ETHALION HMS 1797

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aukepalmhof
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ETHALION HMS 1797

Post by aukepalmhof » Sun Nov 28, 2021 9:55 pm

Built as a full-rigged wooden fifth-rate frigate by Joseph Graham, Harwich for the Royal Navy.
30 April 1795 ordered.
October 1795 keel laid down.
14 November was named HMS ETHALION.
14 March 1797 launched. She was one of the Artois class, designed by Sir john Henslow.
Tonnage 992 ton, dim. 37.1 x 11.89 x 4.19m, draught 3.12m.
Armament: Upper deck 28 – 18 pdrs, quarter deck 2 – 9 pdrs and 12 – 32 pdrs. carronades, fo’c’sle 2 – 9 pdrs, and 2 – 32 pdrs carronades.
Crew 270
11 February 1797 completed at Chatham.
April 1797 commissioned under command of Capt. George Countess.

HMS ETHALION was a 38-gun Artois-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built by Joseph Graham of Harwich and launched on 14 March 1797. In her brief career, before she was wrecked in 1799 on the French coast, she participated in a major battle and in the capture of two privateers and a rich prize.

Service
ETHALION entered service in 1797, operating in the English Channel as part of the Channel Fleet. Soon after commissioning in April under Captain George Countess, ETHALION was engaged in chasing a French squadron under Jean-Baptiste-François Bompart intent on invading Ireland during the Rebellion of 1798. Countess kept the French fleet in sight for several days and was able to signal for assistance. This brought a significant force under John Borlase Warren to the region and the French were defeated at the Battle of Tory Island. ETHALION, with MELAMPUS, took the 40-gun BELLONE, which the Royal Navy took into service. ETHALION had one man killed and three wounded; the French lost 20 men killed.[2] In 1847 the Battle of Tory Island earned for any still surviving crew members the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "12th October 1798".
On 2 February 1799, ETHALION was operating with ANSON when together they captured a 14-gun privateer Bayonnaise cutter. She was the BOULONNOISE, out of Dunkirk, and had been "greatly annoyed the trade in the North Sea". She had a crew of 70 men and had been the revenue cutter SWAN. SWAN had been captured some two years earlier off the Isle of Wight in an action that cost the life of Captain Sarmon, her commander.
On 6 March ETHALION captured the 18-gun privateer INFATIGABLE in the Channel after a 10-hour chase. INFATIGABLE was armed with 18 guns and had a crew of 120 men. She was only one day out of Nantes, provisioned for a four-month cruise.
Later in 1799 Captain James Young took command.
Capture of Thetis and Santa Brigada
In 1799 ETHALION was operating with four other frigates off Vera Cruz against Spanish shipping. 15 October 1799 the British frigate NAIAD, Captain William Pierrepont, was patrolling off the coast of Spain when she sighted two Spanish 34-gun frigates, SANTA-BRIGIDA and THETIS.. Captain Pierrepont of Naiad gave chase and before dawn, ETHALION spotted them and joined the pursuit. At 7.00 am the two Spaniards parted company so Pierrepont followed one frigate, together with ALCMMENE and TRITON, which too had joined the chase, while directing ETHALION, to pursue the other frigate. By 11.30 am, ETHALION had caught up with her quarry and after a short engagement, the Spanish vessel struck her colours. ETHALION had no casualties though the Spaniard had one man killed and nine wounded.
TRITON, the fastest of the three British frigates, led the chase of the second frigate. The next morning TRITON struck some rocks as she tried to prevent her quarry from reaching port. TRITON got off the rocks and resumed the chase despite taking on water. She and ALCMENE then exchanged fire with the Spanish frigate, which surrendered before NAIAD could catch up. Four large Spanish ships came out from Vigo but then retreated when the three British frigates made ready to engage them. ALCMENE had one man killed and nine wounded, and TRITON had one man wounded; SANTA BRIGIDA had two men killed and eight men wounded
The vessel that ETHALION had captured turned out to be the THETIS under the command of Captain-Don Juan de Mendoza. She homeward-bound from Vera Cruz with a cargo of cocoa, cochineal and sugar, and more importantly, species worth 1,385,292 Spanish dollars (£312,000). The vessel that TRITON ALCMENE and NAIAD had captured was SANTA-BRIGIDA, under the command of Captain Don Antonio Pillon. She was carrying a cargo of drugs, annatto, cochineal, indigo and sugar, and some 1,500,000 dollars. Prize money was paid on 14 January 1800.

Distribution of the treasure
On the THETIS there were 431 cash boxes with 1,385,292 Spanish dollars, which at the time was equivalent to 311,690 pounds sterling (in today's purchasing power 31.25 million pounds). Onboard the SANTA BRIGIDE there were 446 cash cassettes as well as other cash assets with a total value of 1,500,000 Spanish dollars. Accordingly, the SANTA BRIGIDA was worth around 345,000 pounds sterling (in today's purchasing power 34.67 million pounds) according to the currency at the time. In contrast to the events after the naval battle of October 5, 1804, the treasure was divided among the crews of the British frigates as follows.
Captain 40,730 £ 18Sh and 0p
Lieutenants 5091 £ 7Sh and 3p
Warrant officers 2468 £ 10Sh and 7½p
Midshipmen & sc 791 £ 17sh and ½p
Seamen + Mariners 182 £ 4Sh and 9½p

In December ETHALION, by then under Captain John Searle, was engaged in the blockade of the French Atlantic Coast.
Loss
On 25 December 1799 ETHALION was wrecked on a reef off the Penmarks. Attempts were made to save the stricken ship but the damage was too severe. DANAE, SYLPH, and the hired armed cutter NIMROD assisted in rescuing the crew. ETHALION's first lieutenant then set the remains on fire. Searle, the first lieutenant, and the master's mate were the last to leave. The subsequent court-martial honourably acquitted Searle and his officers for the loss. The board ruled that the accident was due to unusual tides against which the skill and zeal of the officers and ship's company were unavailing.

John Quilliam, who in 1805 was First Lieutenant of the HMS VICTORY at Trafalgar, was the star witness at the Court Martial that was convened following the loss of the 38-gun frigate ETHALION on Christmas Eve 1799. Quilliam was an officer of the watch when the frigate struck the ‘Rocks of the Saints’ outside Brest while attempting to reconnoitre the enemy fleet. Astonishingly, not a single member of the crew was lost or even injured. The ‘Narrative’ presented to the court by ETHALION’s commander, Captain John Clarke Searle, provides a vivid account of the events of that night and a spirited defence of his own actions.

Details and history of THETIS are given by: viewtopic.php?t=17931

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_ETHALION_(1797) and internet.
Isle of Man 2021 ROW sg?, Scott2185.
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