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Union, 1803
Type: Dutch schooner ; Armament 12
Disposal date or year : 1803
Propulsion: Complement: 70
Notes:
20th of September, 1803 (Vol iii - page 199)
On the 20th of September, at 5 P. M., the British hired cutter Princess-Augusta, of eight 4-pounders and 26 men, commanded by Lieutenant Isaac William Scott, being off the Texel, saw two schooners in the south-west, bearing down under British colours. The cutter, however, suspected them to be enemies, and cleared for action. At 6 h. 30 in. P. M. the schooner hauled down the English and hoisted Dutch colours. The largest, which was the Union, Lieutenant St.-Faust, mounting 12 guns, and stated to have had on board 70 men, hailed from to-windward, and then opened her broadside, which killed the cutter's gunner and boatswain, and mortally wounded Lieutenant Scott. The cutter was not slow in returning the fire, and successfully repulsed several attempts to board. Meanwhile the other schooner, the Wraak, Lieutenant Doudet, mounting eight guns, and manned with about 50 men, had ranged up under the cutter's lee, and now poured in her broadside. This schooner also made a vain attempt to hoard. After an hour's engagement, during which the large schooner's bowsprit was several times over the cutter's stern, the latter beat off both her opponents, with the additional loss of two seamen wounded, making a total loss of three, including her commander, killed, and two wounded.
In his dying moments, Lieutenant Scott recommended the master to fight the cutter bravely, and desired him to tell the admiral (Lord Keith) that he had done his duty. The lieutenant certainly had done so, in a manner that became a British officer; and Mr. Joseph Thomas, the master, fully acted up to his commander's injunctions : he, and the few hands about him, fought their vessel heroically, and by so doing brought her off in safety. The same Dutch newspaper, from which we have extracted the names of the two schooners, states, that the carpenter of the Wraak was killed, and her first lieutenant and several of her men badly wounded.