Hired armed cutter Black Joke

In May 1795, the "lugger" Black Joke, under the command of Lieutenant Richard Clark, was part of Sir Sidney Smith's squadron in the Channel.Smith (1848), Vol. 1, p.162. On 24 February 1796, His Majesty's cutter Black Joke captured Poor Jack.{{London Gazette|issue=15126 |page=374|date=20 April 1799}}

In 1796, the armed lugger Black Joke, under the command of Lieutenant Boarder, protected the Hull whaling fleet sailing to Lerwick.Lubbock (1937), p.141. This was a response to a French privateer capturing the whaler {{ship||Gibraltar|1786 ship|2}} as she was on her way to Greenland.{{cite news |title=The Marine List |work=Lloyd's List |issue=2801 |date=11 March 1796 |hdl=2027/mdp.39015050998221?urlappend=%3Bseq=257 }}

By some accounts, in 1797 Black Joke alerted the Fleet to the Dutch entry into the North Sea before the Battle of Camperdown. The majority of accounts attribute the warning to the hired cutter Active. Also in 1797, the lugger Black Joke recaptured Ceres and Good Intent.{{London Gazette|issue=14054 |page=979|date=10 October 1797}} Black Joke was in company with the hired armed vessel Liberty and the Excise cutter Lively at the time of the recapture of Ceres, and Liberty at the time of the recapture of Good Intent.{{London Gazette|issue=15226 |page=97|date=28 January 1800}}

On 10 March 1798 His Majesty's hired armed lugger Black Joke was briefly under the command of Lieutenant Mauritius Adolphus Newton de Stark when she captured the fishing vessel Saint Petre.{{London Gazette|issue=15140|page=529|date=28 May 1799}} On 26 May Black Joke and the sloop Hound captured the brig Minerva.{{London Gazette|issue=15460|page=260|date= 9 March 1802}}

On 27 April 1799, while under the command of Lieutenant James Nicolson (or Nichelson), Black Joke captured the French chasse-marée Rebecca, of four swivel guns and seven men, just out of Brest having on board a capitaine de frégate with dispatches for Ireland. The dispatches were a ruse that drew British attention to the Irish coast, when the Brest fleet had sailed to reinforce French forces in Corfu, Malta, and Egypt (see: Bruix' expedition of 1799).James (1837), Vol. 2, p.256.Roche, vol.1, p.327

Then on 10 July Black Joke captured Flora.{{London Gazette|issue=15201 |page=1141|date=5 November 1799}} Flora, of Dublin, had been sailing with a cargo of wine, fruit, and cotton, when the French privateer Vengeance, of 20 guns and 130 men, had captured her. Black Joke sent Flora into Torbay.Lloyd's List, 16 July 1799 [http://www.1812privateers.org/LLOYDS/1799/07-16-1799.jpg] - accessed 10 November 2013.

By 2 November 1799 she was sailing under the name Suworow.{{London Gazette|issue=15201 |page=1143|date=5 Nov 1799}}{{efn|Alternatively Suwarrow, Soworrow or Zuwarrow, presumably after Alexander Suvorov, who won a series of victories against the French during 1799.}} Under Lieutenant James Nicholson she carried despatches to and from Lord Bridport, commander of the Channel Fleet, off Brest,Naval Chronicle (1799), p.639. and captured numerous prizes. On 27 November the French privateer rowboat Revanche arrived at Portsmouth, sent in by the schooner Suwarrow.Lloyd's Marine List,[http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015036615428;view=1up;seq=199], #4017 - accessed 1 December 2013.

On 1 and 14 March, and 19 April and 10 June 1800, she captured the ketch Jean Bart, the chasse marees Bon Citojan and Morbihan, and the ketch Clair Voyante. To capture the chase marees, Nicholson had had to drive off three French luggers, one of 10 guns and two of eight, in the Passage du Raz. Actually, Nicholson captured three chase marees, one in ballast and two carrying wine, and he sent all three into Falmouth or Plymouth.The Naval Chronicle, Vol. 3, p.237.

On 5 March Suworow shared in the capture, with {{HMS|Agamemnon|1781|2}} and {{HMS|Repulse|1780|2}}, of the brig Sophie.{{London Gazette|issue=15334|page=151|date=3 Feb 1801}} On 5 April Suworow chased a French privateer of 16 guns for several hours but lost her in the night.Naval Chronicle, 1799, p.327. Then on 12 May, together with the frigates {{HMS|Clyde|1796|2}} and {{HMS|Thames|1758|2}}, she captured another chasse maree.{{London Gazette|issue=15487 |page=601|date=8 June 1802}}

Also during May Nicholson reconnoitered Belle Île. He took an officer from {{HMS|Impetueux|1794|2}} into Rochefort where they counted five sail-of-the-line and three frigates ready for sea. When Nicholson returned to Belle Île in August he found that the French had fortified every point of land or creek that he had found unfortified in May.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 4, p.249.

On 12 September 1800 Nicholson cut out the French brig Providence from under two batteries near Camaret Point. She was carrying wine, soap and brandy for the Brest fleet; the capture took place under heavy fire but Suworow suffered no casualties. Although the third rate {{HMS|Elephant|1786|2}} and the frigate {{HMS|Naiad|1797|2}} were in sight, they voluntarily relinquished their share of the prize money to Nicholson and his crew "in testimony of their approbation of their conduct."The Naval Chronicle, Vol. 4, p.251-2.

On 23 November 1800 Captain Sir Richard Strachan in {{HMS|Captain|1787|2}} chased a French convoy in to the Morbihan. There shore batteries and the 20-gun corvette Réolaise were able to provide protection. {{HMS|Magicienne|1781|2}} harried the corvette until she ran onshore at Port Navale; her crew got her off again later.James (1837), Vol. 3, p.58. Suworow then towed in four boats with Lieutenant Hennah of Captain and a cutting-out party. The hired armed cutters Nile and Lurcher towed in four more boats from Magicienne. Although the cutting-out party was exposed to heavy fire cannon and small arms fire, it reached the corvette. The party set fire to the corvette before withdrawing; shortly thereafter the corvette blew up. The boats also brought out two merchant vessels that their captors later burnt. Only one British seaman, a crewman from Suworow, was killed in the attack; seven seamen were wounded.The Naval Chronicle, Vol. 4, pp.507-8. However, Suworow{{'}}s sails and rigging were so badly cut up that Captain had to tow her.The Naval Chronicle, Vol. 4, p.529.

Suworow sailed on 21 December 1800 to cruise off the Penmarks as part of Sir Edward Pellew's squadron.The Naval Chronicle, Vol. 4, p.523. On 3 February 1801 she captured the French brig Jeune Annette (or Jeune Nannette).{{London Gazette|issue=15466 |page=324|date=27 March 1801}} Jeune Annette, under Lieutenant de vaisseaux Feuqueux, was armed with 18 guns and had a crew of 45 men. She had been sailing from Cayenne to Bordeaux with a cargo of "anatto, dye wood, elephants teeth, etc." and a number of deported priests, who were emaciated after their confinement. Because Suworow had previously sent in four Danish vessels, Suwarrow had only 16 men and boys on board when she chased and captured Jeune Annette.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 5, p.111 Jeune Annette became the hired armed brig (or cutter) Sir Thomas Pasley.

On 23 June, while Suworow was off Santander with dispatches from Admiral William Cornwallis when she encountered a Spanish 44-gun frigate and a gun-brig. The Spaniards chased her for 14 hours and were gaining on her so Nicholson had to throw all his guns overboard to gain speed. He succeeded in escaping only when darkness arrived. Suworow then came into Plymouth for a refit.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 6, p.82.

In early October Suworow sailed into Brest under a flag of truce, bringing with her a senior officer. Nicholson ended up having dinner with Admiral Villaret, the commander of the French fleet, and the Spanish Admiral, Don Gravina. Madame Villaret presented Lieutenant Nicholson with a Morocco purse, having a bust of Bonaparte under glass, set in silver. Admiral Villaret sent a basket of fruit to Admiral Cornwallis as well.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 6, p.344.

After the signing of the Treaty of Amiens brought peace with France, the Admiralty terminated Suworow{{'}}s contract on 28 October, as it did the contracts of the other hired vessels. The hired vessels turned in their guns and stores prior to being paid off.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 6, p.428. Prize money from Jean Bart, Bon Citojan, Morbiham, Clair Voyante, and Jeune Annette was paid on 22 March 1802.

One report has Black Joke (under that name and not Suworow) being accidentally burnt in Sutton Pool, Plymouth, on 28 January 1802.Gossett (1986), pp. 35-6. She was discovered to be on fire amongst a tier of ships and after she had burned with great fury she was scuttled. She sank without doing any harm.

However, another report suggests that she may have reverted to her old name and served as the hired armed lugger Black Joke from 1808 until her capture by the French in 1810.Cockerell (1903), p.2.

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• Cockerell, Charles Robert (1903) Travels in southern Europe and the Levant, 1810-1817. The journal of C.R. Cockerell. (London, New York, Longmans, Green, and Co.).
• {{cite book|last=Gossett|first=William Patrick|year=1986|title=The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793-1900|publisher=Mansell|isbn=0-7201-1816-6}}
• {{cite book| last = James| first = William| author-link = William James (naval historian)| year = 1837| title = The Naval History of Great Britain, from the Declaration of War by France in 1793, to the Accession of George IV.| publisher = R. Bentley| volume =2, 3}}
• Lubbock, Basil (1837) Arctic Whalers. (Glasgow:Brown, Son, & Ferguson).
• {{cite book|first=Jean-Michel|last=Roche|year=2005|title=Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours|isbn=978-2-9525917-0-6|oclc=165892922|publisher=Group Retozel-Maury Millau|volume=1}}
• Smith, Sir William Sidney (1848) The life and correspondence of Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith, Volume 1. (R.Bentley).
• {{cite book |first=Rif|last=Winfield|title=British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates|publisher=Seaforth Publishing|year=2008|isbn=978-1-86176-246-7}}

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• Phillips, Michael - Ships of the Old Navy - [http://www.ageofnelson.org/MichaelPhillips/info.php?ref=2149]

{{1802 shipwrecks}}

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Category:Hired armed vessels of the Royal Navy

Category:Maritime incidents in 1802

Category:Ship fires

Category:Scuttled vessels

Category:Shipwrecks of England