HMS Imogen (1805)

HMS Imogen (or Imogene) was a Royal Navy 16-gun brig-sloop of the Seagull class launched in July 1805. She served primarily in the Adriatic campaign before the Navy sold her in 1817.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Imogen.
Imogen
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Imogen
Ordered: 12 December 1804
Builder: Jabez Bayley, Ipswich
Laid down: April 1805
Launched: 11 July 1805
Fate: Sold 1817
General characteristics [1]
Class and type: 16-gun brig-sloop
Tons burthen: 284 ​8⁄94 bm
Length:
  • 93 ft 0 in (28.3 m) (overall)
  • 76 ft 0 5⁄8 in (23.2 m) (keel)
Beam: 26 ft 6 in (8.1 m)
Depth of hold: 12 ft 0 in (3.7 m)
Sail plan: Sloop
Complement: 95
Armament:

Career

Commander Thomas Garth commissioned Imogen in August 1805 for the North Sea.[1] In November she towed Friendship, of Inverness, Brimmer , master, into Yarmouth. Imogen had found Friendship at sea with no one aboard.[2]

On 18 April 1806 she captured the Prussian galliot Broderlusde, and on 23 August the Bergitta.[3]

Garth sailed for the Mediterranean on 26 June 1807.[1] On 13 September Imogen captured the Danish vessel Commandant van Scholten.[4]

On 27 January 1808 Imogen captured the brig William Tell and her cargo.[5] In March Commander William Stephens replaced Garth.[1]

The British, having decided to capture the island of Saint Maura, north of Corfu, Stephens and Imogen became part of a squadron that also included Magnificent, under the command of Captain George Eyre, who was the naval commander, Belle Poule, three gunboats, and five transports carrying troops. When the squadron arrived on 21 March 1810, Eyre ordered Stephens to take the gunboats and to anchor as close to shore as possible to cover the landing of the troops and to silence two small shore batteries there. The next day the operations began. The batteries fired on Imogen and the gunboats, but were soon silenced. Stephens went ashore and was wounded in the foot storming the redoubts that protected the citadel. Even so, on 25 March he sailed with Imogen, Belle Poule, and the gunboats to the north of the island to prevent the enemy from landing reinforcements. The citadel finally capitulated on 15 April. The only casualty on Imogen was Stephens.[6]

Imogen shared in the prize money for the Franco-Italian 10-gun brig Carlotta, captured on 10 December 1810.[Note 1] Imogen shared the prize money with the actual captor, Belle Poule, and two other vessels.

On 30 January 1811, Leonidas, Victorious, Belle Poule and Imogen destroyed the Italian man-of-war schooner Leoben.[8] Leoben was sailing along the Albanian coast from Venice to Corfu with a cargo of ordnance stores when the British caught her. She was armed with ten guns and a crew of 60 men.[9] Her own crew set her on fire and she subsequently blew up.[10]

In February 1813 Imogen was still in the Mediterranean and under the command of Lieutenant Charles Taylor (acting). Apollo, Imogen, and troops captured Augusta and Carzola Islands. On 1 February Apollo, Imogen, and Gunboat No. 43, under the command of Mr. Antonio Pardo, sailed to Carzola. There Imogen and the gunboat supported an attack by Captain Taylor of Apollo, who commanded a landing party that silenced several sea batteries. When the town capitulated the British captured a privateer that had "molested the trade of the Adriatic", and two of her prizes. That day the British also captured seven vessels in the Channel, sailing to Ragusa and Cattaro, principally with grain, which was in short supply there.[11][Note 2]

Commander William Bamber was appointed to Imogene on 7 October 1813, on the Clyde. In 1815 Lieutenant John Gilmore replaced Bamber.[1]

Fate

Imogen was placed in ordinary in July 1815. The Navy offered her for sale on 3 April 1817 at Plymouth.[13] She was sold there that day for £690 to a Mr. Ismay.[1]

Notes
  1. A first-class share of the prize money was worth £42 5s 3¾d; a sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman, was worth 8s 7d.[7]
  2. A first-class share of the prize money was worth £38 18s 8d; a sixth-class share was worth 5s 3d.[12]

Citations
  1. Winfield (2008), p. 307.
  2. Lloyd's List, n° 4273. Accessed 25 July 2016.
  3. "No. 16386". The London Gazette. 10 July 1810. p. 1027.
  4. "No. 16722". The London Gazette. 20 April 1813. p. 799.
  5. "No. 16464". The London Gazette. 16 March 1811. p. 511.
  6. "No. 16392". The London Gazette. 31 July 1810. pp. 1135–1137.
  7. "No. 16993". The London Gazette. 14 March 1815. p. 485.
  8. "No. 16743". The London Gazette. 19 June 1813. p. 1209.
  9. The Gentleman's magazine, Volume 81, Part 1, p.573.
  10. The Gentleman's magazine and historical review, Volume 42, p.319.
  11. "No. 16749". The London Gazette. 3 July 1813. pp. 1307–1308.
  12. "No. 17820". The London Gazette. 25 May 1822. p. 872.
  13. "No. 17232". The London Gazette. 18 March 1817. p. 700.

References
  • Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461.


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