HMS Plumper (1807)
{{short description|Brig of the Royal Navy}}
{{other ships|HMS Plumper}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2017}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image= |Ship caption= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag=File:Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg |Ship name=HMS Plumper |Ship ordered=1 October 1804 |Ship builder=Halifax Dockyard, Nova Scotia (M/Shipwright William Hughes) |Ship laid down= |Ship launched=29 December 1807 |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship honours=Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Guadaloupe"{{London Gazette|date=26 January 1849|issue=20393|page=243}} |Ship captured= |Ship fate=Wrecked 5 December 1812 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption={{sfnp|Winfield|2008|p=343}} |Ship class= |Ship type={{sclass|Archer|gunbrig}} |Ship tons burthen=177 {{small|{{fraction|26|94}}}} (bm) |Ship length=*{{convert|80|ft|0|in|m|1|abbr=on}} (overall)
|Ship beam={{convert|22|ft|6|in|m|1|abbr=on}} |Ship draught= |Ship hold depth={{convert|9|ft|5|in|m|1|abbr=on}} |Ship sail plan=Brig |Ship complement=50 |Ship armament= 10 × 18-pounder carronades + 2 × 12-pounder chase guns |Ship notes= }} |
HMS Plumper was launched in 1807. She captured three small American privateers early in the War of 1812 but was wrecked in December 1812.
Career
Lieutenant William Frissell commissioned Plumper in 1808 and commanded her until 1810.{{sfnp|Winfield|2008|p=343}} He was in command when Plumper participated in the capture of Guadeloupe in January and February 1810.{{efn|A first-class share of the prize money for Guadaloupe was worth £113 3s 1¼d; a sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman, was worth £1 9s 1¼d.{{London Gazette|date=24 September 1814|issue=16938|pages=1923–1924}}}} In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Guadaloupe" to all surviving participants of the campaign.
On 22 January 1811 Lloyd's List (LL) reported incorrectly that Plumper had been lost in the st Lawrence River while sailing from Halifax to Quebec.[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015005721405?urlappend=%3Bseq=21 LL №4530.]
From 1812 her commander was Lieutenant James Bray.{{sfnp|Winfield|2008|p=343}}
{{HMS|Indian|1805|6}} and Plumper captured the privateer schooner Fair Trader on 16 July 1812 in the Bay of Fundy. Fair Trader was armed with one gun and had a 20-man crew.{{efn|Fair Trader, of Salem, was under the command of Captain J. Morgan, and normally had a crew of 25 men, some of whom may have been away in a prize at the time of her capture. During her brief career as a privateer she captured one sloop, one brig, and five schooners.{{sfnp|Emmons|1853|p=176}}}}
Also around the middle of July an American privateer captured William, of Bristol, Hare, master, off Cape Sable. Indian recaptured William and took her into Halifax.[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.c2735025?urlappend=%3Bseq=351 LL №4695.] Whether William was one of Fair Trader{{'}}s prizes or not is an open question. A report in LL stated that Indian had captured Fair Trader, Argus, and a third American privateer.[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.c2735025?urlappend=%3Bseq=367 LL n°4703.]
LL reported that Indian and Plumper had captured six American privateers. Separately, it reported that Plumper had recaptured Fanny, from Glasgow, which the American privateer Teazer had captured.[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015005721405?urlappend=%3Bseq=363 LL №4701.] Fanny, Colston, master, had been sailing from Clyde to New Brunswick. Plumper sent her into Halifax.[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015005721405?urlappend=%3Bseq=369 LL №4704.]
On 6 July Plumper captured Samuel, Stanton, master, which had been sailing from Oporto. Plumper took out $5300 and permitted Samuel to proceed. Samuel arrived at Boston on 11 July.
On 17 July Plumper captured the American privateer schooner Argus. Argus was armed with one gun and had a crew of 23 men.{{London Gazette|date=19 September 1812|issue=16647|page=1907}}{{efn|Argus, of Boston, Captain W. Heath, had captured two brigs and two schooners before Plumper had captured her. The estimated value of her captures was $180,000.{{sfnp|Emmons|1853|p=170}}}}
The next day Plumper captured the American privateer Friendship, of one gun and eight men.[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015005721405?urlappend=%3Bseq=370 LL №4705.]{{efn|Friendship, of Massachusetts, Captain A. Rich, apparently had not captured anything before Plumper captured her.{{sfnp|Emmons|1853|p=178}}}}
LL reported on 15 September 1812 that Plumper had detained the sloop Margaret, from Liverpool, but that an American privateer had retaken Margaret and taken her into Portland.[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015005721405?urlappend=%3Bseq=365 LL №4792.]
Fate
Plumper was wrecked on 5 December 1812 while en route to Halifax with £70,000 in specie for the purchase of arms for the military in St John. She struck on the ledges off Dipper Harbour in the Bay of Fundy and sank immediately with the loss of the specie and 42-45 of the 60 people on board, consisting both of crew and passengers.Allaby, Eric. "The Sea Always Win: Shipwrecks of the Bay of Fundy", 2022 {{sfnp|Gosset|1986|p=87}}{{sfnp|Grocott|1797|p=347}} Bray and all his officers were among the men drowned.{{sfnp|Hepper|1994|p=143}}{{efn|Other reports have Bray surviving and going on to a long, mediocre career.{{sfnp|Marshall|1835|pp=150-151}} However, this is the result of a conflation between James Bray and Josias Bray. James Bray's will was proved in 1813,[http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D324420 Will of James Bray, Naval Officer of Dover, Kent.] and his widow claimed charity from an organization that helped widows of naval officers.[http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C10062411 Mary Lane Bray, widow of James Bray, Lieutenant Royal Navy who died 05 Dec 1812.] Josias Bray commanded the hired armed cutters {{ship|hired armed cutter|Active||2}} in 1812-13 and Badger in 1813-14.}}
The HMS Bream and sloop Brunswicker attended the wreck the following day to assist in recover and pick up survivors, but no mention was made of whether they recovered the $30,000 in gold and silver leading to centuries of rumors of lost treasure at the wreck site.Allaby, Eric. "The Sea Always Win: Shipwrecks of the Bay of Fundy", 2022
LL reported the loss on 8 January 1813.[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015005785830?urlappend=%3Bseq=12 LL №4735.]
Notes
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Citations
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References
- {{cite book |last=Emmons |first=George Foster |year=1853 |title=The navy of the United States, from the commencement, 1775 to 1853; with a brief history of each vessel's service and fate ... Comp. by Lieut. George F. Emmons ... under the authority of the Navy Dept. To which is added a list of private armed vessels, fitted out under the American flag ... also a list of the revenue and coast survey vessels, and principal ocean steamers, belonging to citizens of the United States in 1850 |location=Washington |publisher=Gideon & Co.}}
- {{cite book|first1=William Patrick |last1=Gosset |year=1986 |title=The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793-1900 |publisher=Mansell |isbn=0-7201-1816-6 }}
- {{cite book |last=Grocott| first=Terence| title=Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary & Napoleonic Eras |publisher=Chatham |location=London |year=1797 |isbn=1861760302}}
- {{cite book |last1=Hepper |first1=David J. |year=1994 |title=British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650–1859 |publisher=Jean Boudriot |location=Rotherfield |isbn=0-948864-30-3}}
- {{cite RNB1823 |wstitle=Bray, Josias|volume=4 |part=2 |page=150–151}}
- {{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}}
{{1810 shipwrecks}}
{{1812 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plumper (1807)}}
Category:Brigs of the Royal Navy