HMS Dauntless (1804)

The first HMS "Dauntless" was a 22 carronade "Combatant" class sloop of the Royal Navy.

History

She was built in Hull at the William Gibson Shipyard [Jackson, Hull in the Eighteenth Century, P.427 Appendix; 'Ships Built in Hull for the Royal Navy, 1690-1810'.] , as one of a class of three (the others being HMS "Combatant" and HMS "Valorous") and launched in 1804. Designed by John Stainforth MP, they were flush-decked, shallow draught and (for their dimensions) heavily armed. Rated as a sloop, she had a design based on the Danish "Praam" (English "Pram"), allowing the combination of heavy armament with a draught of only 11 feet. Her design may well have been influenced by the flush-decked, shallow draught vessels of Napoleon's invasion fleet, although "Dauntless" and her sisters were significantly larger.

"Dauntless" entered service in March 1805, with the anti-invasion flotillas stationed in The Downs. In the spring of 1807 she and her sisters were ordered to the Baltic where their characteristics would be of value as convoy escorts and particularly in support of operations ashore. On 19 May 1807 "Dauntless" was ordered to sail up the Vistula and break through the French armies besieging Danzig (now Gdansk) in order to supply the encircled Prussians with 600 barrels of gunpowder. Heavily laden and making upriver under a press of sail, "Dauntless" became unmanageable and broached to. Running hard aground on a sandbank within easy range of French artillery, she suffered an hour's bombardment before surrendering. Napoleon himself is reputed to have said that her resistance "was worthy of being placed on the page of history". At the obligatory court martial her captain, Christopher Strachey, was honourably acquitted of all blame for the surrender of his ship.

Commanding Officers

1805 Lt(?) Charles Jones RN
1807 Lt(?) Christopher Strachey RN

References

*Colledge
* Age of Nelson website - [http://www.ageofnelson.org/index.html Age of Nelson]