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HMS ''Wolverine'' (or ''Wolverene'') was a Royal Navy 18-gun ''Cruizer''-class brig-sloop, launched in 1805 at Topsham, near Exeter.〔Winfield (2008), p.292.〕 Early in her career she was involved in two fratricidal incidents, one involving a British frigate and then a newsworthy case in which she helped capture a British slave ship. She later captured a small naval vessel and several privateers, and took part in the invasion of Martinique. ''Wolverine'' was decommissioned in August or September 1815 and was sold on 15 February 1816. ==Service== ''Wolverine'' entered service in 1805 under Commander John Smith (or Smyth).〔 In November ''Wolverine'' and the frigate encountered each other off the coast of Madeira. After a series of ambiguous and misinterpreted moves by the other, the two captains mistook each other for enemies and opened fire. Both vessels survived and the two captains proceeded to exchange mutually recriminatory letters.〔Willis (2008), pp.18-20.〕 Commander Francis Augustus Collier replaced Smith on 15 January 1806. ''Wolverine'' then deployed to the Caribbean.〔 On 12 March ''Wolverine'', after a chase of 15 hours, captured the French Navy schooner ''Tremeuse'' (or ''Trimeuse'', or ''Tremieuse''), which was armed with two 9-pounder carronades and one long 6-pounder; she had a crew of 53 men and was from Guadeloupe. She had been out 12 days without capturing anything. The Royal Navy took ''Trimeuse'' into service as . On 16 October ''Wolverine'' captured the packet ''Guadeloupe'', of one gun and 42 men. On 25 October she recaptured the American vessel, the ''Franklin'', which was carrying masts to Barbados and had been a prize to ''Guadeloupe''.〔 Next, on 9 November, ''Dart'', with ''Wolverine'' in company, captured the 8-gun ''Jeune Gabrielle''.〔 She had thrown half her guns overboard during the chase. She was under the command of M. Auguste Boufford and had a crew of 75. She was out of Guadeloupe and had not made any captures.〔 The next day ''Wolverine'' captured the ''Marianne'', of one gun and 46 men.〔〔Norie (1842), p.501.〕 On 30 November 1806 there occurred a second unfortunate incident when ''Wolverine'' fired on a British merchant vessel engaged in lawful trade. At 10pm, ''Dart'', under Commander Joseph Spear, and ''Wolverine'' came upon a ship that they suspected was a French privateer and that kept up a running fight until morning, only surrendering after her captain and several of her crew had been wounded, of whom six later died. The vessel turned out to be the British 24-gun slaver〔While distasteful, the slave trade was not, in 1806, illegal. The international slave trade was abolished by degrees, beginning in 1807.〕 ''Mary'', out of Liverpool, under Captain Hugh Crow.〔(Clowes (1897-1903), pp.394-5 )〕 He had thought that the two vessels chasing him in the dark were French privateers out of Cayenne and was determined not to surrender his vessel without a fight. Commander Spear gave him a letter of praise for his determined resistance and the fight became something of a sensation; on his return home Crow received honour, glory and a substantial reward for his gallantry.〔(''The Archer's Register'' (1864), p.235-6 )〕 Also, "many of the wretched negroes were killed or injured."〔〔Crow was a slaver who had earlier fought in two other engagements. The French vessel ''Robuste'', of twenty-four 12-pounders and 150 men, had captured him in 1794. Then on 21 February 1800, as captain of ''Will'', of eighteen 6-pounders and 50 men, he fought off a French privateer with the loss of three crewmen and two slaves killed and 10 wounded. He recounts his career and the fights in detail in his autobiography (Crow 1970).〕 On 27 January 1807 ''Wolverine'' was in sight when ''Jason'' captured the for the French sloop ''Favorite''. ''Jason'' had been detached, together with the brig ''Wolverine'', to the coast of Surinam to search for ''Favorite'', which she discovered in January and captured in a short engagement. ''Favorite'' had been a Royal Navy sloop that the French had captured in January 1806; the Royal Navy took her back into service as ''Goree''. Four days later, ''Wolverine'' chased and captured the French privateer ''Petite Confiance'', which had been cruising from Guadeloupe for the previous month.〔 During the chase she had thrown two of her three guns overboard. She had a crew of 50 and had been out of Guadeloupe for a month without taking any prizes. On 22 April 1808, the sloop ''Goree'', under Commander Joseph Spear, engaged the French brigs ''Palinure'' and ''Pilade'' in an inconclusive action. The schooner ''Superieur'' came to ''Goree''s assistance, followed a little while later by the frigate ''Circe'' and ''Wolverine'', which arrived too late to engage.〔James (1837), Vol. 5, pp.41-2.〕 On 31 October ''Circe'' captured ''Palinure''. Command briefly passed to Commander John Simpson in 1809, who commanded ''Wolverine'' during the invasion of Martinique in January and February 1809.〔 On 15 January 1809 ''Wolverine'', in company with ''Pompee'', ''Captain'' and ''Circe'', captured the French brig ''Josephine''. That same day ''Wolverine'' captured the ''Napoleon''. Simpson transferred to ''Goree'' and command of ''Wolverine'' passed to Commander Joseph Spear. On the morning of 12 April Spear arrived at the Admiralty office with Rear-Admiral Alexander Cochrane's dispatches announcing the surrender of Martinique. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Martinique" to all still surviving participants in the campaign. Commander Charles J. Kerr took command on 11 December 1809, transferring from . On 27 September 1810 ''Wolverine'' had been in pursuit of a French brig when ''Rhin'' joined the chase and after two and a half hours captured the quarry off the Lizard.〔 The French vessel was the privateer ''San Joseph'', of Saint Malo, under the command of a Joseph Wittevronghel, a Dane.〔 ''San Joseph'' was one year old, about 100 tons burthen (bm), and armed with 14 guns though she was pierced for 16.〔 She had only been out one day when the British captured her and had taken nothing. Also, ''Little Belt'' had been in company with ''Wolverine''. A court martial tried a seaman from ''Wolverine'' on 7 October 1811. The charge was that the seaman had absented himself without leave and had taken one of the ship's boats to do so. He received a sentence of 300 lashes.〔''Naval Chronicle'', Vol. 26, p.334.〕 On 17 November, ''Wolverine'' recaptured the sloop ''Minerva''. ''Wolverine'' was in sight on 15 February 1812 when the hired armed lugger ''Sandwich'' recaptured the ''North Star''. On 7 November 1813, she captured the 6-gun ''Lugger no. 961'', off Barfleur. ''No. 961'' belonged to the Cherbourg flotilla. She was armed with six guns, had a crew of 32 men and was under the command of Lieutenant Berard. On 13 December ''Wolverine'' intercepted ''King of Rome'', an American letter of marque, laden with colonial produce. On 26 April 1814, ''Wolverine'' sailed with a convoy for Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Quebec and New Brunswick. On 4 September Kerr became acting captain of ''Tonnant'', the flagship of Sir Alexander Cochrane, on the coast of North America. Between 12 and 15 September, ''Wolverine'' participated in the unsuccessful British attack on Baltimore. On 5 October George Guy Burton was promoted to Commander and removed from ''Tonnant'' to ''Wolverine'', which then spent some time on the Mediterranean station. 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 Wolverine (1805)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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