Leveret, 1825
Type: Brig-sloop ; Armament 10
Launched : 1825 ; Disposal date or year : 1843
BM 237 tons ;
Notes:

23 Jun 1826 departed Falmouth for Lisbon with a mail.

26 Oct 1826 arrived Devonport from Liverpool with seamen.

31 Jan 1828 remains in Hamoaze.

18 Aug 1829 arrived Falmouth from the West Indies with mail (Lt Worth).

3 Jan 1830 departed Plymouth last night to cruise in the Chops for the relief of the homeward bound vessels detained by easterly winds at the entrance of the Channel, and in need of supplies.

3 Apr 1830 came up to Plymouth from the westward.

15 May 1830 arrived Falmouth from cruise.

29 Jan 1831 arrived Plymouth Sound from a cruise.

31 Jan 1831 went up into Plymouth harbour.

4 Feb 1832 departed Plymouth with a detachment of the 87th ?, print smeared, under the command of Captain Lord A Chichester, for Pendennis Castle, and returned on the following day with the detachment of the 22nd for Plymouth.

8 Mar 1832 arrived Spithead, from Plymouth, with marines, [which were presumably landed ?], and departed the same day. This vessel was described as the Levant in the Hampshire Advertiser, but she was broken up circa 1820 ; in addition, the movements of this vessel coincide nicely with the Leveret.

26 Mar 1832 arrived Portsmouth from Plymouth, and departed on her return.

1 May 1832 arrived at Plymouth from Madeira.

23 May 1832 departed Plymouth for the Western Isles.

16 Jun 1832 off the Tagus, with the Asia, Caledonia, Britannia, Revenge, Briton, and Viper, with the Stag in the River getting supplies, and the Romney at Lisbon, providing a refuge for British subjects should the need arise. Don Pedro is looked for, but whether he would be successful against the Miguelites is not certain.

10 Jul 1832 arrived Plymouth from off the Tagus.

22 Jul 1832 departed Falmouth, for Lisbon.

3 Aug 1832 per a letter from the British Squadron : whilst cruising off the Tagus the Leveret sighted Don Miguel's squadron departing the River and heading for sea in chase of a small squadron from Don Pedro, and set off to observe what happened. Whilst the Miguelite squadron was twice the size of that from Don Pedro, under the command of the late British Adm. Sartorius, it was thought that his men were better trained and more likely to be able to cripple some elements of the opposition, especially as they had a steam vessel available should the wind drop.

11 Aug 1832 cruising in Cascaes Bay.

11 Nov 1832 off Oporto.

5 Dec 1832 arrived Plymouth, with despatches from Lisbon (22 Nov) and Oporto (25 Nov). She met the Briton coming out of Vigo (26 Nov), bound for Oporto.

3 Jan 1833 slated in to depart Plymouth, for Falmouth, to take out the next mail for Lisbon.

4 Mar 1833 off Oporto.

23 Apr 1833 off Oporto, 2 boats carrying stores to shore were sunk by a sea breaking over them, and 20 men are reported drowned.

17 Apr 1833 refitting at Lisbon.

20 Jul 1833 is reported to be off the Douro.

2 Sep 1833 St. Ubes's, protecting British interests.

12 Dec 1833 in Hamoaze.

2 Jan 1834 in Hamoaze, fitting out.

14 Apr 1834 in the Tagus.

12 Oct 1834 in the Tagus.

25 Jan 1836 detained in lat. 5� 2' N. long. 8� 0' W., the Spanish slave schooner Atafa Primo, ID No. 2497, Jos� Julia, master, which was sent for adjudication to the British and Spanish Mixed Court of Justice, Sierra Leone, and on 23 Jul 1836 sentenced to be condemned.

25 Jan 1836 detained in lat. 5� 0' N. long. 8� 57' W., the Spanish slave schooner Zema, ID No. 2498, Jos� Zumarum, master, which was sent for adjudication to the British and Spanish Mixed Court of Justice, Sierra Leone, and on 29 Jul 1836 sentenced to be condemned.

20 Mar 1836 arrived Simon's Bay from Aera, and departed on 22nd for Mauritius.

9 Sep 1836 in lat. about 25� S., long. 44� 30' E., the ship's boats were sent to board a brig sailing under Spanish colours which was suspected of being involved in the slave trade. The boats withdrew when fired upon and having lost 1 man dead and 3 wounded, following which the commanding officer, Lieut. Bosanquet departed for Mozambique requesting that if the piratical vessel should appear would the authorities detain her.

25 Sep 1836 whilst cruising off the bar at Mosambique saw a vessel which matched the description of the brig that fired into the ship's boats on the 9 Sep., and not wishing to lose the vessel ran her alongside and took possession of the Diogenes, bound from Havana with 8 guns and 56 men. Furthermore large boilers, as used for cooking food for large numbers of slaves, were thrown overboard when the vessel was boarded, and from conversations held on board it was confirmed that this was the vessel that had fired into the Leveret's boats a couple weeks previously. The brig was then taken possession of by the Portuguese authorities by the use of force. In the Spring of 1838 a letter was received by Viscount Palmerston asking for damages of over $181,000 compensation for the illegal arrest of the Diogenes and detention of the crew &c. However, a counter claim was made in April 1839 rejecting the claim for damages and stating that the vessel should, with the crew, be given up to the British authorities in order that she could be tried by the Mixed British and Spanish Court at Sierra Leone, to be tried for Slave Trading, which for some strange reason doesn't appear to have struck the right chord with the Spanish Embassy, at 81 Harley St., London. See also p. 276 at www.archive.org/details/royalnavyhistory06clow.



Sep 1836 whilst searching of Mozambique for slave vessels off the coast entered the harbour of the capital to discover that an insurrection was taking place in favour of Don Miguel, against the government of Donna Maria. Following a request for assistance, loyal Portugues troops and officers and men from the Leveret restored law and order ; she departed shortly afterwards with the leaders of the revolution for Cape Town, to be sent to Portugal. See p. 276 at www.archive.org/details/royalnavyhistory06clow.

22 Oct 1836 arrived Cape of Good Hope from Mozambique.

27 Apr 1837 it may be of interest to note that at Lisbon the captain of the Spanish slave vessel Diogenes, lately detained by the Leveret at Mozambique, is reported to have been put in charge of the American vessel, Latona, recently arrived here, where slavery has recently been abolished - supposedly. A search of the vessel was instituted by the Portuguese authorities, at the instigation of the British ambassador, however the manacles and extra water barrels etc. which would have shown her to be a slaver had been removed before the search was carried out.

8 Feb 1839 in a letter from M. de Carvalho, the Portuguese Charg� d'Affaires, to Lord Palmerston, then Foreign Minister, M. de Carvalho observes that that it is the intention of the Lords of the Admiralty to promote Lieutenant Bosanquet, of Her Majesty's ship Leveret to the rank of commander, and to appoint him to the command of a ship of a superior class, to cruize upon the African station, as a reward for his activity and perseverance in the suppression of the Slave Trade ; and His Excellency concludes by requesting the Undersigned to communicate the preceding statement to the Government of Her Most Faithful Majesty, as containing evidence of the determination of Her Britannic Majesty's Government to watch over, and by every proper means to accomplish, the suppression of the illegal traffic in slaves [which I would guess had the probable desired effect of upsetting the Portuguese establishment, many of whom in influential positions, at least at that time, would have preferred not to have got involved with Great Britain in the fight against the Slave Trade...and one only has to look at what was going on in the Portuguese colonies to see that no little or no attempt was being made to control the Slave Trade, in fact quite to the contrary. And to put it in a current context, it was politically inconvenient, and lost votes for any party that supported the fight against the Slave Trade, much as would appear to be the situation in some African countries today !]

8 Aug 1839 Plymouth, was paid off into ordinary on Tuesday.

13 Oct 1843 Plymouth, advertised for sale in the London Gazette.