HMS Defender (1809)
{{short description|British gunboat (1809–1814)}}
{{other ships|HMS Defender}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2017}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=DEFENDER 1809 RMG J4832.jpg |Ship caption=Defender }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=France |Ship flag=File:Civil and Naval Ensign of France.svg |Ship name=Bon Marcel |Ship namesake= |Ship ordered= |Ship builder= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=1809{{sfnp|Demerliac|2003|p=247|loc=No.1786}} |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship captured=10 December 1809 |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship fate= |Ship honours= |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag=File:Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg |Ship name=HMS Defender |Ship ordered= |Ship builder= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= |Ship acquired=1809 by capture |Ship commissioned=January 1811 |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship honours= |Ship captured= |Ship fate=Sold 1814 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption={{sfnp|Winfield|2008|p=366}} |Ship class= |Ship tons burthen=139{{small|{{frac|23|94}}}} (bm) |Ship length=*{{convert|65|ft|0+1/2|in|m|1|abbr=on}} (overall
|Ship beam={{convert|17|ft|2+1/2|in|m|1|abbr=on}} |Ship draught= |Ship draft= |Ship hold depth={{convert|7|ft|4|in|m|1|abbr=on}} |Ship sail plan=Lugger |Ship propulsion=Sails |Ship complement=40 |Ship armament=8 × 12-pounder carronades |Ship notes= }} |
HMS Defender was the French privateer lugger Bon Marcel (Beau Marseilles in British records), that {{HMS|Royalist|1807|2}} captured in 1809. Defender served without distinction in Home Waters for slightly more than three years before being sold in 1814.
Career
Royalist captured Beau Marseille on 10 December 1809. She was armed with 14 guns, had a crew of 60 men and was three months old. Commander John Maxwell, captain of Royalist, described her as "a very beautiful vessel" and "one of the fastest sailers out of Boulogne."{{London Gazette|page=1974|issue=16323|date=9 December 1809}}{{efn|The prize's name was Bon Marcel, which the British misread as Beau Marseille or Bonne Marseille. She was a lugger commissioned at Boulogne in 1809, of 70 tons ("of load"), 120-ton displacement, 20.4-metre long (18.0 at the keel), 5.25 m beam and 2.44 m draft.{{sfnp|Demerliac|2003|p=247|loc=No.1786}}}}{{efn|Bon Marcel was one of six privateers that Maxwell captured between May 1809 and February 1810. For this productivity Maxwell received promotion to post-captain in June 1810.{{sfnp|Long|1895|p=174}} In 1847 the Admiralty rewarded the surviving claimants from Royalist the Naval General Service Medal'' with clasp "Royalist May & June 1810". Long points out that the dates given on the official list are wrong.}}
The Royal Navy took Bon Marcel into service as Defender. From 15 February to 16 March 1811 she underwent fitting out at Sheerness.{{sfnp|Winfield|2008|p=366}}
In January 1811 Lieutenant Moses Cannadey commissioned her for The Downs.{{sfnp|Winfield|2008|p=366}}{{efn|For several prior years Cannadey had served as the captain of the hired armed lugger Black Joke, which the French captured in the Mediterranean in 1810.}}
On 24 June 1813 Defender captured Hope.{{London Gazette|page=1140|issue=16903|date=31 May 1814}} Defender shared the prize money for Hoop with {{HMS|Decoy|1810|2}}.{{London Gazette|date=12 March 1814|issue=16866|page=546}}
Fate
Defender was offered for sale in August 1814.{{London Gazette|page=1684|issue=16927|date=20 August 1814}} She was sold at Chatham for £280 on 1 September 1814.{{sfnp|Winfield|2008|p=366}}
Notes
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Citations
{{reflist|30em}}
References
- {{Cite Colledge2006}}
- {{cite book|title=La Marine du Consulat et du Premier Empire: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1800 A 1815|last=Demerliac|first=Alain|year=2003|publisher=Éditions Ancre|isbn=2-903179-30-1|language=French}}
- {{cite web | last=Long | first=William H. | title=Medals of the British navy and how they were won : with a list of those officers, who for their gallant conduct were granted honorary swords and plate by the Committee of the Patriotic Fund | publisher=Norie & Wilson | year=1895 | oclc=613203093 | url=https://archive.org/details/medalsofbritishn00longrich }}
- {{cite book |first=Rif|last=Winfield|title=British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates|publisher=Seaforth|year=2008|isbn=978-1-86176-246-7}}
External links
- {{Commons category-inline|HMS Defender (ship, 1809)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Defender (1809)}}
Category:Gunboats of the Royal Navy