HMS Grinder ( 1809 ) Grinder was a gunboat serving as a tender , rather than a commissioned warship , to , the British garrison on the island of Anholt during the Gunboat War . " Grinder " s origins are obscure , but the Danes captured her in 1810 and the British recaptured her in 1811 . She was sold in 1832 . Prelude - capture of Anholt . On 18 May 1809 , the 74 - gun third rate HMS " Standard " , under Captain Askew Hollis , led in a squadron that also included the frigate " Owen Glendower " , and the four smaller ships , , and . Together they captured the island . A landing party of seamen and marines under the command of Captain William Selby of " Owen Glendower " , with the assistance of Captain Edward Nicolls of the " Standard " s marines , landed . The Danish garrison of 170 men put up a sharp but ineffectual resistance that killed one British marine and wounded two ; the garrison then surrendered . The British took immediate possession of the island . Tender to HMS " Anholt " . In 1810 Captain Nicolls , now Governor of Anholt , was concerned about reports of a Danish force gathering in Jutland to retake Anholt . He therefore ordered boats off Anholt to maintain a watch over Randers and Grenå whenever the wind was fair . To this end he re - launched " GB " Grinder " " , which had overwintered on the island . Nicolls gave " Grinder " a crew made up of 30 seamen and marines from the island ' s garrison and captained by Master ' s Mate Thomas Hester . Nicolls also assigned " Grinder " the mission of intercepting trade along the shore . " Grinder " captured a Danish trading sloop " on the Swedish coast " on 17 March . On the following day Nicolls sent her “ to look into the harbour of Harrup ” , where she discovered a number of small Danish trading vessels and proceeded to capture five of them “ . . . in sight of the enemies flotilla of gunboats ” . Reportedly , these six were among 12 merchantmen that she had captured . Capture by the Danes , ( 1810 ) . On 13 April 1810 " Grinder " was pursuing two small ships when Senior Lieutenant Peter Nicolay Skibsted , who with four Danish gunboats was convoying eight transport ships from Udbyhøj ( at the mouth of the Randers Fjord , Jutland ) to Samsø , spotted her . He immediately concealed his gunboats behind the transports , thus tricking " Grinder " into drawing closer . As soon as Hester noticed the stratagem , he tried to escape , but Skibsted was successful in the next 90 minutes in rowing up to him , and after a few shots were exchanged , forcing Hester to surrender . The muster rolls for HMS " Anholt " record Hester and 27 men as " discharged - prisoner in Denmark " on 17 April 1810 . One man was recorded as having died . " The Times " reported that " A Gottenburg mail has brought letters and papers to the 3rd inst . An article , under the date April 21 , gives a long account of the capture of an English gun brig in the Baltic . This vessel had wintered at Anholt . Her loss was two men killed and two wounded . She proved to be the " Grinder " , Lieutenant Esher . " Danish service ( 21 April 1810 to 5 July 1811 ) . The Danes brought " Grinder " into Samsø where they repaired her battle damage . They renamed her " Prise No . 5 " , and Midshipman Oldelan then commissioned her on 21 April 1810 ; in Danish service she was armed with : On 23 June 1810 " Prise No . 5 " sailed to Fladstrand ( modern name Frederikshavn ) . There she joined the flotilla under Senior Lieutenant Falsen , which already included two large and two smaller gunboats , plus the captured . " Prise No . 5 " then moved to Skagen , ( Northern Jutland ) where a storm forced her aground on 4 and 5 August . She was refloated and in December she sailed to Fladstrand , where she was laid up . From March 1811 " Prise No . 5 " was based at Fladstrand . Recapture ( 1811 ) . The Danes record that on 5 July 1811 the British recaptured " Prise No . 5 " between the islands of Hjelmen and Sejerø when the Fladstrand flotilla attacked a British convoy . On that day HMS " Sheldrake " was in company with the third rate s , and , and the gun - brig , with the British warships protecting a convoy of merchantmen . As they passed Hjelm Island a flotilla of 17 Dano - Norwegian gunboats and 10 rowboats came out to attack the convoy . The attackers lost four gunboats ; the convoy had no losses . During the action , " Sheldrake " captured the Danish gunboats " No . 2 " and " No . 5 " . Fate . While laid up at Sheerness , " Grinder " was offered for sale by the Admiralty on 24 July 1832 and sold on 22 August the same year .