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} |} HMS ''Rapid'' was an ''Archer''-class (1804 batch) gun-brig of 12 guns, launched in 1804. She took part in 1808 in one action that in 1847 the Admiralty recognized with a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal. One month later cannon fire from a shore battery sank her. ==Career== Lieutenant Thomas Gwillim commissioned ''Rapid'' in November 1804. During the blockade of Brest, on 30 May 1805 ''Rapid'' was near the Penmarks where Gwillim observed several small vessels anchored under the protection of a battery. Gwillim sent in a boat that was able to cut out the chasse maree ''Paix Désirée'', which was carrying a cargo of salt. The other French vessels moved closer to the battery, which kept firing at ''Rapid''s boat.〔Leyland (1902), p.281.〕 Lieutenant Henry Baugh replaced Gwillim on 2 January 1806. On 26 October was in sight of ''Rapid'' as she captured the brig ''Conductor''. On April 23 1808, , Commander Thomas Searle, and ''Rapid'' encountered two Spanish vessels from South America, sailing under the protection of four gunboats. After a short chase, the convoy anchored under the guns of a shore battery near Faro, Portugal. Searle anchored ''Grasshopper'' within grapeshot (i.e., short) range of the Spanish vessels and commenced firing. After two and a half hours, the gun crews of the shore battery had abandoned their guns, and the British had driven two gunboats ashore and destroyed them. The British also captured two gunboats and the two merchant vessels. ''Grasshopper'' had one man killed and three severely wounded. Searle himself was lightly wounded. ''Rapid'' had three men severely wounded. Spanish casualties were heavy, numbering some 40 dead and wounded on the two captured gunboats alone. Searle put 14 of the wounded on shore to Faro as he did not have the resources to deal with them as well as his own casualties. Searle estimated the value of the cargo on each of the two merchant vessels at £30,000.〔If Searle's estimate was correct, the capture would have made him a wealthy man. A conservative estimate would put his share at in excess of £7,500.〕 This action also resulted in the Admiralty awarding clasps to the Naval General Service Medal marked "Grasshopper 24 April 1808" and "Rapid 24 April 1808". 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 Rapid (1804)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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