HMS Hazard ( 1794 ) HMS " Hazard " was a 16 - gun Royal Navy " Cormorant " class ship - sloop built by Josiah & Thomas Brindley at Frindsbury , Kent , and launched in 1794 . She served in the French Revolutionary Wars and throughout the Napoleonic Wars . She captured numerous prizes , and participated in a notable ship action against " Topaze " , as well as in several other actions and campaigns , three of which earned her crew clasps to the Naval General Service Medal . " Hazard " was sold in 1817 . Construction . The " Hazard " was one of the initial batch of six ship - rigged ship sloop s that the Admiralty ordered in February 1793 , shortly after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars , to a joint design by Sir John Henslow and William Rule . She was laid down in May 1793 , launched there in March 1794 , and then taken down the Medway to Chatham Naval Dockyard , where she was masted and completed in June . French Revolutionary Wars . She entered service in 1794 under Commander John Loring . Command passed rapidly , first to Commander Robert Dudley Oliver the following year and then to Commander Alexander Ruddach in 1796 , who sailed her from Cork on the Irish station . Under Ruddach she captured the French privateer " Terrible " on 16 July off Cape Clear Island . " Hazard " chased the brig for eight hours before she was able to capture " Terrible " . She carried 14 guns and a crew of 106 men . She was six days out of Brest but had not taken any prizes . Then on New Year ' s Day 1797 " Hazard " took the privateer " Musette " about 30 leagues west of Cape Clear . " Musette " was armed with 22 guns and carried a crew of 150 men . She had taken two vessels , one of which was the " Abbey " , of Liverpool . She had been sailing from Lisbon to Liverpool when " Musette " captured her . However , " Daphne " had recaptured the " Abbey " and brought her in . Late in March , Vice - Admiral Lord Kingsmill received intelligence that a French cruiser had been seen off the Skellocks on the coast of Ireland . Kingsmill dispatched " Hazard " on 28 March , and on 1 April she found the French vessel . After a chase of seven hours , " Hazard " caught her quarry , but only because the privateer had lost both topmasts . The privateer was the brig " Hardi " , of 18 guns and 130 men . " Hardi " had been built at Cowes , about two years earlier , for the Spaniards . " Hardi " had left Brest on 17 March and during her cruise had escaped two British frigates that had chased her . She had captured only one prize , a small Portuguese vessel of little value . On 8 June " Hazard " captured the Danish brig " Barbara " . Commander William Butterfield took command in July 1798 . On 7 August he captured the American snow " Two Brothers " that a French privateer had taken three days earlier . The master of the snow gave Butterfield information that led Butterfield to try to find her . On 12 August he encountered a French privateer of 24 guns and gave chase . The chase lasted two days before the French vessel jettisoned her guns and escaped . As she escaped , Butterfield sighted another vessel that seemed suspicious and approached her . The new quarry turned out to be the French warship " Neptune " with a crew of 53 and 270 soldiers on board , sailing from Île de France to Bordeaux . She was pierced for 20 guns but only carried 10 . In the ensuing two - hour engagement , " Neptune " fought all ten guns on one side while the soldiers fired their muskets . She also attempted to board " Hazard " . Eventually " Neptune " surrendered after she had suffered 20 to 30 killed and wounded ; " Hazard " had 6 men wounded . During the fight " Hazard " saw a French privateer in the distance that declined to get involved . As she returned to port with " Neptune " , " Hazard " saw a French privateer with an English prize , the " Britannia " , in tow , and directed a British frigate to the scene . In 1800 and 1801 , " Hazard " was employed on the convoy route between Britain and Newfoundland and subsequently between Britain and Belfast . On 18 July 1801 a court martial on board " Gladiator " tried Lieutenant John Alexander Douglas of " Hazard " for being absent without leave . The charges were proved and the board ordered him to be dismissed from the Navy . Between June and August 1802 " Hazard " was fitted at Portsmouth . Commander Robert I . Neave ( or Neve ) commissioned her in June 1802 , for the Channel . On 25 August 1802 " Constance " and " Hazard " received orders to collect Dutch troops from Lymington and take them to Cuxhaven . They sailed two days later and passed through Spithead on their way to the Elbe , reaching there on 31 August . During the Peace of Amiens , " Hazard " convoyed Dutch soldiers from Britain back to the Continent . Napoleonic Wars . In 1803 , at the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars , " Hazard " carried despatches for the Channel Fleet and then operated as part of the blockade squadron off Northern Spain . While she was on the blockade a rumour circulated first that four ships of the line , and then that four French frigates , had captured " Hazard " and that the French had taken her into service . However , the rumors turned out to be mistaken . " Hazard " was with the fleet under Admiral the Honourable William Cornwallis when " Minotaur " captured the French frigate " Franchise " on 28 May 1803 . On 19 May " Naiad " and " Hazard " captured the Danish ship " Frauen Brigitta " . Six days later , " Victory " and " Hazard " captured the " Trois Consuls " . Five days later , boats from " Hazard " , together with boats from " Naiad " , cut out a new brig from among the Penmark Rocks off Brest while under fire from French batteries . They also cut out and sank a chasse - maree . " Hazard " and " Naiad " captured the French galliot " Baliena " and the brig " Jeanne " . On 23 July " Plantagenet " and " Hazard " captured the " Courier de Terre Neuve " . Later , on 6 August , " Hazard " sent two prizes into Plymouth - a Danish brig from the West Indies and another brig that she recaptured after a privateer had captured her as she sailed from Livorno to London with a cargo of hemp , marble and oil . " Hazard " also kept with her as a tender a French privateer of 16 guns that she had taken . Late in 1803 , " Hazard " returned to Britain and operated along the Northern French coast , capturing small French commercial vessels off Quiberon , Rochefort and Bordeaux . On 22 December " Hazard " recaptured the " Mary of Runcorn " , of the Port of Liverpool . In the spring of 1804 " Hazard " was stationed off St Ives , Cornwall to intercept French privateers that would loiter there to prey on vessels seeking shelter in the bay . In the summer " Hazard " s boats cut out a French coasting sloop off Quiberon and sent her into Plymouth on 6 August . She was the " Colombe " and carried a cargo of wheat for the victualing office at Lorient . On 15 February 1805 " Hazard " captured the schooner " Der Vriede " . " Naiad " was in sight but did not take part . Neve was promoted to Post - captain in 1806 and command passed to Commander Charles Dilkes in February 1806 . " Hazard " , with " Growler " , " Conflict " and " Colpoys " , captured nine chasse - marée s on 27 June 1807 in the Pertuis Breton . The captured vessels were : " Deux Amis " ( armed with two 4 - pounder guns ) , " Trois Frere Horaces " ( armed with four swivels , " Veronique " ( laden with wheat ) , " Sans Pareil " ( laden with wheat ) , " Marie Francoise " ( in ballast ) , " Mairie Louise " ( in ballast ) , " Bon Janton " ( in ballast ) , " Pascal " ( in ballast ) , and " Gaulle " ( in ballast ) . Their crews escaped on shore with all their papers . The crew of a tenth chasse maree scuttled their vessel to prevent the British from capturing her . The British drove six on to the shore , one of which was armed with six guns . In addition , between 1 April and 10 June the small squadron captured and destroyed two sloops , " Rosalie " and " Jeune Marie " , and five chasse marees : " Petit Marie " , " Patriot " , " Marianne " , " Belle Louise Josephine " , and " Marie Françoise " . " Colpoys " escorted the prizes back to Plymouth . Lastly , French shore batteries sank one chasse maree , of unknown name , after the British had captured her . On 2 October 1807 " Hazard " s first lieutenant , William Berry , 22 years old , went before a court martial on charges that he had committed a homosexual offense with Thomas Gibbs , who was a boy serving on " Hazard " . The board found Berry guilty . Seventeen days later Berry was hanged from " Hazard " s starboard foreyard - arm . Unfortunately the hanging was botched in that the knot twisted under his chin . Berry had a 32 - pound shot tied to his legs but still it took 15 minutes for him to strangle to death . He appears to have been one of only two naval officers hanged for buggery during the Napoleonic Wars ( the other was Captain Henry Allen of the sloop ) . On 16 November " Hazard " sailed for the West Indies . In early 1809 , " Hazard " was sent to the West Indies to operate as part of the squadron under Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane and command passed to Commander Hugh Cameron , late of " Achates " , while Dilkes removed to the flagship , " Neptune " . On 22 January , " Hazard " spotted the French 40 - gun frigate " Topaze " off Guadeloupe . " Hazard " was initially unable to catch up with " Topaze " but eventually took part in the Action of 22 January 1809 at which " Cleopatra " , with the assistance of several other vessels , captured the French ship . The British took " Topaze " into the navy as " Jewel " . " Hazard " subsequently participated in the Invasion of Martinique . In 1847 the Admiralty awarded all surviving claimants from the campaign the Naval General Service Medal with clasp " Martinique " . Then " Hazard " was part of the force that patrolled off the Îles des Saintes where a French force of three ships of the line and two frigates was waiting for an opportunity to move across to Guadeloupe . This led to the Action of 14 April 1809 . On 14 April British troops from Martinique under Major General Maitland landed in the Saintes and the French squadron made preparations to sail during the night . James Robertson , first lieutenant of " Hazard " , took a rowboat into the harbour during the night and attached a grappling hook to the stern of one of the French vessels . When the vessel started to sail , Robertson used lights and blue rockets to signal the French squadron ' s departure . The British took up the chase . This led to the action of 14 – 17 April , which resulted in the defeat of the French squadron . During the engagement , harried " Hautpoult " until " Pompee " and could capture her . However , because " Hazard " had joined the pursuit , it was 53 days before Robertson and his crew could rejoin their vessel , and change their clothes . On 16 October " Hazard " and were in company when they came upon a French privateer schooner moored under the guns of the battery of St . Marie on the east coast of the southern part of Guadeloupe . " Hazard " and " Pelorus " attempted to send in a cutting out party during the night , but the boats could not find a channel . The British went in again in the daylight despite fire from the battery and the schooner ' s long 18 - pounder pivot - gun and two swivels . Fire from " Hazard " and " Pelorus " silenced the batteries but as the British came alongside the French crew , an estimated 80 - 100 men , fled ashore . There two field guns joined them in firing on the cutting - out party . Because the schooner was aground and chained to the shore the boarding party could not bring her out ; instead , they set fire to her . However , a premature explosion injured some of them . In all , " Hazard " lost three men killed and four wounded ; " Pelorus " lost three killed and five wounded . On 17 December " Hazard " was part of a squadron that engaged a French reinforcement convoy at Basseterre . The French failed to reach Guadeloupe and the next day and entered Anse de la Barque and attacked both the 20 - gun " Seine " ( 1808 ) and the 20 - gun " Loire " ( 1809 ) . After putting up a strong defense , the French crews set fire to their vessels to keep them out of British hands . Cameron led the landing party that stormed the batteries but was killed on the beach immediately thereafter . Robertson was appointed commander " pro tem " of " Hazard " until a successor to Cameron could arrive from Halifax . Unfortunately for Robertson , Commander William Elliott of the brig requested command of " Hazard " , which he received effective 25 December 1809 . The 1847 the action earned the British participants the Naval General Service Medal with clasp " Anse la Barque 18 Decr . 1809 " . In early 1810 , " Hazard " took part in the Invasion of Guadeloupe . During the invasion , " Hazard " led the fleet into Anse de Barque , arriving well before the other vessels . There she saw a French schooner anchored under the batteries and on fire . Robertson and a boarding party of marines boarded the burning schooner " Mouche " despite fire from the shore batteries that were trying either to sink them or the schooner . By the time Robertson was able to board the schooner part of her deck had burnt away ; while the boarding party was cutting away her masts the intense heat discharged all her guns . Still the boarding party was able to bring her out and to seize the French " general marine signal book " , the signals of France ' s allies and other important documents that she had just brought out with her from France . This campaign also earned " Hazard " s crew the clasp " Guadaloupe " to the Naval General Service Medal . " Hazard " was then sent back to Britain . On 15 June 1810 , " Hazard " sailed for Newfoundland . Command passed to Commander John Cookesley in December 1810 . On 23 March 1811 " Hazard " again sailed for Newfoundland . War of 1812 . Cookesley took the ship to Halifax and the West Indies during 1812 where reportedly she took a number of American vessels as prizes . These included the " Elizabeth " and the " Nancy " on 15 July , the " Orient " on 19 July 1812 . On 7 September 1812 " Hazard " captured the American ship " Enterprize " . Prize money was paid in June 1815 . At the end of the wars in 1815 Cookesley brought her back to Spithead . In 1816 , " Hazard " sailed to Newfoundland , but returned the following year . Fate . " Hazard " was sold to Mr . Sprately for £1 , 010 at Portsmouth on 30 October 1817 .