HMS Falcon (1802)

Launched in 1801 as Diadem, the Admiralty renamed the Whitby-built vessel HMS Falcon on purchase in 1802 to avoid confusion with the pre-existing third rate HMS Diadem (1782). Falcon served in the north Atlantic and the Channel, and then in Danish waters during the Gunboat War. She was sold in 1816.

1801 to 1806
Commander James Nash commissioned Falcon in February 1801. His replacement, in 1802, was Commander Henry M. Ommaney, who sailed her to Newfoundland.

Near Newfoundland, Falcon captured two prizes – the Caroline on 17 July 1803 and on 28 July the apparently British-built Mercure.

Commander George Sanders took over command in Newfoundland February 1804. Early in 1804 Falcon was refitting in Plymouth, before going on to serve in the Channel, where she engaged shore batteries at Le Havre. Falcon was also awarded prize money for the recapture, on 3 November, of the sloop John and Thomas.

Falcon then operated in the North Sea. On 10 June 1805, Falcon, with Chiffone, Clinker, and Frances chased a French convoy for nine hours until it took shelter under the guns of Fécamp. The convoy consisted of two corvettes (Foudre under Capitaine de vaisseau Jacques-Felix-Emmanuel Hemelin, and Audacieuse, under Lieutenant Dominique Roquebert), four large gunvessels and eight others, and 14 transports. The British suffered some casualties from gunfire from shore batteries, with Falcon suffering four men wounded and some damage to her rigging. In company with Chiffone, HMS Steady (1804), and the hired armed cutter Frances, Falcon was involved in the capture of the Zeeluft on 20 June 1805, and also shared in prize money from the cargoes of another two vessels captured that year.

1807: Danzig and Copenhagen
At the ultimately unsuccessful British defence of Danzig in April 1807, Falcon was involved in bringing reinforcements and the Russian General Nikolay Kamensky to the area. Volunteers from Falcon went on board the hired armed ship Sally, which then entered the relatively shallow waters at the mouth of the Vistula to take the battle to the French.

On 28 August 1807, in company with the sloop Vulture, Falcon captured the Danish ship Martha for which prize money was awarded nearly four years later.

On 7 September, Falcon was one of the 126 ships officially listed as being at the surrender at Copenhagen. She later shared in the prize money allotted for the capture of the Danish fleet.

1808: Zealand Point, Endelave and Tunø
Commander George A. Creyke took command in 1808. On 22 March 1808 Falcon was among the smaller British warships at the battle of Zealand Point. She watched from a safe distance and recorded the course of the battle in her logbook.

In late April, under orders from Captain Donald Campbell of the third rate Dictator, Lieutenant John Price, acting captain of Falcon, took her northward to the west of Samsø to search for enemy boats capable of carrying troops from mainland Jutland to Zealand or Skåne. Falcon destroyed eight "pretty large boats .. with troops nearby" on the island of Endelave, six boats on Tunø on 29 April, and 13 others in the waters between Samsø and Aarhus, all before 15 May.

The Danes were fortifying the harbour complex to the east of Samsø, with its outlying islands of Kyholm and Lindholm. During the night of 7 May, Falcon sent in a cutting-out party in her boats. The British captured two boats each loaded with thirteen-inch mortars and associated equipment, including 400 mortar shells. Lieutenant Price recorded that one of these boats ran aground and had to be burned; he destroyed the other boat after removing the mortar.

On 3 June Falcon sent in her boats to make a further raid on Endelave.

Fate
In 1810 Falcon was at Sheerness, where she was fitted as a military depot and hospital ship. From 1812 on Falcon was in ordinary. On 14 May 1816 the Navy Office invited tenders for the purchase of numerous ships, including "lying at Sheerness,... Falcon sloop, of 368 tons". She was sold there, for £800, on 31 July.

Further Information and Background Reading

 * For transcripts and translations of some of the sources and notes see Falcon's website
 * Tim Voelcker: Admiral Saumarez versus Napoleon - The Baltic 1807 - 1812 : Boydell Press