HMS Grecian (1814)

History
United States
Name:	Grecian
Owner:	Isaac McKim
Builder:	Thomas Kemp, Baltimore[1]
Launched:	c.March 1812
Captured:	Captured on 2 May 1814
UK
Name:	HMS Grecian
Acquired:	Captured on 2 May 1814 Purchased 3 November 1815
Fate:	Sold 1822
General characteristics [2]
Tons burthen:	224 ^32⁄94 bm
Length:	95 ft 11 in (29.2 m) (overall) 74 ft 3 in (22.6 m) (keel)
Beam:	23 ft (7.0104000000 m)
Depth of hold:	10 ft 5 in (3.18 m)
Sail plan:	schooner
Complement:	24-27 (Letter of Marque) 50 (Royal Navy)
Armament:	2 × 4-pounder + 2 x 6-pounder guns + 5 swivels (Letter of Marque) 8 × 18-pounder carronades + 2 x 6-pounder guns (Royal Navy)

Grecian was an American schooner launched in 1812. During the War of 1812 she received a letter of marque. The Royal Navy captured her on 5 February 1814 and took her into service as HMS Grecian. She was sold in 1822.

American service

Thomas Kemp of Baltimore designed Grecian with several innovations. She was pierced for 20 guns, though she never carried that many, and her gunports were unique, designed perhaps to save weight.^[1] She had a long, curving stem, and a shallow, less convex bow.

Grecian's first captain was James Phillips, and under him she had made one voyage to France.^[3]

She received letter of marque No. 944 in December 1813,^[1] under Captain Knapp. She had not captured anything before the boats of HMS Jaseur cut her out under the guns of a battery field pieces on East River, in Chesapeake Bay on 2 May 1814.^[4] The British cutting out party under Lieutenant West, first lieutenant of Jaseur, rowed up silently in the night, drove Knapp and the seven members of the crew on watch below deck, fastened the hatches, cut her cables, and sailed off.^[3]

Royal Navy service

The British commissioned her as HMS Grecian under the command of Lieutenant Henry Jewry.

After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Grecian was deployed on anti-smuggling duties in the Channel. On 14 March 1816 Grecian captured the smuggling vessel Betsey.^{[Note 1]} Then a month later, on 18 April, Grecian was in company with the schooner HMS Rosario when they captured the smuggling vessel Nancy.^{[Note 2]}

In May, Grecian captured three smuggling vessels. On 3 May she captured the Fly.^{[Note 3]} Then on 11 and 20 May she captured the Active and the Market Maid, of Hastings.^{[Note 4]} The last day of May saw Grecian capture the Po.^{[Note 5]} On 30 July Grecian captured the Ox, followed on 26 August with the capture of the Three Sisters. Lastly, on 6 December Grecian retrieved 84 kegs of contraband spirits from the sea.^{[Note 6]}

On 3 May 1818 Grecian captured the smuggling lugger Fly.^{[Note 7]}

On 18 August 1818 Lieutenant Nathaniel Martin was appointed captain of Grecian.^[9] Between 30 August 1819 and 20 January 1820, Grecian made several small captures.^{[Note 8]} Grecian made further sundry small captures on 16 May 1820, 27 March 1821, 20 April, 6 May, and 2 August.^{[Note 9]}

Fate

She was paid off in 1821. The Admiralty put Grecian up for sale in April 1822 at Portsmouth.^[12] She was sold to Joshua Crystall for £510 on 18 April 1822.^[2]

Footnotes

Notes

1. Jewry's first-class share of the proceeds was worth £60 8s 4d; a fifth-class share, that of an able seaman, was worth 11s 4d.^[5]
2. Jewry's first-class share of the proceeds for 100 kegs of spirits and headmoney for the smuggler's five-man crew was worth £63 5s 8d; a fifth-class share, that of an able seaman, was worth 13s 2d.^[5]
3. The first-class share was worth £103 18s 0d; a fifth-class share was worth £1 3s 10d.^[6]
4. The first-class share of the proceeds for both vessels was worth £103 18s 0d; a fifth-class share was worth £1 3s 10d.^[6]
5. The first-class share of the proceeds was worth £95 3s 6d; a fifth-class share was worth 19s 10d.^[5]
6. The first class shares, i.e., Jewry's shares of the prize money for these three seizures, were worth £40 13s 6d, £61 8s 10d, and £17 11s 6d. The sixth-class shares, those of an ordinary seaman, were worth 19s, £1 8s 9d, and 8s 1½d.^[7]
7. The first-class share was worth £91 6s 0d; a sixth-class share was worth £2 1s 2d.^[8]
8. The first-class share was worth £28 7s 10½d; a sixth-class share was worth 13s 3d.^[10]
9. The first-class share was worth £19 1s 4½d; a sixth-class share was worth 8s 0¾d.^[11]

Citations

1. Footner (1998), p.113-6.
2. Winfield (2008), p.369.
3. Cranwell and Crane (1940), p.186.
4. The London Gazette: no. 16924. p. 1610. 9 August 1814.
5. The London Gazette: no. 17191. pp. 2149–2150. 12 November 1816.
6. The London Gazette: no. 17239. p. 892. 12 April 1817.
7. The London Gazette: no. 17278. p. 1792. 19 August 1817.
8. The London Gazette: no. 17447. p. 248. 6 February 1819.
9. Marshall (1835), Vol. 4, Part 2, p. 169.
10. The London Gazette: no. 17617. p. 1433. 22 July 1820.
11. The London Gazette: no. 17805. p. 559. 2 April 1822.
12. The London Gazette: no. 17806. p. 576. 6 April 1822.

References

• Cranwell, John Phillips, and William Bowers Crane (1940) Men of Marque: A History of Private Armed Vessels Out of Baltimore During the War of 1812. (W.W. Norton).
• Footner, Geoffrey M. (1998) Tidewater Triumph: The Development and Worldwide Success of the Chesapeake Bay Pilot Schooner. (Naval Institute Press). ISBN 9780913372807
• Marshall, John (1823-1835) Royal naval biography, or, Memoirs of the services of all the flag-officers, superannuated rear-admirals, retired-captains, post-captains, and commanders, whose names appeared on the Admiralty list of sea officers at the commencement of the present year 1823, or who have since been promoted ... (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown).
• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461.