HMS Cuckoo (1806)
Introduction '''HMS ''Cuckoo''''' was a Royal Navy ''Cuckoo''-class schooner of four 12-pounder carronades and a crew of 20.She was built by James Lovewell at Great Yarmouth and launched in 1806.Like many of her class and the related ''Ballahoo''-class schooners, she succumbed to the perils of the sea relatively early in her career.
Service She was commissioned in May 1806 under Lieutenant Silas Hiscutt Paddon for the Channel and the North Sea.On 26 December 1807, ''Cuckoo'' was in company with the frigate ''Aigle'', ''Defiance'' and ''Gibraltar'' when ''Aigle'' captured the ''Othello''. In March 1808 ''Cuckoo'' was part of a squadron off Lorient. She was about midway between the island of Groix and the Glénan islands when she sighted enemy vessels in the south-east. She signaled this to the squadron and ''Aigle'' and the 74-gun third rate ''Impetueux'' sailed to intercept. ''Aigle'' exchanged fire with one, which ran herself aground on Groix under the protection of French batteries there. ''Aigle'' suffered 22 wounded, including her captain who was severely wounded, and seven men who then were invalided out of the service. The British observed seven coffins being carried from the French frigate to a church on a nearby hill. The British believed that the vessel that ran ashore was the ''Seine'' and that the one that escaped was the ''Italienne''. Her crew later burnt ''Seine'' to prevent her being captured at Anse la Barque during Roquebert's expedition to the Caribbean. ''Italienne'' was badly damaged at the action of 24 February 1809 and sold for commercial service. ''Cuckoo'' was in company with ''Aigle'' and ''Donegal'' when ''Donegal'' captured the French chasse maree ''Jeune Adele'' on 22 May 1808. ''Cuckoo'' accompanied the unsuccessful Walcheren Campaign in July–August 1809, together with her half-sister schooners ''Pilchard'' and ''Porgey''.
Fate ''Cuckoo'' was wrecked on 4 April 1810 on the Haak Sands off the Texel at Callantsoog. She had been under orders to capture all foreign vessels employed in the herring or other fisheries.She wrecked at 11pm and by 1am she was awash and her crew was forced to take to the rigging. Two persons on ''Cuckoo'' died of exposure. One of the two fatalities was Paddon's five-year-old son; the other was a seaman. During the sinking a falling spar broke Paddon’s right shoulder-blade and two of his ribs, injuries that would bother him for the rest of his life. The Dutch rescued the surviving crew who surrendered to troops from Amsterdam.A later court martial admonished Paddon for relying too heavily on Joseph Delaby, the pilot, who by then had deserted.
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