Names:killed and died of wounds HMS Mars 1798

HMS Mars versus L'Hercule

HMS Mars pursued and captured the French 74 L'Hercule at Raz de Sein off Brest on 21 April 1798. French casualties were more numerous than those of the British. Commander of the Mars, Alexander Hood, was fatally wounded at the height of the battle. His name is included in the list below.

Killed and Died of Wounds on HMS Mars:

Robert Bond, John Toule/Soule, James Brownfield, John Henderson, John Rogers, George Spencer, James Logan, James Smith, James Blythe (2), Abm. Devine, James Christie, John Moore, Alex. Hood Capt., And. McGinnis, William Robinson, Supernumerary: Edwd. Canlea, Marines: John Williams, Pat Fearnes, Conrade Schnag, John Wilson, James Waters, Joseph White Capt.

 Wounded taken to Plymouth Hospital

John Sales, John Trewen, George Robertson, James McMullen, John Wevill/Nevill, Francis Cass, Will. Greaves, Will. Chison, George Heckford, Alexr. Ross, George Loring, James Burn, Thos. Tracey, George Hind, George Rutherford, Francis Laurence Bolton, Michael Mark, John Fisher, David Bolton, Will. Wilson (3), Ralph Welsby, John Carroll, Thos. Gillman, David Evans, Charles Buchanan, Thomas Hoar Boy, Thos. Saunders, Lawrence Brannon Private Marine, James O'Brien do, Will. Lloyd Drummer, Sampson Sails Private, Will. McGonnigal do, Will.Knell do, Geo. Burgess do, Will. Bowen do, Will. Loane do.

James Caithness, who had joined the Mars two weeks earlier, survived the action.

See also http://molegenealogy.blogspot.com/search?q=mars+and+hercule

Acknowledgement:

Tom Sheldon

Caithness and Johanna Magdalena aka Prince William Henry

Fleet of East Indiamen at Sea by Nicholas Pocock

Captain Woodriff’s log of HMS Calcutta reveals that the six British seamen (including James Caithness) had been on the ship Johanna Magdalena prior to joining the Calcutta’s complement at Simon’s Bay in August 1803.

Johanna Magdalena is a commonly-found pairing of Dutch forenames and implies the ship was of that nationality, but the matter is not plain-sailing. This vessel had previously been the Prince William Henry, a British-built East Indiaman of 808 tons from Barnard’s yard - premier supplier to the Hon. East India Company. Launched in 1787, she plied the England to India route via the Cape of Good Hope, calling at St Helena or Madeira, her main destinations being Madras and Bombay. 

Bombay, Fort St George

In February 1797 she was captained by Roger Baskett: when he married in 1804 he is mentioned in newspaper announcements as ‘late of the Prince William Henry East Indiaman’. Lloyd’s Register for 1803 reveals that in that year her captain was Dale, and she continues to be listed similarly in 1804 and 1805. Yet she was known as the Johanna Magdalena in August 1803, according to Woodriff’s log.

As Prince William Henry she is shown in Lloyd's Register 1803 with the following description (see third ship on the list):

1803 Lloyd’s Register: Prince William Henry, Ship, s.W and C = Sheathed with Copper over Boards, Captain Dale, 808 tons 3 Ds = 3 decks, River = built on the Thames, sev. rprs = several repairs, 16 = feet of draught of water when loaded, Lo. = port of survey London, destination port India, class E I =2nd class, materials of vessel 1st quality.

A reference in the London Star of 10 Aug 1803 states ‘At Batavia, Johanna Magdalena, Dale, from Amsterdam.'  This ship was suffering from an identity crisis.

The clue is in the word ‘Batavia’ - i.e. the eastern HQ of the Dutch East India Company.

It is a reminder that in August 1803 the Cape had recently been brought under the rule of the Batavian Republic (the Netherlands) and would remain so until 1806. Events should be seen against that background. When HMS Calcutta arrived at Simon's Bay Knopwood noted that they found ships there flying Dutch colours. The Dutch were French allies.* Whether the Prince William Henry was purchased or captured from the British, followed by a change of name, she apparently retained her captain, Dale.

By April 1804, Lloyd’s List reports the Johanna Magdalena of Batavia, still under Dale’s command, is ‘condemned at the Cape of Good Hope’.

So far it’s not possible to determine precisely when James Caithness joined the Johanna Magdalena – or if she was at that stage known as the Prince William Henry. Further searching in musters may show his date of discharge from his earlier ship, HMS Mars, and clarify the situation.

Batavia by John Wells

* Read more about this confusing period of history at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_I_of_the_Netherlands#cite_note-Bas2-7 

Acknowledgement:

Tom Sheldon

Caithness and HMS Calcutta 1803 at the Cape

Action at sea: French Revolutionary Wars by Louis Philippe Crepin

In August 1803 James Caithness joined HMS Calcutta and a new chapter opened in his career. He was about to visit Australia and circumnavigate the world, an adventure beyond his wildest dreams.

Calcutta was an ex-East Indiaman bought by the navy in 1795, converted into a 56-gun fourth rate and used as an armed transport with the famous Captain Bligh in command. By the end of 1802 the ship had been refitted to carry convicts to New South Wales, under Captain Daniel Woodriff. She sailed from Spithead on 28 April 1803, in company with another vessel, Ocean, with 308 convicts as well as civil personnel, a detachment of marines and a crew of 150. The intention was to found a settlement.

Calcutta arrived at Rio de Janeiro on 19 July and the Cape of Good Hope on 13 August, 1803. Remarkably, a contemporary diary by Robert Knopwood reveals that HMS Calcutta, being short of crew, took on seven men at Simon’s Bay (Simonstown, Cape) on 16 August.*Musters for the vessel confirm

that James Caithness was one of the seven added to the complement.

Page from Knopwood diary: 'HM Ship Calcutta at Anchor in Simon's Bay ... 13 (August)
at 9 Saluted the Battery with 11 Guns which was returned ... found an English whaler and two ships riding in the Bay under Dutch colours** ... 16  AM Received 842 lb of fresh beef and 400 lb of soft bread. 
Received 7 British Seamen/Volunteers ...'

James Caithness listed on muster of HMS Calcutta 1803

Further research should establish when he was discharged from HMS Mars and give a clue as to why he turned up at Simon’s Bay in August 1803.

 

Map of the Colony of Good Hope, c 1800

Interestingly, HMS Mars, after refitting at the Hamoaze anchorage, Plymouth, at the end of February 1803, was involved in the fruitless pursuit of some foreign ships supposedly headed for the Cape of Good Hope under the Dutch Admiral de Winter.

*  The diary of the Reverend Robert Knopwood, 1803-1838 : first chaplain of Van Diemen's Land edited by Mary Nicholls

** By the Treaty of Amiens 1802 between England and France, the Cape Colony was returned to the Netherlands and came under the rule of the Batavian Republic from February 1803 to 1806 when the 2^nd British Occupation of the Cape commenced. It’s likely that the presence of Dutch ships at Simon’s Bay came as a surprise to those on board HMS Calcutta.

Acknowledgement:

Tom Sheldon

James Caithness and the Mars

James Caithness came through his first battle unscathed: 90 others on board HMS Mars weren’t so lucky. Paybooks held at TNA list names of men and their next-of-kin who would be sent portions of wages earned: some of these crew members are listed as ‘slain’, and the date given is 21 April 1798. This was the action at Raz de Sein in which James participated.

Admiral Cornwallis

The Mars had seen action before James joined her. She was built in 1794 at Deptford and under Captain Sir Charles Cotton had formed part of Vice Admiral Cornwallis’s squadron – five ships of the line and two frigates -  off Brest in June 1795 when they were hotly pursued by a French fleet of thirteen sail of the line, fourteen frigates, two brigs and a cutter, under Vice Admiral Joyeuse. 

Mars and Triumph formed the rear guard and these two were constantly engaged with the French ships which kept up a long range cannonade. Mars was in a disabled state, her masts and spars badly damaged by shot, by the time reinforcements arrived in the form of Lord Bridport’s squadron whereupon the French hauled to the wind and gave up the chase. Twelve men of HMS Mars were wounded.

Admiral Cornwallis's Retreat from the French Fleet 1795

HMS Mars was one of the vessels involved in the Spithead Mutiny (Plymouth) in 1797 when seamen on 16 ships of the Channel Fleet (under Admiral Lord Bridport) protested against living conditions on Royal Navy ships and demanded better wages. Negotiations between the crews and the Admiralty continued for two weeks but broke down. Eventually the mutineers were given a royal pardon and some improvements in pay were agreed upon. This marked a step forward in the recognition of seamen’s rights and remedies in the brutal discipline as well as better food followed.

Ships at Spithead Anchorage

Regrettably, the contagion spread to The Nore, an anchorage in the Thames Estuary, and this mutiny developed more serious overtones when the ships involved blockaded London, preventing merchant vessels from entering the port. The Admiralty were infuriated and there were also wider concerns about revolutionary ideas from France influencing Britain’s stability. 

Reprisals were severe. The

mutineers’ main leader Richard Parker was convicted of treason and piracy and hanged from the yardarm of the Sandwich, the ship where the mutiny had begun. A further 29 ringleaders were hanged and others sentenced to flogging, prison or transportation.

The traditional five bells rung in the last dog watch ceased on Royal Navy vessels after the affair at Nore, as that had been the signal to begin the mutiny.*

Disease and Impressment: Royal Navy 18th c

H.M.S. Mars: the 74-gun ship of the line 
on which James Caithness served in 1798

It’s unthinkable to us that boys aged 12 should be exposed to the dangers of life at sea. During wartime the risks were obviously extremely high but there was also a strong likelihood of death from disease. Typhus and scurvy, both killers, were rife, though by 1795 the Royal Navy had improved revictualling methods and with regular supplies of fresh meat, fruit and vegetables there were fewer cases of scurvy.

This progress in the second half of the 18^th c stemmed partly from efforts to provide better treatment and care of naval personnel than was then available in the merchant service. There was always a demand for men to serve in the navy but little incentive for them to join: conditions were generally poor and more money could be made in the mercantile marine.  The navy offered a hard way of life and many deserted – the figure during the French Revolutionary Wars is said to have been 42, 000. Others were lost to the service through death from disease or as casualties of war. Impressment was increasingly resorted to.

There is a notion that any man could be ‘pressed’ but in reality this was restricted by law to seamen – landlubbers were of little use to the navy, though undoubtedly the system was abused and people who should have been exempt, or had no knowledge of the sea whatsoever, were taken by the brutal press-gangs whose ‘approach was dreaded like the invasion of a foreign enemy. Outrages were deplored but the navy was the pride of England and every one agreed that it must be recruited.’

The Impress Service scoured coastal towns and villages in search of men over 18 and under 45. Press gangs were also authorized to stop merchant ships and impress sailors – though sea apprentices were supposedly exempt. Merchant seamen were especially sought after because they had the necessary experience. Frequently men were forcibly abducted from taverns and other mariners’ haunts, when drunk and incapable of resisting, or made unconscious by use of the cosh, waking up on board ship and often already at sea. Their options at that stage were limited. Impressment came to an end with the defeat of Napoleon in 1814.

  

Trafalgar Day 21 October

The Fall of Nelson, Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805, by Denis Dighton. Nelson is portrayed at the moment he falls on his left side. Captain Hardy, with his back to us, advances to assist Royal Marine Sergeant Secker,
 who is already at Nelson's side on HMS Victory.

The scene gives us an idea of events when James Caithness was serving on board HMS Mars a few years earlier at the battle of Raz de Sein, 21 April 1798. Commander of the Mars, Alexander Hood, fell on that day. See previous post on this blog.






Read more about Trafalgar: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2333382/Nelson-Navy-heroes-hailed-celebrities-18th-century-Britain.html#ixzz2iKfwCS3q 

James Caithness and HMS Mars 1798

James Caithness, father of mariners James Ramsey and George Caithness, appears on the muster roll of the British warship HMS Mars in April 1798, under the command of Captain Alexander Hood.

Europe was in ferment: the French Revolutionary Wars were in progress and the Royal Navy was blockading the coastline of France off Brest.

The British fleet under Admiral Lord Bridport was crossing the Iroise Passage on 21 April when, on foreign sail being sighted to the east, three RN ships left the fleet in pursuit, led by the 74-gun ship of the line, HMS Mars.

One of their quarry was L’Hercule (the Hercules), also 74 guns, under Captain Louis L’Heritier, recently commissioned and sailing to join the main French fleet at Brest. The Mars sped to intercept. L’Heritier tried to escape through the Raz de Sein passage, but the tide was against him and he was forced to anchor, coming under heavy fire as Hood brought the Mars into position. For over an hour the two vessels lay so closely alongside each other that their guns couldn’t be run out but had to be fired from within the ships.

The furious action between H.M.S. Mars and L'Hercule
 off Brest on 21st April 1798 by John Christian Schetky

Casualties and damage were extensive on both sides, Hood himself being mortally wounded when a musket ball severed his femoral artery. He was carried below, bleeding to death.

Death of Captain Hood by James Daniell 1798

L’Hercule surrendered, her crew’s attempts to board the Mars having failed. The French casualties numbered 290 or more and the British 90 including her commander. L’Hercule was taken as a prize and conveyed to Britain, later being repaired and put to service in the Royal Navy until 1810.

This fierce battle between two evenly-matched ships was James Caithness’s baptism of fire: he had joined the complement of HMS Mars only two weeks earlier.

If his birth year as shown on various ships’ musters is accurate (1786), James was very young at the time, not yet in his teens. He may have been a powder monkey, ferrying gunpowder from the hold to the guns. Usually this task was undertaken by boys of 12 to 14 years of age, chosen for their speed and height i.e. short so that they would be hidden behind the gunwales out of sight of the enemy’s sharpshooters.

Firing the 18-pounder

The terrifying impact, noise and intense heat of this bombardment can scarcely be imagined:  two ships raking each other at close quarters, their wooden sides gaping with blackened holes, and men being blown to smithereens on the slippery decks.

James’s naval career had started with a bang. Perhaps it’s fortunate that, as he savoured the dizzy relief of survival after the engagement, he couldn’t foresee the hazardous adventures which still lay ahead of him in the service of his country.

Rope Knots
from textbook on Seamanship

Acknowledgement:
Tom Sheldon for research at TNA Kew.

http://www.rmg.co.uk/visit/exhibitions/future/nelson-navy-nation-1688-1815

Nelson, Navy, Nation: the story of the Royal Navy and the British people, 1688–1815. New permanent gallery opens at the National Maritime Museum on Trafalgar Day, 21 October 2013