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HERMIONE (32) Built in 1782, Bristol.
Broken up in 1805.

  • 1792 Capt. John HILLS, Jamaica. She took part in the occupation of Jeremie in San Domingo on 20 September 1793.
    More than 1900 tons of enemy shipping laden with colonial produce; two neutral vessels and one small armed schooner were captured at l'Islet and Bay de Flamands on the 23rd. and 29th. of the same month.
    On 30 May 1794 she was with Commodore FORD's squadron which collected in the road of l'Archaye and, after embarking troops under Brig. Gen. Whyte, sailed to attack Port-au-Prince.
    When the British forces successfully stormed Fort Bizotten the French retreated to Aux Cayes, abandoning the town with 13,790 tons of shipping and an immense quantity of sugar, cotton, coffee and indigo.
    HERMIONE had 5 men killed and 6 wounded. She lost far more men from fever during the vain attempt to subjugate the remaining French posts in San Domingo.
  • 1795 Capt. STEVENS.
  • 1796 Capt. PIGOT.
  • She was handed over to the Spaniards at La Guira by her mutinous crew on 22 September 1797 and recaptured by Capt. HAMILTON of SURPRISE at Porto Cavallo on 25 October 1799. She was renamed RETRIBUTION by Sir Hyde PARKER at the beginning of 1800.
  • The officers murdered by the mutineers were: Capt. PIGOT; Samuel READ, first lieutenant; Archibald DOUGLAS, second lieutenant; Henry FANSHAW, third lieutenant; Mr PACEY, purser; Mr SANSOM, surgeon; Mr M'INTOSH, lieutenant of marines; W. MARTIN, boatswain; Mr MAINWARING, captain's clerk, and Mr SMITH, a midshipman who was only 14 or 15 years old
  • Several of the mutineers were tried and executed in Jamaica and their remains were suspended in chains from gibbets erected on the Coral Keys off Port Royal harbour.
  • Capt. S FOSTER was appointed to the command of the RETRIBUTION.
  • On 2 July 1800 a court martial was held on board GLADIATOR of Portsmouth to try John DUNCAN, lately a seaman on board HERMIONE, for the murder of her officers and carrying the ship over to the enemy.
    He was found guilty and the sentence of death was carried out on board PUISSANT on the 10th.
    For a quarter of an hour before he was turned off he addressed the crew and said how justly he was condemned and warning them against being concerned in such an act of atrocity.
  • A second court martial was held on board GLADIATOR on 31 July for the trial of John WATSON and James ALLEN, also seamen from the HERMIONE.
    WATSON appeared to be about 60 years old and, previous to the mutiny, had claimed to be afflicted by blindness.
    ALLEN had been the second lieutenant's servant and, at the time of the mutiny had been 16 years old.
    Both had come home to England in the PRINCE OF WALES but had not been recognised till she returned to Portsmouth from the West Indies on 5 July.
  • PARROT, late butcher aboard HERMIONE, deposed that he had been seated on a chest in the gun-room when he saw the mutineers drag the second lieutenant across the deck.
    He called out "Mercy! Mercy!" as they dragged him up a ladder by his hair after receiving many wounds.
    ALLEN was waving a tomahawk and shouting "Let me have a cut at him," before striking his master with it and inflicting a serious wound.
  • When Capt. PIGOT had heard a noise on deck he had come out of his cabin but had been repeatedly wounded and forced to seek refuge back in his cabin, weak from loss of blood.
    Four men with bayonets, led by one CRAWLEY, followed him but he held them off with his dirk until CRAWLEY said "What, four against one, and yet afraid? Here goes then," and buried his bayonet in the captain's body.
    The others followed and thrust him through the port.
    He was heard to call out as he fell into the sea.
  • Adiel POWELSON, alias Henry POULSON, and William JOHNSON, late of HERMIONE, stood trial for aiding in the murders on 2 July 1801.
    POULSON was executed on board PUISSANT on 14 July, JOHNSON was pardoned.
  • John PEARCE, late of HERMIONE, was charged before a court martial in Portsmouth on 26 August 1801 with being one of the mutineers.
    He was condemned and hanged on board PUISSANT on the 31st.
  • On 30 March 1802 Thomas WILLIAMS alias David FORRESTER was tried by court martial at Portsmouth for his part in the mutiny.
  • Lieut. SOUTHCOTT, who had been master of HERMIONE in 1797, gave evidence that FORRESTER had been active in the mutiny and had taken part in the murder of the captain having cut him several times and assisted in heaving him into the sea.
    He was told by the Spanish Governor at La Guira that the mutineers received 25 dollars a man.
  • John JONES, late Purser's Steward on HERMIONE told the court that FORRESTER had told him "I've just launched your bloody master overboard." He also saw the prisoner chop at the second lieutenant with a cutlass or a tomahawk while they were dragging him up the ladder.
    He also saw the prisoner disputing with CROKER, the gunner's mate, over the division of the officer's effects; he had three silver spoons and some gold in his hand at the time.
    It was John JONES who had taken the prisoner in Point Street, Portsmouth.
  • The court found that the charges against the prisoner were proved and that he should suffer death by hanging.
    He was executed on 1 April on board GLADIATOR.
    Although he denied at his trial that he had a hand in murder, he confessed to the Rev. J. DAVIS, Chaplain of the Garrison, and the Rev. J. HALL of Haslar Hospital that he forced the captain through the port while he was still alive, that he found Lieut. DOUGLAS under a table and helped to throw him overboard, and that he killed Mr SMITH, who was only a child, with a tomahawk.
  • At the end of October 1805 a seaman was apprehended at the Old Harbour, Jamaica, by officers belonging to the HERCULE tender and charged with being a member of HERMIONE's crew at the time of the mutiny.
    On Friday 17 October 1806 a signal gun was fired on board the SALVADOR DEL MUNDO in the Hamoaze and a yellow flag hoisted.
    At 11 o'clock the HERMIONE mutineer WOOD was led on to the forecastle.
    Here he prayed for a while before being launched into eternity.
    He claimed to be innocent of the crime for which he was condemned but deserved death for


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