Bombardment of Algiers order of battle explained

This is a listing of the fleets that participated in the Bombardment of Algiers on August 27, 1816.^[1]

Allies

British

Ship	Guns	Commander	Casualties		Notes
Ship	Guns	Commander	Killed	Wounded	Notes
	104		8	131	First-rate ship of the line
	98		50	160	Second-rate ship of the line
	74	Capt. John Coode	3	15	Third-rate ship of the line
	74	Capt. Joseph Prior	7	37	Third-rate ship of the line
	74		8	84	Third-rate ship of the line
	50	Capt. Edward Chetham-Strode^[2]	17	118	Fourth-rate ship of the line
	40		10	37	Frigate
	40		3	34	Frigate
	36		16	42	Frigate
	36		4	15	Frigate
	18	Capt. George Bentham	-	-	Brig-sloop
	18	Cdr. James Mould			Brig-sloop
	18	Cdr. William B. Dashwood	-	-	Brig-sloop
	10	Cdr. Robert Riddell	-	-	Brig-sloop
	10	Cdr. William Sargent	-	-	Brig-sloop
	10	Cdr. William Kempthorn	1	3	Bomb vessel w/two mortars
	10		-	-	Bomb w/two mortars
	12		2	17	Bomb w/two mortars
	12	Cdr. William Popham	-	-	Bomb w/two mortars
^[3]	4	-	-	-	Advice boat tender to Revenge

Also the "Battering Flotilla", under the command of Capt. Frederick Thomas Michell, and comprising 55 vessels; gun-boats, mortar-boats, launches with carronades, rocket-boats, barges, and yawls.

Other British

Although James lists these three vessels as leaving England with the flotilla for Algiers, none actually served there.

Guns	Commander	Notes
18	Cdr. Alexander Dixie	Brig-sloop. Left behind at Gibraltar. Although James refers to Saracen in his account of the preparations for the bombardment, he is in error. By 1816 Commander Alexander Dixie was no longer in command of Saracen, and she was at Bermuda.
18	Capt. James Murray	Brig-sloop. This was probably the vessel left behind at Gibraltar, with Saracen being a typographical mistake for Satelite
10	Cdr. Thomas Carew	Brig-sloop. Only as far as Gibraltar, then returning home with dispatches.

Netherlands

Ship	Guns	Commander	Casualties		Notes
Ship	Guns	Commander	Killed	Wounded	Notes
Amstel	44	Capt. Willem Augustus van der Hart	4	6	Frigate
Diana	44	Capt. Petrus Zievogel	6	22	Frigate
Frederica	44	Capt. Jakob Adrian van der Straaten	-	5	Frigate
Melampus	44	Vice-adm. Jonkheer Theodorus Frederik van Capellen Capt. Antony Willem de Man	3	15	Frigate, flagship
Dageraad	36	Capt. Johannes Martinus Polders	-	4	Frigate
Eendragt	20	Capt. Jan Frederik Christiaan Wardenburg	-	-	Corvette

Algiers

Ship	Guns	Notes
4 Frigates	44	1 scuttled, the rest burnt?
5 Corvettes	24-30	Burnt?
30-40 Gunboats and Mortar vessels		Burnt?
55 Others?

James mentions that a French frigate of 40 guns, named Ciotat, had warned the Algerines of the coming attack.^[4] However, there was no vessel by that name in the French Navy between 1786 and 1861. Other sources refer to Ciotat as a gabarre or a corvette, and make no mention of her being a man-of-war.

References

Anon. "By a Friend of the National Maritime Museum" (1941) "The Battle of Algiers", Mariner's mirror (October 1941), Vol. 27, pp. 324–338.
Book: James . William . William James (naval historian) . Naval History of Great Britain . 10 January 2012 . VI . 1837 . . London . 16 May 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120516023612/http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Naval_History/Vol_VI/P_398.html . dead .
Book: Winfield. Rif. Roberts. Stephen S.. 2015. French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786–1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. 978-1-84832-204-2.

Notes and References

James (1837), Vol. 6, pp.398–408.
For more on Edward Chetham-Strode see: Strode, Edward Chetham.
Anon. (1941), p.332, Fn. 1.
James (1824), Vol.5, p.575.