HMS Espoir (1804)

HMS ''Espoir'' was a ''Cruizer''-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1804. She served during the Napoleonic Wars, primarily in the Mediterranean, and then briefly on the North American station. She was broken up in April 1821.

Career

Commander Joseph Edmonds commissioned ''Espoir'' in October 1804. On 22 June 1805 she recaptured ''Hannah''. ''Hannah'', of Greenock, had been returning to Britain when the privateer ''Alcide'', of Bordeaux, had captured her on 7 June. ''Hannah'' arrived at Plymouth on 9 July.

In the autumn of 1805 ''Espoir'' was part of Commodore Home Popham and General Sir David Baird's expedition to capture the Cape of Good Hope. The fleet sailed to Madeira and San Salvador. On 5 October Edmonds transferred to command and Home Popham transferred Lieutenant William King, first lieutenant on , to (acting) command of ''Espoir''.Marshall (1827), Supplement, Part 1, pp.253-254. The fleet reached Robben Island on 4 January 1806. On 5 January Home Popham used ''Espoir'' to conduct a reconnaissance of the coast to attempt to find an alternate landing place for the troops than Saldanha Bay. The reconnaissance was unfruitful and the next day ''Espoir'' supported the landing there. Commander Henry Hope replaced King later that month, with King assuming command of ''Diadem''.

Because ''Espoir'' was part of the squadron, she shared in the proceeds of the vessels the expedition captured, which included the French frigate ''Volontaire''. The Royal Navy took ''Volontaire'' into service under her existing name.

''Espoir'' returned to Britain and on 12 April captured the Prussian brig ''Charlotte Sophia''.

By June 1807 ''Espoir'' was in Britain, fitting out for the Mediterranean. She sailed for the Mediterranean on the 29th.

On 24 April 1808 Hope received a promotion to post captain. Two days later Admiral Lord Collingwood, Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean Fleet, appointed Lieutenant Henry Higgs, ''Espoir''s first lieutenant, as her captain (acting).Marshall (1835), Vol. 4, Part 2, pp.64-65.

In 1809 Commander Robert Mitford superseded Higgs. ''Espoir'' came under the command of Rear Admiral George Martin, who was in command of British naval forces on the Naples station.

On 26 May Milazzo Admiral Martin in , was gathering a fleet at Milazzo. The whole force, including ''Canopus'', , , , and ''Espoir'', together with transports and the like, some 133 vessels in all, sailed from there on 11 June to the coast of Calabria. On 15 June, , 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.Marshall (1827) Supplement, Part 1, pp.86-93.

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.

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. They were 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 force cost the French 37 vessels.

The next day ''Cyane'' and ''Espoir'' were in company when ''Cyane'' engaged the French 42-gun frigate (''Cérès''), the 28-gun corvette (''Fama''), and 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.) ''Cyane'' bore the entire brunt of the action, with ''Espoir'' too far away to assist.

''Espoir'' and were off Castiglone on 4 April 1810 when they observed three vessels being loaded on the beach. ''Success'' sent in two boats and ''Espoir'' sent in one, all three of which were swamped on a sunken reef about a musket-shot offshore. (Two seamen from ''Espoir'' drowned, and later a marine was killed.) Because the swamping had wet all their ammunition, the British swam to the beach with cutlasses in their mouths. There they drove off the enemy, who were firing on them with two long 6-pounders and four wall guns. The British spiked the guns, set fire to two vessels on the shore, and stove in the barrels holding their cargoes of oil. The landing party retrieved the swamped boats, with great difficulty, and returned aboard. In all five British sailors and marines died in the attack.

Within a few days, ''Espoir'' and ''Success'' destroyed two sloops, each of 60 tons, in the Bay of Naples. One, the ''Santa Rosa'', was carrying a cargo of grass rope; the other was carrying herring.

On 25 April 1810 , ''Success'' and ''Espoir'' discovered four square-rigged vessels and a number of feluccas anchored under a castle at Terracino. ''Espoir'' went in to take soundings before the frigates closed and commenced a cannonade. Then the boats of the squadron boarded and brought out a ship of six guns, whose crew defended her strongly, and three barks. British casualties consisted of one man killed and two wounded.Marshall (1829), Supplement, Part 3, p. 123.

In 1812 ''Espoir'' was part of a light squadron in the Archipelago. The squadron's objective was two-fold: maintain the then existing good relations between Great Britain and the Sublime Porte, and protect British commercial interests (trade) in the area.

Mitford received promotion to post captain on 31 March 1813, and Higgs again assumed the role of acting captain between 14 April and 7 July 1813. Commander the Honourable Sir Robert Cavendish Spencer then assumed command. Under Spencer ''Espoir'' participated in the attack on 8 August on Cassis. The attack resulted in the destruction of five shore batteries, and the capture of destruction of three gunboats and 25 merchant vessels.

On 18 August, a landing party from ''Espoir'', the frigate , and stormed shore batteries at Cassis and captured three pinnaces and 83 men.

On 19 January 1814 Spencer transferred to . Commander Robert Russell replaced Spencer. Commander Norwich Duff replaced Russell and under his command ''Espoir'' took part in operations against Washington, Baltimore, and New Orleans.

Between 21 and 26 August 1814, ''Espoir'' captured three American sloops (''Pilot'', ''Mary Ann'', and one with an indecipherable name) and two American schooners (''William'' and ''Hornet''). These captures occurred while ''Espoir'' participated in Admiral Alexander Cochrane's expedition in the Patuxent River, at Fort Washington, and Alexandria, between 22 and 29 August. ''Espoir'' shared in the proceeds of goods landed from transport ship ''Abeona'', surgeon's necessaries, schooners ''Franklin'' and ''Saucy Jack'', and flour, captured between 21 October and 6 November.

Fate

''Espoir'' was paid off in October 1816. She was broken up at Portsmouth in April 1821.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Espoir (1804)
1804 ships
Cruizer-class brig-sloops