HMS Scorpion was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by John King at Dover and launched in 1803. She was the first of the class to be built since the launching of Cruizer in 1797. Scorpion had a long and active career during the Napoleonic Wars, earning her crews three clasps to the Naval General Service Medal when the Admiralty authorized it in 1847, two for single-ship actions. She also took a number of prizes. Scorpion was sold in 1819.
Service history Scorpion was commissioned in November 1803 under Commander George Nicholas Hardinge for the Channel and the Downs. On 15 December the sloop Jane, Dedwith, master, was sailing from Liverpool to Cork when she ran foul of Scorpion near St David's Head and foundered. Scorpion rescued the crew and landed them at Waterford.
Scorpions first medal action took place between 28 March and 3 April 1804.
Capture of the brig Atalanta On 25 March 1804 Rear-Admiral Edward Thornbrough detached Scorpion to reconnoiter the Vlie Passage to the Texel. There Hardinge saw two Dutch national brigs at anchor, the closest being Atalanta.The Naval Chronicle (1804), Vol. 12, pp. 49–51 She mounted sixteen long 12-pounders and had 76 men on board..
On 31 March the 14-gun ship-sloop , under Commander Charles Pelly (or Pelley), arrived. That night Hardinge led five boats, three from Scorpion and two from Beaver, with about 60 officers and men, including Pelly, to attack Atalanta, which was under the command of Captain Carp. Hardinge was first on deck. The decks were slippery after rain and he fell as he tackled a mate of the watch but he recovered and killed the mate. Hardinge then engaged Carp, who disarmed Hardinge; Woodward Williams, Scorpion's master, saved Hardinge, who then called on Carp to surrender. Carp kept on fighting until the British killed him. This necessity greatly distressed Hardinge, who admired Carp's courage.
The Dutch finally surrendered after having lost their captain and three other men killed, and twelve officers and men wounded. All the British casualties were Scorpions; she had five wounded, including Williams and Lieutenant Buckland Bluett. The British put forty of the Dutch into irons below deck and prepared to capture the other brig. However, a gale came up and at daybreak they saw that the gale had moved the vessels too far apart.
The gale lasted three days and until it passed it prevented the British from bringing Atalanta out. Eventually, the British sailed Atalanta back to Britain but did not take her into service.
On 2 May Hardinge buried Captain Carp with full military honours. Hardinge also freed the Dutch officers for the ceremony, one of whom performed a eulogy, and hoisted the Dutch colours. Thornbrough, under a flag of truce, sent Captain Carp's servant with Carp's effects to Batavian Admiral Killkert for forwarding to Carp's relations.
Hardinge was promoted to post-captain and given the command of Proselyte. The Lloyd's Patriotic Fund awarded a sword worth 100 guineas to both Hardinge and Pelly. Bluett was promoted to Commander and the command of . He was one of the three lieutenants who also received a sword worth 50 guineas. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the award of the Naval General Service Medal with clasps "Scorpion 31 March 1804" and "Beaver 31 March 1804", to any surviving claimants.
On 28 March Scorpion detained the brig Charlotte, for which she received prize money.
Capture of the privateer Eer Commander Philip Carteret replaced Hardinge as captain of Scorpion in 1804. On 8 July Carteret captured five ships: Juno, Vrow Hermine, Anna Pieter Brouer, General Von Blucher, and Vrow Margaretha. Lloyd's List reported that Scorpion was in company with the sloop and the gun-brig , and that together they captured 10 vessels that were sailing from Riga to Embden carrying masts. By this account the vessels they captured were: Vrow Hermina, Bowman, master; Juno, Gulzeet, master; Frau Margaretta, Roloff, master; General Van Bloucher, Ruyle, master; Jonge Oune & Brower, Ruyle, master; Four Brothers, Stemmings, master; Jonge Peter Caspar, Jobs, master; Gute Foffnung; and Piepersburg. The British sent their captives into Yarmouth.
On 2 August Scorpion, with the hired armed cutter Lord Nelson in company, captured the Prussian vessel Ignatius. Ignatius, or Ignatus, Bakker, master, was carrying masts from Riga when Scorpion detained her and sent her into Yarmouth.
Then on 11 April 1805, Scorpion, in company with the hired armed vessels and Thames, captured the Dutch 12-gun privateer Eer (also known as De Eer, D'Eer or Honneur), under the command of Captain Antoine Doudet. She was carrying 1000 stands of arms, two 12-pounder field pieces, two mortars, uniforms for 1000 men, tents, and the like. She was also carrying M. Jean Saint-Faust who was traveling to Curaçao to assume command of the naval forces of the Batavian Republic.The Gentleman's magazine, Volume 144, pp. 274–5.
Scorpion shared in the prize money for the Dorothea Elizabeth, which a squadron of eleven ships under the command of Admiral Russel had captured on 14 May.
Willaumez's squadron and protection of trade off St Kitts Carteret received a promotion to post-captain on 22 January 1806, but Scorpion had just sailed to the Leeward Islands station and so it was some time before notification caught up with him. While on the Leeward Islands station, he shadowed Admiral Willaumez's squadron, coming close enough at one point to draw several cannon shots.
In July 1806 Carteret helped Captain Kenneth McKenzie of save 65 deeply laden merchantmen at St. Kitts from destruction. Carteret sent a letter warning McKenzie that a French squadron under Admiral Willaumez had arrived at Martinique.Annual Biography, (1829), Vol. 13–14, pp. 238–9. Carysfort and the armed storeship Dolphin sailed leeward with their charges and so escaped the French, who had sailed from Fort Royal on 1 July. The French squadron succeeded in capturing three merchantmen at Montserrat and another three and a brig at Nevis; the fort on Brimstone Hill (St. Kitt's) and a battery on the beach protected nine others that had missed the convoy, though the French did attack them.
Commander Francis Stanfell had been appointed to command Scorpion on Carteret's promotion. However, he did not succeed in catching up with her until 1807. When Stanfell got to Barbados he found out that she had sailed to the North America station. After waiting some month in Barbados he received news that Scorpion was back at Plymouth and he sailed to join her.The United service magazine, Part 1, p. 287.
Action against privateers on the Home Station On 3 January 1807 Scorpion, still under the command of Carteret, was chasing a cutter some 15 miles south of The Lizard. Pickle came on the scene, made all sail, and succeeded in catching up with the quarry, with whom she exchanged two broadsides. Lieutenant Daniel Callaway of Pickle ran alongside the French vessel and his crew boarded and captured her. The French vessel was the privateer Favorite, of 14 guns and 70 men under the command of M. E. J. Boutruche. She was only two months old and had left Cherbourg two days before.The Naval Chronicle, Vol. 117, p. 76.
Out of her crew of 70 men, Favorite had lost one man killed and two wounded. Pickle had suffered two men severely wounded and one man slightly wounded. When Scorpion caught up she took off the 69 prisoners, who she then landed at Falmouth.
Later that year Scorpion captured three French privateers while on the Home station. On 16 February it was Bougainville, some 12 miles south-west of the Isles of Scilly. She had 16 guns and 93 men and was 23 days out of Saint-Malo. Capturing her took a long chase and a 45-minute running fight during which the privateer lost several of crew killed; Scorpion had no casualties.
Before she captured the other two privateers, Scorpion captured several merchant vessels. On 28 July while now under the command of Stanfell and with in company, she captured the Danish ship Trende Sostre and Hannah. Then one month later, on 28 August, still with Dryad in company, she captured Hanna, and Flora. On 4 September Scorpion captured Carl Von Plessen. On 12 September Scorpion captured Marianne. Because Scorpion was abroad, two-thirds of the prize money for Marianne and Carl von Plessen was paid to Greenwich Hospital.
On 18 September Scorpion was in company when Sir Edward Hughes captured Christle. Also on that day, Scorpion was in company with when Scorpion captured Nicholini. Lastly, on 12 October Scorpion captured the Danish ship Gerhard while and were in sight.
Then on 21 November it was the turn of the second privateer, Glaneuse, to fall to Scorpion. Scorpion was about 100 miles south of Cape Clear and Stanfell had disguised her as a merchantman to lure privateers. That evening Stanfell succeeded in enticing the French privateer ketch Glaneuse to come within pistol range.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 18, p. 503. Glaneuse was under the command of Louis Joseph Guinian, and carried 16 guns and 80 men. She was a new vessel, on her first cruise and ten days out of Saint-Malo. She had already taken two vessels: one was the ship Alfred bound for Poole from Newfoundland and the other was a Portuguese schooner that the privateer schooner Alarm had detained.
Lastly, on 3 December it was the privateer Glâneurs turn. Stanfell had obtained information from Glaneuse that enabled him to capture the privateer ketch Glâneur after a chase of 12 hours. She was under the command of M. Jaquel Fabre and had 10 guns and a crew of 60 men. She was 6 days out of Brest and had already taken two vessels: one was the brig Horatio, master David Mill, from London to Mogadore, and the other was the Portuguese Gloria, from Oporto to London. Glâneur had been preying on shipping for two years and had been the most successful privateer out of Saint-Malo. British vessels had repeatedly chased her and she had repeatedly escaped by "superiority of sailing".
On 9 December 1806, Glâneur had captured the hired armed tender United Brothers, of four guns. In the fight, United Brothers had lost two men killed, one being her commander Lieutenant William McKenzie, and one man wounded.
On this cruise Glâneur had captured two vessels. One was the brig Horatio, David Mill, Master, which had been sailing from London to Mogadore. The other was the Portuguese ship Gloria, which had been sailing from Oporto to London.
On 24 December, Scorpion recaptured the Portuguese vessel Conde de Peniche.
Boat actions on the Leeward Islands station Scorpion sailed to the Leeward Islands in 1807 and then returned home in 1808. She made at least one cruise to the coast of Portugal. On 24 May 1808 she captured Maria. Scorpion sailed again for the Leeward Island on 3 April 1809.
On 19 July 1809 Scorpion recaptured the American schooner Lucy, which a French privateer had captured off the Pearl Rock. Scorpion sent Lucy into Martinique.
At the end of 1809 Scorpion formed part of the squadron off Guadeloupe under Captain Volant Vashon Ballard of Blonde. On 25 September Blonde, , and Scorpion sent their boats after an enemy vessel making for Basse-Terre. To escape her pursuers, their quarry ran herself ashore in a bay between two batteries. The boat parties reached the French vessel despite cross-fire from the batteries and in the face of small arms fire from men on the beach. However, the British were unable to get the French vessel off. Instead, as she was bilged, they simply left. British casualties amounted to two men wounded from Blonde, one of whom lost an arm and the other of whom later died.