HMS Naiad was a Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate that served in the Napoleonic Wars. She was built by Hall and Co. at Limehouse on the Thames, launched in 1797, and commissioned in 1798. She served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and her last actions occurred in 1824–5. She was paid off in 1826. She then served for many years in Latin America as a coal depot, first for the Royal Navy and then for the Pacific Steam Navigation Company. She was broken up in 1898, 101 years after her launching.
Design Naiad was built to a design by Sir William Rule. She was an expanded version of his Amazon-class frigates of 1795. Rule's original Amazon class were 32-gun, 12-pounder, frigates of 677 tons (bm), built between 1771 and 1782. In need of a larger frigate, in 1794, the Admiralty asked for a 36-gun, 18-pounder version. Originally intended as a series of four, by the time the first one, , had been launched in 1795, Rule had already drawn up plans for Naiad.
Work began in September 1795 at Limehouse when Naiads keel of was laid down. As built, her dimensions were along the gun deck with a beam of and a depth in hold of , making her 1,018 tons burthen (bm).
Naiad was a 38-gun fifth rate, built to carry a main battery of twenty-eight long guns on her gun deck, two on the quarterdeck and two on the forecastle. She additionally carried fourteen carronades, ten on the quarterdeck and four on the forecastle.
French Revolutionary Wars Captain William Pierrepoint took command of Naiad in April 1797.
On 3 April 1798 Naiad captured Mary and Elizabeth. Sixteen days later, Naiad, and were in sight when captured the French gun-brig Arrogante. Arrogante was armed with six long 24-pounder guns and had a crew of 92 men. The British took her into service as HMS Arrogante, but then renamed her HMS Insolent in August. Next, Naiad and took Vriendfchap Beerens on 16 May.
On 11 August, some 42 leagues from Cape Finisterre, and after a chase of four hours, Naiad captured the French privateer Tigre, which was under the command of Stephen Bonaventure Aggaret. Tigre was armed with eight 4-pounder guns and eight swivels. She had a crew of 31 men, having put another 22 men aboard the prizes that she had taken in the eight days since she had left Groire.
Next, on 24 August, Naiad was chasing a French frigate, which chase joined. After about three hours the two British ships had caught up with their quarry, which proceeded for the next hour to fire on them with her stern chasers. She then struck. The French ship was the frigate Décade, with a crew of 336 men under the command of Citoyen Villeneau. Décade was pierced for 44 guns, but she had landed ten in Cayenne, from where she was sailing. In all, Naiad had chased Décade for 36 hours. The British took Décade into service.
Naiads success in prize-taking continued. On 5 March 1799 she captured the French privateer Hereux Hazard, off the Loire. Heureux Hazard was armed with sixteen 6 and 9-pounder guns, but was pierced for 20 guns. She had a crew of 94 men and had left Nantes the previous day, provisioned for a three-month cruise. At the time of the capture and were in sight, and so entitled to share in the prize money.
The next day Naiad met up with Ethalion, which had just that day too captured the privateer Indefatigable, of 18 guns and 120 men. Indefatigable too was just one day out of Nantes and provisioned for a long cruise. On 12 March Naiad, , , and were in company when Triton captured the French merchant brig Victoire.
In September Naiad recaptured the ship Princess Royal. However, Naiads biggest prize was yet to come.
Capture of Thetis and Santa Brigada
On 15 October 1799 Naiad sighted two Spanish frigates. Pierrepont gave chase and before dawn spotted them and joined the pursuit. At 7.00 am the two Spaniards parted company so Pierrepont followed one frigate, together with 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 first 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 receive them. Alcmene had one man killed and nine wounded, and Triton had one man wounded; had two men killed and eight men wounded.
The vessel that Ethalion had captured turned out to be Thetis, under the command of Captain Don Juan de Mendoza. She was homeward-bound from Vera Cruz (Mexico) with a cargo of cocoa, cochineal and sugar, and more importantly, specie worth 1,385,292 Spanish dollars (£312,000). The vessel that Triton, Alcmene, and Naiad had captured was Santa Brigada, 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.
At some point Triton, with Naiad, Alcmene, and Ethalion in company, recaptured the American ship Abigail.
On 12 September 1800 the hired armed cutter Suwarrow cut out the French brig Providence from under two batteries near Camaret Point. She was carrying wine, soap and brandy for the Brest fleet; the capture took place under heavy fire but Suworow suffered no casualties. Although the third rate and Naiad were in sight, they voluntarily relinquished their share of the prize money to Suwarrow.The Naval Chronicle, Vol. 4, p. 249.
In December Captain the Honorable John Murray replaced Pierrepont, who was ill. Naiad spent the following year cruising out of Plymouth.
In December 1800, Captain William H. Rickets replaced Murray of Naiad. At the beginning of May 1801 she recaptured, some 500 miles west of Cape Finisterre, the packet Phoenix, Captain Thompson. Phoenix had sailed from Falmouth on 15 April for New York and had the misfortune to encounter a French 40-gun privateer on 21 April. Although he could not escape capture, Thompson was able to sink his mails before being boarded. While still a French prize, Phoenix also encountered Concarde and Corneille, two large French frigates taking troops and stores from Nantes to Egypt. After her recapture, Phoenix arrived safely in Plymouth on 11 May.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 5, p. 460. The hired armed cutter Earl St Vincent shared in the capture.
On the night of 16 May 1801, boats from Naiad and , under the direction of Naiads First lieutenant, entered the port of Marín, Pontevedra, in Galicia in north-west Spain. There they captured the Spanish corvette Alcudia and destroyed the armed packet Raposo, both under the protection of a battery of five 24-pounders. Alcudia, commanded by Don Jean Antonio Barbuto, was moored stem and stern close to the fort. Her sails had previously been taken ashore so the boats had to tow her out but soon after a strong south-west wind set in and Rickets thought it necessary to set her on fire. Naiad and Phaeton suffered only four men wounded.
Naiad returned to Plymouth on 25 May 1801 and now under the command of Captain Phillip Wilkinson sailed again on 6 June with bullocks and vegetables for the Channel fleet.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 5, p. 535. She was back in Plymouth for two days at the end of August.
At the end of October a violent gale almost wrecked Naiad near the Île de Ré. She sat for two days on shore under the guns of a French battery, which, much to the mystification of her captain and crew, did not fire on them. On the second day the French commander sent boats with spare cables and anchors and informed Wilkinson that England had signed the preliminaries of a peace treaty with France. Naiad returned to Plymouth on 1 November.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 6, p. 428.
Napoleonic Wars Throughout most of 1802 Naiad was in ordinary but on 9 September orders came down for her to be commissioned in place of , which was to be paid off. Captain James Wallis and the crew of Fisgard were to transfer to Naiad when she was ready for commissioning.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 8, p. 260. On 18 December it was announced that Naiad would have to supply men to , then fitting out for foreign service, if Belleisle was still short crew.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 9, p. 73. Apparently they were not needed.
In early 1803, Naiad succeeded in taking several prizes. Her boats, with those from , cut out a new brig from among the Penmarks off Brest while under fire from French batteries. They also cut out and sank a chasse-maree.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 9, pp. 492–3. These were probably the French brig Jeanne and the galiot Balier, which they captured on 10 May. On 19 May Naiad and Hazard also captured Frauen Brigitta.
On 29 May, in the Bay of Biscay, Naiad captured the French corvette Impatiente, which was under the command of Citizen Hypolite Arnous, lieutenant de vaisseau. Impatient was armed with 20 guns, some of which she had thrown overboard during the chase. She and her crew were sailing from Senegal to Rochefort when Naiad captured her. Two days later Naiad captured the French merchant ship Chasseur, of 359 tons burthen. She was under the command of Citizen Lamar, Lieutenant de Vaisseau, and was carrying sugar, cotton and coffee from San Domingo to Lorient.
Next, Naiad and captured a French brig from the Straits and a Dutch sloop, also from the Straits, carrying drugs and medicines. Naiad and Doris also took a French corvette from Gorée laden with gum and ivory.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 9, pp.493. These vessels came into Plymouth on 4 June. That same day Naiad arrived with two French ships and two Dutch ships that she and Doris had also captured.
Then 2 June, Naiad captured Napoleon, a French brig from Guadeloupe bound for Nantes with sugar and coffee. On 5 July she captured Providence. On 8 July she captured the brig Prudente, and on 8 August the brig Anne Marie.
On 4 July Wallis sent Naiads boats to cut out a French schooner lying at anchor at the Saints. Next morning, in spite of the strong tides and the many rocks and shoals in the area, they brought the schooner out without loss as almost the entire crew, including the commander, Citizen Martres Preville, lieutenant de vaisseau, had fled at their approach. The prize was Providence, which had only two guns mounted but was laden with 36, 24 and 18-pounder cannon she was taking to Brest from a foundry near Nantes. Her cargo also included some choice timber.
Naiad returned to Plymouth from her cruise on 7 September and went in for a refit. This was completed on 2 October when she went from Barnpool out into the Sound to await orders. On 5 October she received six months of wages, and sailed the next day down the Channel, before anyone could spend any of their accumulated pay.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 10, p. 346.
During the following fifteen weeks Naiad cruised off Ferrol and A Coruña with Sir Edward Pellew's squadron. The squadron experienced severe gales but in spite of the weather blowing them off station on several occasions, the squadron succeeded in preventing the French squadrons from Ferrol and Corunna linking up.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 11, p. 81. On 29 November forced the French frigate Bayonnaise aground in Finisterre Bay where her crew set fire to her so that she blew up. Naiad was among the vessels in Pellew's squadron sharing, by agreement, in the head money.
Naiad left the squadron on 8 January 1804 when they were close in to Ferrol, to carry dispatches to Admiral William Cornwallis off Ushant. She left the Admiral on 10 January and arrived back in Plymouth four days later.