"Besting a French Privateer in 1807" Topic

"Privateering was an integral part of sea warfare in the Age of Fighting Sail, striking as it did at the heart-blood of the enemy's trade, commerce and economy. In an era before radio and radar privateers – essentially private business entities authorised by the home government to act as raiders – could strike without warning and, since their ships were usually chosen for speed, could make hasty getaways. (A recent post, of 17th July 2018 tells of one such incident. If you've missed it, click here to read it). In the course of the two decades of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars vast numbers of civilian vessels, of all sizes, where captured or destroyed by these licenced rovers of all fighting nations. Such raiders did not always have it their own way however since many potential victims carried defensive armament and were ready to fight back when attacked. An excellent example of this was a British packet besting a privateer in 1807.

The Windsor Castle was a "packet", a brig chartered by the British government to carry mail. Such vessels were usually lightly armed and in this case six 4-pounder guns were carried and two 9-pounder carronades, murderous at close range. On the morning of October 1st, 1807, outbound from Britain, she sighted a French privateer, a fast-sailing schooner. This proved later to be the Jeune Richard, armed with six 6-pounders and one long 18-pounder, and she immediately gave chase. The Windsor Castle's twenty-four year old Acting-Captain William Rogers decided to run and cracked on sail. Rogers had only twenty-eight in his crew, several of whom were "mail-tenders" who were responsible for the mails. This crew was sufficient to sail the brig – but far too few to man all the guns she carried. The Windsor Castle was therefore unlikely to be capable of putting up a long defence should the privateer overtake her. It was soon apparent that this was unavoidable. Despite the likely imbalance of forces Rogers beat to quarters and readied for action. A further consideration was that the mails carried – many likely to be confidential and sensitive – should be weighted and thrown overboard if capture was inevitable and he accordingly set some of his men to prepare for this…."
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