HMS Bream (1807)

HMS ''Bream'' was a British Royal Navy ''Ballahoo''-class schooner of four 12-pounder carronades and a crew of 20. The prime contractor for the vessel was Goodrich & Co., in Bermuda, and she was launched in 1807. ''Bream'' operated primarily in North American waters and had an uneventful career until the War of 1812. She then captured two small American privateers and assisted in the recovery of a third, much larger one. She also captured a number of small prizes before she was sold or broken up in 1816.

Napoleonic Wars

She was commissioned in March 1807 under Lieutenant Augustus Vere Drury at Halifax, Nova Scotia. In April Sub-Lieutenant George Gover Miall, the commander of the schooner ''Chebuctoo'', was ordered to act as Lieutenant-Commander of the ''Bream''. Miall sailed ''Bream'' to the Leeward Islands. While ''Bream'' was in the Chesapeake Bay a mutiny broke out that Lieutenant Bartholomew George Smith Day helped suppress. Miall removed to ''Duguay Trouin'' on 15 June 1809.

On 15 July 1809, Lieutenant Henry Dilkes Byng took command, serving in ''Bream'' until October when Sir John Borlase Warren appointed him to command ''Goree'', then in Halifax. He was confirmed in the command on 12 December. His replacement, in January 1810, was Lieutenant Robert Heriot Barclay. On 17 August 1810 her commander became (acting) Lieutenant John Simpson. Before Simpson could take command, Lieutenant Pollard assumed command for a short while. While he was captain of ''Bream'', Pollard left Halifax in August, arriving in Bermuda on 10 September. ''Bream'' brought with her the mails for Bermuda that the packet ship ''Diana'' had brought from Falmouth.

While in ''Bream'', Simpson carried specie to St. John's, Newfoundland and was frozen up at Louisburg, Cape Breton, which materially harmed his health. On 14 November 1811 Simpson was promoted to Lieutenant.

War of 1812

''Bream''s first duty in the war was the return of the two remaining seamen taken from USS ''Chesapeake'' in 1807. The British government did this as a conciliatory measure, but ''Bream'', under Simpson's command, returned the men to the US Navy at Boston on 11 July 1812, nearly a month after war had already broken out between the two nations.

On 24 July, sighted three vessels off Cape Sable and gave chase to one, a schooner. When ''Colibri'' got close she exchanged signals with the schooner, which turned to be ''Bream''. ''Colibri'' then chased and took two other vessels, which turned out to be an American privateer and a bark, her prize. The privateer was the ''Catherine''; eight days out of Boston; she had taken only the bark. ''Catherine'', under the command of Francis A. Burnham, was pierced for 16 guns but mounted 14 long six-pounder guns and had a crew of 88 men. She had suffered one man killed and one wounded before she surrendered. Her casualties were low as the crew had taken refuge below decks.

On 9 August ''Bream'' captured the American 3-gun privateer sloop ''Pythagoras'' and her crew of 35, under the command of Cyrus Libby. The capture took place off Shelburne and took 20 minutes, during which the American suffered two men wounded. The Vice admiralty court in Halifax, Nova Scotia, condemned ''Pythagoras'', of 42 tons (bm), Cyrus Libby, master, sailing from Saco, Maine.

In October Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren dispatched and ''Bream'' to rescue the crew and offload the money aboard the frigate , which had been wrecked on Sable Island. They arrived on 10 October and retrieved both crew (only one of whom had drowned), and the specie. Whilst carrying this out, ''Shannon'' encountered and subsequently captured an enemy privateer that she took back to Halifax with her. In October 1812 Simpson volunteered, with his whole crew, and joined , under Captain Hassard Stackpoole, to cruise with her. However, Simpson returned to Britain as an invalid in 1813.

Lieutenant Constantine Brown replaced Simpson at Halifax. From late 1812 to 1813 ''Bream'' served in the Bay of Fundy as part of a small squadron under the command of Captain Alexander Gordon in . In November 1812, ''Bream'' and the privateer ''Brunswicker'' of Saint John, New Brunswick, chased four American privateers from Passamaquoddy Bay. ''Brunswicker''s replacement was the sloop ''Hunter''. She and ''Bream'' cruised down the Bay of Fundy on 16 December.

Brown's replacement was Lieutenant Charles Hare. Under Hare's command ''Bream'' engaged in a successful campaign of ''guerre de course'' against American shipping on the Maine coast. Typical of the prizes made was the capture made on 23 April, when ''Bream'' captured the 85-ton (burthen) sloop ''Semiramis'' on her way to Boston from Portsmouth river. Most of these captures were made off the Kennebec River in the general vicinity of Monhegan Island, but occasional forays further south were made. On 19 May, ''Rattler'', with ''Bream's'' assistance, captured the American 18-gun privateer ''Alexander'' off Kenebank (Kennebunk, Maine). ''Rattler'' drove ''Alexander'', which was returning to Salem after a 10-week cruise, on shore. She had had a crew of 127 under her master, B. Crowninshield, but only 70 were still aboard when ''Rattler'' captured her. The rest of the crew escaped though several drowned as they swam from her. ''Bream'' helped ''Rattler'' get ''Alexander'' off. Her prize crew took ''Alexander'' into New Brunswick.

A week later, ''Bream'' captured the sloop ''Branch'', of 78 tons, from Boston, bound to Dear Island. (sic; Deer Isle, on the eastern side of Penobscot Bay). Most captures were unarmed cargo vessels, but on 9 June, ''Bream'' and Hare captured the American privateer ''Wasp''. The 40-ton ''Wasp'' had two 6-pounder guns and a crew of 33. Capturing her required an eight-hour running fight, including a fifty-minute battle at close quarters off Brier Island in the Bay of Fundy. ''Wasp'' had been out 18 days but had captured nothing. Despite the exchange of fire, the only casualty was one wounded American. Her captain placed the following advertisement in the Saint John, New Brunswick, ''Courier'' of 27 June:

A CARD - Lieut. Hare, Commander of H.M. Schooner ''Bream'', is respectfully requested to accept the sincere thanks of Captain Ernest A. Ervin, commander of the American privateer ''Wasp'', of Salem, for the very courteous, friendly and gentlemanlike treatment received while a prisoner on board, the deportment observed toward him being more like a friend and countryman than that of a declared enemy. - St. John, June 13, 1813.

The head money for ''Wasp'' was finally paid in November 1831.

On 12 July ''Bream'' took the schooner ''Jefferson'', of 99 tons, out of Boston. Two days later ''Bream'' captured the ''Triton'', of 122 tons, bound for Kennebeck from St. Thomas's. On the same day she captured the ''Betsey'', of 117 tons, from Tortola and bound for Portland.

On 21 or 24 September, the Canadian privateer ''Dart'' drove the American privateer ''Orange'', a chebacco boat of two guns and 11 men, on to Fox Island in Machias Bay on the coast of Maine. There the boats of ''Emulous'' and ''Bream'' destroyed her.Snider (1928), pp.83 & 93.

Hare's replacement was again Lieutenant Constantine Brown, who remained in command until 4 February 1814 when Lieutenant Thomas Beer took command in the Bay of Fundy, and served with her until he was placed on half-pay in September.

On 27 May, ''Bream'' captured the ''Pilgrim''.

Beer commanded ''Bream'' at the capture of Moose Island (Maine) in July, and was present at the attack on Baltimore on 13 September.

''Bream'' also shared in the prize money for the ship ''Abeona'' and the schooners ''Franklin'' and ''Saucy Jack'', which other ships had captured between 21 October and 6 November. Similarly ''Bream'' shared in the prize money for the schooner ''Mary'' and the goods from the transports ''Lloyd'' and ''Abeona'', captured in the Chesapeake between 29 November and 19 December.

''Bream'' was paid off in May 1815.

Fate

''Bream'' was sold or broken up in 1816 in Bermuda.

Notes

Citations

References

*Allen, Joseph (1850) ''The New Navy List and General Record of the Services of Officers of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines''. (London: Parker, Furnival and Parker).
*Dudley, William S. and Michael J. Crawford, eds. (1985) ''The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History, vol. 1: 1812'' (Washington: Naval Historical Center), 190–191.
*Gwyn, Julian (2003) ''Frigates and foremasts:the North American Squadron in Nova Scotia waters, 1745-1815''. (UBC Press).
*Hare, Charles (1848) ''Testimonials and Memorials of the Services of Lieut. Charles Hare, of the Royal Navy, 37 Years a Lieutenant''. (Saint John, NB: William L. Avery).
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*Naval Historical Center (US), (1985) ''The Naval War of 1812: a documentary history''.
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*Smith, Joshua M. (2011) ''Battle for the Bay: The War of 1812'' (Fredericton, NB: Goose Lane Editions).
*Snider, G.H.J. (1928) ''Under the Red Jack: Privateers of the Maritime Provinces of Canada in the War of 1812''. (London:Martin Hopkinson & Co.).
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External links

*Michael Phillips' ''Ships of the Old Navy'' - ''Emulous'' (1812)

*Michael Phillips' ''Ships of the Old Navy'' - ''Bream''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bream (1807)
1807 ships
Ballahoo-class schooners
War of 1812 ships of the United Kingdom
Ships built in Bermuda