HMS Superieure was the French privateer Supérieure, which was built in 1801 in Baltimore, Maryland, and which the British captured in 1803 in the West Indies, and took into the Royal Navy. She spent most of her career on the Jamaica and Leeward Islands stations, where she captured numerous privateers. She participated in several notable single-ship actions, including one in which she harassed a frigate, and two campaigns that would, in 1847, earn her surviving crew members the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM). She was laid-up in Britain in 1810 and sold in 1814.
Origins
Supérieure was launched in Talbot County, Maryland, as Superior. Her owners, Robert Charles Boislandry and Felix Imbert, received a temporary registration at the Baltimore Customs House on 7 January 1801. Notations on the record report that Superior was sold to the French navy while she was anchored at Saint Barthélemy.
Capture
On 2 July 1803, the squadron under Captain Henry William Bayntun captured Supérieure and Poisson Volant. The actual captor of Supérieure was .
The Royal Navy purchased Supérieure on 15 October, and then commissioned her soon after under Lieutenant Edward Crofton. , , , , and Vanguard all shared in the bounty money for her capture.
British career
Lieutenant William C. Fromow replaced Crofton almost immediately. Fromow was in command on 6 February 1804 when Superieure captured the French privateer schooner Serpent after a chase of two hours. Serpent, of 60 tons (bm), was armed with one gun, had a crew of 60 men, and was sailing in ballast. Head money for the crew of Serpent was finally paid in September 1827.
On 28 February, Superieure recaptured the British sloop Phoenix, sailing from Bermuda. Before 9 March, Superieure also destroyed the barge Mardigras, which was armed with two guns and had a crew of 24 "White Men", who were sent to Jamaica.
Fromow and Superieure captured another French privateer a little over a year later, on 22 October 1804. They encountered a French vessel, which they had to chase for four hours, exchanging fire as they went, before they succeeded in capturing her near Monto Christ. Their quarry was the privateer Chasseur, of five guns and 66 men. She was pilot-boat built and had recently undergone a refit at "Jago" and was "one of the fastest sailing Cruizers out of Guadaloupe". During the chase Chasseur fired a 12-pounder gun at her pursuers, causing some damage to the rigging and sails on Superiuere. Return fire wounded five men on Chasseur, of whom one died shortly after her capture. Chasseur had been out only three days and had not captured anything. Head money was paid in December 1828.
Superieure and captured the Globe on 18 May 1805. A nine-hour chase on 24 July resulted in Superieure capturing the Spanish privateer felucca Santa Maria Magdalena (alias Son Sorito). She was armed with one gun and small arms, and had a crew of 30 men under the command of Antonio Amet. She had been out twenty days but had only taken a drogger. Still, Admiral James R. Dacres, commander-in-chief of the Jamaica station, described Santa Maria Magdalena as having "much annoyed the Trade of the Island of Jamaica."
At some point in 1806 Lieutenant John Balderston replaced Fromow, only to be replaced in turn by Lieutenant Edward Rushworth. Between 1 January 1806 and 1 January 1807, Superieure, captured two Spanish gunboats, each armed with one 32-pounder gun, one having a crew of 40 men and the other a crew of 45 men.
On 5 July, Hercule, Surveillante, , , and Superieure shared in the capture of the Spanish ship Josepha. Her cargo included 362 "cajes" of quicksilver.
On 25 August Dacres 1806 formed a small squadron under the command of Captain George Le Geyt of the 18-gun Stork. The other three vessels in the squadron were Superieure, the 10 or 12-gun schooner , and the 4-gun schooner . Dacres ordered Le Geyt to bring out or destroy privateers based at Batabano in Cuba.
On 30 August the squadron approached the Isle of Pines. There they sighted a Spanish schooner at anchor. Le Geyt reinforced Pike with a lieutenant and eight seamen and sent her to engage the Spanish vessel. After a short chase and two broadsides from Pikes 12-pounder carronades, the Spaniard surrendered. She turned out to be a guarda costa of 10 guns, with a crew of 45 men. Pike took possession of her and took her back to the squadron.
Le Geyt then discovered that Stork drew too much water to permit her to enter the Gulf of Batabanó. He therefore transferred to the other three vessels his boats and men and sent in the cutting-out expedition under the command of Rushworth of Superieure.