London, 22 June. From Malta came tidings dated 23 May that the Philomel (1)
brought in a pirate bomb galliot with a crew of 30 men. According to tidings of
Smyrna send Cochrane 5 ships to sea with the best captains and sailors he had
to pursue the pirates. It’s to be hope that they had more success than the
British cruisers.
Madrid, 10 June. The second in command of the navy of Manacer on the island
Minorca reported 29 May to the commanding officer of that maritime district
that a sloop with 5 men of a chebec of Ivica, the el San Antonio, entered the
port. They declared that their ship the same day 21 May was captured off Cape
Pera by a brigantine owned by the Insurgents. They didn’t have any information
dealing with the strength of the brigantine and to which country she belonged.
The privateer was fitted out with a large barge with a crew of 15-20 men,
commanded by a Spanish speaking person and which was sent to the el San
Antonio. The other crewmembers of the barge of which some were negroes spoke
different languages but on board of the el San Antonio they thought it were
Colombians. The brigantine showed no flag, she was black painted and of an
oblong form. This tiding was public published 7 June at Barcelona. Another
master stated 29 May that he was the day before pursued by a brigantine off
Dragonera which he believed was identical with the vessel which captured the el
San Antonio. Another chebec with master Caraminas of Majorca was captured by a
privateer also believed to be a Colombian. Rumours were that this chebec was
loaded with silverware belonging to the church and a large amount of gold, all
destined for the capital city. On board were passengers one of them was a rich
lady which was robbed of a large amount of money. The prize was probably brought
up to Tangier.
Paris, 22 June. According to tidings from Toulon dated 16 June left the
frigate la Marie Thérèse commanded by captain Fouques yesterday to join two
frigates coming from Brest and the la Bellone which had belonged to the
division off Cadiz. The 4 ships were to join the division commanded by captain
Collet off Algiers. The frigate la Galathée commanded by captain Feury arrived
coming from Alexandria which port she left 2 May. The frigate la Syrene
admirals’ ship of de Rigny and other ships of the French squadron left the same
port.
Source
J.J. Colledge and Ben Warlow. Ships of the Royal Navy. London, 2006.
Note
1. A 10-gun brig sloop of the Cherokee-class launched at the Portsmouth
dockyard 11 September 1806 and sold 30 April 1817.
