Hired armed lugger Nile facts for kids
The Royal Navy used special ships called hired armed luggers during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. These were private ships that the Navy rented for a period of time. Two of these ships were known as Nile. It's possible they were the same ship, just rented at different times.
The First Lugger Nile (1799-1801)
The first lugger Nile was a medium-sized ship, about 176 tons. It had two 6-pounder guns and ten 12-pounder carronades, which are like short cannons. This Nile was rented by the Navy from March 1799 to November 1801.
From 1799 to 1800, Lieutenant Ricard Whitehead was in charge of Nile. On January 12, 1800, the ship's master, Stephen Butcher, was in command because Lieutenant Whitehead was sick. On that day, Nile captured a French privateer ship called Moderé. A privateer was a private ship allowed by a government to attack enemy ships. Modere had four small guns and 42 crew members. It had only been out of port for six hours and hadn't captured anything yet.
Another British ship, Nemesis, arrived as Nile was taking over Moderé. Captain Baker of Nemesis took charge of Moderé and another captured privateer, Renard. He also took a British ship that had been captured but was now free again. Captain Baker then sent Nile to watch the port of Calais to look for other privateers. Nile later shared in the money from the capture of Moderé and Renard with Nemesis and the cutter Stag.
On February 6, Nile brought two recaptured ships into Deal, England. These ships were called West Indiamen and were sailing from the West Indies. One of them was named Elizabeth.
Around early 1800, Nile and another hired ship, Earl Spencer, recaptured a ship called Molly. Molly had been sailing from Exeter to Newcastle when a French privateer captured her. She arrived back in Deal on February 14.
Nile also helped in the capture of the French frigate Désirée on July 8, 1800, during a battle near Dunkirk. Nile, still under Master Butcher, helped by marking a safe path for the British ships. The next day, Nile brought the news of the victory to Dover. While Butcher was in command, Nile also captured a ship named Marie.
On July 25, 1800, Nile was part of a group of British ships that met a Danish frigate called Freja. The Danish ship was protecting a group of merchant ships. The British captain, Baker, wanted to check the merchant ships. The Danish captain refused and threatened to fire. When a British boat approached, the Danes fired, hitting Nemesis and killing one sailor. The British ships then fired back. After about 25 minutes, Freja surrendered. She had eight sailors killed and many wounded. This event caused some tension with Denmark, but a peace mission helped avoid a bigger war for a while. Years later, in 1807, the British captured Freja again and added her to the Royal Navy as HMS Freya.
Later, on October 27, Nemesis and Nile captured five fishing boats.
On November 1, Nile captured another French privateer called Renard near Folkestone. Lieutenant Whitehead was still sick, so Mr. Butcher was in command. Renard had two small guns and 13 crew members. She had left Calais the day before and was captured while next to a merchant ship.
The Second Lugger Nile (1804-1806)
The second lugger Nile was slightly smaller, about 170 tons. It was armed with fourteen 12-pounder carronades and had a crew of 50 men. The Navy rented this ship from April 1804 to October 1806, paying about £4576 each year. This might have been the same Nile that received a special permit called a letter of marque on July 21, 1803. A letter of marque allowed a private ship to act like a warship and capture enemy vessels.
In 1805, Lieutenant John Fennell was in command of Nile. In March, he captured two French ships: the chasse maree Deux Freres and the brig St François. On June 17, Nile captured another French brig called Jeune Nanine.
Lieutenant Fennell was still in command of Nile during the Battle of Cape Finisterre in 1805. Nile and another ship, Frisk, stayed out of the main fighting and had no casualties. However, because they were part of the fleet, they shared in the money from the capture of the Spanish ships Firme and San Rafael.
Lieutenant Fennell died in 1805, and Lieutenant Symonds took over command in September. On May 2, 1806, Nile was with two privateer ships from Jersey, called Success and Phoenix. Together, they captured a Spanish brig named Santa Alodias.
It's possible that Nile was also the lugger of 175 tons, with ten 12-pounder guns and 40 men, whose master, Thomas Butcher, received a letter of marque on December 30, 1808.
