Dutch corvette Scipio (1784)
| History | |
|---|---|
  Dutch Republic & Batavian Republic
|
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| Name: | Scipio |
| Ordered: | 1781 |
| Builder: | F. v. Zwijndregt, Rotterdam |
| Launched: | 1784 |
| Captured: | 1807 |
 UK
|
|
| Name: | Scipio |
| Acquired: | 1807 by capture |
| Renamed: | HMS Samarang on 19 January 1808 (officially) |
| Honours and awards: |
Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Java" |
| Fate: | Sold 1814 |
 United Kingdom
|
|
| Name: | Samarang |
| Owner: | Bruce Fawcett & Co. |
| Acquired: | 1814 by purchase |
| Fate: | Last listed in Lloyd's Register in 1826 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | corvette |
| Tons burthen: | 406, or 408 (bm) |
| Length: | 130' (Amsterdam foot) |
| Beam: | 30' |
| Draught: | 17' 1⁄4" |
| Depth of hold: | 12' 8⁄11" |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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The Dutch corvette Scipio was launched in 1784. She convoyed Dutch East Indiamen between the cape of Good Hope and Europe until HMS Psyche captured her at Samarang in 1807. The British Royal Navy initially referred to her as HMS Scipio, but then renamed her to HMS Samarang in 1808. (She was not commissioned in the Royal Navy.) She was instrumental in the capture of Amboyna and especially Pulo Ay, and participated in the invasion of Java (1811). She was sold at Bombay in 1814. She then entered mercantile service, sailing between Liverpool and India until 1827.
In 1791 Scipio was under the command of Captain Cornelius de Jong van Rodenburgh, who sailed her to Cape of Good Hope, in company with the Dutch naval brig Komeet, leaving on 17 December 1791. Scipio arrived on 27 March 1792 and Komeet arrived on 4 April. Scipio took a convoy of Dutch East Indiamen back to the Netherlands, leaving on 31 May 1793. He then returned to the Cape.
On 18 May 1795, Komeet, under the command of Captain-Lieutenant Mynheer Claris, and Scipio, under the command of de Jong, set out from Table Bay with a convoy of sixteen East Indiamen, for Europe. Bad weather forced eight Indiamen back to the Cape. These eight sailed again on 22 May, but near Saint Helena they encountered British warships, which had heard that France had overrun the Netherlands and that the Batavian Republic was now a French ally. The British warships captured the Dutch vessels on 14 June and sent them to the River Shannon in Ireland. The remaining eight Indiamen, which had sailed on 18 May together with their two escorts, and a private Dutch ship from the Cape, the whaler Herstilder, sailed on. The Dutch captains decide to avoid the Channel and instead sail via the Shetland Islands to ports in then-neutral Norway.
On 28 August 1795, the convoy encountered HMS Unicorn, in company with HMS Diana and HMS Seahorse. Diana captured the Dutch East Indiaman Kromhout, Cromhout or Crumhout.Cromhout's capture resulted in at least £40,000 in prize money to be distributed among her captors.Seahorse captured Herstilder. Then Unicorn parted company with the rest of the squadron and after a chase of 13 hours captured Comet (Komeet). She was only four years old, in excellent condition, and armed with 18 English 9-pounder guns. She was provisioned with water and food for 110 men for a nine-month cruise. The Royal Navy took her into service as Comeet, shortly thereafter renamed to Penguin.
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Wikipedia