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AUTUMN Purchased in 1801.
Renamed STROMBOLO bomb in 1810.
Sold in 1815.

  • 1801 Capt. RICHARDSON, Downs.
    AUTUMN, ALONZO, HOUND and DILIGENCE arrived in Portsmouth from the Downs and on 6 February AUTUMN sailed for the Thames to be paid off. She returned to Portsmouth on 30 November.
    AUTUMN sailed from Portsmouth on 7 January 1803 to assist the ABUNDANCE storeship which had gone aground on Sconce Point near the Needles while being convoyed to the Mediterranean by BITTERN. She was got off on the 14th.
    AUTUMN sailed for Yarmouth on 21 January 1803 to enter seamen.
  • 1803 Samuel JACKSON, 10/05/1803, re-fitting at Plymouth. He sailed for the French coast with a pilot on the 31 July.
    He was selected by Rear Ad. MONTAGUE to command a small squadron off Calais to prevent the enemy gun boats there linking up with the Boulogne flotilla and on 27 September 1803 they carried out an attack on Calais.
    Capt. JACKSON waited until half-ebb in the harbour when the vessels there took the ground then bore up and anchored, the bombs to the north-east and the rest of the squadron opposite the town and the pier heads to draw fire from the bombs. The enemy opened fire and although they caused no damage he was obliged to order his squadron, with the exception of AUTUMN, to pull back out of range. The bombs meanwhile kept up a well directed fire, the shells which did not fall on the gunboats going over into the town setting the eastern end on fire. When the wind changed to the N. E. the springs would no longer hold the ships against the wind and the tide, TARTARUS's anchor actually gave way, so he gave the signal to disengage.
  • At the beginning of 1804 AUTUMN attacked a French flotilla lying under the protection of a battery and drove several of them on the beach. She lost 1 killed and 3 wounded.
  • On the evening of 25 April AUTUMN and the other sloops, bombs and gun-brigs arrived in the Downs, having been blown off their cruising stations by strong gale from the south-west. They sailed again on the 29th. The enemy had 75 boats in the Roads; some were driven on shore by the gale and others were forced to run for Calais.
  • She also took part in the attack on the Boulogne flotilla on 2 October 1804 using explosive catamarans with Cdr. JACKSON in charge of one of the vessels. He was ordered to lay alongside the French Admiral but, as he approached his target, the string to operate the clock slipped out of his hand. He broke open the hatch on the catamaran, retrieved the string and stepped into his gig as he pulled it. Twenty-five seconds later the vessel exploded but did no damage to the enemy except remove the bowsprit.
  • Capt. JACKSON left AUTUMN in the autumn of 1804. He was promised promotion by Lord Melville who unfortunately left office before it could be granted.
  • 1805 Thomas SEARLE, 09/1804, Boulogne.
  • 1807 Portsmouth.
  • 1809 Corbet James D'AUVERGNE.


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