page_title: Henry Inman (Royal Navy officer)
section_title: Désirée and Copenhagen
hierarchical_section_title: Henry Inman (Royal Navy officer) / French Revolutionary Wars / Désirée and Copenhagen
caption_attribution_description: Sketch of the Battle of Copenhagen (1801)
context_page_description: Captain Henry Inman was a British Royal Navy officer during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, serving in the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. Inman's service in the American war was punctuated by three shipwrecks: the burning of HMS Lark off Rhode Island in the face of a superior French squadron, the grounding of HMS Santa Monica on Tortola and the foundering of Hector following an engagement with two French ships in the Mid-Atlantic. After the war he was placed in reserve until the Spanish Armament of 1790, when he was given command of the 14-gun cutter HMS Pygmy stationed off the Isle of Man.
  Inman's subsequent service career was principally in frigates: he was engaged at the Siege of Toulon in HMS Aurore, in a raid at Dunkirk in HMS Andromeda and participated in the Battle of Copenhagen as captain of HMS Désirée. He later served on the ship of the line HMS Triumph at the Battle of Cape Finisterre and was subsequently called to give evidence at the court martial of Sir Robert Calder.
context_section_description: On 2 August 1799, Inman seized the neutral merchant ship Vrienden carrying a cargo of hemp. Although the vessel's legal state was uncertain, no merchant claimed its cargo and in 1802 she was condemned and sold for over 247 l. In November 1799, Andromeda was attached to the force that evacuated the Duke of York's army following the failure of the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland and he remained in the region, observing movements off the Elbe. Andromeda also participated in the Raid on Dunkirk on 7 July 1800, when four French frigates were attacked by a squadron of British ships in Dunkirk harbour. Although an assault with fireships failed, HMS Dart captured the French frigate Désirée, with Inman following in the cutter Vigilant, crewed by thirty volunteers from Andromeda. Under fire from all sides, Inman successfully boarded the French ship following her surrender and brought her out of the harbour, sending the crew ashore on parole to avoid having to assign men to guard them. Désirée was brought back to Britain and commissioned into the Royal Navy, Inman taking command of the new frigate.
  In 1801, Désirée was attached to the fleet gathering at Yarmouth under Sir Hyde Parker and Lord Nelson for service in the Baltic Sea against the League of Armed Neutrality. Sailing for Denmark in March, the fleet anchored off Copenhagen and on 1 April a squadron under Nelson closed with the Danish fleet, which was anchored in a line of battle protecting the harbour. Désirée was ordered to operate at the Southern end of the Danish line, engaging shore batteries and nearby ships while their attention was focused on the main British battle-line. When the battle began at 10:00 on 2 April, Inman engaged the Provesteen, which was firing on the 50-gun HMS Isis. Désirée succeeded in inflicting considerable damage on the Danish ship and drew some fire away from the battered Isis. Once Provesteen had been abandoned by her Danish crew Désirée was engaged with a number of Danish shore batteries, but due to poor aim of the Danish gunners, who fired over the frigate throughout the engagement, she was not badly damaged and suffered only four men wounded in the battle. At 14:00 Danish fire slackened and shortly afterwards Nelson began to withdraw his ships out of range of the Danes. A number of his ships of the line grounded on the complicated shoals in the region and when Désirée came to the assistance of HMS Bellona] she too became stuck. Bellona was hauled off by Isis shortly afterwards, but Désirée was forced to remain on the sandbank for two days until boats from the squadron could be spared to drag her free.
caption: Battle of Copenhagen. Désirée can be seen at the Southern extremity of the Danish line.
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