HMS Nonpareil (1808)

HMS Nonpareil was launched at Baltimore in 1801 or 1807. The Navy captured her in 1808 and purchased her. Nonpareil captured a French naval brig in a severe action in 1810. The Navy sold Nonpareil in 1813 after a storm damaged her.

History
United States
Builder	Price, Baltimore
Launched	1801,[1] or 1807[2]
Captured	1808
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Nonpareil
Acquired	1808 by purchase of a prize
Fate	Damaged 1812 and sold 1813
General characteristics [2]
Tons burthen	210 (bm)
Length	Royal Navy:88 ft (26.8 m) At the rails:94 ft 1 in (28.7 m)[1] Deck:89 ft 6 in (27.3 m)[1]
Beam	23 ft (7.0 m), or 22 ft 10 in (7.0 m)[1]
Armament	12 × 12-pounder carronades

Origins and capture

Sources differ over when Nonpareil was launched, and when she was captured. Two sources state that she was launched in 1801.^[1][3]

Some sources state that the British seized Nonpareil when they captured Montevideo in 1807.^[3]

Diana detained Nonpareil, Lumley, master, of Baltimore, on 4 February 1808,^[2] and sent her into Plymouth.^[4] A prize court condemned her as a blockade runner.^[3]

Royal Navy

The Navy purchased Nonpareil and registered her on 7 July 1808.^[2] Lieutenant James Dickenson commissioned her in June. On 26 March 1809 he sailed her for the Spanish Coast. Then on 23 June 1810 Dickenson sailed Nonpareil for Newfoundland.^[5]

On 10 October 1808 Nonpareil and Snapper went in pursuit of a vessel leaving Corruna suspected of being a French privateer from Martinique. Nonpareil lost her in the night. Nonpareil had arrived on the 9th with a messenger, and was about to return to England, perhaps with despatches.^[6]

On 12 October Nonpareil captured the merchantman Belle Coquette.^[7] Nonpareil was in company with Snapper.

On 28 February 1809 Nonpareil captured the merchantman Natalie.^[8]

On 10 May 1810, Nonpareil took the brig Cannoniere, off the Vilaine. The action took an hour and a quarter before Cannoniere struck. Cannoniere had a crew of 61 men and was armed with three 12-pounder guns and two 24-pounder carronades.^[9] The French lost 11 men killed and eight wounded; British casualties were two wounded.^{[10][Note 1]} Lloyd's List reported that Cannoniere had been armed with 32-pounder and three 18–pounder guns, and 10 swivel guns; she had a crew of 70 men.^[13]

Lieutenant Thomas Cowper Sherwin commanded Nonpareil from 22 October 1810 in the Channel until 1812.^[5]

Nonpareil was one of the 25 naval vessels that shared in the proceeds of the detention of Asia on 5 August 1812.^{[Note 2]}

Fate

A storm in the Tagus on 19 December 1812 damaged Nonpareil.^[2] She was among the many vessels wrecked or damaged there.^[15] She was sold there in 1813.^[2]

The courtmartial on 24 December 1812 absolved Sherwin, his officers, and the crew of Nonpareil of any blame for her loss.^[16]

Notes

1. In this case Cannoniere appears to be a description, not a name. The prize money notice refers to her as "Canoniere (or No.176)".^[11] If so, she may have been one of the Canonnière No.22 Class of chaloupes-canonnières. No. 176 was built at Bordeaux between July 1803 and February 1804.^[12]
2. A first-class share was worth £9 10s 10d; a sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman, was worth 2s 5d.^[14]