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BLANCHE
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(36) |
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Built in 1800, Deptford.
Taken in 1805. |
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- 1800 Capt. Graham Eden HAMMOND. He commissioned the brand new frigate on 19 November, the day after he had paid off his previous ship, LION. After being fitted and manned she joined Sir Hyde PARKER at Yarmouth where the fleet was about to sail for the Baltic.
On 19 March 1801 BLANCHE was sent to Elsinor (Helsingor) under a flag of truce with dispatches for Mr Drummond who was attempting to reach an accommodation with the Danes. Two days later he came on board and BLANCHE returned to the fleet which had anchored at the entrance to the Sound on the 21st.
On 1 April the fleet left the anchorage at Hven and re-anchored near the north end of the shoal known as the Middle Ground. BLANCHE, whose officers and men had been on deck continuously since getting under weigh, grounded near the island of Amak in the evening, but she was got off, and the following day she was anchored by the stern between ALCMENE and AMAZON off the Great Crown Battery. She was under enemy fire for nearly two hours and had six seamen and one marine killed and seven seamen and two marines wounded. - BLANCHE returned to Yarmouth on 13 May with the flag of Sir Hyde PARKER. For the remainder of the war she was attached to the Channel fleet under Ad. CORNWALLIS.
During the peace she operated from Plymouth against smugglers along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall. She sailed for Leith with discharged seamen on 20 May 1802 under Capt. DAINES.
On 12 June BLANCHE, AMETHYST and AMELIA were ordered to victual for two months. Capt. HAMMOND then spent the summer months attending the Royal family at Weymouth and BLANCHE returned to Plymouth when their Majesties left for Windsor on 2 September. She was paid off at Sheerness on 22 September. - 1803 Capt. Zachary MUDGE, 10/1802. She sailed from Portsmouth on 4 March 1803 to raise seamen in Guernsey. On 4 June she sent in a French sloop laden with stone.
- At the close of 1803 BLANCHE was in the West Indies where she took part in the blockade of San Domingo under Capt. LORING of BELLEROPHON.
When Rear Ad. DUCKWORTH discovered that the French were using the Caracol Passage, the eastern entrance of the harbour of Cape Francoise on Hispaniola, to obtain supplies from Monte Christi in San Domingo he ordered that a frigate should be placed at the entrance of Manchineel Bay. Capt. LORING sent BLANCHE and in less than a month her boats took and destroyed twenty-four small vessels. - On 4 November BLANCHE's launch under the command of Mr John SMITH, master's mate, assisted by Mr Maurice BERKELEY, midshipman, attacked a schooner armed with a single long 9-pounder and carrying 30 men. The enemy was carried after 10 minutes with the loss of one killed and two wounded in the launch. The enemy had one killed and five wounded. The Rear Admiral ordered Mr SMITH to act as a lieutenant for his gallantry.
At two o'clock on the morning of the following day a large cutter full of bullocks, lying under the guns of Monte Christi (four 24-pounders and three field guns), was attacked by Lieut. LAKE in the cutter and Lieut. Nichols of the marines in the barge. For the loss of two men killed by fire from the fort and two wounded in boarding the cutter she was brought out with a cargo of 52 bullocks. The prize was 92 tons, coppered, and armed with two 4-pounders and six swivels.
Capt. MUDGE landed 69 prisoners from a number of prizes at Monte Christi under flag of truce and obtained a receipt for them. - Also during November Midshipman Edward Henry A'COURT with a marine and seven seamen was sent ashore in the red cutter to collect sand for use in the ship. To stop them getting into trouble they were not allowed arms but they managed to smuggle a few muskets into the cutter. While returning they fell in with a becalmed schooner and, as they approached her under the stern, a sudden burst of musket fire from her mortally wounded one of the boat party and badly wounded another. Mr A'COURT and his five remaining hands boarded and carried her and found that she was bound for Cape Francois with 30 or 40 soldiers commanded by a colonel.
- In February 1804, 800 marines and sailors landed on Curacao and took possession of all the island except for Fort Rebublicain.
Since they had no artillery to reduce the fort, and it was impossible to take it by storm, the men were withdrawn and returned to Jamaica.
the island was kept in a state of blockade by BLANCHE and two Government schooners. - During the following 18 months BLANCHE took many other prizes including the Dutch schooner NIMROD on 29 June 1804, the fastest vessel Capt. MUDGE encountered in the West Indies, and on 3 November he arrived in Port Royal with a Spanish schooner and a French schooner carrying dispatches, which were saved, to General Ferrand in San Domingo.
- The French schooner privateer HAZARD with 3 guns and 58 men was captured on 5 April 1805 after a chase of 26 hours, Another capture was the Spanish sloop DILIGENTE laden with horses and wood and on 10 June the French national schooner AMITIE taking dispatches from General Ferrand to Santiago de Cuba was taken. A long brass eighteen and six 6-pounders were thrown overboard during the 11 hour chase.
- Capt. MUDGE's luck ran out on 19 July 1805. BLANCHE was some 150 miles north of Puerto Rico when she fell in with a French squadron consisting of LA TOPAZE (44), LE DEPARTEMENT DES LANDES (20), LA TORCHE (18) and LE FAUNE (16). When they were about three miles off the enemy hoisted English colours but Capt. Mudge was not deceived and prepared for action. Escape was out of the question since BLANCHE had lost most of her copper nearly nine months earlier. After 45 minutes fierce fighting BLANCHE was a complete wreck, unable to answer her helm, with 8 men killed and 15 wounded, so Capt. MUDGE struck his colours to save further loss of life. Some six hours later, after the French had taken possession, BLANCHE was reported to be sinking so she was set on fire. She had only 215 men on board during the fight, 30 were away in prizes and 8 had been left in Jamaica.
On 14 October 1805 Capt. MUDGE, at a court martial in Plymouth, was honourably acquitted of blame for the loss of his ship.
The Admiralty immediately appointed Capt. MUDGE, his officers and part of BLANCHE's crew to the PHOENIX.
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