Vengeance (letter Of Marque)

HMS ''Telegraph'' was built in 1812 in New York as the American letter of marque ''Vengeance''. The Royal Navy captured her in 1813 and took her into service as the 14-gun schooner or gunbrig ''Telegraph''. Over a period of only about two years she took numerous small prizes and caused the destruction of a French 16-gun brig. A gale caused the wrecking of ''Telegraph'' in 1817.

Capture of ''Vengeance''

On 1 January 1813, the 36-gun fifth-rate 18-pounder frigate captured ''Vengeance''. ''Vengeance'' was an American letter of marquee schooner of 180 tons and a 15-man crew that had been sailing from New York to Bordeaux with a cargo of cotton, coffee, sugar and indigo. ''Vengeance'' arrived in Plymouth on 8 January. She was closely followed by ''Hunter'', Judathau Upton, master, an American privateer schooner that ''Phoebe'' had also captured. ''Hunter'' had been armed with 14 guns but she thrown 12 overboard during the chase. She had a crew of 73 men.

Prize taking

Lieutenant Timothy Scriven commissioned ''Telegraph'' at Plymouth. In British service ''Telegraph'' was armed with twelve 12-pounder carronades and had a crew of 60 men.

On 12 August 1813 she captured the American schooner ''Ellen & Emeline'' after a chase of 44 hours that brought the vessels to within 10 miles of Santander. ''Ellen & Emeline'' carried a cargo of silk for New York and was armed with a single 12-pounder gun on a pivot. She was only three hours out of Nantes when ''Telegraph'' first sighted her. Then on 23 August ''Telegraph'' detained and sent in the American schooner ''Allen & Adelaide'', Booth, master, also from Nantes.

On 12 September ''Telegraph'' cut out of Bordeaux four small French vessels:
*lugger ''Gustave'', of 82 tons, from Bordeaux, bound for Nantes;
*chasse maree ''Unis Amis'', of 54 tons, from Bordeaux, bound to Nantes;
*lugger ''Precieux'', of 94 tons, from Bordeaux, bound to Nantes; and
*chasse maree ''Dunoire'', of 68 tons, from Bordeaux, bound to Brest. On 18 September ''Telegraph'' arrived at Falmouth with her four French prizes, laden with brandy, wine, and the like. She also destroyed the chasse maree ''Martha''.

Ten days later she sailed with a convoy of transports for St. Sebastian. On 7 October, she arrived with dispatches for Sir George Collier in on the north coast of Spain.

''Telegraph'' vs ''Flibustier''

On 13 October 1813 ''Telegraph'' caused the destruction of the French 16-gun brig ''Flibustier'' (1810) in the mouth of the Adour. ''Flibustier'' had been in St Jean de Luz sheltering where shore batteries could protect her when she sought to escape because of the approach of Wellington's army. She started out during a "dark and stormy night", but ''Telegraph'' immediately pursued her. After an action lasting three-quarters of an hour, the French saw and coming up to join the engagement. ''Flibustier''s crew set her on fire and escaped ashore. Lieutenant Scriven sent boats to try to save her, but they were unsuccessful and she blew up. Papers found on board showed ''lieutenant de vaisseau'' Jean-Jacques-Léonore Daniel had been the commander. She had been armed with sixteen French 24-pounder carronades, two 9-pounder guns, a brass howitzer, and four brass 3-pounder guns. There had been 160 men on board and Scriven reported that from what he saw, the French losses must have been considerable; ''Telegraph'' had no casualties. ''Lloyd's List'' reported that when ''Flibustier'' blew up there were still 30 wounded men aboard. The same report gave her armament as sixteen 32-pounder carronades, two long 9-pounder guns, and four brass 4-pounder guns.''Lloyd's List'' № 4820.
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Scriven believed that ''Flibustier'' was bound for Santona to relieve the garrison there as her cargo consisted of treasure, arms, ammunition, and salt provisions. He also thought that some of the men who had been aboard her were officers and soldiers for the garrison.

Both armies witnessed the British victory, with the allied army giving three cheers. As a reward for his success Scriven received a promotion to Commander and ''Telegraph'' was re-rated as a sloop of war.

Prize taking again

''Telegraph'' took the French galiot ''Hercules'', of 134 tons and five men, bound from Oleron to Nantes on 29 December. The next day she took the French chasse-marée ''Felicitee'', of 60 tons and one man, bound from Bordeaux to Nantes. These may be the vessels described as the chasse-marée that on 4 January 1814 arrived in Plymouth, and the ketch that arrived in Falmouth, both prizes that ''Telegraph'' had taken.

On 27 February 1814 ''Telegraph'' captured the French chasse maree ''Clemence''. Then on 10 March she captured the French dogger (or galliot) ''North Star'' from Île de Ré, of 80 tons and five men, also bound for Nantes. The next day arrived in the Isles of Scilly towing a chasse-marée that ''Telegraph'' had taken. The ''North Star'' may have been the French galiot ''Neidsteerm'' that ''Telegraph'' had sent into Plymouth on 5 April.

''Telegraph'' then sailed to the Halifax station. On 3 November ''Telegraph'' captured and destroyed the sloop ''Alert'', of 25 tons and a crew of three. Three days later ''Telegraph'' was in company with and when they recaptured the brig ''Recovery''. The next day ''Telegraph'' captured the sloop ''Four Brothers'', of 20 tons and two men. That same day she destroyed the sloop ''John'', of two men and 30 tons and the schooner ''Ann'', of three men and 32 tons. Later that month ''Telegraph'' took the schooner ''Mary'' from Philadelphia for Havana and sent her to Bermuda. Bermuda then reported the arrivals of the brig ''Amy'', with flour from Philadelphia, prize to ''Telegraph'', and ''Mary'', prize to and ''Telegraph''. ''Telegraph'' had captured both on 25 November. ''Amy'' was of 84 tons and had a crew of eight. ''Mary'' was of 110 tons and had a crew of seven.

On 16 November 1814, ''Telegraph''s and ''Spencer''s boats ran the famous American privateer ''Syren'' ashore under Cape May, where her crew destroyed her. ''Syren'', a 7-gun schooner out of Baltimore and under the command of J.D. Daniels, had had a successful cruise in which she captured several prizes. One was ''Sir John Sherbooke''. Another had taken place on 12 July 1814 when ''Syren'' captured the Royal Navy's 4-gun schooner after a fight of 40 minutes with casualties on both sides.

The next month, on 11 December, ''Telegraph'' captured ''Rose''.

At the end of December, on the 28th, ''Telegraph'' captured ''Trim'', of four men and 40 tons. Then in the new year, on 12 January 1815, ''Telegraph'' captured ''Attempt'' of four men and 52 tons. Lastly, five days later, ''Telegraph'' captured the schooner ''William'', of eight men and 105 tons, near Cape Hatteras.

In September 1815 Lieutenant Richard Crossman took command of ''Telegraph''. In 1816 Lieutenant Jonathan Little replaced him. On 5 October, ''Telegraph'' seized the smuggling vessel ''Betsey'' and her cargo of spirits. The Collector of His Majesty's Excise, in Falmouth, also paid bounty-money for the three men who were on ''Betsey'' when ''Telegraph'' captured her.

Loss

During the night of 19–20 January 1817 ''Telegraph'' was anchored off the Eastern Hoe in Plymouth Sound. A gale came up that parted her cables and wrecked her on the point of Mount Batten, at the entrance of Catwater. The same gale caused the loss of . ''Telegraph''s only fatality was a seaman whom she crushed to death against her side. Several other men were injured. (Another report gives her losses as two dead out of her 50-man crew.) The court martial (on 28 January 1817), attributed the loss to short cables and insufficiently heavy anchors.

Post-script

On 31 December 1818 Parliament voted a grant to be distributed to all the vessels that had served under Admiral Lord Viscount Kieth in 1813 and 1814. ''Telegraph'' was among that number.

Notes

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Telegraph (1813)
1812 ships
Schooners of the Royal Navy
Maritime incidents in 1817
Vengeance
Captured ships
Ships built in New York (state)