HMS Tickler (1804) facts for kids

C. Wulff capturing Tickler, 1808; Niels Truslew
Quick facts for kids History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Tickler
Ordered	22 March 1804
Builder	Matthew Warren, Brightlingsea
Laid down	May 1804
Launched	8 August 1804
Captured	4 June 1808
Denmark & Norway
Name	HDMS De Teichler
Acquired	1808 by capture
Renamed	Frederikke Louise (1815)
Captured	9 June 1808
Fate	Naval brig: sold 1815 Mercantile: disposed of 1851
General characteristics
Class and type	Archer-class gunbrig
Tons burthen	17877⁄94 (bm)
Length	Overall: 80 ft 3 in (24.5 m) Keel: 65 ft 11 in (20.1 m)
Beam	22 ft 7 in (6.9 m)
Depth of hold	9 ft 5 in (2.9 m)
Complement	50
Armament	10 × 18-pounder carronades + 2 chase guns

HMS Tickler was a small but strong warship called a gunbrig. She was built in England in 1804. A gunbrig was a type of sailing ship armed with many cannons. Tickler served the British Navy in the English Channel and the Baltic Sea. In 1808, during the Gunboat War, Danish forces captured her. After being captured, she was sold in 1815. From 1815 to 1852, she sailed under the name Frederikke Louise. She first worked as a merchant ship, carrying goods. Later, from 1843 to 1851, she became a ship used for seal hunting.

Life as a British Warship

HMS Tickler began her service in August 1804. Lieutenant Charles Irvine was her first commander. Later, Lieutenant John Watson Skinner took command.

In January 1805, Tickler played a small but important role. She brought a French officer to England. This officer was carrying a secret message from a French leader named Talleyrand to a British leader, Lord Harrowby. The message was very urgent and had traveled quickly from Paris.

Fighting French Ships

On April 24, 1805, Tickler was part of a group of British warships. They were sailing near Cap Gris Nez in France. The British ships spotted 26 French vessels. These French ships were trying to sneak past.

The British commander ordered his ships, including Tickler, to stop them. After about two hours of fighting, two British ships, Starling and Locust, managed to capture seven of the French vessels. These French ships were called schuyts. They were small boats carrying soldiers and sailors. The French convoy was heading from Dunkirk to Ambleteuse. Only one British sailor was hurt during this fight.

The captured French schuyts were:

• Schuyt No. 52, armed with three large cannons.
• Schuyt No. 48, armed with two small cannons, one large cannon, and a brass howitzer.
• Schuyt No. 57, armed with one large cannon and two small cannons.
• Schuyt No. 45, a transport ship, armed with one large cannon, one medium cannon, and one small cannon.
• Schuyt No. 3, whose commander escaped before it was captured.
• Schuyt No. 54, armed with one large cannon and two small cannons.
• Schuyt No.43, armed with one large cannon and two small cannons.

The next day, two more French schuyts (No.s 44 and 58) were captured. Each of these had one large cannon and two medium cannons. The British ships towed the captured French vessels back to England.

More Duties and Encounters

In August 1807, Tickler helped to stop a ship named Hausstind. Later, in September, she stopped two more ships, Justicia and Juckinthat, that were sailing from Norway.

In October, Tickler arrived in Elsinore, Denmark, with a group of other ships. On December 14, 1807, another British ship, HMS Astraea, captured a French privateer (a privately owned warship) called Providence. Tickler was nearby and helped in the chase.

Capture by the Danes

Hans Hansen: Christian Wulff capturing the Tickler, 1808.

On June 3, 1808, Tickler was sailing in a strait called the Great Belt. She met two Danish gunboats. After fighting for 45 minutes, the Danish boats pulled back.

The next day, June 4, the two Danish gunboats were still nearby. Four more Danish gunboats appeared and started rowing towards Tickler. There was no wind, which made it hard for Tickler to move. This gave the smaller, oar-powered Danish gunboats a big advantage.

The four Danish gunboats began firing at 2:45 p.m. Tickler fired back with her front cannons. Early in the battle, Lieutenant Skinner was hit in the head and died. Sub-Lieutenant James Sheppheard then took command. At 7:15 p.m., Sheppheard had to surrender. This is called striking the colours.

Tickler had one sailor killed and seven wounded. Her hull (the main body of the ship) was full of holes, and her rigging (the ropes and sails) was badly damaged. The Danish gunboats, led by Lieutenant Christian Wulff, had very few injuries.

Model of the brig Tickler.

Life as a Danish Ship

The plans of HMS Tickler that the Danish Navy made after capturing her in 1808

After her capture, the Danes called Tickler "Den erobrede engelske Brig Tiechler," which means "the captured English brig Tiechler." The Danish Navy kept her until 1815, when they sold her.

From 1815 to 1842, she became a merchant ship in Copenhagen. Her new name was Frederikke Louise. She was listed in a shipping record book called Lloyd's Register from 1839. It showed she was a British-built ship of 164 tons.

In 1842, Frederikke Louise was sold to a company in Rønne, Bornholm. They changed her into a ship for seal hunting in the "northern ice sea." She was used for seal hunting from 1842 to 1851.

Here's how many seals and walruses she helped catch: