HMS Solebay was a 32-gun Amazon-class frigate, built for the Royal Navy and launched in 1785. She spent much of her career serving in the West Indies, and was present at Martinique, St. Lucia and Guadeloupe, when those islands were captured from the French in 1794. She also saw short spells of service in the English Channel and the North Sea. In May 1809, following the British Parliament's decision to abolish the Atlantic slave trade in 1807, Solebay was assigned to an enforcement squadron and sailed for West Africa. Her mission was cut short in July that year, when she ran aground during an assault on the Senegalese coast, and was abandoned after damage from a shore battery.
Construction and armament
Solebay was a fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.Winfield (2010) p. 196 Frigates of the period were three-masted, full-rigged ships that carried their main battery on a single, continuous gun deck. They were smaller and faster than ships of the line and primarily intended for raiding, reconnaissance and carrying of messages.Gardiner (2004) p. 56 The fifth-rate group carried between 30 and 50 guns, and included both smaller two-deckers and frigates of 32, 36 and 38 guns.Winfield (2010) p. 125
The Amazon class of 1773 were a series of eighteen, 32-gun frigates, designed by Sir John Williams and built between 1771 and 1787. When Solebay was ordered on 23 July 1783, she was the fifteenth of her class to be requested by the Admiralty and very nearly the last; only and would come after, although the design would be revived as the Amazon class of 1795, a modified version that was larger and more powerful.Winfield (2010) p. 148
Solebay was laid down at Deptford Dockyard in May 1783. She was launched on 26 March 1785 and, because there was no immediate use for her, completed for ordinary there, on 23 April.
Measuring along the gun deck, at the keel, with a beam of and a depth in the hold of , Solebay came in at 683 tons burthen. She was designed to carry a main battery of 26 number long guns on her gun deck, with a secondary armament of four guns and four carronades on the quarterdeck, and two guns and two carronades on the forecastle.
Service Solebay was called into service in 1786, and fitting out began in May. She was commissioned under Captain John Holloway in July and her refit was concluded on 1 September. On 18 October, she sailed for the Leeward Islands, where she joined a squadron under the captain of , Horatio Nelson.Marshall (1828) Volume I, Part I (Admirals of the Red) p. 108 On 19 December 1787, Solebay with and , escorted to Dominica, , commanded by the future king, Prince William Henry. Solebay paid off in September 1789 and was refitted and coppered at Woolwich Dockyard. The work was finished in January 1790 and on 3 March, she set sail for the Leeward Islands once more, under her new captain, Matthew Squire, who had received his commission the previous November.
Solebay paid off in 1791, then underwent a refit at Plymouth in July 1792, which took until October the following year, and cost £6,456. Captain William Kelly, assumed command in April 1793, and in 1794, Solebay joined the British fleet under Vice-admiral Sir John Jervis in the West Indies.
On 2 February Jervis' fleet and 6,100 troops under Lieutenant-general Sir Charles Grey left Barbados.Clowes (Vol. IV) pp. 246–247 The troops were landed on Martinique on 5 February and by 16 March had gained control of the whole island, save the town of Fort Royal and the forts Bourbon and Louis.Clowes (Vol. IV) p. 247 Seaman and marines from the fleet then joined the troops in laying siege to the town and the forts.Clowes (Vol. IV) pp. 247–248 Kelly and members of Solebay's crew, aided in the reduction of fort Bourbon and the whole of Martinique had surrendered by 22 March. Leaving a contingent to hold the island, the British left for St Lucia on 31 March, capturing it on 4 April. Jervis then took the fleet to Guadeloupe, forcing the capitulation of Grande-Terre and Basse-Terre on 12 and 20 April respectively.Clowes (Vol. IV) pp. 248–249 On 19 April, Solebay and escorted troops, aboard and , to the bay of Anse Canot and provided cover for the landings. The initial location for debarkation, Gosier bay on the south coast of Grande Terre, was considered unsafe due to the surf and challenging geography. The troops were landed without loss of life and that same evening, Solebay and Winchelsea returned to Gosier to pick up water and other supplies for the camp. Jervis received intelligence on 26 April that a French frigate and three transport ships had been sighted of Grande Terre, and immediately despatched Solebay and Winchelsea to verify the information.
Solebay was still in the West Indies in February 1795, when she captured a 16-gun privateer but had returned home by May 1797, at which point she underwent a refit at Portsmouth. The work took until October and cost £14,741. In August, she was recommissioned under Captain Stephen Poyntz and in November, set sail for the Leeward Islands once more. She remained on that station until the last quarter of 1800 and made several captures during that time, including a 2-gun schooner, Augustine, off Antigua on 17 March 1798, the 4-gun Destin off Martinique on 13 June and the 8-gun Prosperite at the end of the year. On 24 November 1799, Solebay captured four privateers off San Domingo; the 18-gun Egyptienne, the 16-gun corvette, Eole, the 12-gun Levrier and the 8-gun Vengeur. The latter was previously HM Schooner Charlotte.
Towards the end of 1800, Solebay returned to England and paid off. She was recommissioned in 1801 under Captain Thomas Dundas for service in the English Channel. Much of her time in the Channel was spent on convoy duty. On 9 August 1801, she left Portsmouth harbour with three East Indiamen which she escorted to The Downs. The merchantmen had arrived from Cork at Portsmouth on 3 August and had been waiting for an escort for the next stage of their journey, since. Solebay escorted ships bound for Gibraltar, out of Portsmouth on 26 August 1801 and sailed from there to Sheerness on 10 July 1802. On 10 November 1807 she was forced into Plymouth by a storm that was so violent that it pushed the ship onto her beam ends. The wind, blowing from the south-west, was so strong that it kept all the ships at Plymouth in port. She was finally able to leave at 17:00 on 17 November, part of a squadron under Sir Sidney Smith which also included of 98 guns, and the seventy-fours , , and .
On 16 March 1807, the British Parliament passed the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act and the West Africa Squadron was formed the following year to enforce it. Other than during the Peace of Amiens, Britain had been fighting a global conflict against France since 1793, and ships were in short supply.Grindall (2007) p. 108Edwards (2007) pp 44 -46 The Admiralty therefore was initially only willing to appoint two vessels to the task, the brig-sloop and the by now elderly Solebay.Edwards (2007) p 48Davey (2017) p. 133 Derwent, under Commander Frederick Parker, was quickly despatched, sailing from Portsmouth for West Africa in November, but Solebay had to wait for a suitable captain to become available.Grindall (2007) pp. 111-112
Captain Edward Henry Columbine had been working with the Hydrographer of the Navy, based in London, and was appointed to command Solebay after Lord Castlereagh requested someone with experience of coastal surveying. Columbine boarded his ship, lying at Spithead, on 6 September 1808, and following an inspection reported that she would benefit from a refit. He was particularly concerned with the state of the rigging and the guns, which he feared were badly pitted in the bore.Grindall (2007) p. 111 The work was quickly undertaken and Solebay was back on her mooring by 6 October. There were long delays however, while Columbine demanded better provisions for his crew, a 12-pound carronade to use in the ship's boats, and Portsmouth wherries in which to carry out his mapping of the African coast.
In April 1809, William Wilberforce took a personal interest in the stagnation of Columbine's mission, as did Castlereagh, who had wanted the survey work to start the previous year. On 9 April, the Admiralty issued orders for Solebay to escort a convoy of merchantmen bound for Sierra Leone. Still though, she remained at anchor, possibly because the convoy had yet to be assembled. Columbine was also waiting on two other armed vessels that he had been promised for his command, an issue that was partially resolved on 12 April when he was joined by the gun-brig , carrying fourteen carronades.
Eventually, on 5 May, Solebay, Tigress and nine merchant vessels left Spithead for West Africa, arriving at Goree, Senegal, by the middle of June.Grindall (2007) pp 111-114 The garrison's commander, Major Charles Maxwell, concerned about the effect privateers from St Louis were having on coastal trade, proposed an attack on the French colony. Columbine agreed to help and by July, a variety of watercraft had been assembled for the mission. These comprised a collection of small armed vessels along with Solebay, Derwent, Tigress, the colonial schooner, George and the transport Agincourt. In order to make the force appear more powerful, two unarmed merchantmen were also requisitioned.Grindall (2007) p. 114 Maxwell provided 160 soldiers from the Royal African Corps, who boarded Agincourt, and on 4 July the flotilla set sail.Edwards (2007) p. 50 Arriving at the mouth of the Senegal river at night on 7 July, the ships anchored, it being thought prudent to await daylight before attempting to cross the dangerous sandbar at the entrance. The only navigable portion, which was hard to locate amongst the crashing surf, was a wide section providing a mere clearance, insufficient for Agincourt. The following morning, the troops, together with 120 sailors and 50 marines were loaded into boats. George passed through first, in order to take soundings, followed by the boats, under the escort of Solebay, Derwent and Tigress. One of the boats capsized during the attempt, killing two officers including Parker, and six seamen, and George ran aground shortly after entering the river.Edwards (2007) pp. 50-51 While troops were landed to protect the stricken schooner, the French had retreated 12 miles upstream to the fortified trading post of Babague. It took two days to free the George, Lieutenant Daniel Woodriff of Solebay being given much credit for the successful operation.Edwards (2007) p. 51