British Frigate HMS Concorde (36) Scrapbook page [Archive]

Cpt Kangaroo

08-21-2013, 15:10

6388

British Navy 1783 – 1811
Captured French Frigate CONCORDE (36) 1783
(Concorde Class Frigates URL)
http://www.sailsofglory.org/showthread.php?1491-Concorde-Class-Frigates&p=16648#post16648
Rebuilt 1793
Theatres of war – France the Action of 23 April 1794
- Privateer chasing 1897 – early 1900
- Cape of Good Hope
- East Indies
Captured the French Frigate Engageante 1794
Captured (assisted) the French Virginie 1794
Captured a large number of Privateers in the West Indies and in the Atlantic.
Defeated French Frigate (40) Bravoure. (Not able to take the prize) 1801

Fate: Sold for Breaking up 1811

Cruising the French coast:
In 1794 she passed to Captain Sir Richard Strachan, and joined Commodore John Borlase Warren's squadron off the French coast. The squadron consisted of Concorde, Warren's 36-gun HMS Flora, the 38-gun HMS Arethusa under Captain Sir Edward Pellew, and the 36-gun frigates HMS Melampus, under Captain Thomas Wells, and HMS Nymphe, under Captain George Murray.

Concorde and Engageante:
While sailing off the Channel Islands on 23 April the British squadron came across a French squadron under Commodore Desgareaux consisting of the 36-gun Engageante, the 44-gun Pomone, the 36-gun Résolue and the 24-gun Babet. Warren chased and engaged them, leading the attack in Flora. When the Flora was badly damaged from the combined fire from the French ships, the remaining British ships came up in support, and forced the rear-most French ships, Babet and Pomone, to surrender. Melampus, Nymphe and Concorde gave chase to the fleeing Résolue and Engageante. Strachan in Concorde attempted to damage the rearmost of the French ships, Engageante, before pushing on to chase Résolue, but the Résolue dropped back to support the Engageante, damaging Concorde's sails and rigging. With Nymphe and Melampus still too far astern, and unable to catch Résolue himself, Strachan engaged Engageante and after 105 minutes of fighting, forced her to surrender, while Résolue made her escape. The Concorde lost one man killed and 12 wounded in the fighting.

Concorde and Virginie:
Concorde was then assigned to Rear-Admiral George Montagu's squadron in May 1794, and took part in the manoeuvres during the Atlantic campaign of May 1794. Strachan left Concorde in July 1794 to take command of HMS Melampus, and in August Captain Anthony Hunt took over command of Concorde. Concorde was part of John Warren's squadron off Quiberon between June and July 1795, supporting the Quiberon Expedition, after which she joined Sir Edward Pellew's squadron. On 20 April 1796 Pellew's squadron, then consisting of Concorde, Pellew's 38-gun HMS Indefatigable and the 36-gun HMS Amazon under Captain Robert Carthew Reynolds, spotted and chased a mysterious sail. After chasing her for 15 hours over 168 miles they caught up with her, with Indefatigable leading the attack. Both ships exchanged fire, considerably damaging each other, upon which Concorde came up under her stern and forced her to surrender. She was discovered to be the 40-gun Virginie, under Captain Jacques Bergeret. The captured French ship was towed to port and taken into the navy.
Later years:
Command of Concorde passed from Hunt to Captain Richard Bagot in November 1796, and he in turn was succeeded by Captain Batholomew Roberts in June 1797. Concorde captured the 4-gun privateer Poisson Volant off Cape Finisterre on 24 July 1797. She was bound from Bordeaux to Guadeloupe carrying wines and merchandise, after which she intended to cruise as a privateer in the West Indies. Concorde was later commanded by Captain Robert Barton, who took a number of privateers in a series of cruises in the West Indies in 1798, capturing the 16-gun Caye du Pont off St Bartholomew on 3 January, the 8-gun Proserpine off Montserrat on 8 January, the 8-gun Hardi off Barbuda on 11 February, the 2-gun Hazard off Montserrat on 13 February and the 2-gun Rosière off Montserrat on 1 April. In an action with HMS Lapwing on 8 and 9 September she captured four privateers, the 8-gun Buonaparte, 10-gun Amazone, 4-gun Sauveur and 2-gun Fortune.
Concorde's success against privateers continued with the capture of the 18-gun Prudente on 14 February 1799 and the 6-gun San Josef off Oporto in December 1800 and the 1-gun San Miguel el Volante on 1 December 1800. Concorde had a narrow escape from a French squadron under Rear-Admiral Honoré Joseph Antoine Ganteaume, which had sailed from Brest on 23 January 1801. The French sighted Concorde off Cape Finisterre on 27 January, and the 40-gun Bravoure was sent to chase her down. Concorde cast off a Swedish ship she was towing and drew the French frigate away from the main body of the fleet. Barton then turned and engaged her for forty minutes, silencing her guns. By now the main French fleet was fast approaching, and with his sails and rigging damaged, Barton did not attempt to take possession of Bravoure and instead made for a British port to report the encounter. Concorde had four men killed and 19 wounded in the engagement, while Bravoure had 10 killed and 24 wounded.
Captain John Wood succeeded Barton in 1802, and the following year Concorde went out to the Cape of Good Hope. On 7 November 1804, she captured the 360-ton privateer Fortune, under François-Thomas Le Même, after a ten-hour running battle. Captain John received his prisoners "with distinction" and Concorde returned to Bombay, although Fortune, reduced to a poor condition, limped for several days before arriving.[19] She was under Captain John Cramer, probably from February 1806, and was in the East Indies in 1807, where in July that year she captured the 2-gun privateer Vigilant. Concorde returned to England and was paid off in September 1807. She spent the rest of the war laid up, and was sold at Deptford on 21 February 1811.

6401

6402