History
Great Britain
NameProvidence
BuilderJohn Wallis, South Shields1790[1]
Launched1790[1]
FateWrecked February 1869
General characteristics [1]
Tons burthen2913⁄94,[2] or 292, or 293, or 302[3] (bm)
Armament
  • 1793: 2 × 4 + 2 × 3-pounder guns
  • 1805: 14 × 18-pounder carronades
  • 1813: 2 × 4-pounder guns + 6 × 18-pounder carronades

Providence was launched in 1790 at South Shields. She initially traded with Saint Petersburg but then in 1804 the British Royal Navy hired her. She remained in Royal Navy service until towards the end of 1812. She returned to trading as a transport, coaster, and to the Baltic. She disappears from the registers between 1835 and 1850. She was wrecked in 1869 and broken up in 1870.

Merchantman

Providence appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1792 with Hutchinson, master and owner, and trade Petersburg–London.[4]

Year Master Owner Trade Source
1795 A.Cairnes Hutchinson Petersburgh–Plymouth LR
1800 Hutchinson Hutchinson London–Petersburgh LR
1805 Hutchinson Hutchinson London–Hamburg LR
1806 Hutchinson Hutchinson Newcastle transport Register of Shipping; thorough repair 1803 & 1804

Hired armed ship

The Royal Navy hired Providence on 16 May 1804.[2] Her captain was Commander Peter Rye.[lower-alpha 1][5]

On 14 September Providence captured the Prussian vessel Louisa Ulrica.[6]

On 11 April 1805, Providence, the sloop Thames, and HMS Scorpion, captured the Dutch 12-gun schoonerEer (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.[7][8][lower-alpha 2][lower-alpha 3] She was also carrying M. Jean Saint-Faust who was traveling to Curaçao to assume command of the naval forces of the Batavian Republic.[9]

On 28 May, Lloyd's List (LL) it reported that the armed ships Providence, Magdalen, Ranger, and Rosina had arrived at Elsinore on 14 May with their convoy.[10]

In late February 1806, Providence was at Cuxhaven, having brought a convoy to the Elbe. In a gale the pilot ran her aground on the island of Pogen during a neap tide; the next high tide was four feet lower. She remained aground for five weeks. during this time the crew worked to lighten her. They put all her stores and provisions in the Danish government's storehouses at Gluckstadt. Danish labourers in six days dug a channel 473 ft (144.2 m) long, 30 ft (9.1 m) wide, and 6 ft (1.8 m) deep. Rye had the crew dig her anchor and keel free, enabling them to repair her caulking. Finally, on 6 April, in the evening, after more digging, Providence floated free. She returned to Cuxhaven, where the senior British naval officer, ordered her out of the Elbe to return to Grimsby to avoid any risk of her being detained and her crew made prisoners.[8]

On 1 July 1808 Providence detained and sent into Grimsby Vrow Maria Catharina, Visser, master.[11]

Later, in September 1808, Rye fought off five Danish gunboats in light winds off Jutland.[8] In October Providence escorted a convoy to Karlskrona. This was Rye's only passage through the Belt into the Baltic.[8]

Commander Peter Rye attained post rank on 12 August 1812, but he was on convoy duty. Providence reached the Little Nore on 14 August. On 21 September he made his last entry in her log and he decommissioned her. During his time as her commander he had made 34 voyages to the North Sea and back, and had sailed 40,000 miles.[8] Providence's contract with the Navy ended on 23 September 1812.[lower-alpha 4]

Merchantman

Providence apparently was not listed in LR between the end of her contract with the Royal Navy and reappearance in 1820. She was listed in the Register of Shipping (RS) from 1813 on.

Year Master Owner Trade Source & notes
1813 J.Spoor Hutchinson Shields transport RS; thorough repair 1803, & repairs 1812
1818 Hutchinson Hutchinson Shields–London RS; repairs 1812, & large repair 1817
1820 Hutchinson Hutchinson Hull–Petersburg LR; large repairs 1815, repairs 1818
1825 Hutchinson Hutchinson Hull–Shields LR; large repairs 1815, repairs 1818 & 1822, small repairs 1824
1830 Pyle Hutchinson Hull–Petersburg LR; large repairs 1815, small repairs 1824, keel & damages repaired 1828
1835 "Richn'berg" LR; homeport Newcastle
1840 LR – not listed
1845 LR – not listed
1850 Hutchinson Hutchinson LR
1855 B.Robson Hutchinson Shields–Mediterranean LR; large repair 1847, small repairs 1854,
1860 H.Gaze A.Strong Shields–France LR; large repair 1847, keel and keelson 1855,
1865 J.Hunter
H.Fox		 T.Tillock Shields–Mediterranean LR; large repair 1847, keel and keelson 1855, small repairs 1861, small repairs 1865 & 1866
1869 H.Fox T.Tillock Shields–Mediterranean LR; large repair 1847, keel and keelson 1855, small repairs 1861, small repairs 1865 & 1866

Fate

Providence was wrecked on 13 February 1869 on Corton Sands, near Great Yarmouth. Her entry was closed on the Register on 31 March 1870 with the notation "condemned & broken up at North Shields". This suggests that Providence had been refloated and brought back to Shields for breaking up.[1] Her listing in Lloyd's Register for 1869 carried the annotation "broken up".[3]

Notes

  1. ↑ For more on Commander Peter Rye see: O'Byrne, William R. (1849). "Rye, Peter" . A Naval Biographical Dictionary. London: John Murray.
  2. ↑ Prize money for the capture was paid shortly after 11 November 1805.
  3. ↑ Thames, of 11850⁄94 tons (bm) and ten 18-pounder carronades, served the Navy as a hired armed ship between 12 May 1804 and 6 December 1805.[2] Knight mis-identifies Thames as the frigate HMS Thames, which was not launched until 24 October 1805.
  4. ↑ Rye then commanded Porpoise from April 1813 until October 1814.[12]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 Tyne Built ships – Providence.
  2. 1 2 3 Winfield (2008), p. 393.
  3. 1 2 LR (1869), Seq.№P578.
  4. ↑ LR (1793), Seq.P33.
  5. ↑ Ships Employed on Convoy Duty – May 1805. Accessed 11 January 2020.
  6. ↑ "No. 15999". The London Gazette. 10 February 1807. p. 180.
  7. ↑ "No. 15797". The London Gazette. 13 April 1805. p. 511.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Knight (2022), Chap. 5.
  9. ↑ The Gentleman's magazine, Volume 144, pp. 274–5.
  10. ↑ "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 4202. 28 May 1805. hdl:2027/uc1.c2735022.
  11. ↑ LL 1 July 1807, №4265.
  12. ↑ The Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. 189–190, p.553.

References

  • Knight, Roger (2022). Convoys: The British Struggle Against Napoleonic Europe and America. Yale University. ISBN 9780300268751.
  • Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.
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