HMS Cyane (1806) - Thomas Forrest

Thomas Forrest

From May 1812, Cyane was under Captain Thomas Forrest, and on the Jamaica station. On 11 July she captured the French privateer Serene, bound to New Orleans. In September she captured three American ships, for which he received 29⁄₃₀ths of the value: Morningstar (8 September), Peru (15 September), and Whim (18 September). At the end of the month, on the 28th, Cyane was in company with Southampton, captured the American ship Hamilton, Cyane received the portion due to the seizors of the value of the Del Carmen, which Cyane seized at Jamaica on 24 October for a breach of the revenue laws.

On 27 January 1813 Cyane captured the American ship Sally.

On 16 January 1814, Cyane was in company with the 74-gun third-rate ship of the line Venerable and her prize, the ex-French letter of marque brig Jason, when Cyane spotted two 44-gun French frigates, Alcmène and Iphigénie. Venerable joined her and after a chase that left Cyane far behind, captured Alcmène after losing two men dead and four wounded, while the French lost 32 dead and 50 wounded. Alcmène had a complement of 319 men under the command of Captain Ducrest de Villeneuve, who was wounded when he brought her alongside Venerable and attempted a boarding.

Jason and Cyane tracked Iphigénie and initially fired on her but broke off the engagement because they were outgunned. Cyane continued the chase for over three days until Venerable was able to rejoin the fight after having sailed 153 miles in the direction she believed that Iphigénie had taken. On 20 January 1814, after a 19 hour chase, or what amounted in all to a four day chase Iphigénie, Venerable captured the quarry, having again left Cyane behind. In the chase, Iphigénie cast off her anchors and threw her boats overboard in order to try to gain speed. She had a complement of 325 men, under the command of Captain Emerie. She apparently did not resist after Venerable came up. Before meeting up with the British ships, the two French vessels had taken some eight prizes.

The British took Alcmène into service as HMS Dunira, later HMS Immortalite, but as a receiving ship in Portsmouth and never commissioned. Iphigénie became HMS Palma and then HMS Gloire, but she too was never commissioned. She was laid up in ordinary until sold in 1817. The action resulted in the award in 1847, to any surviving claimants, of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Cyane 16 Jany. 1814".

In 1814 Captain Gordon Falcon replaced Forrest. On 22 May Cyane and Dauntless were in company when they recaptured the Aeolus.