_RMG_J0135.png) A profile plan showing the dimensions of masts and yards forSophie | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMSSophie |
| Ordered | 21 November 1808 |
| Builder | John Pelham,Frindsbury |
| Laid down | December 1808 |
| Launched | 8 September 1809 |
| Completed | By 23 December 1809 |
| Fate | Sold on 15 August 1825 |
| General characteristics[1] | |
| Class & type | 18-gunCruizer classbrig-sloop |
| Tons burthen | 38740⁄94 (bm) |
| Length |
|
| Beam | 30 ft 8 in (9.3 m) |
| Depth of hold | 12 ft 9 in (3.9 m) |
| Propulsion | Sails |
| Sail plan | Brig-sloop |
| Complement | 121 |
| Armament |
|
HMSSophie was an 18-gunCruizer classbrig-sloop of theRoyal Navy. She served during theNapoleonic Wars and theWar of 1812. During the War of 1812Sophie participated in the economic war against American trade, capturing or destroying numerous small merchant vessels, and in an unsuccessful attack onFort Bowyer,Alabama. Later, she moved to theEast Indies where she served in theFirst Anglo-Burmese War. The Admiralty soldSophie in 1825.
Sophie was launched and completed in 1809.[1] She commissioned under Commander Nicholas Lockyer in October that year[1] Lockyer was to command her for the next five years.
Initially,Sophie served out ofPortsmouth. On 30 November 1810Sophie recaptured the shipFountain,[2] which a privateer had captured.Fountain, Walker, master, had been sailing from Quebec to Lynn. She arrived at Ramsgate on 1 December.[3]
On 14 AugustSophie accompanied Admiral SirJohn Borlase Warren, who was sailing to Halifax, Nova Scotia, onSan Domingo, together withPoictiers,Magnet, andMackerel.Magnet disappeared during the voyage and was presumed foundered with all hands.Sophie went on to have an active career taking prizes and operating against Americanprivateers during theWar of 1812.
On 10 May 1812Sophie was in company withNorth Star when they capturedBrick.[4]
On 31 AugustSophie captured the merchant vesselAlexander, and on 25 November the brigExperience fromRio and bound forBoston.[5]Sophie sentExperience (orExperiment) into Bermuda.[6]
On 11 DecemberSophie took theschoonerFanny and Maria and the shipCyrus,[5] and on 16 December the schoonerEagle and the brigLittle Arnold.[5] The American privateerRevenge had capturedCyrus, Donaldson, master, on 17 November as she was sailing from Newfoundland to Jamaica.[7] WithMaidstone,Sophie captured theMary Ann, sailing from Philadelphia to Charleston.[5]
Her success continued the following year, when in January 1813 she made prizes of the schoonersPolly Merrick fromNorfolk andGeorge Washington from Windsor, both bound for New York.[5] Together withAeolus she captured the American vesselsJacob Getting, with a cargo of rice and corn, on 18 February,Elizabeth, with a cargo of cotton, on 24 February, theFederal Jack, with a cargo of "lighthouses", on 2 March, and the Spanish shipAnna, with a cargo of flour and bread, on 9 March.[8] On 10 MayNorth Star andSophie captured theBrick.[9]
On 22 JuneSophie captured theletter of marqueAmelia. Late in 1812 or early in 1813,Sophie shared in the capture of the schoonerSpencer.[5]
While stationed in the Chesapeake in 1813, as part of a squadron under Captain Barrie in the 74-gunthird-rateDragon,Sophie participated in several cutting out expeditions in thePotomac. On 27 October boats fromDragon andSophie burnt a brigantine of 110 tons.[10] On 30 October, boats from the two British ships burnt a schooner.[10] That same day they also captured theTwo Brothers, of 70 tons and three men. After removing her cargo, the British burnt her.[10] The next day the British captured the schoonerGannet, of 36 tons and two men, which they also burnt.[10] That same day they captured the schoonerMinerva, of 29 tons and three men. Here too they removed the cargo before burning the vessel.[10]
In November, boats fromDragon andSophie, under Lieutenant Pedlar ofDragon, brought out, without loss, three American vessels from a creek in the Potomac.[11] Then between 6 and 19 November,Sophie burned two schooners, captured one sloop, and burned another. On 14 November she captured theFrankling, of 12 tons and two men, sailing from New York to South Carolina.[10] Three days later she burnt a brig of 50 tons.[10] Then she burnt a sloop off Smith's Island.[10]
Between 22 and 28 November she joined forces withActeon to destroy two schooners and a sloop and capture three schooners and two sloops.[10] All these vessels were coasters. The first was theNew York, of 28 tons and four men. Then came thePhoebe, of 48 tons and five men. Next came the sloopCaroline, of 45 tons and five men. The fourth was the schoonerFredricksburgh, of 38 tons and two men. The fifth and sixth were the sloopPolly and the schoonerPeggy, both of which they burnt. The seventh was the schoonerLucy and Sally, of 48 tons and four men, sailing from Fredericksburgh to Onnacohe. The last was the schoonerPoor Jack, of 26 tons and three men, also sailing from Fredericksburgh to Onnacohe.
Sophie shared, with a number of other vessels, in the prize money for theRegulator, captured on 22 November.[12] On 25 November,Sophie captured the brigExperience, sailing from Rio de Janeiro to Boston.[5]
In December,Sophie, again working withActeon, destroyed or captured seven small prizes.[10] On 11 December they burnt a schooner of 37 tons. The next day they captured the 76-ton schoonerErie and its crew of nine men.[13] (TheErie, under the command of John Hearn, had been sailing fromHavana toBaltimore with a cargo of sugar and coffee. The British unloaded the cargo and afterwards sent it toBermuda, thereafter employingErie as a tender to the British squadron in the Chesapeake.[14] ThereErie too captured several prizes.) Still on 12 December,Sophie andActeon burnt two small schooners, one of 25 and one of 60 tons.[13] Then on the 16th they burnt theLittle Elenea, of 59 tons and two men, sailing from Charleston to Baltimore. On the same day they also burnt a 69-ton sloop. The next daySophie burnt theAntelope, also of 69 tons and also sailing from Charleston to Baltimore.[13] In addition,Sophie and a number of other vessels shared in the prize money for the capture of the brigsGeorge andBetsey, both taken on 23 December.[15]
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By 26 December 1813Sophie was operating in company with the 36-gunfifth ratefrigateMaidstone, and together they captured the merchant vesselMary Ann, sailing fromPhiladelphia toCharleston.[5] On 31 December,Sophie burnt the privateerPioneer in theChesapeake.Pioneer, of 320 tons burthen, was armed with 17 guns and had a crew of 170 men. She was out of Baltimore, on a cruise.[16][a]
On 24 April 1814Sophie captured the American privateerStarks.Starks was armed with two guns and had a crew of 25 men. She was 24 days out of Wilmington but had not taken any prizes.[18]
At the beginning of August 1814Sophie sailed toPensacola, carrying brevet Captain Woodbine to meet with friendly Indians whom the Americans had driven into Spanish territory.[19] On 23 AugustSophie andHermes, the Hon. William Henry commanding, landed a detachment of troops under Lieutenant-ColonelEdward Nicolls to fortifyFort San Miguel. The troops landed and hoisted the British flag alongside the Spanish. Henry only did this after having received a letter from the Spanish governor in Havana requesting British help.[19]
Six days later, Captain Percy sent Lockyer andSophie toBarataria Bay to meet with the Indians and freebooters there to try to enlist them as allies in return for which they would be considered British subjects and would get lands in His Majesty's colonies assigned to them.[19]Jean Lafitte, their leader, feigned interest but then passed the proposals on to the Governor of Louisiana while offering his services to the Americans.[19]
Sophie was one of the four British ships that conducted the first and unsuccessful Britishattack on Fort Bowyer atMobile Point on 15 September 1814. TheSophie had 6 killed and 16 wounded, andHermes had 25 killed, 5 mortally wounded and 19 wounded, and was herself blown up.[20] Their defeat caused the British to overestimate the defences atMobile and decide to move againstNew Orleans instead.[citation needed]
In a case of mistaken identity on his maps, Lossing erroneously plotsAlligator withSophie in September 1814, but this is factually incorrect as it wasChilders that was there.[21]
On 8 December 1814, two US gunboats fired onSophie,Armide and thesixth-rate frigateSeahorse while they were passing the chain of small islands that runs parallel to the shore between Mobile andLake Borgne.[22]
Between 12 and 15 December 1814, Lockyer led a flotilla of some 50 boats, barges, gigs and launches to attack the US gunboats. Lockyer drew his flotilla from the fleet that was massing against New Orleans, including the 74-gunThird RateTonnant, Armide,Seahorse,Manly andMeteor.
Lockyer deployed the rowboats in three divisions, of which he led one. Captain Montresor of the gun-brigManly commanded the second, and Captain Roberts ofMeteor commanded the third.[22] After rowing for 36 hours, the British met the Americans at St. Joseph's Island.[22] On 13 December 1814, the British attacked the one-gun schoonerUSSSea Horse. On the morning of the 14th, the British engaged the Americans in a short, violent battle.
The British captured the entire American force; the tender,USSAlligator, and five gunboats. The British lost 17 men killed and 77 wounded;Sophie's only casualty was Lockyer, who was badly wounded.Anaconda then evacuated the wounded. In 1821 the survivors of the flotilla shared in the distribution of head-money arising from the capture of the American gun-boats and sundry bales of cotton.[23][b] In 1847 theAdmiralty issued a clasp (or bar) marked "14 Dec. Boat Service 1814" to survivors of the boat service who claimed the clasp to theNaval General Service Medal.[c]
In yet another case of mistaken identity on his maps, Lossing erroneously plotsSophie in the Mississippi alongsideHMS Herald in January 1815, but this is factually incorrect as it wasHMS Thistle that was there.[26] Remini makes the same error too, and reclassifies her as abomb vessel.[27]Sophie was with Cochrane's fleet, moored off the coast while theBattle of New Orleans was being fought on land.[1]Sophie temporarily came under the command of Lieutenant James Barnwell Tattnall in December 1814. Following Nicholas Lockyer's promotion,[28] he was succeeded in April 1815 by Commander Silas Hood. Hood was followed in an acting capacity by Lieutenant William G. Roberts, who paid her off at Portsmouth in 1815.[1]
Significant repairs were carried out between 1815 and 1817, withSophie not returning to service again until December 1818, having been recommissioned under Commander Sir William Wiseman in August.[1] Wiseman andSophie were based atJamaica until 1820, when she returned to Britain for further fitting out and a return to service under Commander George French in December.[1] French tookSophie to the East Indies, where she subsequently sailed under a number of commanders, including Commander Robert Dunlop from July 1822 to April 1823. George Ryves, thefirst lieutenant ofHMS Alligator, became acting commander inSophie on 8 April 1823 and received confirmation of his appointment in October.
At the outbreak of theFirst Anglo-Burmese War, CaptainFrederick Marryat, of the 20-gunLarne and who would go on to be a novelist, took command of a squadron consisting ofSophie, the 50-gunLiffey, and the small paddle steamerDiana. On 5 May 1824,Larne,Sophie andLiffey sailed fromPort Cornwallis in theAndaman Islands forRangoon, the principal initial point of attack, with four cruisers belonging to theEast India Company, under Captain Henry Hardy, together with other vessels, includingDiana. They arrived on the 10th, and launched the attack on the 11th. On 3 June she andLarne attacked some stockades atKemmendine (a suburb of Rangoon) in an action that cost her one-man drowned and four wounded.[29]
In August 1824, the naval force in India consisted ofTees (26 guns),Alligator (28),Slaney (20), the 18-gunCruizer-classArachne, andLarne,Sophie, andLiffey. Of this force onlyLarne was at Rangoon;Sophie had been dispatched to Bengal to bring back provisions.
By September 1824, nearly one fourth of theSophie's crew had died, and as many more were sick. The surviving officers, seamen, and marines were authorized the medal "India, No. 1", with clasp forAva.
Between September 1824 and February 1825,Sophie, together with other vessels includingAlligator,Arachne,Diana andSatellite, took part in some half-a-dozen small operations.[30] On 19 September 1824, the British conducted offensive operations againstPenang that included the boats ofArachne,Sophie, andDiana. Then on 30 October,Sophie andArachne co-operated with the army in the attack onMartaban, about 100 miles east ofRangoon.[29] On 30 NovemberSophie participated in the defence of Kemmendine.[29][31] On 8 DecemberSophie participated in the destruction of several Burmese war canoes at Pagoda Point.[29] Then on 11 and 12 January 1825 she participated in the attack on thefactory and stockades ofSyriam, an action that resulted in one of her seamen being wounded.[32] Lastly, between 11 January and April, men and boats fromSophie participated in the attack on the Burmese capital at Ava.[33]
In the middle of May 1825, Lieutenant Ryves was invalided. LieutenantEdward Blanckley ofAlligator was promoted to the acting command ofSophie, which departed Rangoon shortly thereafter.[34] The Admiralty confirmed the appointment in December, by which timeSophie had been sold.
Sophie was sold in the East Indies for £3,200 on 15 August 1825.[1]
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