HMS Cyane

CYANE (22) Built in 1806, Topsham. Taken in 1815. ;) She was rated a 22-gun ship and mounted that number of long 9-pounders on her main deck. However she was also armed with eight 18-pounders and two long 6-pounders on her quarter-deck and forecastle. 1807 Capt. Thomas STAINES, 03/1807. He added two brass howitzers to her armament and exchanged her 9-pounders for 32-pound carronades. He also increased her complement by twenty to 175 officers, men and boys. CYANE took part in the operations off Copenhagen in September 1807 and after the capitulation of the Danish navy she was employed in the blockade of Zealand. On 30 November she sailed from Helsinburgh in company with VANGUARD escorting a convoy of merchant ships home to England. In February 1808 she sailed for the Mediterranean where her boats captured eight merchantmen before, on 22 May, Capt. STAINES captured the last Spanish vessel to be taken before Spain threw in her lot against the French.She was the letter of marque MEDUSA, of 12 guns and 80 men which he took while cruising off Majorca. On 3 June 1808 Capt. STAINES was invited to Palma Bay to meet the patriotic Junta on the island of Majorca and, after talking with a deputation, he hastened to inform Rear Ad. THORNBROUGH who sent APOLLO to open negotiations. Until the following spring CYANE was employed assisting patriots on the south coast of Spain. She then came under the orders of Rear Ad. MARTIN who was responsible for the defence of Sicily and on 8 May 1809 she captured a bombard and drove another vessel ashore near Naples. On the 10th. CYANE and ALCESTE attacked a French convoy at Terracina and sank two gunboats, and, on the 14th. and 15th., they raided a depot near Monte Circello and brought off a large quantity of timber. Two days later Capt. STAINES, leaving his detachment of seamen and marines some distance off, captured a Martello tower mounting two heavy guns by pretending to the garrison that powder had been laid to blow them up. When the French soldiers dithered he fired a musket through the keyhole and they all came tumbling out. Another tower was captured in the same way. On 11 June the admiral sailed from Milazzo in N. W. Sicily in CANOPUS with SPARTIATE, WARRIOR, CYANE and ESPOIR and more than 130 sail of transports and gunboats. His intention was to enter the Gulf of St. Euphemia and divert the attention of the enemy from Lower Calabria where PHILOMEL and four transports were to land two regiments of infantry to destroy shore batteries. It remained calm for several days until, on the 15th., they were joined by nearly 100 sail of transports, ALCESTE and two Sicilian frigates from Palermo. While WARRIOR and SUCCESS covered the capture of the islands of Ischia and Procida on the 25th., CYANE and ESPOIR with twelve Sicilian gunboats were detached to the southward to cruise between Procida and Point Miseno to hinder reinforcements reaching the islands. On the 24th. Capt. STAINES drove 12 gunboats into the Bay of Pozzuoli and cut out two polacres from under different batteries, one containing troops to reinforce Procida. The following morning a 42-gun frigate, a 28-gun corvette and the division of gunboats attempted to come out of the bay and force their way to Naples but were driven back by CYANE and her squadron. On the 26th. CYANE sustained the fire of two heavy batteries for two hours and received 23 large shot in her hull. She lost two men killed, Daniel YOUNG, captain of the main-top and John EVANS, boy 2nd class, one, David JONES, master's mate, mortally wounded and six slightly wounded. Later fifteen French soldiers at a battery on Point Mesino surrendered to CYANE's boats and their guns were destroyed. On the morning of the 27th. CYANE was becalmed under a battery of eight 42-pounders, two ten inch mortars and two howitzers. After two hours Capt. STAINES led a landing party which spiked the guns, threw one of the mortars into the sea, and returned without loss. On the evening of the same day CYAN