Dutch sloop Havik (1784)

Havik was a ship sloop with a quarterdeck, built at Amsterdam in 1784 for the Admiralty of Amsterdam under the 8th Charter.[3]

At Saldanha Bay a squadron of the Batavian Navy, under the command of Rear-Admiral Engelbertus Lucas, surrendered without a fight to a Royal Navy squadron under the command of Vice-Admiral George Elphinstone at Saldanha Bay on 17 August 1796. Havik was one of the vessels that the British captured. At the time of her capture, Havik, under the command of Lieutenant Pieter Bessemer (or Bezemer), was armed with 18 guns and had a crew of 76 men.[4]

Commander Charles Ekins was appointed to HMS Echo, supposed to be at the Cape of Good Hope, but found, on his arrival, that she had been condemned and broken up. He sailed Havik back to Britain. After his return to Britain, he was advanced to post captain on 22 December 1796.

Havick underwent fitting at Plymouth in the first two weeks or so of January 1797. The Royal Navy commissioned her under Commander Philip Bartholomew that month with the role of cruising and escorting convoys.[1]

On 28 March 1799, Havik and the hired armed brig Telegraph sailed from Plymouth for the Île de Batz.[5] Eight days later, Telegraph captured the French privateer Hirondelle on 5 May 1799 in a notable action. Havick claimed a share of the prize money, a claim that Telegraph's officers and crew contested. The matter was not settled until 1818.[lower-alpha 2]

One month after leaving Plymouth Havik returned, escorting two French brigs and a Dutch East Indiaman, Zeeland, which was sailing from Tranquebar to Copenhagen.[7] On 15 May Havick sailed with a convoy to Cork.[8]

On 25 August Havick brought into Plymouth the Hedwin, Rosenzen, master, which had been sailing from Almeria to Hamburg.[9] On 18 September Havick brought in the Swedish brig Aurora, of Gothenburg, Sandelhus, master. Aurora had been sailing from Tenerife to Hamburg with a cargo of barilla.[10]

On 29 January 1800, Havick was in the Channel when Suffisante signaled to Havick to chase north. There Havik observed a ship, a cutter, and a lugger fleeing to the southeast. Havik captured the ship, which was the American vessel Strafford, of 16 guns and carrying a cargo of tobacco from Baltimore to London; she had been a prize to the other two fleeing vessels, and Bartholomew believed that her cargo was worth £30–40,000. Suffisante captured both, which turned out to be the lugger Courageux and the cutter Grand Quinola. Courageux was armed with four 4-pounder guns and one 18-pounder carronade, and had a crew of 42 men. Grand Quinnola was armed with 8-pounder brass carronades, two 2-pounder brass guns, two 2-pounder iron guns, and swivel guns; she had a crew of 47 men. The two privateers had left Saint-Malo together three days earlier.[11] Havick and Suffisante shared their prize money with Centaur and the hired armed brig Fanny.[12]

Landrich, a prize to Havick, arrived at Plymouth on 28 February. Landrich had been sailing from San Domingo for Bremen. She was followed on 6 March by Landrake, which was carrying a cargo of sugar from San Domingo to Hamburg.[13]

On 3 September Havick and Suffisante encountered a French flotilla of 14 vessels carrying provisions and stores to the French fleet at Brest, and under the escort of a frigate armed en flute, with 18 guns, a corvette of 18 guns, and a brig of 14 guns. The British engaged the French and drove them under the protection of shore batteries near Morlaix. Fire from the batteries killed two men on Havick, and wounded two, including Lieutenant Bayley.[lower-alpha 3]

Havick was under Batholomew's command and had been tasked with patrolling between the Channel Islands and the Île de Batz so she anchored in St Aubyn's Bay, Jersey in November 1800 to take on a local pilot. She lost her anchor and had to resort to a makeshift. When a severe gale came up on 9 November, it drove her onshore. The crew cut away her masts and threw her guns overboard, but Havick nevertheless filled with water and settled into the sand. When the tide went out she settled even further.[16] Although several other vessels in the bay such as Pelican,[17] suffered similarly, they were refloated.[lower-alpha 4] Havick, however, was so badly damaged that she was abandoned as a wreck.[16] Neither Havick nor Pelican suffered any casualties,[17] though the crews were subject to waves breaking over them for six hours until the tide, which had risen 32 feet (9.8 m) (perpendicular), providentially receded.[19]

In 1987 metal detectors discovered what would prove to be the site of the wreck. Excavations under the auspices of the Jersey Heritage Trust began in 1997. Much of the material recovered was metal, including musket and cannon shot, a candle snuffer, and large quantities of copper plates and nails used in the hull sheathing; some woodwork was also discovered.[20]

• Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650–1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot. ISBN 978-0-948864-30-8.
• Rotterdams jaarboekje (1900). Historisch Genootschap Roterodamum. (W. L. & J. Brusse).
• van Maanen, Ron. "Preliminary list of Dutch naval vessel built or required in the period 1700–1799" (PDF). Unpublished manuscript.
• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1861762467.

• Media related to HMS Havick (ship, 1796) at Wikimedia Commons