HMS Alexander (1796)
| History | |
|---|---|
 France
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| Name: | Alexandre |
| Owner: | Rouzeau |
| Launched: | Nantes |
| Commissioned: | March 1796 |
| Captured: | April 1796 |
 UK
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| Name: | HMS Alexander |
| Acquired: | April 1796 by capture |
| Fate: | Sold 1802 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen: |
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| Propulsion: | Sail |
| Sail plan: | Schooner |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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HMS Alexander was the French privateer schooner Alexandre that the British Royal Navy captured in 1796, purchased, and took into service as a ship's tender to HMS Prince of Wales and a troopship. She was the victor in two single-ship actions against opponents of equal or greater force. The Navy sold her in 1802.
On 1 April Invincible, Captain William Cayley, was escorting a convoy to the West Indies. They encountered the French privateer Alexander, and her prize, the Portuguese vessel "Signior Montcalm", and captured them at 37°11′N 18°16′W / 37.183°N 18.267°W. Alexander was armed with ten guns and had a crew of 65 men under the command of M. Petre Edite. She was ten days out of Nantz. "Signior Montcalm" had been sailing from Lisbon to the Brazils when Alexander had captured her.
The convoy was so near Madeira that Cayley sent the prize there under escort by Albacore, with Albacore under orders to attempt to regain the convoy. Cayley decided to take Alexander with him. Six vessels ultimately shared the prize money for Alexander and the salvage money for the Portuguese vessel Nostra Signora del Monte del Carmo. The six were Invincible, Thunderer, Prompte, the bomb Terror, Albacore, and Grampus.
Admiral Henry Harvey, commander-in-chief of the Leeward Islands Station, decided to use the captured vessel as a tender to his flagship HMS Prince of Wales. Different records give her name as Alexander, Alexandrian, or Alexandria.
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Wikipedia