HMS ''Primrose'' was a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

built by Thomas Nickells (or Nicholls), at

Fowey Fowey ( ; , meaning ''beech trees'') is a port town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town has been in existence since well before the Norman invasion, ...

and launched in 1807.

Service history

''Primrose'' was built at

by Thomas Nickells (or Nicholls), and was launched in 1807. She was commissioned in November 1807 under Commander James Mein, who sailed her to the coast of Spain on 3 February 1808. On 14 May 1808 ''Primrose'' was in the

Tagus The Tagus ( ; ; ) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales between Cuenca and Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally westward, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon. Name T ...

with the 14-gun brig . They saw and chased two merchant

felucca A felucca is a traditional wooden sailing boat with a single sail used in the Mediterranean, including around Malta and Tunisia. However, in Egypt, Iraq and Sudan (particularly along the Nile and in the Sudanese protected areas of the Red Sea), ...

s that took shelter under the protection of a shore battery. On 18 May the British decided to try to cut the feluccas out nonetheless, with ''Rapid'' leading the way. However, fire from the battery struck ''Rapid'', opening two holes in her bow so that she filled quickly with water. Still, that evening ''Primrose'' was able to save ''Rapid's'' entire crew. In January 1809 ''Primrose'' sailed for Spain with a convoy. During a snowstorm she ran aground at 5 am on 22 January on Minstrel Rock,

The Manacles The Manacles (, meaning ''church stones'') () are a set of treacherous rocks off The Lizard peninsula in Cornwall. The rocks are rich in marine wildlife and they are a popular spot for diving due to the many shipwrecks. Traditionally pronounced ...

, a mile offshore, and was wrecked. (The Manacles are a set of treacherous rocks off

The Lizard The Lizard () is a peninsula in southern Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The southernmost point of the British mainland is near Lizard Point at SW 701115; The Lizard, also known as Lizard village, is the most southerly region on the ...

, close to the shipping lane into

Falmouth, Cornwall Falmouth ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Falmouth was founded in 1613 by the Killigrew family on a site near the existing Pendennis Castle. It developed as a po ...

.) The sole survivor was a drummer boy. Lieut. J. Withers of the Manacles Signal Post prevailed on six local men to try to rescue survivors. For their efforts, albeit unsuccessful, the Admiralty directed that the volunteers each receive an award of 10

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 ...

from the Naval authorities at Falmouth. On the same night another vessel was also wrecked, nearby on Black Head, a few miles to the south. She was the transport ''Dispatch'', homeward-bound from Corunna, with a detachment of the

7th Hussars The 7th Queen's Own Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first formed in 1689. It saw service for three centuries, including the First World War and the Second World War. The regiment survived the immediate post-war reduction in ...

, who had been fighting with Sir John Moore. The Hussars lost 104 men in the wrecking. Only seven men from ''Dispatch'' were saved.

Postscript

Inland, a mile from the coast is

St Keverne St Keverne () is a civil parishes in England, civil parish and village on The Lizard in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. In addition to the parish, an electoral ward exists called ''St Keverne and Meneage''. This stretches to the western Liz ...

, where a 32-pounder

carronade A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and was used from the last quarter of the 18th century to the mid-19th cen ...

that divers recovered in 1978 from the wreck of ''Primose'' stands by the lych-gate to the churchyard. The Charlestown Shipwreck Centre, Cornwall, has a small (90mm bore and 125 kg weight overall) brass boat gun from ''Primrose''. The curators have determined that it was cast in a Danish foundry.

Citations

References

* * * * * * (story based on the wreck of the Primrose) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Primrose (1807) 1807 ships Brig-sloops of the Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloops Maritime incidents in 1809 Cornish shipwrecks