HMS Boadicea was a 38-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served in the Channel and in the East Indies during which service she captured many prizes. She participated in one action for which the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal. She was broken up in 1858.
Design Boadicea was one of a batch of large frigates ordered in 1795, all of which were the largest of their type, and the majority of which were to the draught of captured French ships. She was built to the design of , a 40-gun ship completed in 1787 and captured in October 1793. Changes were made to the shape of the topsides, and the scantlings and fastenings were strengthened to reflect British practice. She retained her shallow French hull form, and as a result the holds and magazines were considered cramped.
French Revolutionary Wars Boadicea was commissioned under Captain Richard Keats for service in the Channel Fleet. Under Keats she served on this station for several years during which time she captured many prizes.
On 19 September 1797 Boadicea and captured the French privateer brig Zephyr. She was out of Nantes, was armed with two brass 12-pounder guns and six 6-pounder guns, and had a crew of 70. She had not made any captures. The next day the two British vessels recaptured the ship Eliza, which was sailing under American colours. She had been sailing from London to the Cape of Good Hope with a cargo of merchandise when the French privateer Confiance had captured her. Then on the day after that, they recaptured the ship Jenny, of Greenock, which had been sailing from Liverpool to Virginia with a cargo of salt, earthenware and bale goods. The Jenny had fallen prey on 10 September, after a fight, to the privateer Hazard of Rochelle.
Then on 19 November 1797, Boadicea and Anson captured the privateer Railleur. She had a crew of 160 men and had been armed with 20 guns, but had thrown most of them overboard during the chase. She was one day out of Rochelle and had not taken any prizes. Nymph, Sylph and the hired armed cutter Dolly shared in the prize money. The same vessels shared in the recapture of several other vessels: Henniker, Active, Fanny, Mohawk, and Catherine. Around the 19th, Boadicea and Anson also recaptured a brig. Anson was running low on water and Keats sent her back into port.
Boadicea shared with , , and the hired armed cutter Nimrod in the capture of Anna Christiana on 17 May 1798.
Around 18 June 1798 Boadicea captured the American ships Fanny and Lydia. On 9 December Boadicea captured Invincible Buonaparte, a French privateer of 20 guns (12 and 18-pounders) and 170 men. She was a new vessel, sixteen days out of Bordeaux and reportedly had not made any captures. However, a privateer by the same name had taken and burned the Friendship, Smith, master, which had been sailing from St Ube's to Falmouth.Lloyd's List, - Retrieved 19 December 2013. Boadicea sent Invincible Buonaparte, of "18 guns and 175 men" into Portsmouth.Lloyd's List, - Retrieved 19 December 2013. The Admiralty took Invincible Buonaparte into service as the 18-gun sloop Brazen. On the last day of the year, Boadicea recaptured the brig Adventure. The privateer Intrepid had captured Adventure, Warrington, master, as she was sailing from Tortola to London; Boadicea sent Adventure into Plymouth.Lloyd's List, no. 3051, - Retrieved 21 May 2014.
On 20 or 21 February 1799, Boadicea, , and shared in the capture of the French privateer cutter Milan. She was armed with 14 guns and had a crew of 44 men. Keats ordered Atalante to take Milan into port, land the prisoners, and then rejoin Boadicea on station.
On 7 March Boadicea recaptured an American vessel sailing from Charlestown to Hamburg. The next day Boadicea interrupted the capture of a neutral vessel, which had been sailing from Charlestown to Embden, by a French privateer, which Boadicea captured. The privateer was the brig Requin, pierced for 18 guns but mounting 14. She had a crew of 70 men. On 9 March a gale caused Requin to overturn even though she had no sails set; the prize crew of ten men from Boadicea and a prisoner all drowned.
Still, on 1 April, Boadicea captured her third privateer of the cruise, the brig . Utile was armed with sixteen 8-pounder guns, of which ten were brass. She had a crew of 120 men and was three weeks out of Bordeaux.
On 2 July Boadicea and some other frigates under Keats's overall command protected bomb vessels that bombarded some Spanish ships of the line anchored under the protection of batteries on the Île de Ré and a floating mortar battery moored near the Île d'Oléron. The British conducted their bombardment from too far away with the result that it was completely ineffective. They then broke off the attack and sailed away.Marshall (1823), Vol. 1, pp.90-1.
Around the turn of the year, Boadicea shared with a number of other vessels in her squadron in the capture of St. Francoise (25 December), St. Pierre de Carnac (12 January 1800), a brig of unknown name (17 January), and Anna Louisa (22 January). On 21 and 22 April 1800, Boadicea and captured Zeegen and Hoop.
On 14 May Keats sent a boat with six men under the command of a midshipman on a reconnaissance mission into the outer roads of Brest. They encountered a French guard boat that they were able to repulse with the loss of one man. The midshipman later boarded a small sloop from whom he found out that the French fleet was in the inner road and that the Spanish vessels there were plagued by illness among the crew.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 3, p.510.
Then towards the middle of the year, on 24 June, Boadicea recaptured the sloop Gipsey, of Greenock, or Liverpool.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 4, p.79. Gipsey had been a prize to the French privateer Brave, of 36 guns, under the command of Captain Le Bee, and had been sailing from the West Indies when originally captured.
On 4 July Boadicea was in sight when and captured the French vessel Favori. Four days later, Boadicea was in company with the same two warships when they recaptured Cultivator. Cultivator (or Cultivateur), was a West Indiaman sailing from Demerara and Essequibo, with a cargo valued at £20,000.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 4, p.161.
A week later, captured Phoenix. Boadicea was one of the vessels that would later share in the prize money by agreement. One month later, on 14 August, Boadicea captured the Spanish vessel Union. She was a large vessel of 650 tons, armed with 22 guns, and carrying a crew of 130 men. She had sailed from Corunna the day before, heading towards Buenos Aires with a cargo of merchandise. , , and the hired armed cutter Earl St Vincent shared in the prize.
Boadicea also shared in several other prizes that other frigates under Keats' command captured between 4 July and 23 October. In addition to Phoenix, these included , Alerte, Joseph, Magicienne, Dicke, Rancune, Vivo, Favorite, and Venus. Several of these were privateers.
In 1801 Captain Charles Rowley took command of Boadicea. With her he commanded a light squadron in Quiberon Bay where she "greatly molested the enemy".Annual Register, Vol. 88, p.223. On 10 January Boadicea captured the , which had been sailing from Havre to Brest. Bombarde arrived in Plymouth six days later.
On 20 August, the boats of Fisgard, , and Boadicea carried out a cutting-out expedition at A Coruña. The boats went in at night and brought out Neptune, a new ship belonging to the Spanish Navy and pierced for 20 guns, a gunboat armed with a long 32-pounder gun, and a merchant vessel. The Spanish vessels were anchored close to the batteries that protected the fort and sentinels challenged the British. The Spaniards commenced fire, but the cutting-out party was able to bring the vessels out without having suffered any casualties. One of the vessels was the packet ship Reyno Duno. She came into Plymouth on September and the Naval Chronicle described her as "Beautiful,... of four suits of sails and other naval stores". She had apparently been on her way to Havana.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 6, p.253.
Between April 1802 and March 1803 Boadicea was fitted at Plymouth. She was recommissioned in December 1802 under Captain John Maitland. He went on to command Boadicea in the Channel.
On 20 May 1803, Boadicea and , captured the Dutch ship Minerva. On 30 May Boadicea detained the Dutch ship Vrow Elizabeth. The London Gazette mentions that this was "previous to the Declaration of Hostilities". (Britain and France renewed hostilities on 18 May 1803, but the issue may have been hostilities with the Dutch.) Still, prize money was awarded. Furthermore, on 31 May Boadicea captured Joanna Catharina.
Napoleonic Wars
While Maitland and Boadicea were serving with the inshore squadron at Brest, Boadicea hit the Bas de Lis. This caused a large hole in her hull with the result that she started taking on water. Even the contribution of 100 seamen from other vessels, together with additional pumps, barely kept her afloat. A frigate escorted her to Portsmouth. Boadicea returned to her station within eight days, having spent only three days in dock undergoing repairs.Marshall (1823), Vol. 1, Part 2, pp. 840–46.
On 9 June 1803 Boadicea sent into Plymouth the small French privateer Eleonore, which had a crew of 27 men. The privateer was 11 days out of St. Maloes but had not made any captures. On the same day Boadicea recaptured London Packet. London Packet, Brown, master, had been sailing from Virginia to Guernsey when she was captured earlier that day. Boadicea sent her into Plymouth.LL 10 June 1803, No. 4357.
Then on 25 November, Maitland and Boadicea were eight leagues off Cape Finisterre when they captured the French navy lugger Vautour, commanded by Monsieur Bigot, lieutenant de vaisseau. She was 43 days from St. Domingo and had on board a Commissarie de Marine with dispatches from General Rochambeau at Cape François. Vautour was pierced for 16 guns but mounted twelve 6-pounder guns, 10 of which she threw overboard during the chase. She had a crew of 92 men.
On 24 and 25 September Boadicea was in sight when captured two French chasse-marees loaded with supplies for the French fleet at Brest, and brought them into Plymouth. Lapenotiere had driven them into the Bay there and then sent his boats to bring them out.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 12, p.420. The two French vessels may have been Marie Française from Bordeaux and Desirée from Quimper.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 13, p.167.
On 28 March 1805, Boadicea arrived at Yarmouth with 250 men that she had brought from the Texel. They were part of the crew of , which had wrecked there in late 1804.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 13, p.334.
On 19 April 1805 Boadicea captured Zeldenrust. Boadicea shared with and in the proceeds of Jonge Obyna, Smidt, master, on 13 June. That same day they also captured Sophia. The final payment for Jonge Obyna and Sophia did not get paid out until June 1817.
Next, in company with , Boadicea fell in with four French line-of-battle ships under Rear-Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley, off Ferrol. The four French vessels had escaped from the Battle of Trafalgar. Boadicea and Dryad tried to lead the enemy into the path of a Royal Navy squadron by firing rockets but lost them a short time after Sir Richard Strachan saw their signals. Neither Boadicea nor Dryad therefore shared in the Battle of Cape Ortegal, in which the British captured all four French ships.