HMS Monkey was a 12 gun Bloodhound class gun-brig, built under contract for the Royal Navy by the shipyard of John Nicholson in Rochester. His shipyard stood approximately on the site of Rochester gasworks, around the bend in the river towards the Royal Dockyard from where the Acorn Shipyard now stands. The Bloodhound Class was a group of ten brig-rigged gunboats designed by Sir John Henslow, Co-Surveyor of the Navy, of which HMS Monkey was the only one built in a Kent shipyard.
A gun-brig, or brig-rigged gunboat, was a small vessel intended for inshore and coastal patrol and shore bombardment duties. They were designed to carry the heaviest possible armament on the smallest possible hull. Not being ocean-going vessels, they were commanded by a Lieutenant-in-Command rather someone appointed to be their Master and Commander and he was usually the only commissioned officer aboard. In the day to day sailing and navigation of the vessel, the Lieutenant-in-Command was assisted by a Warrant Officer in the form of a Master's Mate and there were further Warrant Officers in the form of the Gunner and the Boatswain with a Surgeon's Mate appointed to look after the day-to-day healthcare of the crew. Two Midshipmen were also appointed to assist the Lieutenant in running the vessel day-to-day and the role of the Purser was combined with that of the Lieutenant-in-Command's Clerk, known as the Clerk in Charge.
HMS Monkey was launched into the River Medway on 11th May 1801 and was fitted out at the Royal Dockyard, Chatham. On completion, she was a vessel of 184 tons at full load, was 80ft long on the main deck and 23ft wide across the beam. She carried her guns on her main deck, out in the open and was armed with 10 18pdr carronades on her broadside with 2 18pdr long guns in the bow. She was manned by a crew of 50 officers and men. She went on to have a successful, though short career.
Bloodhound Class PlansSheer plan and lines:
Lower and Main Deck Plans, Inboard Profile and Plan:
In 1803, HMS Monkey was at the Nore, under Lieutenant Henry Weir. By June of that year, she had received a new commander, Lieutenant James Tillard and was employed cruising the coast between Orfordness and Yarmouth, protecting coastal shipping against attacks by enemy privateers. Between August and 10th September 1804, the vessel was dry-docked at Sheerness and on 17th September sailed from Sheerness to the Downs, off Deal in company with another gun-brig, HMS Rifleman of 12 guns.
By 1805, the country was in the grip of an invasion scare. Napoleon Bonaparte was in command of a French army camped around Boulogne preparing to invade Britain and this army needed boats to get across the English Channel. HMS Monkey was part of a squadron under the command of Captain Robert Honeyman in the 18pdr-armed 38 gun frigate HMS Leda tasked with intercepting and destroying or capturing any French coastal shipping. On 24th April 1805, HMS Leda sighted a force of 27 armed schyuts rounding Cap Gris Nes. A schyut is a kind of flat-bottomed river barge, propelled by either sail or oars of 80 - 100 tons fully loaded. HMS Monkey, in company with the rest of the squadron was ordered to intercept and destroy or capture the enemy vessels. The squadron tore into the enemy and HMS Monkey, along with HMS Starling and HMS Locust captured 8 from under the guns of the French shore batteries on Cap Gris Nes. The rest of the squadron accounted for another ten in addition to an unarmed transport ship.
HMS Monkey remained in the English Channel until 1808, when she was reassigned to the North Sea. By this time, HMS Monkey had received a new commander, Mr Thomas Fitzgerald. On 12th August 1809, HMS Monkey was escorting a convoy in the western Baltic Sea in company with the 16 gun ship-sloop HMS Lynx under Mr John Willoughby Marshall, Master and Commander. After leaving the convoy, the two vessels sighted a Danish lugger, to which they gave chase. The Danish vessel anchored in shallow water in company with two others off Rostock, in modern day Germany. The water was too shallow for HMS Lynx to follow, so Mr Marshall as the senior officer, ordered HMS Monkey to close and in company with the boats from HMS Lynx, cut the enemy vessels out. HMS Monkey and HMS Lynx's boats then picked their way through the channels towards the enemy. On the way in, HMS Monkey ran aground, but was refloated quickly and suffered no damage. The largest of the enemy luggers, a vessel called Captain Jassen, armed with 4 guns and 4 howitzers, opened fire on HMS Monkey. HMS Monkey then returned fire and the Danes cut their anchor cables to try to escape. The Danish vessels were then driven ashore by the strong on-shore wind. On going ashore, the Danish crews fled the scene. The vessels were refloated and brought out by the British crews the following day. On boarding the Captain Jassen, the British sailors discovered that the Danes had left a booby-trap, in the form of a large barrel of gunpowder by the fireplace on the vessel. In their haste to flee, they had forgotten to light the fuse. Commander Marshall wrote in his report that he considered the behaviour of the Danes 'disgraceful' in leaving the booby-trap.
The Action of 12th August 1809. HMS Lynx in the foreground engages the enemy, HMS Monkey's topsails can be seen through the smoke ahead of her:
After that, HMS Monkey was sent to patrol the French Coast in the Bay of Biscay as part of a small squadron under the command of Captain Lucius Ferdinand Hardyman in the 18pdr-armed, ex-French frigate HMS Armide of 38 guns. On 4th May 1810, HMS Monkey's boats, together with those from HMS Armide, the gun-brig HMS Daring (12) and the brig-sloop HMS Cadmus (10), were sent on another cutting-out raid, this time on a convoy of 17 French supply vessels anchored off the Ile de Re. Despite coming under strong fire from French shore batteries, the boats succeeded in capturing and burning 13 of the enemy vessels and forcing the rest ashore.
On Christmas Day 1810, HMS Monkey was wrecked off Belle Isle. After the end of the war, her surviving officers and men faced the customary Court Martial for the loss of their vessel, held aboard HMS Gladiator (44) in Portsmouth Harbour on 25th May 1814. The Court Martial heard that in the nine days before the wreck, HMS Monkey had endured a severe gale and heavy seas and had been unable to determine their position. On the night of 25th December 1810, the vessel was flung by the waves between two large rocks and went aground. With the vessel stuck fast, Lieutenant Fitzgerald decided to swim ashore to summon help, but on jumping overboard, became trapped by his legs between the hull and the rocks. From his shrieks, it became clear that both his legs were badly broken. When the waves moved the vessel and freed him, he was swept away and presumably drowned.
As a post-script, on 12th January 1811, the French brig La Vandesigeur sailed into Plymouth with a prize-crew from HMS Monkey. On 16th January 1811, the French brig Rose also sailed into Plymouth with a prize crew from HMS Monkey aboard.
