HMS Dominica was the French privateer schooner J(T?)opo L'Oeil (aka Tape à lOeil or Tape à lOeuil or Tap à lOeil) that the British captured in 1807 in the Leeward Islands.British sources other than the after-action letter in the London Gazette give her name as Tape à LOeuil. She took part in one inconclusive single-ship action

Single-ship action

A single ship action is a naval engagement fought between two warships of opposing sides, excluding submarine engagements; called so because there is a single ship on each side...

 before she foundered in 1809.

Capture

On 17 October 1807 the British brig encountered the French schooner privateer Jopo L'Oeil about 120 leagues

League (unit)

A league is a unit of length . It was long common in Europe and Latin America, but it is no longer an official unit in any nation. The league originally referred to the distance a person or a horse could walk in an hour...

 east of Barbados. The sanguinary engagement between the two vessels lasted an hour and a quarter, with Captain John Buller of Superieure being killed instantly by a musket ball to the head while attempting to board the privateer early in the fight. Lieutenant John G. Bird took command and continued the fight until the privateer surrendered. She had a crew of 95 men. She was pierced for 14 guns but carried only six 18-pounders plus another one on a traveling carriage. She was 32 days out of Pointe-à-Pitre

Pointe-à-Pitre

Pointe-à-Pitre is the largest city of Guadeloupe, an overseas région and département of France located in the Lesser Antilles, of which it is a sous-préfecture, being the seat of the Arrondissement of Pointe-à-Pitre....

 Guadeloupe and had made no captures. Bird described Jopo L'Oeil as "a remarkable fine Vessel". In the fight the British lost four men killed, including Buller, and eight men wounded; the French lost five killed and 19 wounded. The brig was in sight during the engagement but was unable to close until after the fight was over. The British took the privateer into service as HMS Dominica.

Service

The British commissioned Dominica under Lieutenant Stephen Burke. At some point in 1807 Lieutenant J. Deane may have taken command. On 3 February 1808 Dominica had an inconclusive engagement with the French privateer Victor, of 18 guns. In 1809 Lieutenant Charles Welch took command.

Fate

Dominica foundered or capsized in a hurricane off Tortola in 1809. Accounts differ as to survivors. Hepper reports that she foundered with all hands. Marx and Gossett report that there were three survivors. The National Maritime Museum

National Maritime Museum

The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England is the leading maritime museum of the United Kingdom and may be the largest museum of its kind in the world. The historic buildings forming part of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, it also incorporates the Royal Observatory, Greenwich,...

database records that there were five survivors.