The Disappearance of the Schooner Patriot and Theodosia Burr Alston

I have been writing about the HMS Nimrod captured the French privateer Nouvelle Enterprise, which was taken into the British Navy as the HMS Venturer and afterwards the HMS Theodosia.

From the August 5, 2016, Mental Floss  "7 ships that disappeared without a trace" by Claire Cock-Starkey.  Also from the North Carolina Shipwrecks February 9, 2012, Schooner Patriot  and tye mystery of Theodosia Burr Alston."

Also August 13, 2018 History.com  "Wreckers scavenged a living by snatching shipwrecks' loot" by Hadley Meares.  How Nags Head got name.  Also Bermuda Triangle Central  The Patriot

The Patriot:  The Disappearance of Theodosia Burr Alston. (1783-1813)
--Brock-Perry

Eight Facts About Theodosia Burr Alston-- Part 6: The Theda Bara Connection

8.  SHE CONTINUES TO INSPIRE TODAY.

And, considering that a month ago, I had no idea who this woman was.  Never even heard of her name.  And, it is all because of a French privateer captured in early 1800s by the British ship HMS Nimrod, taken into the Royal Navy with the name HMS Venturer, later changed to the HMS Theodosia which is how I came across the name.

**   The musical "Hamilton" isn't the  only  reminder of the disappeared Theodosia's legacy.

Her name has lived on through others.

**  Silent film star Theda Bara's (1885-1955) real name was Theodosia Burr Goodman, named after the daughter of former Vice President Aaron Burr.  She was a famous silent film star known for her vamp roles, but never appeared in a "talkie."

--Brock-Perry

Demolition Plans for the Nimrod Restaurant Put On Hold

From the April 10, 2020, Falmouth (Ma) Enterprise  by Carrie Gentile.

This is the reason I have been writing so much about the HMS Nimrod, HMS Venturer and Patriot as well as Theodosia Burr Alston lately.  This old restaurant in Falmouth, Massachusetts, has the hole made by a cannonball fired by the second HMS Nimrod during the War of 1812 in it.

A photo accompanies the article and the place looks to be in quite bad shape.

Lionel C. Pinsonneault owns it and he has received permission from the zoning board to raze the structure, but demolition plans are put on hold  until the Falmouth Historical Commission votes on the plan.

Before it was a restaurant, it was a private residence that was hit by the HMS Nimrod during a bombardment.  The cannonball is long gone, but the hole it left is still there.

Here's Hoping They At Least Keep the Hole for Its Historical Value.  --Brock-Perry

Other Ships Named HMS Venturer-- Part 3

**  Motor Minesweeper 261 was the HMS Venturer between 1948 and 1956.

**  HMS Buttington (M1117) was the HMS Venturer in 1962.

**  HMS Hodgeston (M1146) was HMS Venturer between 1961 and 1971.

**  HMS Venturer (1978) was a converted  minesweeper launched in 1972 as the commercial trawler Suffolk Harvester.  She was converted and  commissioned into the Severn RNR in 1978 and was returned to her original owner in 1983.  She was then converted into an oil rig safety/standby vessel.

--Brock-Perry

Other Ships Named HMS Venturer-- Part 2: A Famous World War II Submarine

There was not another British ship name Venturer until 1943, during World War II (or, as the British call it, the Second World War).

**  HMS  Venturer (P68).  Launched in 1943 and lead submarine of the British "V" Class.  Sank the German submarine U-771 and more famously, the U-864 in what is regarded as the first time that one submarine purposely destroyed another submarine while both were submerged.

The submarine was sold to Norway in 1946, and renamed the HNoMS Ulstein and was scrapped in 1964.

I will write more about this in my Tattooed On My Soul:World War II blog today.

**  HMS Venturer.   Then there were three tenders of the HMS Flying Fox, the Bristol Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Division named HMS Venturer.  The MS Flying Fox was at first an actual ship, a 24-class sloop launched in 1918 and transferred to the British Naval reserve in 1920, but now moved ashore in a building.  The original HMS Flying Fox was scrapped in 1973.

--Brock-Perry

Other Ships Named HMS Venturer-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

Seven ships have been named the HMS Venturer in the British Navy.

**  HMS VENTURER was a 14-gun cutter purchased by the British Navy in 1787 and named the HMS Ranger.  She was captured by the French in 1794, recaptured in 1797 and then briefly retaken but finally recaptured.  If you can figure this all out, you're doing better than me.

She was recommissioned as the HMS Venturer before being sold in 1803.

**  The second one was the HMS Venturer that I wrote about yesterday.  It was also the French privateer Nouvelle Enterprise.

--Brock-Perry

HMS Venturer (HMS Theodosia)

From Wikipedia.

In the last post, I mentioned the HMS Nimrod (1799) capturing the French privateer Nouvelle Enterprise in 1807, and it being taken into the British Navy as the HMS Venturer  and later having its name changed to HMS Theodosia.

It was 72 feet long with a 20,5 foot beam.  55 crew members as the French privateer, and one 12-pdr gun and four carronades when captured.

Served in thee Mediterranean until 1814, when she was sold.  Was a merchant ship after that, but no records of her after 1822.

Commissioned in 1809 for service in the Mediterranean.

In early September 1812, she reportedly destroyed a 22-gun privateer.  In 1814, returned to England where crew was paid off.

--Brock-Perry

The Earlier HMS Nimrod (1799)-- Part 2: A Former French Privateer

Even before commissioning as a British ship, the newly captured French ship took several Spanish ships on her way to Plymouth where, between May 21 and August 8, she was refitted and commissioned as the HMS Nimrod.

In November, the Nimrod captured two ships.  In November 1804, the Nimrod sailed for the Leeward Islands and recaptured a brig taken by a French privateer and in January 1805, an American ship, the Ardent which had also been captured by a French privateer.

In 1807, came the capture of a Spanish packet and then the French privateer schooner Nouvelle Enterprise which entered British service as the HMS Venturer.  It was renamed HMS Theodosia in 1808 and then sold in 1814.

Kind of Confusing Whose On Whose Side Back Then.  --Brock-Perry