45-617: HMS Meleager HMS Diadem HMS Aigle HMS Warrior commander of a unit of Sea Fencibles HMS Tonnant Admiral Sir Charles Tyler , GCB (1760 – 28 September 1835) was a naval officer in the British Royal Navy who gained fame during the Napoleonic Wars as a naval captain that fought at the Battle of Copenhagen (1801) and Battle of Trafalgar , becoming one of Nelson's Band of Brothers . Tyler
90-518: A 38-gun frigate under the name St Fiorenzo . Meleager shared in the prize money for both St Fiorenzo and for the naval stores captured in the town. In April Juno captured the Mars (3 April) and Aurora (15 April) in the presence of Courageux , Berwick , St George , and Meleager . Next, she took part in the Battle of Genoa (14 March 1795), and the fight at Hyeres (12 May 1795). Meleager
135-496: A Dutch schooner sailing from Jaquemel to Curacoa with a cargo of coffee. Between end-October 1799 and 20 February 1800, Meleager took a number of prizes: Meleager destroyed a number of the quite small vessels sailing from Aux Cayes to St Thomas: Then she took as prizes: Together with Crescent she captured: Between 28 February and 20 May, Meleager captured two small vessels: Between 20 May and 3 August 1800, Meleager captured further vessels. First, she detained
180-578: A boat came from Victory carrying Lieutenant Hill, who reported that Nelson had been wounded. Realising that he might have to take command of the rest of the fleet and with his ship according to his report being "perfectly unmanageable", by 3 pm he signalled for the frigate Euryalus to take Royal Sovereign in tow. Euryalus towed her round to support the rest of the British ships with her port-side guns, and became engaged with combined fleet's van under Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley , as it came about to support
225-558: A cargo of timber. Royal Sovereign shared the proceeds of the capture with all the vessels in Keith's squadron, suggesting that what happened was that Asia sailed into Plymouth unaware that the War of 1812 between Britain and the United States had broken out and was seized as she arrived, the formal credit going to the flagship. After her useful active life she was converted to harbour service as
270-467: A marble monument still can be seen to their memory. He married two times. His first wife was Anne Rice with whom he had three children. She died early into the marriage leaving him as a young widower. He remarried and his second wife was Margaret Leach with whom he had three children. From this marriage one of his sons called George Tyler followed him into the navy and rose to the rank of Vice-Admiral. It later emerged that Admiral Nelson had cleared debt for
315-541: The Battle of Copenhagen where he was commended for his actions. During the Peace of Amiens Tyler was returned to shore as commander of a unit of Sea Fencibles , but in 1803 was back at sea, commanding the 80-gun HMS Tonnant , which Nelson had captured at the battle of the Nile . Tonnant was a large, modern ship with a heavy payload, capable of taking on the largest enemy ships. Tyler carefully drilled his crew until Tonnant
360-513: The flagship of Admiral Collingwood at the Battle of Trafalgar . She was the third of seven Royal Navy ships to bear the name. She was launched at Plymouth Dockyard on 11 September 1786, at a cost of £67,458, and was the only ship built to her design. Because of the high number of Northumbrians on board the crew were known as the Tars of the Tyne . Royal Sovereign was a 100-gun first rate ship of
405-620: The American ship Gadson , which was sailing from Porto Cavello to Charleston with indigo, coffee, and tobacco. Then with Crescent and Nimrod she took a Spanish felucca sailing from Havana to Vera Cruz and a Spanish xebec sailing from Campeachy to Havana. Next, Meleager took four more vessels: Captain John Perkins was made post-captain in Meleager in 1800 (Ogle was still Captain when she contacted USS Ganges on 24 January, and Perkins
450-589: The George Tyler while he was a junior officer with a strong reprimand shortly before the Battle of Trafalgar. George settled down and got married and through this marriage his daughter Caroline Tyler was born. She married the Earl of Dunraven and Mount Earl and the couple inherited Adare Manor in Ireland. Her son Colonel Windham Wyndham-Quin wrote the biography on his famous great-grandfather titled 'Sir Charles Tyler – Admiral of
495-519: The Mediterranean the next year and remained on the blockade of Toulon until November 1811, when she was ordered to return home to the Channel Fleet . In 1812 and 1813 she was under the command of Rear Admiral James Bissett serving under Admiral Keith . She was credited with the capture on 5 August 1812 of the American ship Asia , of 251 tons, which had been sailing from St. Mary's to Plymouth with
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#1732855208406540-638: The Spanish Monarca to surrender (although she later attempted to escape) before colliding with the Algésiras which soon became hopelessly entangled in the British ship's rigging. This resulted in a savage series of close-range bombardments and boarding actions during which Tyler was shot in the thigh and French Admiral Magon was killed. Once the Algésiras finally surrendered, the Tonnant although badly battered,
585-661: The Spanish ship Teresa , which she had captured on 21 February 1797. Meleager transferred to the Jamaica station , where she served in the squadron under Admiral Sir Hyde Parker . In June 1799 she captured a Spanish settee carrying sugar from Vera Cruz to Cadiz. On 23 and 24 July Meleager was in company with Greyhound when they captured the Spanish vessels Virgin D'Regla , Jesus Maria , and Jose . Between end-July and end-October 1799 Meleager and Greyhound captured five more Spanish vessels: Alone, Meleager also captured
630-501: The Spanish vessel Mejor Amigo . On 2 January 1797, the same vessels plus Raven captured Nostra Senora de la Misericordia . That same day the same vessels captured the French privateer Foudroyant , for which head money was paid in August 1801. Also in early 1797, Meleager was in company with these British vessels and some others when they captured the Spanish ship San Francisco , which
675-644: The Triangles Shoal on which she had run aground. This article includes data released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported UK: England & Wales Licence, by the National Maritime Museum , as part of the Warship Histories project. HMS Royal Sovereign (1786) HMS Royal Sovereign was a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy , which served as
720-584: The White'. In 2005 the family sold Admiral Tyler's sword at Bonham's auction house for $ 430,000. The family tree of the Tylers shows the family was divided between living in Wales and Ireland with several rising to the highest ranks of the army and the navy with several Admirals and Generals listed through several generations including a great-grandson Admiral Godfrey Harry Brydges Mundy. HMS Meleager (1785) HMS Meleager
765-540: The capture, on 5 August 1793, cf the Prince Royal of Sweden . Meleager was part of the fleet under Lord Hood that occupied Toulon in August 1793. With HMS Courageux , Robust , Tartar and Egmont , she covered the landing, on 27 August, of 1500 troops sent to remove the republicans occupying the forts guarding the port. Once the forts were secure, the remainder of Hood's fleet, accompanied by 17 Spanish ships-of-the-line that had just arrived, sailed into
810-672: The collapsing centre. Fire from the lead ships shot away the cable between Royal Sovereign and Euryalus , and the latter ship made off towards Victory . Royal Sovereign exchanged fire with the arriving ships, until Collingwood rallied several relatively undamaged British ships around Royal Sovereign , and Dumanoir gave up any attempt to recover some of the prizes, and made his escape at 4.30pm. At 4.40 pm one of Victory ' s boats, carrying Captain Henry Blackwood and Lieutenant Hill, came alongside and Blackwood reported Nelson's death to Collingwood. This left Collingwood in command of
855-408: The crew could neither pull Meleager off the reef nor could the pumps keep up with the water coming in. The crew put provisions in the boats and then abandoned ship before she sank. The boats sailed to Vera Cruz . Here, in mid-July, Apollo picked the crew up. The subsequent court martial ruled that the wreck was due to the charts on Meleager being greatly in error with respect to the location of
900-560: The distress of this dreadful scene, an unhappy woman, with her infant in her arms, who stood on the quarter-deck of the Bellisarius, attempted to save the life of her infant by throwing it on board the Royal Sovereign at the instant of the two ships meeting, but unfortunately it fell between the two ships sides, and was crushed to atoms before the eyes of its unhappy mother, who, in her distraction of mind, instantly precipitated herself into
945-541: The fleet, and with a storm rising, and disregarding Nelson's final order to bring the fleet to anchor, Collingwood ordered Blackwood to hoist the signal to all ships to come to the wind on the starboard tack, and to take disabled and captured ships in tow. Royal Sovereign was by now almost or totally unmanageable and virtually uninhabitable. As she had most of her masts shot away she could not make signals. Having his ship too much disabled by enemy fire at just before of 6 pm Collingwood, had to transfer himself and his flag to
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#1732855208406990-655: The frigate Euryalus , while Euryalus sent a cable across and took Royal Sovereign in tow for second time. At the end of the action Collingwood signalled from the frigate to the rest of the fleet to prepare to anchor. HMS Neptune took over the tow on 22 October, and was replaced by HMS Mars on 23 October. Royal Sovereign had lost one lieutenant, her master , one lieutenant of marines , two midshipman , 29 seamen, and 13 marines killed, along with two lieutenants, one lieutenant of marines, one master's mate, four midshipman, her boatswain , 69 seamen, and 16 marines wounded. Royal Sovereign returned to duty in
1035-482: The guns of a battery. Meleager then led Agamemnon and the rest of the Nelson's squadron in close where the boats of the squadron could capture the French vessels, which they did. In the action, Agamemnon had one man killed and two men wounded, and Blanche had one man wounded. The French prizes consisted of two warships and five transports: On 24 December 1796, Meleager , Niger , Lively and Fortune captured
1080-542: The harbour. On 16 November she and Romulus captured the French gunboat Ca Ira . In 1794 Sir George Cockburn commanded her. In early 1794 she was among the British vessels present when Sir David Dundas captured the town of San Fiorenzo (San Fiurenzu) in the Gulf of St. Florent in Corsica. There the British found the French frigate Minerve on 19 February 1794, and were able to refloat her. They then took her into service as
1125-706: The line , designed by the John Williams (Surveyor of the Navy) in 1772. Royal Sovereign was ordered on 3 February 1772 to be built at Plymouth Dockyard by the Master Shipwright Thomas Pollard . The long nature of her construction meant that the master shipwright changed twice, with Pownoll being replaced by John Henslow in February 1775, and Henslow in turn handing over to Thomas Pollard in November 1784. She
1170-478: The line, including HMS Mars and HMS Tonnant , while nearby French and Spanish vessels fired on Royal Sovereign . Santa Ana suffered casualties numbering 238 dead and wounded after battling Royal Sovereign and HMS Belleisle . Royal Sovereign lost her mizzen and mainmasts, her foremast was badly damaged and much of her rigging was shot away. At about 2.20 pm Santa Ana finally struck her colours to Royal Sovereign . Shortly afterwards
1215-488: The rank of midshipsman within his second year at sea suggest the captain favored him and may have known his family. He rose steadily through the ranks during the American Revolutionary War , although during that period he had little opportunity to distinguish himself. In 1779 he was promoted to lieutenant, jumping to commander in 1782 and retaining his position throughout the peacetime Navy of 1783 to 1790, when he
1260-474: The rest of the fleet. As she cut the enemy line alone and engaged the Spanish three decker Santa Ana , Nelson pointed to her and said, 'See how that noble fellow Collingwood carries his ship into action!' At approximately the same moment, Collingwood remarked to his captain, Edward Rotheram , 'What would Nelson give to be here?' Royal Sovereign and Santa Ana duelled for much of the battle, with Santa Ana taking fire from fresh British ships passing through
1305-428: The sea, and shared the grave of her child." Under Admiral Collingwood she was the first ship of the fleet in action at Trafalgar on 21 October 1805, she led one column of warships ; Nelson 's Victory led the other. Due to the re-coppering of her hull prior to her arrival off Cádiz , Royal Sovereign was a considerably better sailer in the light winds present that day than other vessels, and pulled well ahead of
1350-628: The thanks of Parliament and numerous awards from the nation before returning to his ship in the Mediterranean , where he continued to serve, overseeing the surrender of the Russian fleet at Lisbon in 1808. Tyler's continued service brought more honours, including command of the Cape of Good Hope Station based in Cape Town in 1812, a role which was followed by post-war promotion to rear admiral. In April 1816 he
1395-472: The young man's debt and used his influence to have him released and reinstated into the Navy albeit with a stern warning about responsibilities. At Trafalgar, Tyler was originally second in line from Collingwood's flagship HMS Royal Sovereign , but due to its speed was swapped to third in line. Because of this forward positioning the ship was quickly and intensely engaged in the battle. Tonnant first forced
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1440-508: Was laid down on 7 January 1774 and launched on 11 September 1786 with the following dimensions: 183 feet 10 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches (56 m) along the gun deck , 150 feet 9 + 1 ⁄ 8 inches (46 m) at the keel , with a beam of 52 feet 1 inch (15.9 m) and a depth in the hold of 22 feet 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches (6.8 m). She measured 2,175 29 ⁄ 94 tons burthen . The fitting out process for Royal Sovereign
1485-483: Was Captain when contacted by USS Augusta on 21 August) on the Jamaica station but less than a year later, in 1801, she came under the command of Thomas Bladen Capel . On 9 June 1801 Capel and Meleager were cruising Bahia del Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico when just before midnight lookouts spotted breakers ahead. Even though the helmsman tried to turn her, Meleager ran hard onto a reef. Despite their best efforts,
1530-650: Was a 32-gun Amazon -class frigate that Greaves and Nickolson built in 1785 at the Quarry House yard in Frindsbury , Kent , England . She served during the French Revolutionary Wars until 1801, when she was wrecked in the Gulf of Mexico. Captain Charles Tyler took command of Meleager in 1790. In 1793 Lieutenant Thomas Masterman Hardy served aboard her. Meleager was among the vessels that shared in
1575-619: Was among the vessels that shared in the prize money for the Ça Ira , Censeur , and Expedition (formerly Speedy ), captured during or after the raid on Genoa. The British returned Speedy to service. Around this time Meleager was among the vessels that shared in the capture of the Genoese vessel Fortuna and the tartane Concezione . They also captured the Genoese and Venetian polacres and luggers Madona del Grazzie e Consolazione , Volante de Dio , Madona del Grazzie de Padua , Buena Forte and another small vessel. In 1796, Meleager
1620-476: Was amongst the most efficient and powerful ships in the fleet. Tyler was specially requested by Nelson for the Cadiz blockade in 1805, and thus participated in the Battle of Trafalgar , although not before he was forced to travel to Naples where his son was under arrest for desertion from the navy (out of love for a ballerina) and crippling debts. Unknown to Tyler until much later was the fact that Nelson personally paid
1665-766: Was born in County Cavan , Ireland in 1760, the son of Captain Peter Tyler of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry and his wife the Hon. Anna Maria Roper, daughter of Henry Roper, 8th Baron Teynham . His father died when he was three years old. In 1771, at eleven years of age, he joined the Royal Navy aboard HMS Barfleur (1768) under Captain Andrew Snape Hamond as a Captain's servant boy. His rapid promotion to
1710-727: Was carrying troops and their dependents to the West Indies. Barge and about 110 persons were saved. A witness on Mars wrote in a letter to The Observer newspaper that the accident was "occasioned by a dispute between the Master and the second Mate [of the Bellisarius] when wearing ship ; by which, not paying proper attention, they fell athwart the Royal Sovereign , when the Sovereign's gib-boom and bowsprit took their main-mast, and struck her amid ship, by which she almost instantly sunk. To add to
1755-583: Was completed in September 1787, but she was still only partly fitted for sea. Royal Sovereign was part of Admiral Howe's fleet at the Glorious First of June , where she suffered 14 killed and 41 wounded. On 16 June 1795, as the flagship of Vice-Admiral William Cornwallis , she was involved in the celebrated episode known as 'Cornwallis' Retreat' . On 17 March 1796 the transport ship Bellisarius collided with her and sank. Belisarius , Barge, master,
1800-738: Was initiated into the Order of the Bath . He was named Vice Admiral. Following his elevation to admiral he did not hold any more sea postings, retiring and reaching full Admiral of the White and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath by his death in September 1835 in Gloucester , just two months after the death of his wife of many years, Margaret. They were buried together in the St Nicholas Church in Glamorgan where
1845-449: Was made post-captain . Upon the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars , Tyler was in command of the frigate HMS Meleager during the siege of Toulon and the invasion of Corsica the following year. He first met Nelson in the course of these campaigns, and was present when the latter lost an eye at the Siege of Calvi . Transferring to HMS Diadem soon afterwards, he
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1890-530: Was part of a squadron off the coast of Genoa under the command of Captain Horatio Nelson . Nelson, in Agamemnon , led Meleager , Blanche (32 guns), Diadem (64 guns) and the 16-gun brig-sloop Speedy . On 31 May 1796, the squadron chased six French vessels that Nelson believed were bringing supplies from Toulon, to be landed at St. Piere d'Acena, for the Siege of Mantua . The vessels took shelter under
1935-459: Was present at Lord Hotham's disappointing Battle of Genoa and then spent the next several years operating against North African pirates in the frigate Aigle before she was accidentally wrecked on Plane Island . Returning to the fleet, Tyler was acquitted of blame for the loss of his ship and was given the ship of the line HMS Warrior which he commanded off Cádiz before returning to England and participating under Admiral Nelson at
1980-598: Was sold in Lisbon. On 30 January Meleager was among the eleven vessels that shared in the capture of the Purissima Conception . Then on 25 February, Meleager , under Captain Charles Ogle, and Thalia captured the Spanish ship Santa Catalina . At some point Meleager captured the Spanish ships St. Natalia and Cartada , alias Cubana . In May 1798, Meleager received the net proceeds of an insurance of £3000 on
2025-680: Was still able to attack and capture the San Juan Nepomuceno at the close of the battle. Struggling back to Gibraltar with over 70 casualties on board, including Tyler himself, the Tonnant relied heavily on other ships for aid, and thus was unable to prevent the Algésiras from escaping to Cadiz Harbour after her crew rose up against the prize crew, although the San Juan Nepomuceno did arrive at Gibraltar thanks to heroic efforts by her Spanish crew and British prize crew. Briefly returning to London to celebrate and recover, Tyler received
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