128
On the 16th of February, at daybreak, in latitude 28° north, longitude 67° west, the British 12-pounder 32-gun frigate Cleopatra, Captain Sir Robert Laurie, Bart., saw a ship in the south-east, standing to the east-north-east, with the wind at north-west, and immediately went in chase of her. At 11 A.M. the stranger was discovered to be a large frigate, with 15 ports of a side on the main deck. The Cleopatra, whose force was that of her class, † with the exception that four of her nines had been exchanged for ten 24-pounder carronades, making her guns in all 38, cleared for action, and hoisted American colours, to induce the stranger to bring to. Instead, however, of doing so, the latter made more sail. She was the French 40-gun frigate Ville-de-Milan, Captain Jeane-Marie Renaud, armed with 46 guns, eight more long 8-pounders than the establishment, ‡ no carronades apparently, and her two aftmost maindeck guns left at Martinique ; from which island she was 19 days, with despatches for France, and with express orders not to speak any thing during the passage.
Under these circumstances, a trial of speed was alone to determine, whether or not there should follow a trial of strength. Each ship spread all the canvass she could set, and night left the two frigates still in chase. At daybreak, on the 17th, they were only about four miles apart. The British frigate continued to gain upon the French frigate ; and, at 10 h. 30 m. A.M., the Ville-de-Milan took in her studding sails, and hauled more up. The Cleopatra, as soon as she approached within three quarters of a mile, did the same. At 11 h. 30 m. A.M. the Ville-de-Milan hauled up her mainsail and kept more off the wind ; but, upon the Cleopatra's steering to close with her upon her quarter, the Ville-de-Milan again set her mainsail and staysails, in the hope to gain the wind of her adversary, that being her own best point of sailing. Each ship now hoisted her colours ; and, the Ville-de-Milan seeming to draw rather ahead, the Cleopatra, when at the distance of about half gun-shot, fired her bow-chasers. An occasional well-directed fire in return from the stern-chasers of the Ville-de-Milan obliged the Cleopatra to steer more upon the latter's quarter ; a course which, although it prolonged the chase, became necessary, in order to avoid being raked by what were now discovered to be heavy shot.
At 2 h. 30 m. P.M., latitude at noon 29° 24' north, longitude 64° 20' west, just as the Cleopatra had got within 100 yards of the Ville-de-Milan, the latter luffed close to the wind, and gave her two broadsides. The former, as soon as she had approached to half the distance, returned the compliment, and a warm action ensued ; both ships trimming sails, and steering, sometimes close to the wind, and at other times about three points free, in which latter case the Cleopatra had considerably the advantage. At about 5 P.M., having shot away the Ville-de-Milan's maintopsail yard, the Cleopatra forged ahead, and this although the mizen topsail was squared and both jib-stay and halliards gone. Having neither fore nor main clue-garnets left by which to haul up the courses, her running rigging being cut to pieces so as to render it impossible to shorten or to back her sails, the main and the spring stay being shot away, and the mainmast supported only by the storm stay-sail-stay, the Cleopatra prepared to cross her opponent's bow, so that by luffing up she might rake the Milan, in preference to exposing her stern to the latter's powerful broadside. Just as the Cleopatra was in the act of attempting this manoeuvre, a shot struck the wheel, and the broken spokes, becoming jammed against the deck, rendered the rudder, already choked by splinters, totally immovable.
Availing herself of this ungovernable state of her antagonist, and of her own windward position, the Ville-de-Milan bore up and gave the Cleopatra her stem ; running her head and bowsprit over the latter's quarterdeck, just abaft the main rigging. Covered by a heavy fire of musketry, the French crew now attempted to board, but were repulsed. A continued stream of musketry from the Ville-de-Milan's forecastle and tops soon cleared the Cleopatra's decks; and all the resistance the latter could offer in return was by two maindeck guns, which, as their shot passed in a line with the Milan's lower deck, did very little injury. In this dilemma, with her principal sails shivering, or partly aback, and a ship more than a third larger pressing upon her with all the accumulated force of a strong wind and heavy sea, the Cleopatra attempted to hoist the foretopmast staysail and set the sprit-sail ; but the fire from the French musketry, and from the swivels in the enemy's tops, was too destructive to admit of its being done. At length, at about 5 h. 15 m. P.M., the Ville-de-Milan boarded and took possession of her shattered and defenceless antagonist. Almost immediately afterwards till Cleopatra's fore and main masts went over the side, her bowsprit soon followed ; and she lay almost in a foundering state under the bows of the Ville-de-Milan.
Being 10 able seamen short of her complement, the Cleopatra mustered at quarters, including one supernumerary lieutenant, only 200 men and boys and several of these were so sick as to be of very little service. Of this comparatively small crew the Cleopatra had 16 seamen, three marines, and one boy killed, her first and second lieutenants (William Balfour and James Crooke) ; one acting lieutenant (Charles Mitchell), one supernumerary lieutenant (William Bowen), one lieutenant of marines (Thomas Appleton), her master (John Bell), boatswain (John McCarthy), one midshipman (Robert Standly), 23 seamen, and seven marines (two of the latter mortally) wounded : total, 22 killed and dead of wounds, and 36 wounded.
The loss on board the Ville-de-Milan, out of a crew, as deposed to by her officers, of 350, although admitted to have been severe, has not been enumerated. The last shot fired by the Cleopatra killed Captain Renaud ; and a previous shot had badly wounded the frigate's second in command, M. Guillet. The surviving crew of the Ville-de-Milan, after the action had ceased, amounted to 340, including the wounded. This would give 10 as the number killed, which is perhaps near the amount. As a proof that the Cleopatra's shot had done considerable execution on board the Ville-de-Milan, the latter's main and mizen masts went over the side in the course of the night succeeding the action.
COMPARATIVE FORCE OF THE COMBATANTS
Cleopatra
Broadside Guns = 19; lbs = 282
Crew No. = 200
Size in tons = 689
Ville-De-Millan
Broadside Guns = 23; lbs = 340
Crew No. = 350
Size in tons = 1097
Had it not been for the carronades of the Cleopatra, more than a twofold disparity in weight of metal would here have been exhibited ; and, in crew and size, the relative proportion still stands nearly as seven to four. Moreover the Cleopatra's was quite a young ship's company, many of the men being under 20 years of age ; and of the marines, three only had joined that corps more than two weeks before they embarked in the summer of 1804.
A less ardent mind than Sir Robert Laurie's might have suggested some reasons, and those of a substantial kind, for not persisting to bring to action a ship so decidedly superior. It will not take a particle from the gallantry displayed upon this occasion, to suppose that the mere circumstance of a ship, of such apparent force as the Milan, flying from the Cleopatra, ended greatly to augment the confidence of the officers and crew of the latter. But it was not only a 32 hours' chase, a more than three hours engagement, close engagement, followed. Nor did the Cleopatra yield until a fourth of her crew lay dead or disabled upon her decks ; until her sails and rigging were destroyed, her masts left tottering, and her riddled hull pressed upon, and nearly borne beneath the waves by, the large and heavy body of her antagonist.
Having disengaged his prize, placed on board of her his first : lieutenant and 49 petty officers and men, shifted the prisoners, and partially refitted the two ships, Capitaine de frégate Piérre Guillet, the late first lieutenant of the Ville-de-Milan, slowly continued his route towards a French port. On the 23d, at noon, the British 50-gun ship Leander, Captain John Talbot, obtained a distant view of the Cleopatra, bearing south, the weather at this time being hazy, with squalls of wind and rain from the northward. The Leander instantly made sail, but, the haze increasing, lost sight of the chase. At 2 h. 30 m. P.M., the weather clearing a little to the southward, the Cleopatra again presented herself to view, and was now made out to be a frigate, under jury-masts, standing to the south-east. At 3 P.M. another and a much larger ship, also under jury-masts and steering the same course, was seen a short distance ahead of the Cleopatra. In about a quarter of an hour the two frigates closed for mutual support. Each then fired a gun to leeward, and hoisted a French ensign at her main stay. At 4 P.M. the Leander arrived within gun-shot. The two frigates immediately separated, the Cleopatra putting before the wind, the Milan steering with it on the larboard quarter. At 4 h. 30 m. P.M., being within half musketshot of the Cleopatra, the Leander gave her one of the maindeck guns ; when, after a slight hesitation, the newly-made French frigate hauled down her colours and hove to.
Those of the Cleopatra's original crew, that had been left on board, now came on deck and took possession of their recovered ship. Observing this, the Leander directed them to follow her, and immediately made sail after the Ville-de-Milan. In another hour the British 50 got alongside of the French frigate ; and the Ville-de-Milan, without waiting for the discharge of a shot on either side, surrendered to the Leander. " It is not possible, " says Captain Talbot in his official letter, "for officers to speak in stronger terms than the French officers do, in praise of Sir Robert Laurie's perseverance in so long a chase, except it is in the, praise they bestow upon him, his officers, seamen, and marines, for their gallant conduct during so long and severe are action. " These sentiments, no less than the candid avowal of them, reflect the highest honour upon those by whom they were uttered. Captors of every nation may here take a lesson, and learn how much they exalt themselves by a promptitude in doing justice to the merits of an enemy.
Excerted from Naval history of Great Britain
by
William James
Vol. iV
1805 Light Squadrons and Single Ships pg. 128