HMS Cordelia was an unrated, ten-gun, brig-rigged Sloop-of-War of the Cherokee Class built under Navy Board contract by John King at his shipyard at Upnor. She was one of five such vessels agreed with the Navy Board under a contract signed on 31st December 1807.
John King was the second son of Thomas King, who owned a successful shipbuilding and ship repair business located on Beach Street in Dover. The shipyard at Upnor was purchased by Thomas King for his son in lieu of a settlement from his will. John King was no stranger to Upnor, having previously worked as Storekeeper at His Majesty's Storehouse there between 1788 and 1795. Thomas King retired in 1789 and handed the Dover shipyard to his eldest son, Thomas Jones King but in 1802, Thomas King junior had suffered some kind of illness or injury which forced his early retirement and the Dover shipyard was left to John King to also manage. John King stopped building ships at Upnor in 1816, presumably because orders for vessels for the Royal Navy dried up after the end of the French Wars in 1815. Thomas King died in 1815 and Thomas Jones King in 1818. The Dover shipyard was sold to James Duke in 1816. It's not clear what happened to the Upnor shipyard after John King's death, but by 1843, William Burgess Little was building sailing barges there.
The Cherokee Class were the most numerous class of warship ordered by any navy at any time in the age of the wooden sailing ship, with 115 vessels being ordered in three batches between 1807 and 1826. Of all the vessels ordered, only 104 were actually built. The Cherokee Class gained an unfortunate reputation and were known as 'Coffin Brigs' on account of the fact that of all the vessels built, fully a quarter of them foundered or were wrecked. Flush-decked with a low freeboard, their main deck was frequently flooded in heavy weather and the high loss rate is now put down to their being too small for the global deployments they were often sent on. The most famous member of the class was HMS Beagle, in which a young Charles Darwin sailed and the observations he made were eventually to lead to his writing and publishing 'On the Origin of Species'; the theory of evolution by natural selection. For this voyage, HMS Beagle was refitted with a raised forecastle and quarterdeck to improve her seakeeping and a Three-masted Barque rig, with square sails on the fore and main masts only.
Sloops-of-war like HMS Cordelia tended to be commanded by an officer in the position of 'Master and Commander', abbreviated to 'Commander'. '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 first keel section of what was to become HMS Cordelia was laid at Upnor in May of 1808 and the vessel was launched, hull fully completed on 26th July 1808. She was immediately taken the half-mile or so upstream to the great Royal Dockyard at Chatham where she was fitted with her guns, her two masts, rigging, sails and was loaded with her stores. HMS Cordelia commissioned into the North Sea Fleet with Mr Thomas Fortescue Kennedy as her Master and Commander during fitting-out during September of 1808 and was declared complete on the 17th November.
Thomas Fortescue Kennedy had become famous during the Battle of Trafalgar as the First Lieutenant of the 98-gun Second Rate ship of the line HMS Temeraire, known after the battle as The Fighting Temeraire. It had been the then-Lieutenant Kennedy who had led the charge onto the decks of the French ship Fougueux and had captured that ship. For his actions during the Battle, he had been recommended for a command of his own, but it was to be almost three years before such a command appointment became available. HMS Cordelia was Mr Kennedy's first command appointment.
On completion, HMS Cordelia was a vessel of 237 tons, she was 90ft 2in long on her main deck and 73ft 7in long at the keel. 24ft 7in wide across her beam, she drew 6ft 5in of water at the bow and 9ft at the rudder. She was armed with 8 x 18pdr carronades on her broadside with 2 x 6pdr long guns in her bows. She also carried a dozen half-pounder swivel guns attached to her upper deck bulwarks and in her fighting tops. She was manned by a crew of 52 officers, seamen and boys.
Immediately on being appointed to command HMS Cordelia, Commander Kennedy set about recruiting his crew. A small Sloop of War like HMS Cordelia would have had two Lieutenants, appointed into the vessel by the Admiralty and ranked in order of seniority, First Lieutenant and Second Lieutenant. The First Lieutenant was the most important of these appointments. He was the second in command and controlled the day-to-day running of the vessel. A small Sloop of War like HMS Cordelia had two Midshipmen. These young men were in effect, commanders in training and were appointed into the vessel by the local commander-in-chief. Their role was to assist the Lieutenants in their day to day duties. In addition to appointed Midshipmen, HMS Cordelia may also have carried Midshipmen-in-Ordinary. These young men, also known as Quarterdeck Boys (even though as a flush-decked vessel, HMS Cordelia had no quarterdeck), were on the vessels books as Commander's servants and were paid the same rate as an Able Seaman. They were appointed by the Commander himself and were officers in training. The commander of a warship was entitled to four servants per hundred of her Company, so HMS Cordelia may have carried up to four, depending on how many servants the Commander actually required.
The senior Warrant Officers were appointed into HMS Cordelia by the Navy Board and these were:
The Sailing Master - He was in charge of the day to day sailing and navigation of the vessel as well as the stowage of stores in the hold to ensure the optimum trim and reported directly to the Commander. In a small Sloop of War like HMS Cordelia, he was assisted by a single Masters Mate. The vessel's steering was controlled by a single Quartermaster.
The Boatswain - He was in charge of the maintenance and repair of the vessels boats as well as the masts and rigging and reported to the First Lieutenant. The Boatswain was one of the vessel's Standing Officers, who would remain with her whether or not she was in commission. He was assisted by a single Boatswain's Mate. Amongst the duties of HMS Cordelia's sole Boatswains Mate was the administering of any floggings ordered by the Commander.
The Carpenter - A fully qualified shipwright, he was responsible for the maintenance and repair of the hull, frames and decks. He answered to the First Lieutenant and was one of HMS Cordelia's Standing Officers. He was assisted by a single Carpenters Mate.
The Gunner - He was in charge of maintenance and repairs to the vessel's main guns, the training of the gun crews, the distribution in action of gunpowder and shot and training any Midshipmen-in-Ordinary in the arts of gunnery. He was assisted by a single Gunners Mate. He reported to the First Lieutenant and was one of the Standing Officers.
The Purser - He answered to the Commander and was responsible for the purchase and distribution of all HMS Cordelia's stores and supplies. He was another of HMS Cordelia's Standing Officers.
The Surgeon - He answered to the Commander and was responsible for the healthcare of the crew. He was assisted by a single Assistant Surgeon, who himself was a part-qualified Surgeon.
These Warrant Officers were appointed into HMS Cordelia by the Navy Board. The following, lesser Warrant Officers were appointed by the Commander having first applied for the posts and presented their credentials.
The Armourer - Answerable to the Gunner, he was responsible for the maintenance and repair of the vessels stocks of small arms and bladed weapons. A qualified Blacksmith, he could also manufacture new bladed weapons and fabricate metal parts of the vessel as and where required.
The Caulker - Answerable to the Carpenter, he was responsible for ensuring that the hull and decks remained watertight.
The Sailmaker - Answerable to the Boatswain, he was responsible for the maintenance and repair of the vessels sails as well as the storage of spare sails and the vessel's stock of flags.
From 1801, Sloops of War were required to embark a small contingent of Marines and HMS Cordelia was no exception. HMS Cordelia's complement of Marines would have consisted of a Sergeant in command, assisted by a Corporal, with 13 Marine Privates. These men came aboard as a pre-existing unit.
Cherokee Class PlansLower and Main Deck Plans and Inboard Profile and Plan:
Framing Plan:
Sheer Plan and Lines:
A replica of HMS Beagle under construction and in frames at the Nao Victoria Museum in Punta Arenas, Chile, in March 2013. The truck gives scale:
Approaching completion in February 2016. Note the raised quarterdeck and forecastle. HMS Cordelia would have been without these features:
By 1808, the British were aware that the French were intending to use the great port of Antwerp at the mouth of the River Scheldt as a naval base. The French had occupied what is now The Netherlands and Belgium and the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte had installed his younger brother Louis as King of Holland. He had forced Louis to cede to France the port of Flushing as the harbour at Antwerp was not deep enough to accomodate a fully loaded French 80-gun Ship of the Line. This gave the French mastery of the entire mouth of the Scheldt and the natural harbour this provides could hold a fleet of 20 ships of the line in perfect safety. By 1809, the French had already stationed a fleet of ten 74-gun ships in the Scheldt. In addition to this, the various shipyards at Antwerp had a total of 19 slipways, all of which were being used for the construction of ships for the French navy. Of particular concern for the British was the fact that six 80-gun ships, each of which had the equivalent firepower to a British 98-gun Second Rate ship and three 74-gun ships were at various stages of construction at Antwerp. Since 1805, the French had been turning the port of Antwep into a naval depot and had spent some 66 million francs on extending the fortifications, basin, dockyard and arsenal there.
In the spring of 1809, the British had decided to do something about this new threat and had begun to prepare a massive amphibious expedition to destroy the arsenal, dockyard, fortifications and enemy ships at Antwerp, Flushing and Terneuse. If possible, they were also to render the Scheldt impassable for large ships. In order to achieve this, the British planned to occupy the islands of Cadzand, Walcheren and Zuid-Beveland. They spent the early summer of 1809 gathering an immense invasion fleet at the Downs, the great fleet anchorage between Deal and the Goodwin Sands. The fleet comprised no less than 39 ships of the line, three 44-gun two-decked ships, 23 frigates, a post-ship, 31 sloops-of-war including HMS Cordelia, five bomb-vessels, 23 gun-brigs and 120 hired armed cutters, revenue cutters, tenders and gun-boats. In addition to 245 warships of various sizes, there were 400 transport vessels carrying 44,000 soldiers including some 3,000 cavalry troops, 15,000 horses, two complete seige trains with heavy artillery and mortars as well as lighter field artillery. HMS Cordelia was assigned to a division of the fleet under the command of Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Goodwin Keats.
The naval force was to be commanded by the Commander-in-Chief in the North Sea, Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Strachan. He was a popular and famous officer, affectionately known to the seamen as 'Mad Dick' on account of his uncontrollable temper and violent cursing when things went wrong. Sir Richard Strachan was the 6th Baronet Strachan and was the last Chief of the ancient Scottish Clan Strachan. The army was to be commanded by General Sir John Pitt, the Second Earl of Chatham and eldest son of William Pitt the Elder, the First Earl and former Prime Minister and he was also the older brother of William Pitt the Younger, himself a Prime Minister.
On the 28th July 1809, this mighty armada left the Downs and headed for the Scheldt Estuary. The Commander-in-Chief in HMS Venerable (74) anchored in West-Kapelle Road in the evening of July 28th, and there found the frigate HMS Fisgard (18pdr, 38). HMS Fisgard and her crew had already stationed small craft as marks on some of the neighbouring sandbanks. In the course of the night, the Eoompot channel, between Noordland and Walcheren, was sounded, and marks were placed to show its entrance. On the 29th, a large flotilla of transports, having on board General Sir John Hope's division of troops, anchored between Noord Beveland and Schouwen, opposite Zierikzee and a few hours later, the transports with General Sir Eyre Coote's division, 17,000 strong, also arrived, in charge of Rear-Admiral William Albany Otway. Coote's troops were destined exclusively for operations against Walcheren, and should have been landed straight away, but bad weather prevented any landing being attempted until 16:30. On the 30th, under covering fire from the hired armed cutter Idas (10) and under direction of Captains Lord Amelius Beauclerk of HMS Royal Oak and George Cockburn, of HMS Belle Isle (both of 74 guns) Coote's division after very light opposition, established itself on the northern extremity of Walcheren. In the evening, some bombs and gunboats entered the Veere Gat, or creek, and on the 31st, opened fire on the fortified town of Veere, one of the chief places in the island but towards nightfall, after three gunboats had been sunk by Dutch shot, the flotilla had to withdraw without having suffered any casualties. Middelburg, the capital of the island had in the meantime, peacefully surrendered and Veere had been captured. In addition a naval brigade, landed on the 30th, under Captain Charles Richardson of HMS Caesar (80) and Commander George William Blarney of the brig-sloop HMS Harpy (32pdr carronade-armed, 18) had bombarded the town of Veere with guns and Congreve rockets. During the night the Dutch commandant offered to surrender, so on August 1st Veere surrendered. The army then advanced. Fort Eammekens fell on August 3rd, and immediately afterwards, the British laid seige to Flushing. Sir John Hope's division, under the conduct of Rear Admiral Keats' division, had been already landed without opposition on Zuid Beveland, and had occupied some posts there, including Fort Bath, at the eastern end of the island.
On July 29th, as soon as he had been apprised of the approach of the British fleet, the French Rear-Admiral Missiessy, whose force had been lying at anchor off the Calot Sand, had weighed anchor and proceeded up the Scheldt. By the evening of the 30th, six of his ten ships of the line were above a boom which had been thrown across the river at Lillo. The other four remained below Fort Bath until a few hours before the British occupied it, and so obtained control, to some extent, both of the East and of the West Scheldt. So far, one division of the British army had landed on Walcheren, and another on Zuid Beveland. A third should, according to the original plans, have been almost simultaneously landed at Cadzand, where the French General Rousseau commanded a small force. Owing to a miscommunication, the transport vessels which ought to have put their troops ashore at Cadzand moved round to the Veere Gat. This error enabled Rousseau, on August 1st and 2nd, to send over about 1600 men in schuyts to reinforce the threatened garrison of Flushing. But on the 3rd, his efforts to send more were frustrated by the brave actions of the brig-sloop HMS Raven (24pdr carronade-armed, 16) HMS Raven, under the orders of Captain Rich-Owen of the frigate HMS Clyde (18pdr, 38) stood in to cover some boats which under Lieutenant Charles Burrough Strong had been ordered to mark the channel between Flushing and Breskens. She quickly became exposed to heavy fire from the batteries of both places but, instead of withdrawing, she returned fire, and assisted by some gunboats, drove back to the Cadzand side a flotilla of enemy's boats which had been in the act of crossing. As she returned down the river, she passed through a hail of shells, grapeshot and red-hot shot from the batteries on both shores, and lost her main and fore topmasts, besides receiving other serious damage, having two of her guns dismounted, and drifting on to the Elboog sand, whence she could not be moved until the following morning. In this action, HMS Raven suffered eight wounded including her commander. Sadly, their bravery was to no avail, on August 4th, the French reopened communications between Cadzand and Flushing and between that day and the evening of the 6th, General Rousseau succeeded in sending across about 1500 more men, a reinforcement which brought up the strength of the Flushing garrison to about seven thousand.
Possession of Fort Rammekens allowed the British to use the Sloe channel, which is one of the connections between the East and the West Scheldt and facilitated the passage into West Scheldt of the flotilla which had been operating against Veere. Part of this was destined to watch the river opposite Flushing, and to prevent further communications between Cadzand and Ter Neuze; and part to proceed up the West Scheldt, and to co-operate in a naval advance in the direction of Lillo but owing to the bad weather and the difficulties of navigating the River, Flushing was not effectively blockaded until the 6th. It wasn't until the 9th that a division of ships under Sir Home Riggs Popham was able to push up the West Scheldt in order to sound and buoy the Baerlandt Channel in preparation for the passage of the larger ships. On the afternoon of August 11th, with a light westerly breeze that a squadron of ten frigates under Lord William Stuart, weighed anchor from below Flushing and in a line of battle, forced the channel between the batteries of Flushing and Cadzand. The frigates were:
HMS Lavinia, HMS Statira, the ex-Danish ships HMS Rota and HMS Perlen (all 18pdr, 38), HMS Amethyst, HMS Aigle, HMS Euryalus, HMS Dryad and the ex-Danish HMS Nymphen (all 18pdr, 36) and HMS Heroine (12pdr, 36).
As a result of the light wind and strong opposing current, the frigates were under fire for about two hours, but only suffered casualties of two killed and nine wounded and except for HMS Aigle, they reached the upper part of the river without having suffered any material damage. HMS Aigle had had her stern frame shattered by a shell. In the meantime an attack on Fort Bath by Missiessy's small craft had been repulsed and Sir Richard Goodwin Keats, who was in command below Lillo had forced the French to move the rest of their ships of theline to a point above the boom which spanned the river at that spot.
It had been arranged that when the siege batteries of the army opened fire on Flushing, a squadron of ships of the line would move up the river and support them. The bombardment began at 13:30 on August 13th and the army gunners were supported by two divisions of bomb vessels and gunboats under the command of Captain George Cockburn, of HMS Belle Isle (74), who commanded the operation from the 6pdr-armed ship-sloop HMS Plover of 18 guns. On that day the light winds prevented the ships of the line from moving to the attack, but at 10:00 on the 14th, the following ships, all of 74 guns, weighed anchor from off Dijkshoek and stood in:
HMS San Domingo, HMS Blake, HMS Repulse, HMS Victorious, the ex-Danish HMS Danmark, HMS Audacious and HMS Venerable.
Soon after approaching near enough to open fire, HMS San Domingo and then HMS Blake, which had attempted to pass inside of her, grounded on the Dog-sand. At this point, the other ships were signalled to haul off and anchor. The two ships got off after about three hours under fire and anchored with the rest having suffered casualties of two killed and eighteen wounded. The remaining ships of the line including HMS Repulse had nobody hurt. At 16:00, the garrison of Flushing ceased returning the British fire and at 14:00 on the 15th, the French commandant, General Mounet, offered to surrender.
A contemporary engraving of The Bombardment of Flushing:
Apart from the loss sustained by the ships of the line and the frigate squadron, the naval force suffered further casualties of 7 killed and 22 wounded aboard the bomb vessels and gunboats with 7 wounded in the naval brigade which served ashore under Captain Charles Richardson. The army, in the various operations on the island of Walcheren up to the surrender of Flushing, had 103 killed and 443 wounded. On the day of the surrender, HMS Imperieuse (18pdr, 38) exposed herself to the fire of the fort at Ter Neuze and returned fire with shrapnel shells from her carronades. One of these blew up the magazine of the battery and caused the deaths of 75 of the enemy. What losses the French sustained in Walcheren is unknown, but they were probably severe. On August 17th, the islands of Schouwen and Duijveland, northward of the East Scheldt, surrendered peacefully to Sir Richard Goodwin Keats and Lieutenant-General the Earl of Rosslyn.
From that point, the campaign collapsed. The Earl of Chatham, who moved his headquarters from Middelburg to Veere on the 21st, transferred them from there on the 23rd to Goes, on Zuid Beveland. He left 10,000 men in Walcheren to defend against the ever-increasing force of the enemy at Cadzand and he therefore had 29,000 men nominally available for the remaining objectives of the expedition, which were the taking of the strong forts at Lillo and Liefkenshoek and of the great fortress of Antwerp. At those places, and in Bergen-op-Zoom, there were discovered to be at least 35,000 French soldiers while from the 19th onwards, more and more British troops were falling ill with what was known as the 'Walcheren Fever', a form of Malaria. The Earl of Chatham was growing increasingly concerned by reports which reached him about the defences of Antwerp, which he had previously believed could be easily taken and of the seeming impossibility of destroying the docks and arsenal there without having first taken the citadel. He also learned that there was nothing to prevent the French ships of the line from moving with everything aboard, to Ruppelmonde, five miles beyond Antwerp or without their guns and stores, to Dendermonde, some 15 miles further up the river Scheldt. Realising the likelyhood of failure, he held a council of war on the 26th. This council declared in favour of abandoning the whole enterprise rather than of running any risk of utter failure. To this end, Zuid Beveland was evacuated immediately, and Walcheren in December of 1809, after the basin, arsenal, and sea-defences at Flushing had been blown up. Two small vessels on the stocks there were also destroyed but a 74-gun ship which was in frames was taken to pieces and the timbers later reassembled at Woolwich Royal Dockyard and completed as HMS Chatham (74). The only complete vessel taken was a new frigate, the Fidele, which was taken into the Royal Navy as HMS Laurel (18pdr, 38).
The last of the British troops leave Walcheren:
History now judges the whole expedition as having been mismanaged, ill-planned and ill-timed. Of the huge army landed on the islands in the mouth of the River Scheldt, particularly Walcheren, over 4,000 died from the so-called Walcheren Fever while another 6,000 were left suffering the long-term effects of Malaria. Only about 160 British soldiers were actually killed in the fighting. The Earl of Chatham saw to it that Sir Richard Strachan carried the blame for the failure of this, the largest British amphibious operation of the war and the Rear-Admiral received no more active service appointments as a result. The Earl of Chatham also had no further active service appointments and only went on to serve in purely ceremonial positions. A poem mocking him for the lack of communication between his headquarters and the Royal Navy forces there to support him became popular:
"The Earl of Chatham, with his sword drawn,
Stood waiting for Sir Richard Strachan;
Sir Richard, longing to be at 'em,
Stood waiting for the Earl of Chatham."
Despite being married, Sir John Pitt, the 2nd Earl of Chatham died without an heir on the 24th September 1835 and the Earldom of Chatham died with him. Sir Richard Strachan also died without an heir on 3rd February 1828 although he and his wife had three daughters. His Baronetcy became extinct upon his death.
After the failure of the Walcheren Campaign, HMS Cordelia began operating out of The Downs.
On the 13th December 1810, while patrolling in the North Sea, HMS Cordelia recaptured the brig Enterprize of Newcastle and the vessels commander and crew were paid salvage, which was shared by agreement with the officers and crew of the Sloop of War HMS Skylark of 16 guns. On the same day, HMS Skylark recaptured the Iris, for which HMS Cordelia and her crew received a share of the salvage money.
On 2nd February 1811, HMS Cordelia, once again in company with HMS Skylark, recaptured the vessel Atbill. This success was followed on 27th May when HMS Cordelia in company with her sister-brig HMS Beaver recaptured the transport ship Joseph. On the 2nd August, HMS Cordelia captured the armed galley Firm.
On 11th September 1812, HMS Cordelia was in company with her sister-brig HMS Bermuda, the 32pdr carronade-armed Brig Sloop HMS Echo of 18 guns, the 18pdr carronade-armed Topsail Cutter HMS Dwarf of ten guns, and the 12pdr carronade-armed Topsail Cutter HMS Pioneer of ten guns when the French privateer Le Bon Genie of 16 guns was taken by HMS Dwarf. All vessels present shared the prize money by agreement between their respective commanders.
On 22nd September 1812, HMS Cordelia recaptured the brig Betsey and Sally. This vessel had been bound from Cork to London and had been taken by a French privateer 14 miles east of Beachy Head. After her recapture by HMS Cordelia, she was taken into Dover. Two days later, the Robert and Sarah brig, also bound from Cork to London and also taken by a French privateer was sent into Dover.
Things continued in this vein for the rest of the war, with HMS Cordelia engaged in escorting convoys between the Downs and Portsmouth and patrolling in the English Channel. On 4th December 1813, Mr Kennedy was Posted and left the vessel. He was not to receive any appointments at his new rank until 1834. On 24th June that year, he was appointed to the post of Captain Superintendent at the Sheerness Royal Dockyard, where he was to be based on the ship on which he had become famous, HMS Temeraire. By this time, the Fighting Temeraire was little more than a hulk and in June of 1838, he received orders to prepare the ship for sale to the breakers. Captain Thomas Fortescue Kennedy died on 15th May 1846.
Mr Kennedy's replacement in HMS Cordelia was Mr Henry Tillieux Fraser whose previous appointment had been in the 32pdr carronade-armed brig sloop HMS Avon. Under Mr Fraser, HMS Cordelia continued as before.
On 11th April 1814, the Napoleonic War was ended by the Treaty of Fontainebleu. A month later, Mr Fraser was replaced in command of HMS Cordelia by Mr William Sargent. Mr Sargent was a native of Durham and had entered the Royal Navy via the merchant service. He had been appointed Lieutenant on 24th October 1799 and had been recommended for command on 4th December 1813. HMS Cordelia was his first sea-going command appointment.
Up to the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the British were dependent on the Barbary States of Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli and the Sultanate of Morocco for supplies to the Mediterranean Fleet and the garrison at Gibraltar. During the war, the British had turned a blind eye to acts of piracy and enslavement carried on by the rulers of those states. Piracy, particularly that encouraged and supported by the rulers of the Barbary States had been one of the driving forces behind the founding of the United States Navy in 1794 and the Americans had twice been to war against the Barbary States over the issue. The First Barbary War, fought against all four Barbary States between 1801 and 1805 had ended in an American victory, as had the Second Barbary War which was fought between June 17th and June 19th 1815. With the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the British were no longer prepared to turn a blind eye to these and Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, the Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean, was ordered to visit the Deys of Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli and attempt to negotiate an end to them. Pellew's diplomacy was successful with the Dey of Tunis and the Dey of Tripoli and they agreed to put a stop to piracy and the taking of slaves without resistance. The negotiations with the Dey of Algiers were more difficult.
Omar Agha, the Dey of the Regency of Algiers was determined not to be dictated to be anyone. The Treaty he signed with the Americans had been denounced within days of his signing it and he was determined not to be pushed around by the British either. The Final Act of the Congress of Vienna, which was intended to sort out all the territorial disputes which had caused centuries of wars in Europe included clauses obligating all the Great Powers in Europe to put an end to slavery. After intense and stormy negotiations, the Dey finally agreed to Pellew's demands on the 18th May 1816. Unfortunately, his agreement came after he had sent a party to raid the town of Bona, now known as Annaba, on the modern-day border between Algeria and Tunisia. On the 23rd May, Algerian pirates attacked Annaba and massacred 200 or so out of around 800 Sicilian coral fishermen who had come ashore to celebrate the Feast of the Ascension. The Dey had issued orders recalling the raid on the 18th, but they didn't catch up with the raiding party until after the massacre had occurred.
When news of the massacre reached the UK, it caused a storm of outrage. Sicily was at the time allied to Britain, who regarded Sicilians almost as honarary British citizens. With the war over, there was no longer a need for a standing fleet in the Mediterranean Sea and Sir Edward Pellew had returned to the UK, confident that his diplomatic mission had been successful. That changed when he was summoned to the Admiralty and was ordered to return to Algiers with a fleet and deal with the Dey of Algiers once and for all. He immediately proceeded to Portsmouth where he hoisted his command flag in the 104-gun, first rate ship of the line HMS Queen Charlotte. When Sir Edward Pellew left Spithead bound for Gibraltar, he had the following vessels under his command:
HMS Queen Charlotte (104 guns, fleet flagship), HMS Impregnable (98, flying the command flag of Rear-Admiral David Milne, Pellew's second in command), HMS Albion, HMS Minden and HMS Superb (all of 74 guns), HMS Leander (24pdr-armed, spar-decked heavy frigate of 50 guns), HMS Severn and HMS Glasgow (24pdr-armed heavy frigates of 44 guns), HMS Granicus and HMS Hebrus (both 18pdr-armed frigates, 36 guns), HMS Heron, HMS Mutine and HMS Prometheus (all 32pdr carronade-armed brig-sloops of 18 guns), HMS Cordelia and her sister-brig HMS Britomart, the bomb vessels HMS Beelzebub, HMS Fury, HMS Infernal and HMS Hecla.
When Pellew's force arrived at Gibraltar, they were joined by a Dutch force of five frigates consisting of the Amstel (18pdr, 46), Diana and Melampus (both ex-British, sold to the Dutch at the end of the war, both 18pdr-armed ships of 46 guns), Frederica (18pdr, 46) and Dageraad (18pdr, 46) together with the corvette Eendragt of 20 guns.
Unfavourable winds prevented the fleet's departure from Gibraltar until the 25th August 1816. When the weather did turn to his favour, Pellew ordered a captains conference aboard HMS Queen Charlotte, where he outlined his plan of action.
The Council of War on HMS Queen Charlotte by Nicolaas Bauer. HMS Queen Charlotte is the three-decked ship in the foregound while HMS Impregnable is ahead of her:
The fleet sailed later that day and arrived off Algiers and the ships took up their planned positions the following day, with the exception of HMS Impregnable, which had anchored about 400 yards short of where she should have been. HMS Granicus and HMS Heron were ordered to fill the gap created by the error. In negotiations initiated by Pellew in a last-ditch effort to avoid bloodshed, both parties agreed that they would not fire the first shot. The Dey however, planned to send a large number of men in boats to board the allied fleet. The Algerian boats headed towards Pellew's fleet, which had prepared for just such an eventuality. The Algerian discipline failed to hold and one of the Algerian boats opened fire. This gave Pellew the excuse he needed and at 15:15 on the 27th August 1816, the British and Dutch unleashed a storm of fire on the hapless Algerians, with guns, mortars and rockets.
The positions of the Anglo-Dutch fleet at the Bombardment of Algiers:
The bombardment had reduced the harbour and town of Algiers to rubble and smoking ruins by the time it stopped at 22:15. Twenty-eight of the 40 or so Algerian gunboats were destroyed, the rest of them beaching themselves to avoid being destroyed by the withering broadsides being spewed by the British vessels. By 16:15, the fortifications on the mole or harbour wall were destroyed and the Algerian guns silenced. The British then turned their guns on the shipping in the harbour, which was destroyed by about 19:30. HMS Impregnable bore the brunt of the Algerian fire and received the most damage and casualties. By the time the British weighed anchor and moved out of range, Pellew's fleet had fired over 50,000 rounds and used 118 tons of gunpowder. The bomb-vessels had fired almost a thousand explosive bombs into the town and harbour, doing immense damage.
The following day, Pellew sent a letter to the Dey of Algiers:
"Sir, for your atrocities at Bona on defenceless Christians, and your unbecoming disregard of the demands I made yesterday in the name of the Prince Regent of England, the fleet under my orders has given you a signal chastisement, by the total destruction of your navy, storehouse, and arsenal, with half your batteries.
As England does not war for the destruction of cities, I am unwilling to visit your personal cruelties upon the unoffending inhabitants of the country, and I therefore offer you the same terms of peace which I conveyed to you yesterday in my Sovereign's name. Without the acceptance of these terms, you can have no peace with England."The threat was a bluff, Pellew's force was almost out of ammunition, but it worked. The Dey of Algiers signed a Treaty on the 6th September 1816, the European slaves awaiting sale were freed and about £80,000 in ransom money, paid by the Kingdom of Sardinia, was repaid.
The Bombardment of Algiers by Thomas Luny:
After the Treaty was signed, Mr Sargent was appointed to command HMS Mutine and his place in command of HMS Cordelia was taken by Mr William Popham, previously Master and Commander in the Bomb Vessel HMS Hecla. He was tasked with returning HMS Cordelia to Sheerness, where she was to be paid off.
HMS Cordelia paid off into the Ordinary at Sheerness and was stripped of her guns, sails, running rigging and stores. She was to be manned by a skeleton crew of her Standing Officers and their servants, with a crew of six men rated at Able Seaman. The vessel was under the charge of the Master Attendant at Sheerness.
In April of 1820, HMS Cordelia was ordered to be moved upstream to Chatham and between then and April of 1821, she was in the Royal Dockyard undergoing repairs. After the repairs were completed, the vessel was laid up in the Chatham Ordinary, tobe manned by a skeleton crew as before.
HMS Cordelia was to remain in the Chatham Ordinary until November of 1826, when she was ordered to be fitted for sea. This was complete in April of 1827 and the following November, she recommissioned under Commander George William St. John Mildmay. She was tasked with patrolling off the west coast of Africa, based in Lisbon searching for pirates and slavers. In August of 1828, Commander Mildmay was replaced in command by Commander Courtnay Edmund William Boyle and he was to remain command for the rest of the commission. On 27th February 1830, HMS Cordelia paid off at Sheerness, but recommissioned the following month under Commander Charles Hotham.
Commander Hotham was tasked with recruiting a crew and taking his vessel to the Caribbean. She departed Portsmouth bound or Bermuda on 10th January 1831 and spent the next year or so patrolling the West Indies and the eastern seaboard of the United States, again searching for pirates and slavers.
In the summer of 1831, Commander Hotham received orders to take his vessel to the Mediterranean and on 26th June departed Halifax Nova Scotia bound for Madeira and thence to Malta via Marseilles. HMS Cordelia was to spend the next two years patrolling the Greek Islands and the Levant, again searching for pirates and escorting convoys.
On 15th October 1833, HMS Cordelia arrived at Portsmouth and received orders to proceed to Chatham, where she was to be paid off. On 23rd November 1833, HMS Cordelia was sold at Chatham for £400.
