HMS Morne Fortunee (1803)

History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Morne Fortunee
Namesake	"Morne Fortunee," Castries, St. Lucia
Acquired	1803 by purchase of a prize
Fate	Wrecked 6 December 1804
General characteristics [1][2]
Tons burthen	105, or 10590⁄94 (bm)
Length	Overall:65 ft 6 in (20.0 m) Keel:45 ft 0 in (13.7 m)
Beam	21 ft 0+1⁄2 in (6.4 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Schooner
Complement	35
Armament	6 × 12-pounder carronades
Notes	Built of Bermuda cedar

HMS Morne Fortunee was originally the Bermudian schooner Glory, launched in 1801 but captured in 1803 as the French privateer Morne Fortunée. She was wrecked in 1804.

The British Royal Navy purchased her for £3000 on 29 August 1803 at Bermuda. She arrived at Portsmouth on 29 November 1803 and was fitted there on 29 February 1804. Lieutenant John Dale commissioned her.^[1]

On 19 March 1804 departed Spithead for Plymouth, Cork, and the West Indies, with a convoy of about 30 sail.

Circa 29 September 1804 she again departed Plymouth.

She was wrecked at Attwood's Key, off Crooked Island in the Bahamas on 6 December 1804. She had been carrying dispatches from Jamaica when at 3 a.m. breakers were sighted ahead. Although the helmsman put her helm over it was too late and she struck hard on a reef and started rapidly to take on water. Her crew cut away her masts, lightened her, and let go her anchors, all to keep her from slipping off into deeper water. In the morning the crew took to her boats as she was settling fast. The loss was blamed on a combination of an error in navigation and a strong current.^[3]

Citations[edit]

References[edit]

• Demerliac, Alain (2003). La Marine du Consulat et du Premier Empire: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1800 à 1815 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 9782903179304. OCLC 492784876.
• Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650–1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot. ISBN 0-948864-30-3.
• 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.