HMS Doris (1795)
HMS Doris was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, launched on 31 August 1795. which saw service in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Doris was built by Cleveley, of Gravesend.
Service
She entered service in November 1795, operating as part of the Channel Fleet during the Napoleonic Wars. Her first captain was the Hon. Charles Jones, who in 1797 became Lord Ranelagh.In June 1796, Doris and captured the French corvette Légère, of twenty-two 9-pounder guns and 168 men. Légère had left Brest on 4 June in company with three frigates. During her cruise she had captured six prizes. However, on 23 June she encountered the two British frigates at. After a 10-hour chase the British frigates finally caught up with her; a few shots were exchanged and then Légère struck. The Navy took into her service as HMS Legere.
In January 1797 Doris shared with and in the capture of the French privateer Eclair. Unicorn was the actual captor. Eclair was armed with 18 guns and had a crew of 120 men.
On 15 July, Doris took the privateer Duguay Trouin. Duguay Trouin had been armed with twenty 6-pounders and two 12-pounders but had thrown them overboard during the chase. She had a crew of 127 men and was out four days from Nantes, but had not taken any prizes. On her previous cruise she had taken the Sandwich Packet of Falmouth. shared in the capture.
On 19 July 1797, Doris and Galatea recaptured the Portuguese ship Nostra Senora de Patrocinio e Santa Anna. At some point they also recaptured the Portuguese ship Nostra Senora de Conceiçao e Navigantes.
In 1798 Doris was engaged in the hunt for Jean-Baptiste-François Bompart's French squadron that culminated in the Battle of Tory Island, although Doris was not present during the action. In 1800 and 1801, Doris under the command of John Holliday participated in the capture of six French merchant brigs and prizes.
In December 1800 Doris recaptured Countess of Bute, which the French privateer Brave had captured as Countess of Bute had been sailing from Newfoundland to Naples.
On 21 July 1801, the boats of Doris,, and succeeded in boarding and cutting out the French naval corvette Chevrette, which was armed with 20 guns and had 350 men on board. Also, Chevrette had anchored under the batteries of Cameret Bay. The hired armed cutter Telemachus placed herself in the Goulet de Brest and thereby prevented the French from bringing reinforcements by boat to Chevrette.
The action was a sanguinary one. The British had 11 men killed, 57 wounded, and one missing. Also killed was Lieutenant Burke, who was wounded in the fight, and died after boarding the French ship.
Chevrette lost 92 officers and men, including her first captain, and 62 seamen and troops were wounded. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "21 JULY BOAT SERVICE 1801" to surviving claimants from the action.
In 1803 following the Peace of Amiens, Doris, under the command of Captain Richard Harrison Pearson, captured the French naval lugger Affronteur, off Ushant. Affronteur was armed with fourteen 9-pounder guns and had a crew of 92 men under the command of Lieutenant de Vaisseau M. Morce André Dutoya. Capturing Affronteur required an engagement during which Doris suffered one man wounded, while Affronteur lost Dutoya and eight men killed, and 14 men wounded, one of whom died shortly thereafter. Affronteur became the hired armed vessel Caroline.
On 2 and 4 June 1803 Doris captured Prudence and Neptune. Neptune had been sailing from Marseilles to Havre when Doris captured her. Neptunes cargo consisted of soap, brimstone, liquorice, brandy, rape and sweet oil, galls, and cotton wool.