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Two vessels have borne the designation, HM hired armed cutter ''Lion''. The first served during the French Revolutionary Wars, capturing five privateers and several merchant vessels. The second served briefly at the start of the Napoleonic Wars. Both vessels operated in the Channel. The two cutters may have been the same vessel; at this juncture it is impossible to know. French records report that the French captured the second ''Lion'' in 1808 and that she served in the French Navy until 1809. ==First hired armed cutter ''Lion''== This vessel served on a contract from 30 March 1793 to 27 January 1801. She was of 85 tons (bm) and was armed with ten 3-pounder guns.〔Winfield (2008), p. 387.〕 She may have been built in 1789.〔 She was commissioned under Lieutenant W.R. Davies.〔 In late 1793 ''Lion'' served in a small squadron under the command of Sir James Saumarez in the frigate , together with the frigate and the brig . They convoyed some transports with troops for Jersey and Guernsey, and their picked up pilots for Rear-Admiral MacBride. On 28 November Saumarez detached ''Lion'' to take the pilots to MacBride.〔Ross (1838), Vol. 1, p.119.〕 Lieutenant Thomas Baker was appointed acting commander from December or perhaps January 1794. He served on her in the Channel as part of the forces under MacBride, before moving into the lugger ''Valiant'' on 20 May 1794. On 8 March 1795 ''Lion'', while under the command of Nick Simmons (or Simmonds, or Symonds) captured the ship ''Apparencen''. On 16 August 1796, ''Lion'' and the revenue cutter ''Swallow'' were four leagues WSW of Beachy Head when they observed a signal from the signal post alerting them to the presence of an enemy vessel. They set out in pursuit and captured a privateer lugger and her prize, a sloop. The privateer was armed with swivel guns and small arms, and had a crew of 17 men. She was three days out of St Valory and had only captured the sloop. The next month, on 12 September at 6a.m., ''Lion'' was three leagues SE of Beachy Head when she spotted a French privateer cutter. ''Lion'', under the command of her master, Nick Simmonds, immediately gave chase, but at 7a.m., the privateer, seeing that ''Lion'' was going to persist, came up, exchanges several shots with ''Lion'', and the struck. The privateer was the ''Turot'', of four 4-pounder guns, some swivel guns, and small arms, and 25 men under the command of Bernard Emanuel Turat. She was four days out of Havre de Grace and had not yet taken any prizes. (The name of the privateer was later corrected to ''Turo''.) Three months later, on 15 December, ''Lion'', still under the command of Nick Simmonds, captured a French privateer off the Owers after a four-hour chase. The privateer was the cutter ''Hazard''. She was armed with two carriage guns, two swivel guns, and small arms, and had a crew of 17 men. She was two days out of Fécamp but had captured nothing. Then in the evening of 2 (or 3) February 1797, ''Lion'', was off Dungeness Point, when she took possession of a French privateer sloop. Captor and prey were astern of a convoy that ranged to eastward. The privateer was the ''Requin'', of Dieppe, armed only with muskets, and having a crew of 20 men. ''Lion'' was in company with the ''Dolphin'', but it was Commander Bazely of who wrote the letter describing the incident, ''Harpy'' having arrived as ''Lion'' was taking possession of ''Requin''.〔 In late 1797 or early 1798, ''Lion'' was in company with the hired armed cutters ''Telemachus'' and ''Peggy'' when they captured the ''Ledia''. On 18 May 1798 Home Riggs Popham led an expedition to Ostend to attack the sluice gates of the Bruge Canal. The expedition landed 1,300 troops under Major General Coote. The army blew up the locks and gates on the Bruges canal but was then forced to surrender. ''Lion'', under the command of Lieutenant S. Bevel (or Bevill) was part of the naval portion of the operation. ''Lion'' carried some soldiers from the 23rd Regiment of Foot, which she landed, together with 15 of her crew. They carried some of the mines (explosives) used for blowing up the locks and gates.〔Corbett (1914), Vol. 2, p.346.〕 On 16 November a French privateer appeared off Hastings. Captain Edward Henry Columbine was the commander of the Sea Fencibles for the area,〔''Naval Chronicle'', Vol. 6, p.84.〕 and Mr. Wexham, master of the ''Lion'', volunteered his vessel to go after the privateer. Columbine put a number of Sea Fencibles aboard ''Lion'', which set out in chase. ''Lion'' had to fire on the privateer before she would strike, which cost the life of one Frenchman. The privateer was the ''Success'', of Cherbourg. She was armed with four guns and carried a crew of 24 men under the command of Nicholas Dubois, master. She had been out four days without having made any captures. ''Lion'', and the hired armed cutters ''Dolphin'' and ''Lord Duncan'' were in company on 26 March 1799 when they recaptured the brigs ''Triton'' and ''Search''. On 11 October ''Lion'', under the command of Lieutenant William Yawkins, and the hired armed cutter ''Ann'' recaptured three small vessels. One of the three was the ''Elizabeth'', of Whitby, Thomas Smith, master. Shortly after he was brought on shore at Deal, Captain Smith died of wounds he sustained when the privateer captured the ''Elizabeth''. Smith's wife, who was on board at the time of the capture, arrived safely.〔'' WHITBY SHIPPING 1790 to 1799''.() - Accessed 21 May 2013.〕 Late in 1799, ''Lion'' was at Goeree-Overflakkee. Three Dutch vessels had taken refuge there and an overage merchant vessel, the ''Overyssel'', was to be sunk at the mouth of the harbour to impede their escape. A sudden gale overturned the ''Overyssel'', but a boat from ''Lion'' saved some of the crew.〔O'Brien (1902), p. x.〕 At the end of December or in early January 1800, ''Lion'' took up station at Newhaven, at the behest of the merchants of Lewes, for the "protection of ships trading to and from that port".〔''London Chronicle'', (7–9 January 1800), p.30.〕 In February 1800, Lieutenant W. Tatham, the former first lieutenant of , which was being decommissioned, was appointed to command ''Lion''.〔''Naval Chronicle'', Vol. 3, p.231.〕 In April ''Lion'' captured, off Scaford, Sussex, a smuggling vessel from Folkstone, with 500 pieces of contraband.〔''London Chronicle'', (8–10 April 1800) Vol. 87, p.342.〕 In April, ''Lion'' captured the French fishing boats ''Julie'' and ''Recompense''. Then on 17 June ''Lion'' and the sloop sailed from The Downs with a large number of merchant ships.〔''London Chronicle'', (26–28 June 1800) Vol. 87, p.613.〕 ''Lion'' was anchored in St Aubin's Bay, Jersey in November 1800 when a severe gale came up on 9 November, which drove her onshore. Although several other vessels in the bay such as ,〔''Lloyd's List'',() - accessed 20 December 2013.〕 suffered similarly, they were refloated. The schooner and the hired armed brig ''Telegraph'' got safely out to sea, though ''Telegraph'' had to cut away her mainmast.〔''Naval Chronicle'', Vol. 4, P.436.〕 ''Havick'', however, was so badly damaged that she was abandoned as a wreck.〔Hepper (1994), p.96.〕 Neither ''Havick'' nor ''Pelican'' suffered any casualties,〔 though the crews were subject to waves breaking over them for six hours until the tide, which had risen 32 feet (perpendicular), providentially receded.〔''Naval Chronicle'', Vol. 4, p.518.〕 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「Hired armed cutter Lion」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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