The

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

purchased the Newcastle collier ''Ramillies'' in June 1804 and commissioned her as HMS ''Proselyte'' in September 1804, having converted her to a 28-gun

sixth rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a sixth-rate was the designation for small warships mounting between 20 and 28 carriage-mounted guns on a single deck, sometimes with smaller guns on the upper works an ...

in July and August. Between 1806 and 1808 she was converted to a

bomb vessel A bomb vessel, bomb ship, bomb ketch, or simply bomb was a type of wooden sailing naval ship. Its primary armament was not cannons (Naval long gun, long guns or carronades) – although bomb vessels carried a few cannons for self-defence – but ...

. She was crushed by ice and abandoned in 1808 at the island of Anholt while acting as a

lightvessel A lightvessel, or lightship, is a ship that acts as a lighthouse. It is used in waters that are too deep or otherwise unsuitable for lighthouse construction. Although some records exist of fire beacons being placed on ships in Roman times, the ...

Service

''Proselyte'' was commissioned under Captain

George Hardinge George Hardinge (1743–1816) was an English judge, writer and Member of Parliament. Life He was born on 22 June (new style) 1743 at Canbury, a manorhouse in Kingston upon Thames. He was the third but eldest surviving son of Nicholas Hardinge, ...

in September 1804. Captain George Sayer was appointed to command her in January 1805. On 9 January 1805 he sailed her for the West Indies, escorting a convoy of 150 merchant vessels and three regiments of infantry. The convoy reached

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

safely, having eluded the Rochefort squadron, under Rear-Admiral Allemand, who had found out about the convoy and was looking for it. Sayer moved to ''Galatea'' in July and Captain

John Woolcombe John Woolcombe (1680–1713) of Pitton in the parish of Yealmpton in Devon, was a Member of Parliament for Plymouth in Devon 1702–5, and served as Sheriff of Devon in 1711–12. He was the eldest son of John Woolcombe (d.1690) of Pitton by his ...

took command, sailing her back to Portsmouth in November. When ''Proselyte'' arrived at Portsmouth she was paid off into

ordinary Ordinary or The Ordinary often refer to: Music * ''Ordinary'' (EP) (2015), by South Korean group Beast * ''Ordinary'' (album) (2011), by Every Little Thing * "Ordinary" (Alex Warren song) (2025) * "Ordinary" (Two Door Cinema Club song) (2016 ...

. Between December 1806 and April 1808 the Navy converted her to a bomb vessel. She was recommissioned in February 1808 under the command of Captain Henry James Lyford and sailed to the Baltic. During the

Gunboat War The Gunboat War (, , Swedish: ''Kanonbåtskriget''; 1807–1814) was a naval conflict between Denmark–Norway and Great Britain supported by Sweden during the Napoleonic Wars. The war's name is derived from the Danish tactic of employing sm ...

on 2 October 1808 the Admiralty published a notice for mariners that it had ordered her to station herself off the island of

Anholt Anholt may refer to: Places *Anholt (Denmark), Danish island * Anholt, Netherlands, village in Drenthe, Netherlands *Anholt, Germany, district of the city of Isselburg, Germany **The Lordship of Anholt, historical state People *Christien Anholt ( ...

in the

Kattegat The Kattegat (; ; ) is a sea area bounded by the peninsula of Jutland in the west, the Danish straits islands of Denmark and the Baltic Sea to the south and the Swedish provinces of Bohuslän, Västergötland, Halland and Scania in Swede ...

to carry a light for the safety of passing convoys. (At the outbreak of the war the Danes had closed their lighthouse on Anholt.) ''Proselyte'' took up her station in early November.

Loss

''Proselyte'' was caught in the ice on 5 December 1808 and was wrecked at the outer end of the Anholt reef. The ice pushed her onto her starboard beam, forcing her crew to abandon her. They then walked, with great difficulty but no losses, to Anholt Island. ''Proselyte's'' loss led the British to send a squadron in May consisting of , , and some smaller vessels to seize Anholt and restore the lighthouse.

Citations

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Proselyte (1804) Bomb vessels of the Royal Navy Sixth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy 1804 ships Maritime incidents in 1808 Naval ships of the Gunboat War