HMS Cyane (1806)

HMS ''Cyane'' was a Royal Navy sixth-rate post ship of nominally 22 guns, built in 1806 at Topsham, near Exeter, England. She was ordered in January 1805 as HMS ''Columbine'' but renamed ''Cyane'' on 6 December of that year. ''Cyane'' had a distinguished career in British service that included the award in 1847 of a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal to any still surviving crew members of either of two actions. On 20 February 1815, she and engaged ; outgunned, both had to surrender. She then served as , including a stint on anti-slavery duties, until she was broken up in 1836.

Commissioning and early service

''Cyane'' was originally named ''Columbine'', but was renamed on 6 December 1805. She initially mounted 22 long 9-pounder cannon on her main deck and also eight 24-pounder carronades and two long 6-pounders on her quarter-deck and forecastle. Captain Thomas Staines commissioned her in March 1807. At his request the Navy Board exchanged her 9-pounders for 32-pounder carronades. Staines added a further two brass howitzers to her armament. The Board also increased her complement by twenty to 175 officers, men and boys.

In 1807, ''Cyane'' took part in the operations off Copenhagen in September 1807. After the Danish navy surrendered, ''Cyane'' participated in the blockade of Zealand. Then on 30 November she, , and several other British warships escorted a convoy of merchant vessels from Helsingborg back to Britain. On 8 December, ''Cyane'' was in company with , , and the hired armed cutter ''Resolution'' when they captured the Danish ketch ''Jeltzomine den Roske''.

Mediterranean service

On 23 February 1808, ''Cyane'' sailed for the Mediterranean. There her boats captured eight merchantmen before, on 22 May, she captured the letter of marque ''Medusa'' while cruising of Majorca. ''Medusa'' was armed with 12 guns and had a crew of 80 men. ''Medusa'' was the last Spanish ship that the British captured before Spain turned against Napoleon.

On 3 June 1808, Staines received a letter from the Captain-General of the Balearic Isles that the citizens of Mallorca had declared their allegiance to Ferdinand II and wished to begin talks with the British. Staines sailed to Palma where he received a most cordial welcome. Staines then notified Rear Admiral Thornbrough who sent Sir Francis Laforey in to negotiate with the Supreme Junta. ''Cyane'' spent the next ten months patrolling Spain's south coast to harass French shore batteries and shipping.

1809

''Cyane'' then transferred to the command of Rear Admiral George Martin, who was in command of British naval forces on the Naples station. On 8 May 1809, ''Cyane'' captured a bombard and drove another vessel ashore near Naples.

Two days later, ''Cyane'' and sank two gunboats that were escorting a French convoy at Terracina. Then, on 14 and 15 May, the two British vessels raided a depot near the promontory of Monte Circello, which itself is near the Pontine Marshes and Terracina. There they brought off as much wood as the two ships could carry. Whilst the ships were loading the timber, a sergeant, two corporals, and 20 privates came on board, deserters from the French Army.

Next, Staines captured three Martello towers, each mounting two heavy guns. On 17 May Staines personally came up on the inattentive garrison of the first tower and through an interpreter informed them that he had placed powder against the tower and that he would blow them up if they did not surrender. When the French soldiers made sounds suggesting they were preparing to resist, he fired a musket through the keyhole; the frightened garrison immediately surrendered. He then took the commander from that tower to another tower to persuade its garrison too to surrender. The garrison did surrender and Staines had both towers blown up. He then captured and destroyed a third tower, all without any casualties to ''Cyane''.

On 26 May ''Cyane'' arrived at Milazzo in north-west Sicily where she met up with Admiral Martin in , who was gathering a fleet. The whole force sailed from Milazzo. ''Canopus'', , , ''Cyane'', and , together with transports and the like, some 133 vessels in all, sailed on 11 June to the coast of Calabria. On 15 June, ''Alceste'', two Sicilian frigates, and some 90 or so transports from Palermo joined them. The aim of the expedition was to attack the islands of Ischia and Procida.

On 20 June ''Cyane'' sailed south with ''Espoir'' and 12 Sicilian gunboats to patrol between Procida and Cape Miseno. Their assignment was to intercept French reinforcements attempting to reach the islands.

Then on 24 June, ''Cyane'' began what turned out to be several days of action. First, she drove 12 gunboats, each armed with a 24-pounder gun, into the Bay of Pozzuoli. She also cut out from under different shore batteries two polacres, one carrying troops to reinforce Procida. The following morning the French 42-gun frigate ''Cérès'', the 28-gun corvette ''Fama'', and a division of gunboats attempted to come out of the bay and force their way to Naples. ''Cyane'' and consorts drove them back after an hour-long ineffectual exchange of fire.

At daylight on 26 June, the British spotted 47 enemy vessels and Martin sent ''Cyane'', ''Espoir'', and a flotilla of gunboats to block them from entering the harbour at Naples. The British Anglo-Sicilian force was able to capture 18 heavy gunboats, destroy four, and dispose of 15 other armed vessels, forcing the remainder to turn away. In all, ''Cyane'' and her Anglo-Sicilian allies cost the French 37 vessels.

However, during this action, shore batteries subjected ''Cyane'' to three hours of bombardment that not only put 23 large shot into her hull but cost her two men killed and seven wounded, one of them mortally. That afternoon, fifteen French soldiers at a battery on Point Mesino hoisted a flag of truce. They surrendered to boats from ''Cyane'', which then spiked their four 42-pounder guns and destroyed the carriages. The French deserters left with boats. That evening ''Cyane'' fired into the French vessels at anchor in Pozzuoli Bay.

On the morning of 27 June, ''Cyane'' came to be becalmed under another battery, this one of eight 42-pounder guns, two 10-inch mortars and two howitzers. After two hours of enduring their harassing fire, Staines was fed up and led a landing party that succeeded in spiking the guns and throwing the mortars into the sea, all without British casualties.

That evening, ''Cyane'' again engaged ''Cérès'', ''Fama'', and the French gunboats for one and a half hours before having to break off the fight as she was running out of powder and both ''Cyane'' and ''Cérès'' were getting too close to the mole at Naples. (''Fama'' took the opportunity to escape to Naples.)

Staines and his two lieutenants were wounded in the action, Staines losing his arm, and one of the lieutenants dying the following summer while at home. ''Cyane'' lost two killed, as well as 17 more men wounded; the French acknowledged losing 50 men killed and wounded. ''Cyane'' was so damaged by the three days of fighting that Admiral Lord Collingwood ordered her home for a refit. ''Cyane'' arrived back in Britain on 16 October.

Staines was knighted on 6 December. His Majesty Ferdinand the Fourth, King of the Two Sicilies, conferred on him the insignia of a Knight Commander of the Royal Sicilian Order of St. Ferdinand and of Merit. A group of leading citizens of the Isle of Thanet honoured Staines with a dinner at Margate and presented him with a sword. In 1847 all surviving members of the crew of ''Cyane'' that had served between 25 and 27 June received the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Cyane 25–27 June 1809".

In October 1809 Captain Valentine Collard replaced Staines.

1810

On 23 January 1810, ''Cyane'' sailed with convoy for South America. Collard's replacement in May was Captain Edward Pelham Brenton.

Francis Collier

Captain Francis Collier served as captain of ''Cyane'' from 3 September 1810 until February 1812. He served with her in the Mediterranean, the Channel and the West Indies.

In December 1810 Collier volunteered ''Cyane''s boats to assist those of in boarding and setting fire to the French frigate ''Elize'' which had run aground at Tatihou island while attempting to escape from La Hogue. Captain Charles Grant of ''Diana'' declined the assistance, preferring stealth over force. The British succeeded in boarding and setting fire to ''Elize'' without suffering any losses despite fire from shore batteries and nearby French brigs.

In early 1812, a seaman named Oakey struck Collier. The subsequent court martial sentenced Oakey to death. His plea for a stay of execution was denied, and every ship in port sent a boat of seamen to witness the hanging. Oakey came on deck with his arms tied behind him, attended by the Chaplain. However, after the sentence of the Court Martial had been read Captain Hall produced a letter from the Prince Regent that, at Collier's request, commuted Oakey's sentence to transportation. The reprieve stunned Oakey, who fell on his knees and wept.

Thomas Forrest

From May 1812, ''Cyane'' was under Captain Thomas Forrest, and on the Jamaica station. On 11 July she captured the French privateer ''Serene'', bound to New Orleans. In September she captured three American ships, for which he received ths of the value: ''Morningstar'' (8 September), ''Peru'' (15 September), and ''Whim'' (18 September). At the end of the month, on the 28th, ''Cyane'' was in company with , captured the American ship ''Hamilton'', ''Cyane'' received the portion due to the seizors of the value of the ''Del Carmen'', which ''Cyane'' seized at Jamaica on 24 October for a breach of the revenue laws.

On 27 January 1813 ''Cyane'' captured the American ship ''Sally''.

On 16 January 1814, ''Cyane'' was in company with the 74-gun third-rate ship of the line and her prize, the ex-French letter of marque brig , when ''Cyane'' spotted two 44-gun French frigates, and . ''Venerable'' joined her and after a chase that left ''Cyane'' far behind, captured ''Alcmène'' after losing two men dead and four wounded, while the French lost 32 dead and 50 wounded. ''Alcmène'' had a complement of 319 men under the command of Captain Ducrest de Villeneuve, who was wounded when he brought her alongside ''Venerable'' and attempted a boarding.''Naval Chronicle'', Vol. 31, pp.245–5.

''Jason'' and ''Cyane'' tracked ''Iphigénie'' and initially fired on her but broke off the engagement because they were outgunned. ''Cyane'' continued the chase for over three days until ''Venerable'' was able to rejoin the fight after having sailed 153 miles in the direction she believed that ''Iphigénie'' had taken. On 20 January 1814, after a 19-hour chase, or what amounted in all to a four-day chase ''Iphigénie'', ''Venerable'' captured the quarry, having again left ''Cyane'' behind. In the chase, ''Iphigénie'' cast off her anchors and threw her boats overboard in order to try to gain speed. She had a complement of 325 men, under the command of Captain Emerie. She apparently did not resist after ''Venerable'' came up. Before meeting up with the British ships, the two French vessels had taken some eight prizes.

The British took ''Alcmène'' into service as HMS ''Dunira'', later HMS ''Immortalite'', but as a receiving ship in Portsmouth and never commissioned. ''Iphigénie'' became HMS ''Palma'' and then HMS ''Gloire'', but she too was never commissioned. She was laid up in ordinary until sold in 1817. The action resulted in the award in 1847, to any surviving claimants, of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Cyane 16 Jany. 1814".

In 1814 Captain Gordon Falcon replaced Forrest. On 22 May ''Cyane'' and were in company when they recaptured the ''Aeolus''.

''Cyane'' vs. USS ''Constitution''

On 20 February 1815, ''Cyane'', under the command of Falcon, and the 20-gun ''Levant'', Captain the Honorable George Douglas, were about 100 miles east of Madeira. At about one o'clock in the afternoon ''Cyane'' tacked towards a strange vessel and challenged her. When she received no reply she assumed the other to be an American frigate, so made haste towards ''Levant''. The frigate was USS ''Constitution'', which had left Boston on 11 December 1814.

Off Cape Finisterre on 8 February 1815, Charles Stewart of ''Constitution'' had learned the Treaty of Ghent had been signed, but realized that before it was ratified, a state of war would still exist. (The U.S. Senate unanimously approved the treaty on 16 February 1815, and President James Madison exchanged ratification papers with a British diplomat in Washington on 17 February; the treaty was proclaimed on 18 February.)

Although he knew they were outgunned, Douglas decided to fight in the hope of disabling ''Constitution'' sufficiently to save two valuable convoys that had sailed from Gibraltar a few days back in company with the two British ships.

Just after 6 o'clock ''Cyane'' got on the port bow of ''Constitution'', while ''Levant'' got on the port quarter. ''Cyane'' and ''Levant'' exchanged a series of broadsides with ''Constitution'' for about half an hour, but Stewart soon outmaneuvered both of them. After ''Levant'' drew off for repairs, he concentrated fire on ''Cyane''. During this time, out of her crew of 145 men and 26 boys, ''Cyane'' had six killed and 13 wounded. She also took on five feet of water in her hold and had so much damage to her masts and rigging that she became unmanageable and had to soon strike her colors.

''Constitution''s second lieutenant came aboard ''Cyane'' as prize master, and ''Constitution'' left her to pursue ''Levant''. ''Levant'' returned to engage ''Constitution'', but once she saw that ''Cyane'' had been defeated she turned and attempted escape. ''Constitution'' soon overtook her, and after several more broadsides, she too struck her colors. Out of her 115 men and 16 boys, ''Levant'' had six seamen and marines killed and one officer and 14 seamen and marines wounded.

Stewart remained with his new prizes overnight while ordering repairs to all ships. ''Constitution'' had suffered little damage in the battle, though it was later discovered she had twelve 32-pound British cannonballs embedded in her hull, none of which had penetrated through. The Americans took their prisoners to St. Jago (Santiago) in the Cape Verde Islands and landed them there, but left in a hurry when British ships were reported.Abbot 1896, Volume II, Part II, Chapter XVI ''Cyane'' took one course and ''Levant'' took another.

Captain Sir George Collier in caught sight of them off Porto Praya and purchased by the navy, who renamed her USS ''Cyane''.

Before Collier could pursue ''Constitution'', news reached him that the ratification of the Treaty of Ghent had ended the war.

The subsequent court martial of Falcon, his officers and men for the loss of ''Cyane'' took place on board ''Akbar'' at Halifax on 28 June 1815. The board acquitted Falcon and the others as they had done their utmost against a much stronger enemy vessel. The court also praised the crew who, with the exception of three men, resisted the American attempts to "wean them from their allegiance, under circumstances of unprecedented severity exercised towards them."

American service

''Cyane'' cruised off the west coast of Africa from 1819 to 1820 and in the West Indies from 1820 to 1821 protecting the Liberian colony and suppressing piracy and the slave trade. In this regard she was a predecessor to the Africa Squadron and the West Indies Squadron. She cruised in the Mediterranean during 1824–1825, and on the Brazil Station during 1826–1827.

While she was off Africa under the command of Captain Edward Trenchard, on 5 April 1820, she saw seven vessels. She captured six; one escaped. The six were:
*schooner ''Dasher'', master Thomas Munro, Danish, of St. Eustatius;
*schooner ''Lorise'', master Francoine Sablon, of Matanzas;
*brig ''La Anita'', master A. D. Pedro Puche, of Matanzas;
*schooner ''Eliza'', master Constant Hastings, of Marinico;
*schooner ''Esperanza'', master Lewis Mumford, of Charleston, South Carolina; and
*schooner ''Endymion'', master Alexander M'Kim Andrews, of Baltimore.Anonymous (1824), p.33.

Andrews was a midshipman in the US Navy. Trenchard condemned ''Esperanza'' and ''Endymion'' as prizes as they were in contravention of the US laws forbidding American vessels to engage in the slave trade, but had to let the others go as he felt that he had insufficient grounds to seize them.

Later that month, Lieutenant Silas Horton Stringham of ''Cyane'', took one of the captured vessels, with Trenchard's permission, and captured ''Plattsburgh'' (alias ''Maria Getrudes'') and the slave schooner ''Science''. The capture of ''Plattsburgh'' gave rise to a US Supreme Court case, with the court finding in favor of her seizure as a slaver, despite a number of subterfuges. Trenchard put Stringham in charge of the four American slave schooners, which he sailed back to New York.

Several notable Americans served aboard ''Cyane''. In 1819 Matthew Calbraith Perry joined her and sailed with her to Liberia. In 1820 President James Monroe had the Secretary of the Navy order ''Cyane'', under the command of Perry, to convoy ''Elizabeth'' to Africa with the first contingent of freed slaves that the American Colonization Society was resettling there. Of the 86 black emigrants sailing on ''Elizabeth'', only about one-third were men; the rest were wives and children.

Captain Jesse Duncan Elliott took command of ''Cyane'' In March 1825 she received as her second lieutenant Uriah P. Levy, a Sephardic Jew who would rise to the rank of Commodore in the US Navy. While on ''Cyane'', Levy became very popular after saving the life of an American who had been impressed into the Brazilian Navy. Levy's courageous act so struck the Emperor of Brazil, Dom Pedro I, that he ordered that no U.S. citizen ever again be impressed into the Brazilian Navy. Pedro then offered Levy the rank of captain in the Imperial Brazilian Navy. Levy declined, stating, "I would rather serve as a cabin boy in the United States Navy than hold the rank of Admiral in any other service in the world."

Fate

''Cyane'' was laid up at the Philadelphia Navy Yard where she sank in 1835. She was raised and broken up the following year. Her captured ensign was on display at Mahan Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy, but was removed on 27 February 2018 for preservation.

Notes, citations, and references

Notes

Citations

References

* Anonymous (1824) ''A view of the present state of the African slave trade''. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. (William Brown).
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* Colledge, J.J. ''Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of All Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy From the Fifteenth Century to the Present.'' Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987. .
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* James, William & Frederick Chamier (1837) ''The naval history of Great Britain : from the declaration of war by France in 1793 to the accession of George IV''. (London: R. Bentley).
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External links

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* Phillips, Michael – ''Ships of the Old Navy'' – ''Cyane'' (1806

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cyane (1806)
1806 ships
Banterer-class post ships
Captured ships
War of 1812 ships of the United Kingdom
Ships built on the River Exe