HMS Minerva (1805)

From February 1806 Minerva served under Captain George Collier in the English Channel.Winfield, British Warships, p. 497. On 27 April she took the 14-gun Spanish privateer La Finisterre with {{HMS|Conflict|1805|6}}.{{London Gazette|issue=15915|date=3 May 1806|page=556}} Minerva then took part in a number of small-boat operations on the coast, including taking an 8-gun fort and cutting out 5 Spanish coasters on 22 June.Laird Clowes, The Royal Navy vol. 5, p.384. For this action her First Lieutenant, William Mulcaster, received a sword of £50 value from Lloyd's Patriotic Fund.{{cite web |url=https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/17944/lot/214/ |title=A Fine Lloyd's Patriotic Sword |access-date=6 March 2021}} On 11 July of the same year, her barge successfully took the 1-gun lugger La Buena Dicha after a chase of nearly 40 miles around Guarda.{{London Gazette|issue=15941|date=29 July 1806|page=951}}

On 29 October while reconnoitering the approaches to Pontevedra, Minerva cut out 2 chasse marées from Porto Novo, and 2 days later her barge took a Spanish lugger which had sailed from Avilés.{{London Gazette|issue=15967|date=18 October 1806|page=1378}} Staying active, Captain Collier led the ship's cutter and barge to take a 24-pounder gun-boat and 30 men on 2 October, still in the vicinity of Pontevedra.

Alongside {{HMS|Amazon|1799|6}} she recaptured the schooner {{HMS|Jackdaw|1806|2}} off the Cape Verde islands on 17 February 1807; Jackdaw had been captured only the day before.Winfield, British Warships, p. 497. In October 1807 Minerva was serving alongside {{HMS|Naiad|1797|6}} and {{HMS|Phoenix|1783|6}}, sharing in Naiad{{'}}s prize of the ship Vigilante.{{London Gazette|issue=16234|date=3 March 1809|page=296}} By the end of the year Captain Richard Hawkins had assumed command.Winfield, British Warships, p. 497. On 17–18 March 1808, Minerva captured the Spanish ships La Purissima Consecion, La Caroline, and a lugger.{{London Gazette|issue=16187|date=27 September 1808|page=1341}}

Minerva continued serving off the Spanish and French coasts, taking the 8-gun privateer La Joséphine on 23 September 1808. La Joséphine overset in a gale as she was captured, and Minerva was only able to save 16 of the 50-man crew.Michael Phillips. [http://www.ageofnelson.org/MichaelPhillips/info.php?ref=1500 Minerva (32) (1805)]. Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 5 March 2021. In October 1808 she took the 14-gun L'Améthyste and on 14 April 1809 the Danish brig Edward.{{London Gazette|issue=16382|date=26 June 1810|page=946}} By August 1809 Minerva was serving off Ushant and took the Carl Ludwig alongside {{HMS|Dreadnought|1801|6}}, {{HMS|Gibraltar|1780|6}}, {{HMS|Tonnant}}, and {{HMS|Snapper|1804|6}} on 2 August.{{London Gazette|issue=16512|date=10 August 1811|page=1576}} She took another ship, the chasse marée Le Bienfaisant, on 10 August.{{London Gazette|issue=16383|date=30 June 1810|page=967}} Minerva continued this run of successful captures into October, taking the French ships L'Emerance and L'Emulation on 3 and 12 October respectively and the chasse marée La Victoire 8 days later.{{London Gazette|issue=16461|date=5 March 1811|page=433}}

By 3 December 1810 Minerva was part of the joint expedition of Vice-Admiral Sir Albemarle Bertie and Major-General John Abercrombie which successfully captured Isle de France.{{London Gazette|issue=16938|date=24 September 1814|page=1923}} On 28 December she detained the ship Mary while in company with {{HMS|Royal Oak|1809|6}} and {{HMS|Valiant|1807|6}}.{{London Gazette|issue=16760|date=3 August 1813|page=1540}} She sailed for Newfoundland on 6 May 1811, participating in convoy duties from North America to the West Indies between 1812 and 1813.

On 18 August 1808, Minerva possibly destroyed the French 40-gun frigate L'Artimise near Brest.Winfield, British Warships, p. 498. The London Gazette shows that head money was paid to the crew on 5 March 1811, while chroniclers in 1828 describe elements of the Brest blockading squadron chasing her ashore.{{London Gazette|issue=16461|date=5 March 1811|page=432}}Urban, The Gentleman's Magazine, p. 413. However, there is no concrete evidence of such a ship existing on the French establishment. The previous {{ship|French frigate|Artémise|1794|2}} was destroyed at the Battle of the Nile in 1787. William O'Byrne suggests it was a new ship that Charles Dashwood fought in 1801, however, William James could find no evidence of the existence of a L'Artémise apart from Dashwood's engagement and her reported destruction by Minerva in 1808.{{sfnp|O'Byrne|1849|p=263}}James, Naval History of Great Britain Vol. 3, pp. 147-8. Thus, while it is assured that Minerva destroyed a ship by running it ashore on 18 August 1808, the identity of that ship is unknown.

In 1814 Minerva was put in ordinary at Sheerness and was broken up there in February 1815.

{{reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• Clowes, William Laird (1898) The Royal Navy: A History from the Earliest Times to 1900 Volume Five. Sampson Low, Marston and Company. {{ISBN|1-86176-014-0}}
• James, William (1859) The Naval History of Great Britain, Volume 3. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-1-108-02167-8}}
• {{Cite NBD1849 |wstitle=Dashwood, Charles |page=263}}
• {{Cite book | last =Urban | first =Sylvanus | title = The Gentleman's Magazine, Vol XCVIII | publisher = J.B. Nichols and Son|location=London| year = 1828|oclc= 1570611}}
• {{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}}

{{refend}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minerva (1805)}}

Category:Ships built in Deptford

Category:1805 ships

Category:Fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy