In the book dealing with the life of John, Earl of St. Vincent is an interesting note dealing with investigations about what was going on the British dockyards and what went wrong with the refitting of the Amaranthe, the former Dutch Venus. Pelham Brent wrote in above mentioned biography.
P. 1811: “The purchase, and subsequent repair and commissioning of the Amaranthe, a Dutch frigate of 20 guns, at Woolwich, must be mentioned as a farther illustration of defects of the system in the late war. This vessel had been one of the prizes taken at the Helder in 1799, by the fleet under the command of the late Sir Andrew Mitchell. Having been surveyed at Woolwich, she was declared, by the officers of that establishment, to be fit for his Majesty's service. She was consequently purchased for the sum of £2,241, exclusively of her guns and stores. She was then taken into dock, and underwent what the builders at that dock yard, and the surveyors of the navy, were pleased to call a thorough repair. She was commissioned in 1803, and the command of her conferred on the late Captain C. Worsley Boys. As soon as she reached the Downs, it was discovered that her copper alone prevented her sinking. Not a moment was lost; she was ordered up to Sheerness, where her defects were found so much more extensive than they had been supposed, that she was sent back to Woolwich, where it was proved that the master builder had omitted to survey the bottom of the vessel, on which they had put new decks and topsides ; at
p. 182: the expence of £13,070, including the original purchase-money. The master-builder had died before the discovery took place. A new ship, of equal dimensions,' might have been built in England for half the money.” The 28-guns 6th rate Amaranthe, was captured as the Dutch Venus 1799 and broken up at Deptford in 1804. Her dimensions in British feet 92’10½”/112½-112’6” x 31½-31’9” x 10’6” and with a builders measurement of 498 tons. She belonged in Dutch service to the Admiralty of Amsterdam and was a 7th charter of frigate built by John May at the naval yard at Amsterdam 1768, captured by the British while lying in the Nieuwediep, her dimensions in Amsterdam feet 125-125 7/11 x 33 7/11-34 x 13 2/11, armed with 24 guns while her crew numbered 156 men.
Sources
Edward Pelham Brent. Life and correspondence of John, Earl of St. Vincent, volume 2. London, 1838. Digitized by Google.
J.J. Colledge. Ships of the Royal Navy. An Historical Index, 2 vols. David&Charles, Newton Abbot, 1969.
Rif Winfield. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817. Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. London, 2005.
Notes from and correspondance with Jan Glete.
Archive Admiraliteits Colleges XXXIX no. 115 (National Archive at The Hague).
Archive Admiraliteits Colleges XLVII no. 17 (National Archive at The Hague).
Archive Admiraliteits Colleges no. 3255 (National Archive at The Hague).
