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History
France
Name	Bonaparte, or Napoleon
Builder	American
Captured	1809, or 1808
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Swaggerer
Acquired	by capture, 1808 or 1809
Fate	Broken up, 1815
General characteristics
Type	Brig
Tons burthen	c.300 (bm)
Complement	60
Armament	8 × 18-pounder carronades; 2 × 6-pounder guns;

HMS Swaggerer was the French privateer Bonaparte (or Napoleon), captured in 1809 (or 1808). She served the Royal Navy in the Leeward Islands until broken up in 1815.

Career

The circumstances of Bonaparte's capture are obscure and there are no details as to her dimensions.^[1]

The British renamed her Swaggerer and armed her with eight 18-pounder carronades and two 6-pounder guns.^[1] Lieutenant George James Evelyn, late of Eclair commissioned her on 8 February 1809.^[3]

On 17 April 1809, Pompee captured D'Hautpoul. Swaggerer was among the vessels entitled to share in the prize money.^[a] Thereafter, Swaggerer assisted at the capture of Martinique, The Saintes, and Guadeloupe.^[3]

In August 1812 Swaggerer was in company with Surinam when they captured four American vessels:^[5]^[b]

General Hamilton (11 August), lying at Parimarabo, Surinam, carrying a cargo of molasses;
Mary (11 August), lying at Parimarabo, Surinam, in ballast;
Pochohantes (12 August), lying at Braam's Point, Surinam, and carrying a cargo of salt; and
Mercator (24 August), bound to Baltimore, laden with molasses.

Evelyn was invalided out of Swaggerer in October 1812.^[3] His replacement, Lieutenant Martin Guise, took command of Swaggerer in 1813. In May Lloyd's List reported that Swaggerer had recaptured Jane, which had been sailing from Demerrary to Saint John, New Brunswick, when the Baltimore privateer Comet had captured her.^[7] Between 22 May and 9 June, Swaggerer sent into St Thomas three vessels:^[8]

Donna Francisca, Ferrara, master, which had been sailing from Guadeloup to Boston; and

Betsey, Hall, master, from Portland: and,

Peggy, Little, master, from Bath.

Then in 1814 Lieutenant Charles Deyman Jeremy (or Jermy) replaced Guise.^[1] Swaggerer was in company with Eclipse when, on 13 March 1814, they captured the brigantine Admiral Martin, which they sent in to Antigua.^[9] Then on 28 March Swaggerer and Ister captured Camilla, which they sent into Tortola.^[9] By December, Swaggerer was under the command of Lieutenant Alexander Sandilands.^[10]

Fate

Swaggerer was broken up in 1815.^[1]

Notes

^ A first-class share was worth £44 1s 7½d and a second-class share, such as a lieutenant would receive, was worth £3 3s 8d; a sixth-class share, the return to an ordinary seaman, was worth 6s 6d.^[4]
^ A first-class share for the first three vessels was worth £194 13s 3d and a second-class share was worth £36 9s 11¾d; a sixth-class share was worth £2 11s 6¼d.^[6]

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Winfield (2008), p. 349.
^ ^a ^b "NMM, vessel ID 376915" (PDF). Warship Histories, vol iv. National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 August 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c O'Byrne (1849), p.343.
^ "No. 16977". The London Gazette. 21 January 1815. p. 110.
^ "No. 16760". The London Gazette. 3 August 1813. p. 1534.
^ "No. 17023". The London Gazette. 13 June 1815. p. 1137.
^ Lloyd's List 18 May 1813, №4771.
^ Lloyd's List, n° 4787 - accessed 11 November 2015.
^ ^a ^b "No. 16940". The London Gazette. 27 September 1814. p. 1947.
^ Patterson (2005), p.211.

References

O'Byrne, William R. (1849) A Naval Biographical Dictionary: comprising the life and services of every living officer in Her Majesty's navy, from the rank of admiral of the fleet to that of lieutenant, inclusive. (London: J. Murray), vol. 1.
Patterson, Benton Rain (2005) The generals: Andrew Jackson, Sir Edward Pakenham, and the road to the Battle of New Orleans. (NYU Press). ISBN 978-0-8147-6717-7
Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.

This article includes data released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported UK: England & Wales Licence, by the National Maritime Museum, as part of the Warship Histories project.