''Antelope'' was a West Indian

packet ship Packet boats were medium-sized boats designed mainly for domestic mail and freight transport in European countries and in North American rivers and canals. Eventually including basic passenger accommodation, they were used extensively during t ...

launched in 1780. The French captured her in 1781, 1782, and finally, in 1794. She is most famous for a desperate

single-ship action A single-ship action is a naval engagement fought between two warships of opposing sides, excluding submarine engagements; it is called so because there is a single ship on each side. The following is a list of notable single-ship actions. Sing ...

in 1793 when her crew captured a better-armed French privateer with a much larger crew.

Career

The French first captured her in 1781, and then ransomed her. They then captured her again on 10 October 1782. They took her into

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

, from where Captain William Kempthorne re-purchased her on 4 April 1783, and took her under command. On 1 December 1793, ''Antelope'' was sailing without Captain Kempthorne, who had remained in Falmouth due to illness, and was off Cumberland Harbour, Cuba when she sighted two privateers. Obeying orders, ''Antelope'' headed back to port to avoid trouble, but the next day the wind failed and one of the privateers, ''Atlante'' (of eight 3-pounder guns), was able to come alongside and attack. ''Antelope'' was armed with six 3-pounder (1.4 kg) guns and manned by a crew of 21. ''Atlante'', a French privateer from

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

, had a crew of 65, consisting of Frenchmen, Irishmen, and Americans. During the battle, both of ''Antelope''s officers were killed or wounded. Before he fell, the master, Mr. Edward Curtis, turned the two bow guns, double shotted, to cover the bow, and fired them at the first boarding party, killing and wounding some 15 men; he fell shortly thereafter.Anon. (1895), pp.44-52. Command fell on Boatswain John Pascoe, who then led the crew in repelling the boarding parties. ''Antelope''s crew repeatedly threw back the privateers, and eventually cut their grapples. In their resistance, ''Antelope''s crew was aided by the fact that she was higher than the ''Atlante'', enabling the crew to fire down on the deck of the privateer while being protected. Not content with having repelled the attacks, Pascoe raced up the rigging, lashing the squaresail yard of ''Atlante'' to ''Antelope''s foreshrouds, and continued the battle until ''Atlante'' surrendered. ''Antelope'' lost 3 killed and 3 wounded, one mortally. The privateer lost her first captain mortally wounded and second captain wounded, 30 men killed in the action, and 17 wounded (three mortally); only 16 of her 65 men were unhurt. The victorious ''Antelope'' put into

Annotto Bay Annotto Bay is a town in the parish of Saint Mary in Jamaica. It was once an active port on the north side. This town was previously named ‘Guayguata’ by the Tainos, it is named from the abundance of the Annatto Annatto ( or ) is an oran ...

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

with her prize. It turned out that ''Atlante'' had been out of Charlestown a month, during which time she had taken one prize, a Bermudian brig. Jamaica's

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible g ...

voted a sum of 500

guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...

to the officers and men of ''Antelope''. Two hundred guineas went to the widow of Mr. Curtis, the late master. One hundred guineas each went to the first mate, who had been shot through the body during the engagement, and to Mr. Pascoe, the boatswain. The last hundred guineas was divided among the surviving members of the crew. In London, the Committee for Encouraging the Capture of French Privateers too passed out lavish rewards.Robinson (1964), p.71. Pascoe received 50

and a gold whistle; the crew, widows, and dependents received money. The

Postmaster General of the United Kingdom Postmaster General of the United Kingdom was a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabinet Minister of the Crown, ministerial position in Her Majesty's Government, HM Government. Aside from maintaining mail, the postal system, the Telegraph Act 1868 ...

, the Earl of Chesterfield too presented prizes but "stressed that this was an award made solely due to the lengthy defence and successful protection of the mail. He did not want to encourage crews to actively seek prize money or ships. Their duty was to the safe and swift delivery of the post."

Fate

On 19 August 1794, ''Antelope'' sailed for North America with thirty men. On 19 September 1794, she encountered a squadron of French

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

s in a dense fog. Her crew sank the mail and surrendered to ''Surveillante''. While a captive of the French, Captain Kempthorne died of yellow fever. ''Antelope''s assessed value when lost was £2750 16 s 8 d (plus £34 for her ordnance stores).

Notes

Citations

References

* Anonymous (1895) ''History of the post-office packet service between the years 1793-1815''. (Macmillan and Co.). * Campbell, John,

John Berkenhout John Berkenhout (8 July 1726 – 3 April 1791) was an English physician, naturalist and miscellaneous writer. He was educated as a physician at Edinburgh and Leyden. While at Edinburgh he published a botanical lexicon ''Clavis Anglicae Linguae ...

and

Henry Redhead Yorke Henry Redhead Yorke, in early life Henry Redhead (1772– 28 January 1813) was an English writer and radical publicist. Life Redhead was born and brought up in Barbuda, in the eastern Caribbean, to a mother who was a freed slave from Barbuda a ...

(1817) ''Lives of the British admirals: containing also a new and accurate naval history, from the earliest periods''. (C. J. Barrinton). * Cust, Edward (1859) ''Annals of the wars of the eighteenth century, compiled from the most authentic histories of the period: 1783-1795''. (Mitchell's Military Library). *Robinson, Howard (1964) ''Carrying British mails overseas''. (London : G. Allen & Unwin).

External links

His Majesty's packet ship ''Antelope'' - mention in Royal Gazette 25 May 1793
{{DEFAULTSORT:Antelope (1780 packet ship) Age of Sail ships of England 1780 ships Captured ships Age of Sail merchant ships Merchant ships of the United Kingdom Falmouth Packets