HMS Satellite was an unrated, 16 gun, brig-rigged sloop of war of the Seagull Class, built under contract by Thomas Hills at his shipyard in Sandwich.
The Seagull Class were a group of 13 brig-sloops designed by William Rule, Co-Surveyor of the Navy, all of which were built under contract in private shipyards, three of them in Kent. The other Kent-built vessels of the class were the lead vessel, HMS Seagull and HMS Nightingale, both built by Thomas King and Son at Beach Street, Dover.
AT the time, the Royal Navy was having large numbers of brig-sloops built. They mostly carried a main armament of carronades, which required smaller gun crews than a long gun of the same calibre and that, combined with their two-masted sailing rig, meant that they only required a small crew. This was a godsend for the Royal Navy which was critically short of men. Their carronade-based armament gave them a very powerful short-range broadside and they could and did go toe-to-toe against much larger enemy frigates. Their weakness was that the short range of their carronades made them vulnerable to being picked off at range by the long guns fitted to enemy frigates and their two-masted sailing rig made them vulnerable to being crippled by damage aloft, which would enable the enemy to destroy them at leisure from long range or overwhelm their small crew with superior numbers and capture them. The term 'sloop-of-war' was used to classify an ocean-going warship which carried less than the 20 guns required for the vessel to be rated under the Royal Navy's rating system.
Brig sloops like HMS Satellite were usually flush decked; that is that they carried their guns on the main deck, out in the open. The officers and crew lived on the lower deck.
Sloops-of-war like HMS Satellite tended to be commanded by an officer in the position of 'Master and Commander', abbreviated to 'Commander'. It combined the positions of Commanding Officer and Sailing Master. 'Commander' wasn't a formal rank as it is today and an officer in such a position held a substantive rank of Lieutenant. That stated, the Master and Commander would receive a substantially higher salary than a Lieutenant and would also receive the lions share of any prize and head money earned by his vessel and crew. If he was successful, he would be 'Posted', or promoted to Captain and would either remain in command of the sloop or would be appointed to a rated vessel. If a war ended and the vessel was paid off, unless he was lucky and well-connected enough to receive another command appointment, the commander would revert to his substantive rank of Lieutenant and receive half-pay accordingly. Sloops-of-war therefore were generally commanded by ambitious, well-connected young men anxious to prove themselves.
The contract to build HMS Satellite was signed on 7th August 1805 and under that contract, Mr Hills was paid a sum in advance enabling him to buy the materials needed to build the vessel and hire the craftsmen who would do the work. The Navy Board would appoint an overseer into the shipyard to keep an eye on the project. His job would be to make sure the materials used were of sufficient quality, that the vessel was built to the specifications and that the workmanship was acceptable. The plans, once received by courier from the Navy Board's offices in London, were expanded into full size in chalk on Thomas Hills' mould loft floor and those drawings were used to make the moulds or templates, used by the sawyers and shipwrights to mark out, cut and steam the full-sized timbers into shape before assembly on the slipway. The first keel section was laid at Sandwich during September 1805. The navy Board would have paid Thomas Hills a further installment about halfway through the build, enabling him to hire further craftsmen such as painters, house carpenters to make and install the internal fixtures and caulkers to seal the hull. Private shipyards such as the one in Sandwich hired craftsmen for specific projects and once it was complete, unless the shipyard had a number of projects lined up, they would find themselves looking for work. This was offset by the fact that, especially for shipwrights, work in private shipyards was much better paid than that in the Royal Dockyards.
During March of 1806, HMS Satellite was launched, her hull complete, with all due ceremony and immediately after was towed to the Royal Dockyard at Sheerness to be fitted out. The vessel arrived at Sheerness on 23rd March 1806 and the first task for the men there was to dry-dock the vessel and subject her to a thorough inspection. Only once it was confirmed that the vessel had been built as specified and that the quality of the workmanship was acceptable would Thomas Hills be paid the final installment. This was especially true in the cse of HMS Satellite as she was the first vessel he had built for the Royal Navy and he had yet to gain a reputation as being a reliable and trustworthy contractor in the eyes of the Navy Board. HMS Satellite must have passed muster as Thomas Hills was to go on to build a further six vessels for the Royal Navy before the war ended and shipbuilding contracts for private shipyards dried up.
While HMS Satellite was in the dry dock at Sheerness, her lower hull was sheathed in copper. Once that was complete, she was refloated and moored in the Swale or the Inner Nore and was fitted with her guns, masts and rigging. While this was ongoing, the vessel was commissioned with Mr Harry Hopkins appointed as her Master and Commander. Finally, on 17th May 1806, HMS Satellite was declared to be complete and was assigned to the Downs, where the North Sea meets the English Channel.
On completion, HMS Satellite was a vessel of 288 tons. She was 93ft 2in long on the main deck, 76ft 3in long at the keel and was 26ft 8in wide across her beam. Her hold, below the lower deck, was 12ft deep. She was armed with 14 24pdr carronades on her broadside and 2 6pdr long guns in her bows. She also carried about a dozen half-pounder swivel guns attached to her main deck handrails and in her fighting tops. She was manned by a crew of 95 officers, men and boys.
Seagull Class plans:Main Deck, Lower Deck and Inboard Profile:
Sheer Plan, Lines, frames and detail of the transom:
A painting is of HMS Satellite's sister-brig HMS Sheldrake under full sail. Painted by Robert Salmon in 1811, this picture is in the collection of the Penobscot Maritime Museum, of Searsport, Maine. HMS Satellite was identical:
If you look at the plans above, you will see a small square port beside each of her gunports. These are for a sweep, or a large oar, used to work the vessel out of an anchorage or port in adverse winds or to give steerage way if the vessel was becalmed. Looking at the transom detail, you will see a gunport on each side. These were usually empty, but could be used for one of her long guns or carronades should the vessel ever become involved in a stern chase.
On 7th October 1806, HMS Satellite had her first success when she recaptured the ship Brothers, for which her officers and crew were paid salvage. On 21st August 1807, HMS Satellite captured the Danish ship Christianhaab for which her officers and crew were paid prize money.
On 15th November 1807, HMS Satellite sailed for the West Indies and remained in the Caribbean until 1810. During her time in the Caribbean, HMS Satellite was commanded firstly by Mr Edward Rushworth, then by Mr Robert Evans and then by Mr Henry Montresor, who returned to the UK in her. He was replaced by The Honourable Willoughby Bertie, the younger brother of the Earl of Abingdon and the vessel became part of the Channel Fleet.
On Monday 17th December 1810, HMS Satellite left the great fleet anchorage at Spithead to patrol off Le Hogue, on the Normandy coast.
On 1st January 1811, the following report was printed in the Morning Chronicle newspaper, published in London:
"
It is with sincere regret that we state the melancholy loss of His Majesty's sloop of war the Satellite, of 16 guns, commanded by the Hon. Willoughby Bertie, with all the crew. She sailed from Spithead on Monday the 17th instant to join the ships that were cruising off La Hogue. On the Wednesday following, at six o' clock in the evening, she was in company with the Vautour, Captain Lawless. It was then blowing very hard and in the course of the night, the gale increased excessively, blowing in the most tempestuous squalls. In one of these sudden gusts (which have been experienced, both at sea and on shore, in a most extraordinary degree this winter) she, it is supposed, upset, and every soul on board perished! The next morning, her boats, some spars &c. which were upon her deck, were picked up by the Vautour, but no other vestige of her has ever been seen. The following officers were on board on the 30th ult. when she was last mustered:
Captain Willoughby Bertie, Lieutenant R.S. Farquharson, Lieutenant Thomas Nichols, Richard Cornby, Surgeon, James Sampson, Purser, John Pearce, Master, R.S. Kempster, Masters Mate, John Henderson, Carpenter, Benjamin Brown, Gunner, George Prout, Boatswain, George Campbell, Clerk, A.G. Babbington and William Brooke, Midshipmen.
The Honourable Captain Bertie was son of the late and brother of the present, Earl of Abingdon. He married Miss Fisher, late of the Plymouth Theatre; and, what increases the distressing event of his death is, that Mrs Bertie (now in Portsmouth) expects daily to be confined. Captain Bertie was in his 29th year.
We have a partial consolation in learning, by a subsequent account, that Mr Richard Cornby, surgeon, Mr Babington, Mr Kempster and Mr Brook, Midshipmen, who were stated, as above, to have been on board the Satellite when she was last mustered and who, it was presumed, had perished in that unfortunate ship, are safe. The midshipmen had removed to the Danemark just before the Satellite sailed and the surgeon was on shore on leave".
The baby Mrs Bertie was carrying at the time of her husband's loss died in 1812 at the age of just two.
The wreck of HMS Satellite is located in the middle of the English Channel at a point halfway between the Isle of Wight and the Cherbourg Peninsula.
