HMS Spitfire was a of the Royal Navy. She served during the years of peace following the end of the American War of Independence, and by the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, had been reclassified as a 14-gun sloop-of-war. Spitfire went on to serve under a number of notable commanders during a successful career that saw her capture a considerable number of French privateers and small naval vessels. She spent most of her career in Home waters, though during the later part of her life she sailed further afield, to the British stations in North America and West Africa. She survived the Napoleonic Wars and was eventually sold in 1825 after a period spent laid up.
Early career Spitfire was built at the yards of Stephen Teague, of Ipswich, and was launched on 19 March 1782. She had been completed at Sheerness by 18 July 1782, having been first commissioned in March that year under Commander Robert Mostyn, for service in the English Channel. He was succeeded by Commander Thomas Byard in November, and he by Commander Charles Bartholomew in January 1783. Spitfire was paid off in April that year and spent a period laid up in ordinary at Sheerness, briefly being refitted for a period of service in 1790 under the command of Commander Robert Watson. Spitfire was then paid off again. More extensive work was carried out the following year, and she recommissioned in March 1791 under Commander Thomas Fremantle. Fremantle commanded her until her paying off in September that year, upon which she was almost immediately recommissioned as a sloop under Commander John Woodley. She served under Woodley in the Irish Sea and the English Channel until Commander Philip Charles Durham succeeded him on 12 February 1793.O'Byrne (1849), Vol. 1, p.319.
French Revolutionary Wars Durham went on to enjoy considerable success during his brief stint in command during the early months of the French Revolutionary Wars. On 13 February 1793, he captured the privateer cutter Affrique (or Afrique), of Le Havre. Affrique was a small vessel of only 22 tons (bm). She carried six swivel guns, twelve stand of small arms, fifty pistols, and 25 swords, all for a crew of 21 men. The capture of Affrique was the first capture of a vessel flying La tricolore. For this feat Lloyd's of London gave him a piece of plate worth 100 guineas, or £300 pounds,Long (1895), p.432. their first such award of the war.
On 19 February 1793, Durham sent off his boats against a privateer sloop and two other sloops near Treeport, about a dozen miles north-east of Dieppe. The fire from some 2,000 troops ashore with field pieces made it impossible to bring the prizes off but the British managed to knock the privateer to pieces and stove in and set fire to the other two vessels, one of which was carrying a cargo of fine brandy.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 1, p.215.
In the following month Spitfire captured the privateer St Jean and burnt the merchant vessel Marguerite. On 27 April, Spitfire fell in with two French armed brigs, one of 16 guns and the other of 12. Spitfire and the brigs exchanged fire for half an hour under the fort at Cherbourg, which contributed her fire to the encounter. The brigs fled into the harbour and Spitfire let them go rather than risk grounding. Despite the cannonading that she had been subject to, Spitfire suffered no damage or casualties.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 1, p. 2118.
Spitfire recaptured the galiot Two Brothers in May.
Durham was promoted to post captain on the frigate on 24 June, and Commander James Cook replaced him on Spitfire. Cook's death by drowning in January 1794 necessitated the assigning of Commander John Clements to command Spitfire.
Commander Amherst Morris succeeded Clements in October. In 1796 Commander Michael Seymour replaced Morris.
Commander Michael Seymour Seymour would spend the next four years as Spitfires commander and, like Durham before him, enjoyed considerable success in actions against small French raiders. He captured at least nine privateers and small vessels of the French Navy.
In September and October Spitfire captured a number of merchant vessels, one being particularly valuable. On 2 September, she captured the Danish ship Sobestern. On 15 September Spitfire captured Concordia. Thirteen days later, Spitfire captured the Danish brig Apollo. Then on 4 October Spitfire captured Argos, and two days later Jacoba.
Spitfire was active off the English and Irish coasts during the French attempt to invade Ireland in early 1797 and on 12 January 1797, about 30 leagues west of Ushant, she captured Allègre (or Allegrer), one of the expedition's storeships. Allègre was a brig of 200 tons (bm), and was carrying ammunition and entrenching tools.
Seymour followed this success by capturing the privateer cutter Bons Amis, of six guns and 32 men, off the Eddystone on 2 April 1797, and after a five-hour chase. She had been out three days and had not made any captures. Bons Amis was the former Friends Endeavour, of Fowey.
Next, Seymour captured the privateer brig Aimable Manette in the Channel on 1 May 1797, after an eight-hour chase. She was armed with 14 guns and had a crew of 69 men. She was a new vessel, half coppered, and beautiful. She had been out 13 days, and not only had she not taken anything, the evening before she had encountered an outward-bound English yellow-sided ship armed with sixteen 9-pounder guns. The engagement had cost Aimable Manette 15 men killed and wounded and forced her to sheer-off.
Then Spitfire captured the privateer schooner Trompeuse, of Morlaix, later that month. Trompeuse was armed with six guns and had a crew of 40 men.Norie (1842), p.489. Trompeuse had been out five days and had taken two Prussian vessels from Embden, one sailing to Liverpool and the other to Oporto. Spitfire had also been in sight when HMS Unite recaptured a brig. Spitfire also recaptured the Rodney and Hannah.
In July, Spitfire captured the ship Sally.
Seymour and Spitfire took the French privateer schooner Incroyable 13 leagues SW off the Lizard on 15 September. She was armed with three 6-pounder guns and had a crew of 31 men. She was 14 days out of Saint Malo but had captured nothing.
During the first half of 1798 Spitfire also captured the smuggling lugger Argus.
At the end of 1798, on 27 December, Spitfire recaptured Sybille, of Dartmouth, while in the Channel. The French privateer schooner Vigilant had captured Sybille on 25 December while Sybille was carrying bullocks and sheep to Guernsey for the troops there. She then had a narrow escape from Vigilant off Start Point while returning to Plymouth.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 1, p.165.
One week later Spitfire captured the 14-gun transport , of 400 tons (bm), in the Bay of Biscay. Wildings crew consisted of seamen from three French ships of the line and she had been taking firewood for the French Navy from Aber Wrac'h to Brest under the escort of Levrette, a gun vessel from which she had parted company. Wilding had been a British ship in the West Indies trade before the French had captured her.
On 15 March 1799, the prize agent, J. Hawker esq., paid Spitfires foremast men nearly £40 each. One man not only spent it in two days but ended up owing his landlady 15 guineas.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 1, p.344. (This money may have been prize money for Concordia.)
On 31 March 1799, Spitfire took the privateer brig Résolue of St. Malo, 14 leagues off Scilly during a violent gale. She was armed with fourteen 6 and 8-pounder guns, and had a crew of 65 men. She was a new vessel, out two days from Saint Malo on her first cruise, and had made no captures. Her owners also owned Hirondelle, which the ill-fated had captured in a notable fight.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 1, p.441.
On 12 April, orders arrived at Plymouth for to take on board 183 French prisoners from and Spitfire for onward conveyance to Portsmouth.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 1, p.442.
On 9 May Spitfire brought a smuggling lugger called Providence into Plymouth. The lugger had a cargo of 90 ankers of spirits and 26 bales of tobacco.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 1, pp.538.
Later that month came upon seven enemy vessels which made to engage her, but then turned away when she sailed towards them in "a spirited style". Arethusa captured one, an armed ship, which was carrying sundries from Saint-Domingue. Spitfire took the prize into Plymouth on the 23rd while Arethusa sailed off in search of the other six.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 2, p.79.
On 28 June Jupiter, Monk, master, arrived at Plymouth. She had been sailing from Surinam to Copenhagen with sugar and coffee, supposedly Dutch property, when Spitfire detained her.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 2, p.167.
In September, Spitfire convoyed the linen fleet from Belfast to The Downs.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 2, p.443. On 3 November, she brought into Plymouth the Guernsey smuggling lugger Endeavour, with her cargo of 299 ankers of spirits and 23 bales of tobacco.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 2, p.544.
Spitfire and the cutter captured the brig Gute Hoffnung. In December 1799 Spitfire captured the Danish ship Twilling Riget.
On 22 January 1800 Spitfire came in from Kinsale to Plymouth with a Danish vessel, Havel Rerli, with a cargo of spices and the like, from Batavia. The cargo was worth £150,000 and supposed to be Dutch property. Five more vessels were reported to be following.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 3, pp.150–1.
On 16 April 1800, a French privateer in the Channel plundered the American vessel A. B. C. two hours before Spitfire boarded her. When A.B.C. reported the privateer, Seymour left A.B.C. to make her own way into Plymouth and set off in pursuit. A.B.C. arrived at Plymouth on 19 April.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 3, p.328.
Early in the morning of 17 April 1800, Spitfire was nine leagues south of the Bolt Head when she sighted a brig. She gave chase, a chase that a Guernsey privateer and joined until by noon Spitfire had left them behind and out of sight. Then Telegraph, from under Alderney, came up and fired a broadside at the quarry, but then too fell behind. At 2p.m. Spitfire finally captured the privateer about four leagues from Cape Levy on the French coast. The privateer was Heureuse Societé of Pleinpont, of 14 guns and 64 men. She was a new vessel that had been out only three days and had made no captures. Spitfire later shared the prize money with Telegraph. Spitfire brought Heureuse Societé into Plymouth on 20 April.
Spitfire captured a French privateer brig Heureux Courier, of Granville on 19 June, ten leagues SSE of Scilly. The privateer was armed with sixteen brass French 6-pounders and had a crew of 54 men, others being away on the three captures she had made. She was on her way home from her first cruise. Her three captures were two Newfoundland brigs and a Portuguese schooner, Nostra Senora del Carno, De Casta Pinto, master. The privateer had cut out the schooner at St. Michael's (probably St Michael's Mount), where the schooner was loading. The British privateer Tartar, of Guernsey, recaptured the schooner.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 4, p.78.
In May Spitfire sailed through a severe gale on the 16th to arrive safely in Guernsey. The gale had set several vessels, including Telegraph on their sides, but none were lost.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 3, p.509.
Spitfire returned to Plymouth on 14 July from a cruise off the Île de Batz. She then sailed to cruise against smugglers and captured the lugger Three Friends, with 150 ankers of spirits. Three Friends had landed part of her cargo at Polperro. Spitfire took several boats that were endeavouring to escape, in the process killing one smuggler. She brought Three Friends into Plymouth on 4 August.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 4, p.165.
On 11 August Seymour received a promotion to post-captain.
Commander Robert Keen Seymour's replacement on Spitfire was Commander Robert Keen, who spent the next four years on the Irish station.
On 13 December 1800 Spitfire, , , and cutter Swift (2) shared in the recapture of Defiance.