HMS Iphigenia (1808)
 HMS Iphigenia in the Naval Battle of Grand Port |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Type | Fifth rank frigate of the Perseverance- class |
| Shipyard | |
| Keel laying | 1805 |
| Launch | April 26, 1808 |
| 1. Period of service |
|
| Decommissioning | 1851 |
| Whereabouts | Captured by France in the naval battle of Grand Port and in French service from 24 August to 3 December 1810. Broken down after further British service in 1851. |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
870 tons |
| crew |
264 |
| drive |
sail |
| Armament |
UD: 36 × 18-pounder long cannons |
The HMS Iphigenia was a frigate fifth rank of Perseverance class of the Royal Navy with 36 cannons. She was built in Chatham Dockyard under Master Shipwright Robert Seppings .
In the Mauritian campaign of the coalition wars , the French captured the frigate in the naval battle of Grand Port and in French service, she took part in the conquest of other British ships as Iphigénie . The British recaptured her and she served in the West African Station for Combating the Slave Trade in the Preventative Service . After many years as a training ship, she was scrapped in 1851.
In British service
Captain Henry Lambert took the Iphigenia into service and sailed into the Indian Ocean to join the British fleet of the Île de France, now Mauritius . The fleet consisted of the ships Iphigenia , Leopard , Magicienne and Néréide . The fleet has been blocking Île de France since May and started a takeover attempt on July 7th. The next day Iphigenia took part in the conquest of Réunion .
On August 10th, the fleet under Samuel Pym dropped landing troops to conquer Île de la Passe and gain control of Port-Impérial . This sparked the Naval Battle of Grand Port . On August 23, the British fleet faced a French fleet under Victor Guy Duperré - it consisted of the ships Minerve , Bellone and Victor . The French had moved the marker buoys of the passage through the reef, causing the Magicienne and Sirius to run aground and the British being forced to set fire to and sink them. The Néréide was taken. The Iphigenia , left as a reserve, tried to flee, but the French reinforcements under Hamelin ( Vénus , Manche and Creole ) intercepted them and forced them to change flags.
In French service
The Iphigenia was taken over as Iphigénie under Pierre Bouvet in French services. After Duperré was wounded, Bouvet took command of the French fleet at Grand Port and was promoted to capitaine de frégate . The Iphigénie formed a fleet with the Astrée and the Entreprenant .
On September 12, 1810, Bouvet's fleet intercepted the HMS Africaine under Commodore Corbett from Saint-Denis, while the frigate HMS Boadicea , the corvette HMS Otter and the brig HMS Staunch sailed from the Bay of Saint-Paul. Bouvet persuaded the British to pursue them until midnight. At this point, the Astrée was sent ahead as if the Iphigénie were trying to slow down the Africaine to allow the rest of the fleet to escape. At three o'clock the Astrée took her place again at the end of the fleet. The rough weather improved a little and in the moonlight the Astrée suddenly saw herself within firing range of the Africaine's cannons . A cannon duel followed immediately, in which the Astrée damaged her rigging. She caught up with the Iphigenie , the Africaine close behind. She was soon under fire from the Iphigenie at close range , her cannons still aimed at the Astrée . After the exchange of broadsides and the use of handguns, which lasted half an hour and in which the French had the upper hand, the British tried to board. The Iphigénie easily evaded the Africaine and gave the Astrée the opportunity to brush the bow of the Africaine . The Africaine surrendered around 4:30 .
All of the Africaine's officers were killed or wounded during the operation, with the exception of Colonel Barry, and only 69 men were uninjured. Bouvet received Corbett's dagger, which he later kept with him. The French abandoned the Africaine and the HMS Boadicea took it back the next day.
On December 3, 1810, the Île de France fell to the British. The British took over the ships anchored on the island, including the Iphigénie , Bellone and Astrée . They took the Iphigénie back into use and she took as Iphigenia back their services. Captain Thomas Caulfield then sailed home to England, where she was dismissed in April 1811.
Return to British service
After the overhaul in Portsmouth from November to February 1812, the Iphigenia was put back into service in January under Captain Lucius Curtis. On March 25, 1812, she sailed in a convoy to the East Indies .
Then the Iphigenia sailed under Captain Fleetwood Pellew on December 6th in the Mediterranean. While still in the Mediterranean, she came under the command of Captain Andrew King in February 1813. On April 17, 1814, a fleet consisting of the ships Furieuse , Aboukir , Iphigenia , Swallow and Cephalus supported the successful attack on Genoa . She then escorted a fleet of cargo from Gibraltar to Bermuda.
post war period
She underwent repairs at Chatham from June to September 1815 and sailed again for the East Indies in October . King brought her back home from the East Indies under the command of the Cornwallis , a third-rate ship . In September 1816, Captain John Tancock took command of Iphigenia in Trincomalee . In December 1817, she sailed back to Great Britain, accompanied by the Melville , whose overhaul he had supervised in Bombay. Between January and June 1818, deficiencies were corrected in Portsmouth. Captain Hyde Parker took command on March 15 and sailed with the Iphigenia to Jamaica. She also served in Quebec and bases in the Mediterranean before being withdrawn on June 12, 1821.
In 1821 the Iphigenia came into service under the command of Captain Sir Robert Mends . She then served in the anti-slave patrol in Africa with Mends as the squadron's commodore. On March 22nd, she promoted Sir Charles McCarthy, Governor of Sierra Leone, to Cape Coast Castle to assume the office of Governor of the Gold Coast .
On April 15, their boats captured six slave ships on the Bonny River : Vigilante , Petite Betsey , Ursule , the Spanish Yeanam , Becaa and the French Brigantine Utile . In June the yeanam sank in a tornado, killing two officers, 16 men and 400 slaves. Seven members of the Iphigenia crew managed to survive on the rubble of the Yeanam .
It was repaired in Woolwich from December 1832 to July 1833. From 1833 to 1848 she was awarded to the Marine Society as a training ship. In May 1851 she was scrapped in Deptford.
literature
- Rif Winfield: British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates . Seaforth, 2008, ISBN 1-86176-246-1 . (English)
Web links
- NAVAL HISTORY of GREAT BRITAIN - Vol V (English)
- Naval Database (English)