HMS Sophie (1809)

On 10 May 1812 Sophie was in company with North Star when they captured Brick.[4]

On 31 August Sophie captured the merchant vessel Alexander, and on 25 November the brig Experience from Rio and bound for Boston.[5] Sophie sent Experience (or Experiment) into Bermuda.[6]

On 11 December Sophie took the schooner Fanny and Maria and the ship Cyrus,[5] and on 16 December the schooner Eagle and the brig Little Arnold.[5] The American privateer Revenge had captured Cyrus, Donaldson, master, on 17 November as she was sailing from Newfoundland to Jamaica.[7] With Maidstone, Sophie captured the Mary Ann, sailing from Philadelphia to Charleston.[5]

Her success continued the following year, when in January 1813 she made prizes of the schooners Polly Merrick from Norfolk and George Washington from Windsor, both bound for New York.[5] Together with Aeolus she captured the American vessels Jacob Getting, with a cargo of rice and corn, on 18 February, Elizabeth, with a cargo of cotton, on 24 February, the Federal Jack, with a cargo of "lighthouses", on 2 March, and the Spanish ship Anna, with a cargo of flour and bread, on 9 March.[8] On 10 May North Star and Sophie captured the Brick.[9]

On 22 June Sophie captured the letter of marque Amelia. Late in 1812 or early in 1813, Sophie shared in the capture of the schooner Spencer.[5]

While stationed in the Chesapeake in 1813, as part of a squadron under Captain Barrie in the 74-gun third-rate Dragon, Sophie participated in several cutting out expeditions in the Potomac. On 27 October boats from Dragon and Sophie burnt a brigantine of 110 tons.[10] On 30 October, boats from the two British ships burnt a schooner.[10] That same day they also captured the Two Brothers, of 70 tons and three men. After removing her cargo, the British burnt her.[10] The next day the British captured the schooner Gannet, of 36 tons and two men, which they also burnt.[10] That same day they captured the schooner Minerva, of 29 tons and three men. Here too they removed the cargo before burning the vessel.[10]

In November, boats from Dragon and Sophie, under Lieutenant Pedlar of Dragon, brought out, without loss, three American vessels from a creek in the Potomac.[11] Then between 6 and 19 November, Sophie burned two schooners, captured one sloop, and burned another. On 14 November she captured the Frankling, of 12 tons and two men, sailing from New York to South Carolina.[10] Three days later she burnt a brig of 50 tons.[10] Then she burnt a sloop off Smith's Island.[10]

Between 22 and 28 November she joined forces with Actaeon to destroy two schooners and a sloop and capture three schooners and two sloops.[10] All these vessels were coasters. The first was the New York, of 28 tons and four men. Then came the Phoebe, of 48 tons and five men. Next came the sloop Caroline, of 45 tons and five men. The fourth was the schooner Fredricksburgh, of 38 tons and two men. The fifth and sixth were the sloop Polly and the schooner Peggy, both of which they burnt. The seventh was the schooner Lucy and Sally, of 48 tons and four men, sailing from Fredericksburgh to Onnacohe. The last was the schooner Poor Jack, of 26 tons and three men, also sailing from Fredericksburgh to Onnacohe.

Sophie shared, with a number of other vessels, in the prize money for the Regulator, captured on 22 November.[12] On 25 November, Sophie captured the brig Experience, sailing from Rio de Janeiro to Boston.[5]

In December, Sophie, again working with Acteon, destroyed or captured seven small prizes.[10] On 11 December they burnt a schooner of 37 tons. The next day they captured the 76-ton schooner Erie and its crew of nine men.[13] (The Erie, under the command of John Hearn, had been sailing from Havana to Baltimore with a cargo of sugar and coffee. The British unloaded the cargo and afterwards sent it to Bermuda, thereafter employing Erie as a tender to the British squadron in the Chesapeake.[14] There Erie too captured several prizes.) Still on 12 December, Sophie and Acteon burnt two small schooners, one of 25 and one of 60 tons.[13] Then on the 16th they burnt the Little Elenea, of 59 tons and two men, sailing from Charleston to Baltimore. On the same day they also burnt a 69-ton sloop. The next day Sophie burnt the Antelope, also of 69 tons and also sailing from Charleston to Baltimore.[13] In addition, Sophie and a number of other vessels shared in the prize money for the capture of the brigs George and Betsey, both taken on 23 December.[15]

By 26 December 1813 Sophie was operating in company with the 36-gun fifth rate frigate Maidstone, and together they captured the merchant vessel Mary Ann, sailing from Philadelphia to Charleston.[5] On 31 December, Sophie burnt the privateer Pioneer in the Chesapeake. Pioneer, of 320 tons burthen, was armed with 17 guns and had a crew of 170 men. She was out of Baltimore, on a cruise.[16]

On 24 April 1814 Sophie captured the American privateer Starks. Starks was armed with two guns and had a crew of 25 men. She was 24 days out of Wilmington but had not taken any prizes.[17]

At the beginning of August 1814 Sophie sailed to Pensacola, carrying brevet Captain Woodbine to meet with friendly Indians whom the Americans had driven into Spanish territory.[18] On 23 August Sophie and Hermes, the Hon. William Henry commanding, landed a detachment of troops under Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Nicolls to fortify Fort San Miguel. The troops landed and hoisted the British flag alongside the Spanish. Henry only did this after having received a letter from the Spanish governor in Havana requesting British help.[18]

Six days later, Captain Percy sent Lockyer and Sophie to Barataria Bay to meet with the Indians and freebooters there to try to enlist them as allies in return for which they would be considered British subjects and would get lands in His Majesty's colonies assigned to them.[18] Jean Lafitte, their leader, feigned interest but then passed the proposals on to the Governor of Louisiana while offering his services to the Americans.[18]

Sophie was one of the four British ships that conducted the first and unsuccessful British attack on Fort Bowyer at Mobile Point on 15 September 1814. The Sophie had 6 killed and 16 wounded, and Hermes had 25 killed, 5 mortally wounded and 19 wounded, and was herself blown up.[19] Their defeat caused the British to overestimate the defences at Mobile and decide to move against New Orleans instead.

On 8 December 1814, two US gunboats fired on Sophie, Armide and the sixth-rate frigate Seahorse while they were passing the chain of small islands that runs parallel to the shore between Mobile and Lake Borgne.[20]

Between 12 and 15 December 1814, Lockyer led a flotilla of some 50 boats, barges, gigs and launches to attack the US gunboats. Lockyer drew his flotilla from the fleet that was massing against New Orleans, including the 74-gun Third Rate Tonnant, Armide, Seahorse, Manly and Meteor.

Lockyer deployed the boats in three divisions, of which he led one. Captain Montresor of the gun-brig Manly commanded the second, and Captain Roberts of Meteor commanded the third.[20] After rowing for 36 hours, the British met the Americans at St. Joseph's Island.[20] On 13 December 1814, the British attacked the one-gun schooner USS Sea Horse. On the morning of the 14th, the British engaged the Americans in a short, violent battle.

The British captured or destroyed almost the entire American force, including the tender, USS Alligator, and five gunboats. The British lost 17 men killed and 77 wounded; Sophie's only casualty was Lockyer, who was badly wounded. Anaconda then evacuated the wounded. In 1821 the survivors of the flotilla shared in the distribution of head-money arising from the capture of the American gun-boats and sundry bales of cotton.[21][Note 1]

Sophie went on to support British forces involved in the Battle of New Orleans between December 1814 and January 1815.[1] Sophie temporarily came under the command of Lieutenant James Tattnall in December 1814. Following Nicholas Lockyer's promotion,[23] he was succeeded in April 1815 by Commander Silas Hood. Hood was followed in an acting capacity by Lieutenant William G. Roberts, who paid her off at Portsmouth in 1815.[1]