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HMS ''Brazen'' was a ''Bittern''-class 28-gun Royal Navy ship sloop, launched in 1808.〔 Though she served during the Napoleonic Wars, she appears to have missed any combat whatsoever and to have taken few prizes in that conflict. However, in the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom she captured the ''Beaver'' and the ''Warren'' in the Gulf of Mexico, but the ''Warren'' was wrecked on Grand Gosier Island, near New Orleans, in a hurricane. ''Brazen'' suffered severe damage in the hurricane and, after local repair, was recalled to England for a survey. After the survey she escorted convoys to Canada and back and recaptured the ''Daphne''. She then carried the Duke of Brunswick to Holland and patrolled the Irish Sea until her return to the West Indies Station. In 1815, she carried the news of the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812, to British troops that had captured Fort Bowyer and assisted in carrying them to England. After the war she took part in surveys of the Venezuelan coast and patrolled the Gulf of Mexico, capturing several prizes. In the 1820s she served with the West Africa Squadron working to suppress the slave trade. In this service she captured numerous slavers and liberated over 2,000 slaves. ''Brazen'' ended her career as a floating chapel and was broken up in 1848. ==The War of 1812== She was commissioned by Commander Lewis Shepard in July 1808 for the Jamaica station.〔 Shepard was promoted to post-captain on 21 October 1810. From October 1810 she was under the command of Richard Plummer Davies, still on the Jamaica station.〔 Between June 1812 and August 1818 she was under the command of Commander James Stirling and for most of that time served in the West Indies. Stirling joined the ship in Port Royal Harbour, Jamaica, on 29 June 1812 and on 11 July ''Brazen '' left on her first mission in the War of 1812, to harass American ports and shipping in the Gulf of Mexico.〔Drew (2003).〕 On 6 August 1812, near the Balize entrance to the Mississippi, she captured the US brig ''Beaver'', which was sailing to Havana with a cargo of sugar and coffee. She put the crew and two river pilots ashore and then a prize crew of a lieutenant and five seamen sailed ''Beaver'' to Jamaica.〔Murdoch (1964).〕 On 18 August 1812 ''Brazen'' captured the ''Warren'' near Horn Island, off the coast of Mississippi. However, the next day she was cast on shore and wrecked in the hurricane of 19/20 August 1812.〔 ''Brazen'' also suffered severely. ''Lloyd's List'' reported that she and the frigate had run aground and lost their masts on the coast of Mississippi, but that the crews were saved.〔''Lloyd's List'',() - accessed 18 December 2013.〕 Actually, neither vessel was lost in the Hurricane, though ''Southampton'' was lost about a week later when she hit an uncharted rock. ''Brazen'' sheltered in the lee of Grand Gosier Island, the southernmost of the Chandeleur Islands, and jettisoned her three masts and her quarterdeck and forecastle guns, but nevertheless dragged her three anchors to within a quarter of a mile from the beach. When the hurricane had passed, she salvaged the mainmast from the wreck of the ''Warren'' and limped to the (then) Spanish port of Pensacola. The Spanish authorities allowed her to land some sailors to cut timber for the masts and throughout September the crew replaced the masts and carried out other repairs. On 29 September ''Brazen'' left Pensacola to resume her patrol off the mouth of the Mississippi.〔 Stirling soon realised that the repairs had not made the ship completely seaworthy and decided to return her to Port Royal, where she arrived on 20 November. Further repairs were carried out in Jamaica, but the ship was recalled to England for a maintenance survey. She left on 19 December and arrived at Spithead on 9 February 1813, before sailing to Sheerness for the survey.〔 After the survey she sailed on 4 June 1813 as escort for a convoy carrying stores and settlers to Churchill in Hudson Bay. On 29 June she recaptured the ''Daphne''. She anchored off Churchill on 19 August and left again on 20 September, escorting another convoy via the Orkney Islands to England and arriving at the Downs anchorage on 25 November.〔 On her return to England she received a commission in December to take the Duke of Brunswick to Holland. Then, between March and December 1814, she patrolled the Irish Sea and the Outer Hebrides in search of American vessels, leaving on 29 December to return to the West Indies. ''Brazen'' arrived at Barbados early in February 1815 and received a commission to take the news of the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812, to Fort Bowyer, which had been captured by British forces, and to carry the British troops to Havana and then back to England.〔 Her arrival at Fort Bowyer forestalled a British attack on Mobile. ''Brazen'' left Mobile on 25 March 1815 and sailed from Havana on 4 April, returning home with General Sir John Lambert, Baynes, his Aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Harry Smith (later Lieutenant General Sir Harry Smith) and as many wounded as she could carry.〔Moore Smith (1902), Chapter 23.〕 Smith, in his autobiography, later wrote They arrived at Portsmouth on 6 May.〔''Naval Chronicle'', Vol. 33 (January–July 1815), p.432.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「HMS Brazen (1808)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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