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Wednesday 23 October 2019

The British, French and Portuguese navies according to the Nederlandsche Staatscourant dated 6 April 1833

The government steamboat Confiance arrived in England with tidings from Oporto and Lisbon dated until 25 March. The siege by the followers of Dom Miguel of Oporto still increased. The 3 warships belonging to Dom Pedro which were anchored off Oporto were destroyed or damaged without any hope for repairs. Two British merchant ships which tried 21 March to enter the river were attacked by the followers of Dom Miguel, one was shot in the ground, the second one forced on the beach, plundered and burnt. In the evening of the 25th appeared off the Douro the squadron commanded by Sartorius who stayed for a long time before the entrance to the Bay of Vigo, Spain but not with the intention to aid Don Pedro. His crews consisted mainly of British sailors which were now more or less mutiny due to sickness, lacking victuals and stores and worse payment. The most of the officers requested their discharge out of the service from Dom Pedro while Sartorius threatened in a letter dated 10 March that if he didn’t get his money within short time he would return with is ships to England and sell them there to satisfy the crews. Dom Pedro reacted by replacing Sartorius as commanding officer by captain Crosbie. When the latter with another British naval officer sir John Doyle arrived he carried with him an order to arrest Sartorius. Sartorius took instead Crosbie and Doyle prisoner and sailed to the mouth of the Douro to blockade the river until Dom Pedro finally paid.

The newspaper Morning Herald dated 2 April published tidings coming from Portsmouth. Here was a British squadron fitted out destined towards the East. Of the united fleet commanded by Sir Pulteney Malcolm was 1 April at Downs just the British ship of the line Talavera (1) and 2 smaller vessels and 5 French warships left.

Source
J.J. Colledge and Ben Warlow. Ships of the Royal Navy. London, 2006.

Note
1. Launched at the Woolwich dockyard 15 October 1818, ex-Thunderer renamed 23 July 1817, dimensions 174 x 48’5” and a builder’s measurement of 1.718 tons and armed with 74 guns. Accidentally burnt at Plymouth 1840.