HMS Hannibal (1786)

HMS ''Hannibal'' was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 15 April 1786, named after the Carthaginian general Hannibal. She is best known for having taken part in the Algeciras Campaign, and for having run aground during the First Battle of Algeciras on 5 July 1801, which resulted in her capture. She then served in the French Navy until she was broken up in 1824.

Early service

''Hannibal'' was commissioned in August 1787, under Captain Richard Boger.

In May 1790, ''Hannibal'' was recommissioned under Captain John Colpoys. She was recommissioned in August 1791, for service as a guardship at Plymouth. When war with France became increasing likely towards end of 1792, the guardships at the three naval seaports were ordered to rendezvous at Spithead. ''Hannibal'' and the other Plymouth-based ships left on 11 December and arrived at Spithead the next day. The guardships from the other ports took longer to arrive.

On 15 February 1793, she and left on a cruise during which at some point they pursued two French frigates. They captured a French merchant ship, ''Etoille du Matin'', on 23 February. They returned on 4 March. They then were fitted for service in the West Indies and on 24 March, left with the fleet under Rear-Admiral Sir Alan Gardner. ''Hannibal'' returned to Britain in early 1794, and underwent fitting at Plymouth from March to December.

Captain John Markham took command of ''Hannibal'' in August 1794. On 10 April 1795, Rear-Admiral Colpoys, while cruising with a squadron composed of five ships of the line and three frigates, chased three French frigates. got within gunshot of one of them and opened fire, at which the frigates took different courses. and ''Hannibal'' pursued two; the 32-gun fifth-rate frigate pursued and captured the 36-gun ''Gloire'' after an hour-long fight at the action of 10 April 1795. The next day ''Hannibal'' captured the 32-gun , but ''Fraternité'' escaped. ''Gentille'' lost eight men killed and fifteen wounded; ''Hannibal'' had four men wounded. The Royal Navy took into service.

Ten British warships, ''Hannibal'' being one of them, shared in the proceeds of the recapture of the on 28 March 1795, and the capture on 30 March, of the French privateer corvette ''Jean Bart''. (The Navy took ''Jean Bart'' into service as .)

On 14 May 1795, ''Hannibal'' sailed for Jamaica. On 21 October, while on the West Indies station, ''Hannibal'' captured the 8-gun French privateer schooner ''Grand Voltigeur''. Three days later she captured the 12-gun French privateer ''Convention''. On 13 November, she captured the French privateer ''Petit Tonnerre''. Markham left ''Hannibal'' in December.

His successor, in January 1796, was Captain T. Lewis. On 27 January 1796, ''Hannibal'' and captured the privateer ''Alerte''. ''Alerte'' was armed with 14 guns and ''Sampson'' was the actual captor.

Captain Robert Campbell assumed command in April 1798. Captain Edward Tyrrell Smith followed him in October, and remained in command until 1800, when Captain John Loring replaced him, only to pay ''Hannibal'' off later that year.

On 17 August 1798, she impressed six US citizens from the American sloop ''Lark'', one of whom later escaped.

Defeat and loss

Captain Solomon Ferris commissioned ''Hannibal'' in March 1801, and under his command she sailed from Spithead on 6 June 1801. She joined Rear-Admiral Sir James Saumarez in Cawsand Bay on 12 June, ready to sail for the Mediterranean.

On the morning of 6 July, Saumarez's squadron of six line-of-battle ships attacked French Admiral Linois's three line-of-battle ships and a frigate in Algeciras Bay. ''Hannibal'' was the last in and she anchored ahead of , Saumarez's flagship. From there she fired broadsides for about an hour. At about 10 o'clock Saumarez ordered ''Hannibal'' to cut her cables and move to support by engaging ''Formidable'', Linois's flagship. As ''Hannibal'' maneuvered, the variable winds pushed her into shoal water and she grounded. Still, from his immobile position, Ferris maintained fire on ''Formidable'' with those of his forward guns that could bear on her; the other guns fired at the town, batteries and gunboats. Saumarez sent boats from ''Caesar'' and to assist ''Hannibal'' but a shot demolished ''Caesar''s pinnace; Ferris then used one of his own cutters to send them back to ''Caesar''. At about 1:30pm the British ships withdrew to Gibraltar, leaving ''Hannibal'' immobile and unsupported.

Ferris consulted with his officers and decided that further resistance was pointless; ;the only way to save the lives of the remaining crew was for ''Hannibal'' to strike. By this point ''Hannibal''s fire had dwindled to almost nothing so Ferris ordered his men to shelter below decks. He then signaled capitulation by hoisting ''Hannibal''s ensign upside down. The battle had cost ''Hannibal'' 75 men killed, 62 wounded and six missing.

Commander George Dundas, deceived by a signal from ''Hannibal'', sent boats from to save ''Hannibal''s crew. The French detained the boats and their crews, including ''Calpe''s lieutenant, T. Sykes; after firing several broadsides at the enemy's shipping and batteries, ''Calpe'' returned to Gibraltar. The French and Spanish were unable to repair ''Hannibal'' quickly enough for her to take part in the eventual defeat of the Franco-Spanish squadron at the Second Battle of Algeciras several days later.

Sir James Saumarez then arranged to exchange the men from ''Saint Antoine'', which the British had captured in the second part of the battle, for the men from ''Hannibal'' and ''Calpe''. A court martial in in Portsmouth on 1 September, honourably acquitted Captain Ferris, his officers and crew for the loss of their ship.

French service

The French renamed ''Hannibal'' as ''Annibal''. In November 1801, convoyed the Straits fleet to Gibraltar, arriving there on 16 November. On the way they encountered dreadful weather in the Bay of Biscay. While ''Racoon'' was near Brest, she observed ''Hannibal'' and underway. Both former Royal Navy vessels were under jury-masts and French colours.''Naval Chronicle'', Vol. 7, p.89. Later, on 9 February 1802, ''Annibal'' (along with ''Intrépide'' and ''Formidable''), sailed from Cadiz for Toulon where she underwent a refit between March and June.

''Annibal'' then served in the French Navy until 1821, undergoing a further refit at Toulon during 1809. She was partly re-armed in 1806, with one pair of upper deck guns being removed, and sixteen 32-pounder carronades replacing ten of her 9-pounder guns. In May 1807, the 38-gun frigate encountered ''Annibal'', two frigates ( ''Pomone'' and ''Incorruptible''), and the corvette ''Victorieuse'' off Cabrera in the Mediterranean but escaped.

Fate

In January 1821, ''Annibal'' became a hulk at Toulon, and was broken up in 1824.

See also

* List of ships captured in the 19th century

Notes

Citations

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hannibal (1786)
Ships of the line of the Royal Navy
Culloden-class ships of the line
Ships of the line of the French Navy
1786 ships
Ships built by the Blackwall Yard
Captured ships
Napoleonic-era ships
Maritime incidents in 1801
Shipwrecks of Spain