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Coog
03-14-2012, 07:16
Quite a few British warships were captured from the French. The French ships were well built and British captains were more than willing to be given command of one. I'll be adding posts to this thread on these ships. Please feel free to add your own.

Coog
03-14-2012, 07:27
HMS GUERRIERE

HMS Guerriere was a 38-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, which had previously sailed with the French Navy as the Guerrière. She became famous for her fight against USS Constitution.

Her career with the French included a sortie with the Duguay-Trouin in 1803, in which the two vessels were forced to make an escape from a British ship. They were harried by British forces of varying strengths during their journey back to port and only just reached the safety of Corunna, with Guerrière being engaged by the 74-gun HMS Culloden until she reached the entrance to the port. She sailed in 1806 with several other French ships to attack British and Russian whalers, but was chased and brought to action by the 38-gun HMS Blanche. After a hard-fought battle, Blanche forced Guerrière to surrender, and brought her back to Britain. Ironically, Blanche was originally the Amphitrite, a Spanish ship, captured and taken into British service.

Now commissioned as HMS Guerriere, she went out to the West Indies and served off the American coast for a number of years. She captured a number of privateers, and was still in American waters after the outbreak of the War of 1812. On 19 August 1812 Guerriere, under Captain James Richard Dacres, sighted the American frigate Constitution, under Isaac Hull. The two ships closed and after a fierce engagement the American managed to shoot away Guerriere's fore and main-masts, leaving her un-manoeuvrable. Dacres struck his colours to avoid further bloodshed; the Americans then transferred her crew to Constitution and set fire to the badly damaged Guerriere.

Coog
03-14-2012, 07:59
HMS SUPRISE

Unité was a corvette of the French Navy built in 1794, the lead ship of her class. She was captured by the Royal Navy in 1796 and renamed HMS Surprise. In 1799 she famously recaptured HMS Hermione and in 1802 was sold out of the service.

She was designed by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait, who was in charge of her construction at Le Havre. She was launched on 16 January 1794, and was armed with 24 eight-pound and 8 four-pound long guns. Although the French initially rated Unité as a corvette, the ships of her class bridged a gap between smaller warships and frigates, and at various times were rated as frigates.

On 20 March 1794, Lieutenant de Vaisseau Jean le Drézénec, who was 41 years old and had entered the naval service soon after the revolution from a career in the merchant service, arrived to take command of Unité. He supervised the fitting out of the ship, and found the long guns were too large to be easily reloaded, and the lower sails were also too large. He notified the authorities, who urged him to finish fitting out the ship because a major naval operation was imminent. Soon afterwards, Unité took part in the battle of the Glorious First of June by escorting the dismasted Révolutionnaire as she was towed by the Audacieux.

In June 1794 Unité completed repairs of damage sustained in the battle in St. Malo and Brest, and in the following months escorted merchant vessels along the coasts of France. On 28 September, with the corvette Bergere and under the command of Lieutenant de Vaisseau Gouley, the two ships left Brest to sail northwest in between Ireland and the islands of the Hebrides and St Kilda to intercept enemy merchant ships. On 17 October, the ships captured a 200 ton merchant ship Dianne. The next day the weather turned foul and the two ships were separated. Unwilling or unable to continue the mission alone, Unité searched for Bergere fruitlessly for sixteen days before finally returning to Brest on 1 November.

After repairs, Unité was ordered to join the Mediterranean fleet at Toulon, and arrived there in March 1795. She spent the remainder of the year either blockaded in port or serving as a courier. In April 1796, she was ordered on one such courier mission to North Africa to deliver personnel and messages to the port of Bône. At the time, Le Drézénec, who had been recently promoted to capitaine de frégate, was suffering smallpox and was incapacitated and the ship was commanded by the first lieutenant, Lieutenant Le Breton. Captain Thomas Fremantle in command of the frigate HMS Inconstant had heard there was a French frigate in Bône, and sailed there to intercept her. She arrived in the afternoon of 20 April 1796, the watch aboard Unité identified Inconstant as a neutral vessel and Le Breton did not clear the ship for action. About an hour later, Inconstant sailed alongside, boarded and captured the Unité intact.

About a year after capture, Unité was renamed HMS Surprise because another French ship also named Unité had already been taken into the navy. Surprise was re-classed by the British as a 28-gun sixth-rate frigate, though she carried twenty-four 32 pound carronades on her main deck, eight 32-pounders on her quarter- and fore- decks and two (or four) long 6-pound cannons as chasers. As in the French Navy, this led to difficulty in her rating, considered a fifth rate from 1797-98 but a sixth rate the rest of her commission. Also, she bore the main-mast of a 36 gun ship, just as unusual as her large armament.

Under Captain Edward Hamilton, the Surprise sailed in the Caribbean for several years, capturing several privateers. HMS Surprise gained fame for the cutting-out expedition in 1799 of HMS Hermione. Hermione's crew had mutinied, and had sailed her into the Spanish possession of Puerto Cabello. Captain Edward Hamilton of Surprise led a boarding party to retake Hermione and, after an exceptionally bloody action, sailed her out of danger under Spanish gunfire. The Spanish casualties included 119 dead; 231 were taken prisoner, while another 15 jumped or fell overboard. Hamilton had 11 injured, four seriously, but none killed.

Although her career was most notable in itself, HMS Surprise was made legendary as the favorite ship of Captain Jack Aubrey in the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey–Maturin series of novels.

Coog
03-14-2012, 08:50
HMS JAVA

HMS Java was a British Royal Navy 38-gun fifth-rate frigate. She was originally launched in 1805 as the Renommée, described as a 40-gun Pallas-class French Navy frigate, but the vessel actually carried 46 guns. The British captured her in 1811 in a noteworthy action during the Battle of Tamatave, but she is most famous for her defeat on 29 December 1812 in a three-hour single-ship action against the USS Constitution. The Java had a crew of about 277 but during her engagement with Constitution her complement was 475.

In May 1811, she was part of a three-sail squadron under François Roquebert, comprising Renommée, Clorinde and Néréide, and ferrying troops to Mauritius. On 20 May, the French encountered a British squadron comprising Astraea, Phoebe, Galatea, and Racehorse. In the ensuing Battle of Tamatave, Renommée struck after her mainsail was set on fire. The British captured Néréide five days later at Tamatave, Madagascar. Clorinde escaped.

The British brought Renommée into service as Java and Néréide as Madagascar.

In July Java was under Captain William Gordon, but had not yet been commissioned. She was commissioned in August under Captain Henry Lambert. Java's captain was a senior commander who had seen combat on a number of occasions in His Majesty's service.

Java sailed from Portsmouth on 12 November for Bombay to deliver the appointed Governor, Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Hislop, and his staff with their baggage, and naval stores (including copper plates for Cornwallis, then under construction at Bomba, and plans for a new ship, the Trincomalee, whose construction was thus delayed). She was carrying additional personnel for other ships at the time and included another Royal Navy commander in transit.


Captain Lambert of the Java was a well-qualified officer, having seen much combat during his service. Java had more than a full crew, having been rounded out while in Portsmouth; however many were landsmen still raw to service at sea, and even more damning to her cause, they had only practiced gunnery once without shot loaded in the guns. Still, Java was well supplied and manned, and would prove to be well handled and well fought. Constitution had an experienced crew manning a heavy frigate rated at 44 guns and carrying 54 guns: 24 long 24-pounders and 30 32-pounder carronades, plus two 18-pounder bow chasers.

On 13 December 1812, sailing from Boston by way of Cape Verde the USS Constitution, under the command of Captain William Bainbridge, accompanied by USS Hornet, commanded by James Lawrence, arrived off the coast of Brazil at St. Salvador. On the 26th the Hornet was sent to its port to communicate with the American consul stationed there. On the 29th at 9:00 AM still out at high sea in search of prizes crewmen aloft the Constitution sighted strange sails on the distant horizon. Bainbridge initially was unsure of the disposition of the ships, but hours later as they drew closer he was able to discern that the approaching vessels were large and now assumed them to be British. To ascertain the disposition of the unidentified ships the Constitution hoisted private signals (flags) at 11:30 AM, while the assumed British vessel also hoisted its signals, but neither ship made the correct counter-signal.

Constitution tacking the wind made her way from the neutral Portuguese territorial waters with Java giving chase. The following day at 12:30 PM Java hoisted her colors and ensign with Constitution hoisting her colors in reply with. With the dispositions of each ship confirmed Java with the weather gauge to her advantage came about to position herself to rake the Constitution Being French-built, she was comparatively light for a frigate and was consequently faster and more maneuverable than Constitution. In reply Constitution fired a shot across her bow with Java returning fire with a full broadside.

Java started the battle badly out-matched both in terms of the experience of her crew and the weight of her broadside. Constitution with her experienced commander and crew countered by not shortening sail as was standard (this reduced strain on the masts thus making it less likely to lose a mast under fire). By 2 PM both ships were heading southeast. The opening phase of the action comprised both ships turning to and from attempting to get the better position for which to fire upon and rake the other, but with little success. Bainbridge now wore Constitution to a matching course and opened fire with a broadside at half a mile. This broadside accomplished nothing and forced Bainbridge to risk raking to close Java. Another broadside from Java carried away Constitution's helm, disabling her rudder and leaving Bainbridge severely wounded, however he still maintained command refusing to sit out the battle. Again both ships began firing broadsides but by now Java had a mast and sail falling over her starboard side that prevented most of her guns on that side from firing, which also prevented her from laying alongside Constitution. The guns that attempted to fire only managed to set the fallen sail and rigging ablaze from the fiery blasts of those guns.

Constitution's accuracy of fire and the greater weight of her broadside put the much smaller Java at a large disadvantage. Within one hour, after several close close encounters involving the various rigging of each ship getting entangled with the other Java's masts collapsed. During this encounter a sharpshooter aloft in Constitution's mortally wounded Lambert. Lieutenant Chads now took over command, assisted by the captain in transit to his ship. Bainbridge used this opportunity to distance the Constitution so as to make immediately needed repairs, taking approximately an hour's time. However clearing the masts and fallen rigging aboard Java had hardly begun when the Constitution returned from repairing her damage and immediately took a raking position from which Java could not defend herself and Lieutenant Chads had no choice but to strike colors and surrender Java. The Constitution hoisted out a boat sending First Lieutenant Parker to take possession of the prize.

In the battle, Java suffered 22 men killed, including Lambert, and 102 wounded. Constitution lost nine dead initially and 57 wounded, including Bainbridge. Some four or five wounded died later of their wounds.

In the course of battle the Java was rendered a dismasted hulk that was not fit to be taken as a whole prize. Instead Bainbridge removed her helm and installed it on the Constitution, replacing the one that had been shot away. On New Year's day 1813, two days after the engagement Bainbridge gave the order to set the stricken vessel ablaze where it subsequently blew up.

Upon learning of the death of Captain Lambert. Commodore Bainbridge expressed deep sorrow for a commander he credited to be brave and noble.

Although claims exist that the still-commissioned Constitution (anchored in Boston Harbor) sports the wheel that Bainbridge salvaged from Java, the evidence is that the US Navy replaced the wheel from Java in a subsequent refurbishment. On 23 April 1813, Lieutenant Chads and the other surviving officers and men of the Java faced the customary court martial aboard Gladiator for the loss of their ship. They were honourably acquitted.

Coog
03-14-2012, 10:05
HMS PSYCHE

Psyché was a 36-gun vessel built between February 1798 and 1799 at Basse-Indre (Nantes) as a privateer. As a privateer she had an inconclusive but bloody encounter with HMS Wilhelmina of the Royal Navy, commanded by Commander Henry Lambert, off the Indian coast in April 1804. The French then brought her into service in June 1804 as the frigate Psyché. In February 1805 she encountered San Fiorenzo, under the command of the same Henry Lambert, now an acting captain. After a sanguinary engagement of over three hours, Psyché surrendered. The British took her into service as HMS Psyche. In British service she captured several prizes and took part in the capture of Mauritius and in an operation in Java. She was broken up at Ferrol in 1812.

On 9 April 1804, while under the command of Captain Trogoff, she encountered HMS Wilhelmina, which was escorting the country ship William Petrie to Trincomalee. The Psyché out-gunned the Wilhelmina, which was armed en flûte. She had only 21 guns: eighteen 9-pounder and two 6-pounder cannon, and one 12-pounder carronade. Psyché carried 36 cannon, a broadside that was more than double that of Wilhelmina: twenty-four 12-pounder guns, two 6-pounders and ten 18-pounder carronades. Psyché also had a crew of 250 men, compared with Wilhelmina's 124. Nevertheless Captain Henry Lambert of Wilhelmina sailed towards Psyché to give the William Petrie a chance to escape.

Light winds meant that the engagement did not begin until 11 April, when both ships opened fire, exchanging broadsides and attempting to tack around to rake their opponent. After several hours fighting, Psyché broke off and fled. Both ships had sustained heavy damage, the Wilhelmina to her masts and rigging, while Psyché was reduced to a near-sinking condition. Wilhelmina had nine of her crew wounded, three mortally and six slightly, while Psyché lost ten killed and 32 wounded, 13 of them mortally. Wilhelmina put into port, while the William Petrie also arrived safely at her destination.

In June 1804 Decaen purchased Psyché for the French Navy at Réunion.

On 10 January 1805, under Captain Jacques Bergeret, she captured the country ship Elisa. On 14 February 1805, she captured the country ships Pigeon and Thetis. Bergeret employed Pigeon as a privateer under the name Équivoque. She was armed with 10 guns and had a crew of 40 men under the command of a lieutenant.

On 14 February, Psyché, Équivoque and Thetis encountered HMS San Fiorenzo, now under the command of Captain Henry Lambert (acting), off the Malabar Coast of India. The French abandoned Thetis as San Fiorenzo approached and Lambert put a prize crew aboard her under the command of a midshipman, and continued his pursuit.

At ten minutes past eight, San Fiorenzo and Psyché started to exchange broadsides at about a cable length (185 m.) from each other. The battle continued until 11:30 when Lambert broke off the engagement to repair damage. At midnight, as Lambert was about to re-engage, a boat from Psyché arrived and reported that she had struck.

Psyché had 57 killed and 70 wounded out of her crew of 240 men. San Fiorenzo had 12 killed and 36 wounded. During the action the Équivoque occasionally annoyed San Fiorenzo with gunfire. At some point she escaped into the night. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "San Fiorenzo 14 Feby. 1805" to any still surviving claimants from the action.

She was brought into British service as HMS Psyche, being commissioned under Commander William Woolridge in about August 1805. Under Woolridge Psyche took a number of small prizes in 1806:
26 March - French sloop packet ship Alexandriane, taken at sea while sailing from Île Bourbon;
20 May - French schooner Celestine, taken at sea while carrying a cargo of plank, corn, and cloves;
26 May - A French brig, (Name unknown), which Psyche ran on shore where she wrecked under the batteries of St. Gilles;
26 May - French lugger Uranie, taken at sea with a cargo of rice;
26 May - French lugger Sophie, taken at sea and burnt after her cargo of rice was removed;
1 June - Brig Paque Bot, taken at sea with a cargo of gum and rice;
2 June - French schooner Etoile, taken at sea and scuttled after her cargo of rice had been removed;
10 June - French brig Coquette, taken at sea with a cargo of rice;
10 June - French lugger Grange, taken at sea and scuttled;

Captain Fleetwood Pellew took command in 1807. His father, Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, "Commander in Chief of His Majesty's Ships and Vessels in the East Indies", sent Psyche and Caroline to reconnoitre the port of Surabaya. On 30 August they captured a ship from Batavia and from her learned the disposition of the Dutch military ships in the area. Psyche proceeded to Samarang while Caroline pursued another vessel. Psyche arrived at Samarang at midnight and next morning her boats captured and brought out from under the fire of shore batteries an armed 8-gun schooner and a large merchant brig. However, Psyche had seen three more Dutch vessels, one of them a warship, and so Pellew destroyed the two captured vessels and at mid-day set out after the three other vessels.

By 3:30 on 1 September Psyche had caught up with the Dutch vessels and run them ashore. She went as close as the water depth would allow, anchored and exchanged fire with them. All three surrendered quickly. One that she captured was the 24-gun corvette Scipio, which had a crew of 150 men. Scipio was badly shot up and her commander, Captain-Lieutenant Jan Hendrik Correga, had been mortally wounded. The largest armed merchant ship was the Resolutie, of 700 tons. She had a valuable cargo and as passengers the colours and staff of the Dutch 23rd European Battalion. The third vessel was the brig Ceres, of 12 guns and 70 men. Pellew had too few men to be able to deal with the prisoners so he paroled the officers to the governor of Samarang and gave up the all the other men against a receipt. The British took Scipio into service under her existing name, but then renamed her Samarang.

Captain John Edgcumbe assumed command at Bombay in 1808. He then sailed Psyche to the Persian Gulf with Brigadier-General John Malcolm and his staff on an embassy to the Persian Empire. There, during the four hottest months of the year, Psyche provided protection for the British embassy at Abusheer. At the beginning of 1809, a detachment of troops from the 56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot came on board Psyche to serve as marines.

Psyche returned to Bombay and then convoyed troops to Pointe de Galle. From there she went to Columbo to embark troops for Travancore to suppress a mutiny among the native troops in 1809. Psyche silenced some batteries and her boats destroyed several vessels, suffering one man wounded in the process. Later, Psyche captured two vessels transporting elephants to the mutineers.

Next, Psyche accompanied Doris to Manila in search of two French frigates, and to induce the government of the Philippines to side with Spain against France. After they returned to Prince of Wales Island, Psyche escorted their Dutch prize to Bombay.

In 1810 Psyche transported Brigadier-General Malcolm on a second embassy to Persia. She then sailed to the Cape of Good Hope before sailing to Rodrigues where the British were assembling a fleet to attack Île de France. On 29 November the force landed at Grande Baie; the island surrendered on 3 December.

Between May and August 1811 Psyche participated in an expedition to Java under Rear Admiral Sir Robert Stopford. While there, Edgcumbe succumbed to hepatitis and had to be invalided back to Britain. Captain Robert Worgan George Festing, who had been serving on shore with the Army, received promotion to Post-captain on 9 October 1811 and assumed command of Psyche. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the award of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Java" to any surviving participants that claimed it.

In 1812 Festing sailed Psyche to Europe. That same year she was sold at Ferrol to be broken up. M. Santos, the purchaser, took possession on 6 August. Her crew was repatriated to Britain on the transport Bideford.

Coog
03-14-2012, 11:20
HMS AFRICAINE

The Africaine was one of two 40-gun Preneuse class frigate of the French Navy built to a design by Raymond-Antoine Haran. She carried twenty-eight 18-pounder and twelve 8-pounder guns. The British captured her in 1801, only to have the French recapture her in 1810. They abandoned her at sea as she had been demasted and badly damaged, with the result that the British recaptured her the next day. She was broken up in 1816.

She was commissioned on 14 September 1799 under Capitaine de frégate Magendie. In 1800, she sailed to Saint-Domingue. She then sailed from Rochefort with Regénérée to try to resupply the French forces in Egypt. She was carrying ordnance, stores and 400 soldiers reinforcing Napoleon's army in Egypt.

At the Action of 19 February 1801, HMS Phoebe, under Captain Robert Barlow, captured her east of Gibraltar. Phoebe, which had the weather gage, overtook Africaine and engaged her at close range, despite the French soldiers, who augmented the frigate's guns with their musket fire. Phoebe's guns inflicted more than 340 casualties on the soldiers and seaman of Africaine before she struck at 9:30PM. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Africaine.

Africaine was commissioned under Commander J. Stewart in April. Then in July Captain Stevenson took command, only to be replaced in September by Captain George Burlton. On 31 January 1802 she arrived in Portsmouth from Malta and sailed again to Chatham on 7 February to be paid off before being re-fitted. She arrived in at Deptford on 17 February 1802 for refitting.

In November Captain Thomas Manby took command, though Africaine was not yet ready. When Earl St. Vincent gave Manby the appointment St. Vincent said that he did not like to see an active officer idle on shore. He had a point as while Manby was waiting for the vessel to be ready Lady Townshend presented him to Caroline, the Princess of Wales, who became friendly towards him. Rumours abounded that the Princess became too familiar with Manby and that Manby was even the father of one of her children. An investigation followed during which Manby swore an affidavit on 22 September 1806 that the rumours were "a vile and wicked invention, wholly and absolutely false".

Africaine was commissioned at Deptford for the North Sea in 1803. On his way to the Nore, Manby stopped at Gravesent where he landed a press gang. Between midnight and sunrise they garnered 398 seamen. From the Nore she sailed to Hellevoetsluis where there were two French frigates; Africaine maintained a blockade there for two years until the French dismantled the frigates.

One day while Africaine was maintaining this blockade, the French general at Scheveningen had four boys shrimping in Africaine's jolly boat fired upon. Manby immediately seized sixty fishing boats that he then sent to Yarmouth. This cost The Hague its supplies of fish for some weeks. Also, on 20 July 1803, Africaine's First Lieutenant, William Henry Dillon, landed at Hellevoetsluis in a boat from Leda under a flag of truce. The Dutch commodore there detained Dillon until men from Furieuse could take him prisoner. Dillon caught a fever that almost killed him while he was on board Fureiuse; when he was well again the French transferred him to their prison camp at Verdun. There he remained until September 1807 when he was exchanged.

On 1 August 1803 a lightning strike on the foremast killed one man and injured three others. Manby sailed from Yarmouth on 4 October 1804 to deliver Rear Admiral Thomas Macnamara Russell out to Eagle, one of the vessels of the British flotilla watching the Dutch fleet in the Texel. Manby returned on 7 October with Rear Admiral Edward Thornborough. While she was serving in the blockade off the Texel, a gale caused broke of part of Africaine's rudder, which then damaged the stern post. Glatton had to escort Africaine to Yarmouth, where winds almost drove Africaine ashore; her crew had to cut away all her masts to save her.

On 31 December a court martial took place in Sheerness on Africaine to try Captain the Honorable John Colville, the officers and ship's company of Romney for the loss of their ship off the Texel on 19 November.

In May 1805 Africaine was on the Irish Station. She was then re-fitted at Sheerness and escorted a large convoy to the West Indies on 19 June 1805, calling at Suriname, Demerara, and various islands. When she arrived in Barbados her crew of 340 men were all healthy. Then Sir Alexander Cochrane had her return to England with invalids from the hospitals in Barbados as passengers. Within two days of leaving Barbados, yellow fever broke out on board Africaine. The surgeon and the assistant surgeon died on the second day; Manby himself carried out their duties dispensing, large doses of calomel on the advice of a doctor at St Kitts. Manby had an attack of the fever and it affected his subsequent health. In all, fever killed one third of the crew of 340 men during the six weeks it took to reach Falmouth. Africaine then spent almost six weeks in quarantine off the Scilly Islands. She then was taken out of commission at Sheerness.

In Spring 1807, Africaine fitted out at Chatham. Later, at Plymouth, Captain Richard Raggett took command. On 5 July 1807 Africaine sailed from England with General Lord William Cathcart to Swedish Pomerania where King Gustavus was defending his territory against an invading French army. Cathcart would take command of the land-forces for the forthcoming siege and bombardment of Copenhagen.

Africaine arrived at the island of Rugen on 12 August where she joined Admiral Gambier's fleet for the attack on Copenhagen. Africaine's boat operated as part of the advanced squadron and had one man wounded in an action on 23 August. As part of the capitulation, the Danes surrendered their fleet. A prize crew from Africaine took the captured Danish frigate Iris into the Medway.

By 24 December she was at Madeira, having accompanied Sir Samuel Hood there. The British occupation was a friendly affair and the garrison surrendered without resistance on 26 September.

On 11 Jan 1808 Africaine captured the Spanish felucca Paloma. Africaine then sailed to the Baltic to serve under Vice-Admiral Sir James Saumarez.

In spring 1810, Africaine had returned to Plymouth from Annapolis after having delivered Mr. Jackson, the British ambassador to the United States. During this period the crew threatened mutiny when informed that Captain Robert Corbet, who had a reputation for brutality, was to take command of Africaine. The Navy quickly suppressed the incipient mutiny and Africaine sailed for the East Indies with Corbet in command. During the voyage Corbet reportedly failed to train his men in the accurate and efficient use of their cannon, preferring to maintain the order and cleanliness of his ship than exercise his gun teams.

After the Battle of Grand Port, which was a disaster for the British, Commodore Josias Rowley sent urgent messages to Madras and Cape Town requesting reinforcements. The first to arrive were Africaine and HMS Ceylon, both of which were sailing alone.

Africaine was still on her way from England to Madras when on 9 September she stopped at the island of Rodrigues to replenish her water. There she heard of the debacle. By 11 September she had arrived off the Île de France where she sent her boats in shore to find a passage through the reef with a view to capturing a French schooner. The boats' crews succeeded in boarding the vessel, which turned out to be French dispatch vessel No. 23, but had to abandon it in the face of fire from soldiers on shore that killed two men and wounded 16. Africaine then sailed for the Île de Bourbon, which Corbett had learned was in British hands and where Rowley was located to drop off the casualties. Africaine arrived on 12 September and then sailed that evening in pursuit of some French vessels that had been sighted.

Next day Iphigénie and Astrée captured Africaine. She had been sailing with HMS Boadicea, HMS Otter, and HMS Staunch trailing some distance behind. When she chased the French frigates and the brig Entreprenante early on the morning of 13 September, she outdistanced her companions, with unfortunate results. Early in the battle a shot took off Corbet's foot and his crew took him below decks. Africaine fought on under her remaining officers with First Lieutenant Joseph Crew Tullidge having taken command. After about two hours, with Tullidge having suffered four wounds, she struck.

Africaine had 295 men and boys aboard, including 25 soldiers from the 86th Regiment. Of these 49 had been killed and 114 wounded. The French took Tullidge and about 90 survivors prisoner and conveyed them to Mauritius where they remained until the British took the island in December. The French lost nine killed and 33 wounded in Iphigénie and one killed and two wounded in Astrée.

The next day Boadicea and her two companions recaptured Africaine. Because she was dismasted and damaged the French did not try to tow her. Also, Astrée had to take Iphigénie into tow. Africaine still had 70 of her wounded and some 83 uninjured of her crew aboard, as well as a ten-man French prize crew.

By the time the British had recaptured Africaine Corbet was dead; he had died some six hours after his foot was amputated. Later, rumors circulated that he had committed suicide because of the dishonor of defeat, or that members of the crew had killed him. From the amount of shot that was still on the vessel there was also reason to suspect that the crew had stopped shotting the cannons after the first few broadsides, perhaps in protest against Corbet. Regardless, a court martial on 23 April 1811 honorably acquitted the surviving officers and crew of the Africaine for the loss of their ship. In August Tullidge received a promotion to Commander.

The French also captured Ceylon, but Boadicea quickly retook her too. Rowley was able to seize Jacques Hamelin and his flagship Vénus at the Action of 18 September 1810.

To get Africiane ready for sea again, Bertie appointed Lieutenant Edward Lloyd of Boadicea to supervise the repairs. To give Africiane new masts, Lloyd took a recaptured East Indiaman and salvaged her lower masts, yards and sails. On 14 December she sailed again with an ad hoc crew made up of 30 sailors, a company from the 87th. Regiment instead of marines, and some 120 blacks recruited from plantations on the island. During the subsequent Invasion of Île de France, Africaine, under Captain Charles Gordon, late of Ceylon, was Vice Admiral Bertie's flagship. She arrived in Portsmouth on 21 March with Vice Admiral Bertie.

In July 1811 Capt. Brian Hodgson took command, only to be replaced the next month by Captain Edward Rodney, whose appointment was dated September 1810. On 26 November 1811 Rodney and Africaine sailed for the East Indies again.

On 28 August 1813, Rodney sent in boats to take the Annapoorny, a merchant vessel belonging to Prince of Wales Island that the King of Acheen had seized and which claimed to be British. Some correspondence between Rodney and the King had preceded the seizure, and afterwards the King entertained the lieutenant in charge of the cutting out party and Richard Blakeny. The King was a relatively young man and had a few years earlier served for three years as a midshipman on HMS Caroline.

In May 1815, Africaine and the brig Victor were escorting six East Indiamen from Ceylon to England. One of the vessels was the ill-fated Arniston, which got separated from the convoy and was wrecked on the coast of South Africa with the loss of 372 lives. When Africaine returned to Portsmouth on 6 December 1815, only 42 of her original crew of 350 were still on board.

Earlier in 1815, James Cooper and three of his shipmates were publicly court martialed, then hanged on 1 February 1816 following their being found guilty of sodomy on board the ship. Two other members of her crew received a flogging for deviant sexual behavior.

Africaine was broken up at Deptford in September 1816.

rrrreubanks
03-14-2012, 13:25
Wow, Bobby, you have really got some good reference sources! How in the world do you find these things? Very good articles, and great pics. I have made notes to use some of these in my US fleet (and British fleet, once I get to building that). Thanks very much for the info!
Rob

Coog
03-14-2012, 14:47
I search the net for references. Most of the information comes straight from Wikipedia. I just condensed it to to this format for easier reading instead of using a bunch of links. For pictures, I search image banks like google images. I save links that has lists and work off them when I want to find something. Here is one link I've found useful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_single-ship_actions#War_of_1812. It takes a little time researching and organizing, but really don't do that much.

Coog
03-14-2012, 15:16
HMS RHIN

Rhin was a 44-gun Virginie-class frigate of the French Navy launched in 1802. She was present at two major battles while in French service. Then the Royal Navy captured her in 1806. Thereafter Rhin served until 1815 capturing numerous vessels. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars she was laid up and then served as a hospital for many years. She was finally broken up in 1884.

Rhin took part in the Battle of Cape Finisterre and in the Battle of Trafalgar.

HMS Mars captured Rhin on 28 July 1806, after a chase of 26 hours and 150 miles. Her commander, M. Chesneau, struck just before Mars was about to fire her first broadside. Surinam was present or in sight at the capture of the Rhin.

Rhin arrived at Plymouth on 8 August. She was repaired and fitted there from March through August 1809. The Royal Navy commissioned her in June 1809 as HMS Rhin under Captain Frederick Aylmer for the Channel. Captain Charles Malcolm replaced Aylmer in July 1809, and would remain her captain until Rhin paid off in 1815.

On 16 November 1809, Rhin was in company with Pheasant when Pheasant recaptured the brig Trust.

On 22 March 1810 Rhin captured the French privateer Navarrois. Navarrois was four days out of Bayonne, was armed with 16 guns and carried a crew of 132 men.

On 27 September Wolverine had been in pursuit of a French brig when Rhin joined the chase and after two and a half hours captured the quarry off the Lizard. The French vessel was the privateer San Joseph, of Saint Malo, under the command of a Joseph Wittevronghel, a Dane. San Joseph was one year old, about 100 tons burthen (bm), and armed with 14 guns though she was pierced for 16. She had only been out one day when the British captured her and had taken nothing. Little Belt had been in company with Wolverine at the time.

On 9 October Rhin captured the French privateer brig Comtesse de Montalivet, of Saint Malo. The capture followed a chase of two and a half hours and only ended when the brig lost her maintop-mast. Comtesse de Montalivet was pierced for 16 guns but only mounted 14. She had a crew of 57 men but only 40 were on board as 17 were in prize crews. She was a new vessel on her first cruise and had taken two prizes, one a Portuguese ship and the other an American brig.

On 14 October Rhin recaptured the ship Fama.

On 2 February 1811 Rhin captured the French privateer brig Brocanteur.

On 5 April Rhin captured the schooner Bonne Jeanette. Six days later Rhin captured the American ship Projector. Almost two months later, on 27 May, Rhin was in company with the hired armed schooner Princess Charlotte when they captured the American ship Fox. Then on 12 December Rhin captured the French chasse maree Dorade.

On 27 March 1812 Rhin captured the American brig Eclipse.

On 21 June Rhin and Medusa supported an attack by Spanish guerrillas on French forces Lequitio and the nearby island of San Nicholas. Venerable landed a gun whose fire enabled the guerrillas to capture the fort above the town. Medusa and Rhin landed a carronade each to support their marines and those from Surveillante, who captured the island. Although the guerrillas suffered losses, British casualties were nil. On 24 June, landing parties from Rhin and Medusa destroyed fortified works at Plencia.

On 8 November Rhin was in company with the sloop Helicon when they captured the French privateer Courageuse.[17] The capture took place off the Eddystone after a four-hour chase during which the privateer schooner threw overboard her 14 guns, her anchors and part of her provisions. Courageuse was of 90 tons and carried a crew of 70 men.

On 5 January 1813 Rhin, Colossus and the brig Goldfinch captured the American ship Dolphin. A little over a month later, on 11 February, Rhin and Colossus captured the American ship Print.

On 24 February 1814, Rhin recaptured the Robert. Then on 11 March Rhin captured the American letter of marque brig Rattlesnake.

A satisfying capture occurred on 5 June when Rhin sighted and gave chase to an American privateer schooner. After an eleven-hour chase Rhin captured the Decatur in the Mona Passage about four leagues from Cape Engaño. Her captain was Dominique Diron, who had also commanded Decatur when she had captured the schooner HMS Dominica in 1813. Decatur had sailed from Charleston on 30 March and had made no captures.

On 27 June 1815 Rhin captured French transport No. 749, Leon, and Marie Joseph. Then on 19 July, Rhin was in company with Havannah, Sealark, Menelaus, Ferret and Fly when they captured the French vessels Fortune, Papillon, Marie Graty, Marie Victorine, Cannoniere, and Printemis. The attack took place at Corrijou, near Brest on the coast of Brittany, and during the action Ferret was able to prevent the escape of a French man-of-war brig that she force ashore. Apparently, this cutting out expedition was the last of the war

Rhin underwent a large repair at Sheerness between May 1817 and August 1820. She was then laid up (roofed over).

In 1822 Rhin was among the many vessels that had served on the north coast of Spain and the coast of France in the years 1812, 1813 and 1814 that received their respective proportions of the sum reserved to answer disputed claims from the Parliamentary grant for services during those years.

From May to October 1838 she was fitted at Chatham as a lazaretto for Sheerness.

The Admiralty lent Rhin to the Sub-committee for the Inspection of Shipping on the Thames as a smallpox hospital ship on 9 September 1871. She was sold to Charlton & Sons, Charlton on 26 May 1884 for £1,250.

Coog
03-14-2012, 19:49
HMS OISEAU

The Cléopâtre was a 32-gun Vénus class frigate of the French Navy. She was designed by Jacques-Noël Sané, and had a coppered hull. She was launched in 1781, but the British captured her in 1793. She then served the Royal Navy as HMS Oiseau until she was broken up in 1816.

She took part in the taking of Cuddalore in 1782.

On 19 June 1793, as she sailed off Guernsey under Lieutenant de vaisseau Mullon, she encountered HMS Nymphe, under Captain Edward Pellew. During the short but sharp action, Cléopâtre lost her mizenmast and wheel, and the ship, being unmanageable, fell foul of the Nymphe. The British then boarded and captured her in a fierce rush. Mullon, mortally wounded, died while trying to swallow his commission, which, in his dying agony, he had mistaken for the vessel's secret signals. Pellew then sent the signals to the Admiralty.

In the battle Nymphe had 23 men killed and 27 wounded. Pellew estimated the number of French casualties at about 60.

Cléopâtre was the first frigate taken in the war. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Nymphe 18 June 1793" to the four surviving claimants from the action.

The Royal Navy commissioned her as HMS Oiseau in September 1793 under Captain Robert Murray. On 18 May 1794 he sailed her from Plymouth to Halifax in a squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral George Murray. In June 1794 Oiseau and Argonaut seized fourteen French vessels of a convoy of 25, all loaded with flour, naval stores, beef, and pork. The vessels were American-owned and sailed from Hampton Roads with two sets of papers, one set showing the cargo going to England and the other giving their destination as France. The British sent the vessels into Halifax.

In July, Argonaut, Oiseau, Thetis, and Resolution captured the Potowmac and the True Republican.

On 8 January 1795, Argonaut captured the French Republican warship Esperance on the North America Station. Esperance was armed with 22 guns (4 and 6-pounders), and had a crew of 130 men. She was under the command of Lieutenant de Vaisseau De St. Laurent and had been out 56 days from Rochfort, bound for the Chesapeake. Argonaut shared the prize money with Oiseau. Because she was captured in good order and sailed well, Rear Admiral Murray put a British crew aboard and sent Esperance out on patrol with Lynx on 31 January.

In 1798, Oiseau served in the Indian Ocean, where she captured the French Réunion on 1 September. On 21 April 1799 her boats went into Saint Denis on the Íle de Bourbon and cut out two merchant vessels, the Denree, which had a cargo of bale goods and coffee, and the Augustine, which had a cargo of rum and arrack. Augustine was lost in St. Augustine's Bay.

On Monday, 26 January 1801, at 8.00 a.m., at 45°N 12°W, Oiseu, under Captain Samuel Hood Linzee fell in with and chased Dédaigneuse, which was bound from Cayenne to Rochefort with despatches. By noon the following day, with Cape Finisterre in sight, Captain Linzee signaled to Sirius and Amethyst, which were in sight, to join the pursuit. Dédaigneuse maintained her lead until 2.00 a.m. on the 28th when came within small arms range. Dédaigneuse opened fire from her stern-chasers, and the two British ships returned fire. After a running fight of 45 minutes, two miles off shore near Cape Bellem, fire primarily from Sirius had cut Dédaigneuse's running rigging and sails). She had also suffered casualties with several men having been killed,and 17 wounded, including her Captain and fifth Lieutenant. She then struck her colours. Unfavourable winds kept Amethyst, from getting up before Dédaigneuse had struck. Sirius was the only British ship to sustain any damage (rigging, sails, main-yard and bowsprit) in the encounter and there were no fatalities on the English side. Captain Linzee declared the encounter a long and anxious chase of 42 hours and acknowledged a gallant resistance on the part of Dédaigneuse. At the time of the encounter she was armed with twenty-eight 12-pounder guns. Linzee described her as "a perfect new Frigate, Copper fastened and sails well...". He sent her into Plymouth with a prize crew under the command of his first lieutenant, H. Lloyd. The Admiralty took Dédaigneuse into the Royal Navy under the same name HMS Dedaigneuse.

On 28 January, along with HMS Sirius, she captured 3 French frigates off Ferrol.

On 16 September 1800, Oiseau, Wolverine and the cutter Fly captured the Neptunus when she was going into Havre de Grace. The next day Wolverine brought Neptunus into Portsmouth, together with her cargo of naval stores that Wight had captured.

In June 1806 Oiseau was commissioned under Lieutenant Walter Kennedy as a prison hulk at Portsmouth. In 1812 Lieutenant William Needham succeeded Kennedy. She was laid up in December, but then lent to the Transport Board.

In 1814 she was under the command of Lieutenant John Bayby Harrison. She was then put in ordinary in 1815. Oiseau was advertised for sale on 2 September 1816, and sold for breaking up to a Mr. Rundle for £1500 on 18 September.[

Mark Barker
03-15-2012, 16:34
HMS RHIN

HMS Mars captured Rhin on 28 July 1806, after a chase of 26 hours and 150 miles.




Yes, that's correct. A British 74 gun Large Class SOL chasing down a French frigate !

(If I remember correctly Rhin had topmast damage, but in heavy weather conditions it was sometimes possible for a SOL to overhaul a frigate). Rhin was in company with 3 other frigates (I think), which initially formed line of battle to oppose the Mars but disengaged leaving the Rhin to her fate.

It makes a good scenario to face off the Mars against the frigates - good with multi-players to stop the frigates acting too "telepathically" together.

Mark Barker
The Inshore Squadron

Coog
03-15-2012, 17:01
Here is a site thread that David started with more details on that particular engagement: http://sailsofglory.org/showthread.php?242-Mars-vs.-Rhin

It gives the ships and their rates for those wanting to try a scenerio.

And here is posting on BoardGameGeek by someone running the scenerio: http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/530429/hms-mars-vs-four-frenchies

Mark Barker
03-17-2012, 14:47
Here is a site thread that David started with more details on that particular engagement: http://sailsofglory.org/showthread.php?242-Mars-vs.-Rhin

It gives the ships and their rates for those wanting to try a scenerio.

And here is posting on BoardGameGeek by someone running the scenerio: http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/530429/hms-mars-vs-four-frenchies

We ran this using our Clear for Action miniatures assist rules at one of the original Naval Wargames Weekends in Fort Brockhurst (Gosport, UK) many moons ago. Mars is a powerful beastie - 24-pdrs on the upper gun deck.

I included a scenario for GMT's Flying Colors system (boardgame) in the insert in the current edition of their magazine C3i. One of my favorites.

Nelson fought a very similar action against frigates while in command of Agamemnon - again a good action for a demonstration. Last time we ran it Nelson got killed by falling rigging, which was a shame as the chap seemed to be showing some promise ....

Best wishes,

Mark Barker
The Inshore Squadron

Coog
03-18-2012, 15:40
HMS SEINE

The Embuscade ("Ambush") was a 32-gun frigate of the French Navy.

In 1792, she escorted convoys to and from Martinique, and ferried Edmond-Charles Genêt to the USA. On 31 July 1793, she encountered and fought Boston at the Action of 31 July 1793.

With Van Stabel's squadron she took part in the Croisière du Grand Hiver.

The British captured Embuscade during the Battle of Tory Island in 1797 and commissioned her into the Royal Navy as Ambuscade.

She was commissioned in August 1800 under the command of Captain the Honourable J. Colvill. On 26 March 1801 she sailed for Jamaica but by 1802 she was back in the Channel. In September 1802, while under the command of Captain David Colby she became for a time the flagship for Rear-Admiral Edward Thornborough for the North Sea.

On 27 August 1803, while under the command of Captain David Atkins, she captured the Hendrick and Jan.

In 1804 she was renamed HMS Seine, as the previous Ambuscade had been retaken and was recommissioned under her old name, and the previous Seine had just been lost.

In early 1805, Seine captured several vessels on the Jamaica Station. First, on 29 January, was the Spanish schooner San Ignacio, which was carrying sundries and which was declared a Droit of Admiralty. Then on 30 April she captured the French privateer schooner Perseverante.

In the capture of Perseverante, Seine received essential assistance from the packet ship Windsor Castle which Seine was convoying. Perseverante was armed with one 12-pounder gun and four 4-pounders, and had a complement of 90 men, of whom 84 were on board at the time of her capture. She was from Guadeloupe and had been out 12 days, during which she had captured the English sloop Apollo, of Bermuda. Capturing Perseverante required a chase of three hours as she was remarkable fast sailing. She was three years old, newly coppered and fastened with "composition bolts"; the description was perhaps notice to the Admiral of the station that the Royal Navy might consider buying her.

On 27 May Seine's barge, under the command of Lieutenant Bland of the Marines, captured the Spanish schooner Conception off Puerto Rico. Conception was armed with two 6-pounder guns and had a crew of 10 men. She had some nine passengers on board who resisted, but then escaped on shore. She was from Santa Maxta Martha and was carrying a cargo of log wood. Atkins captured nine prisoners who he quickly landed as they appeared ill and he wished to avoid introducing sickness into Seine. Lastly, he described Conception as a new vessel that "sails very fast".

By coincidence, on 18 June, Bland and the barge captured a second Conception, this one a felucca of two long 4-pounder guns and carrying a crew of 14 men. The capture was not without a fight as the Spanish resisted for three-quarters of an hour. In the action they suffered five men wounded; the British had no casualties. The felucca was carrying cocoa and cochineal from Puerto Rico to Cadiz. On his short cruize with the barge, Bland also destroyed a Spanish sloop.

By 29 June she was off France when she, Unicorn, Comet and Cossack captured the French brig Pierre Ceasar. The Admiralty took Pierre Caesar into service as Tigress.

Seine was broken up in 1813.

Coog
03-18-2012, 16:33
HMS IMPLACABLE

HMS Implacable was a 74-gun third rate of the Royal Navy. She was originally the French Navy's Téméraire-class ship of the line Duguay-Trouin, launched in 1800.

She survived the Battle of Trafalgar only for the British to capture her at the subsequent Battle of Cape Ortegal. In British service she participated in the capture of the Imperial Russian Navy 74-gun ship of the line Vsevolod (Russian: Всеволод) in the Baltic in 1808 during the Anglo-Russian War. Later, Implacable became a training ship. Eventually, she became the second oldest ship in the Royal Navy after HMS Victory, Lord Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar. When the Royal Navy finally scuttled Implacable in 1949, she flew both the French and British flags side-by-side as she sank.

Originally named Duguay-Trouin after René Trouin, Sieur du Gué. Construction, to a plan by Rolland but update to a plan by Sané, began in 1794 but was interrupted in 1795. She was launched at Rochefort in 1800.

On 22 November 1802, under Captain Claude Touffet, she departed Toulon as part of a squadron commanded by Commodore Pierre-Maurice-Julien Querangal, also comprising the frigate Guerrière and the flagship Duquesne, a sister Téméraire-class vessel armed en flûte. Bound for Santo Domingo, the squadron found itself blockaded in Port-au-Prince by HMS Elephant, Bellerophon, Theseus and Vanguard. After a successful sortie in the dark, the squadron split up. Guerrière and Duguay-Trouin managed to escape but Vanguard, with Tartar, captured Duquesne.

Under Capitaine de Vaisseau Lhermite she participated in an action at Cap Français.

On 21 October 1805, the Duguay-Trouin took part in the Battle of Trafalgar, where she was part of the vanguard of the French fleet under Contre-amiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley, and was one of four French ships that escaped capture that day.

On 3 November 1805, British Admiral Sir Richard Strachan, with Caesar, Hero, Courageux, Namur and four frigates, defeated and captured what remained of the Franco-Spanish fleet. In the battle, the captain of Duguay-Trouin, Claude Touffet, was killed, her masts were shot away, and she was eventually captured.

The Royal Navy commissioned her as a third rate under the name HMS Implacable. Implacable served with the Royal Navy for the rest of the Napoleonic Wars.

In early 1808 Russia initiated the Finnish War in response to Sweden's refusal to bow to Russian pressure to join the anti-British alliance. Russia captured Finland and made it a Grand Duchy under the Russian Empire. The British decided to take counter-measures and in May sent a fleet, including Centaur, under Vice-Admiral Sir James Saumarez to the Baltic. Thus in March 1808 Implacable was in the Baltic, under the command of Captain Thomas Byam Martin.

On 9 July, the Russian fleet, under Admiral Peter Khanykov, came out from Kronstadt. The Swedes massed a fleet under Swedish Admiral Cederstrom, consisting of 11 line-of-battle ships and 5 frigates at Örö and Jungfrusund to oppose them. On 16 August, Saumarez then sent Centaur and Implacable to join the Swedish fleet. They chased two Russian frigates on 19 July and joined the Swedes the following day.

On 22 August, the Russian fleet, which consisted of nine ships of the line, five large frigates and six smaller ones, moved from Hango and appeared off the Örö roads the next day. The Swedish ships from Jungfur Sound had joined Rear-Admiral Nauckhoff and by the evening of 24 August the combined Anglo-Swedish force had made its preparations. Early the next day they sailed from Örö to meet the Russians.

The Anglo-Swedish force discovered the Russians off Hango Udd. but the Russians retreated as the Allied ships followed them. Centaur and Implacable exhibited superior sailing and slowly outdistanced their Swedish allies. At 5am on 26 August Implacable caught up with a Russian straggler, the 74-gun Vsevolod (also Sewolod), under Captain Rudnew (or Roodneff).

Implacable and Vsevolod exchanged fire for about 20 minutes before Vsevolod ceased firing. Vsevolod hauled down her colours, but Hood recalled Implacable because the Russian fleet was approaching. During the fight Implacable lost six dead and 26 wounded; Vsevolod lost some 48 dead and 80 wounded.

The Russian frigate Poluks then towed Vsevolod towards Rager Vik (Ragerswik or Rogerswick), but when Centaur started to chase them the frigate dropped her tow. The Russians sent out boats to bring her in, in which endeavor they almost succeeded. They did succeed in putting 100 men aboard her as reinforcements and to replace her casualties.

However, just outside the port, Centaur was able to collide with Vsevolod. A party of seamen from Centaur then lashed her mizzen to the Russian bowsprit before Centaur opened fire. Vsevolod dropped her anchor and with both ships stuck in place, both sides attempted to board the other vessel. In the meantime, Implacable had come up and added her fire to the melee. After a battle of about half an hour, the Russian vessel struck again.

Implacable hauled Centaur off. Their prize was so firmly aground that after taking out the prisoners and wounded men, Sir Samuel Hood, in Centaur, ordered Vsevolod to be burnt. The British removed their prisoners and then set fire to Vsevolod, which blew up some hours later. Centaur had lost three killed and 27 wounded. Vsevolod lost another 124 men killed and wounded in the battle with Centaur; 56 Russians escaped by swimming ashore. In all, Vsevolod had lost 303 killed, wounded and missing.

The action with Vsevolod was the largest engagement during the Anglo-Russian War. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with the clasps "Implacable 26 Augt. 1808" and "Centaur 26 Augt. 1808" to all surviving claimants from the action.

Vice-Admiral Saumerez with his entire squadron joined the Anglo-Swedish squadron the next day. They then blockaded Khanykov's squadron for some months. After the British and the Swedes abandoned the blockade, the Russian fleet was able to return to Kronstadt.

By the summer of 1809 Martin and Implacable were back in the Baltic and Admiral Saumarez sent her and Melpomene to sail east of Nargen Island. At the beginning of July 1809 she and Melpomene sailed into the Gulf of Narva, some 110 miles east of Tallinn. There they captured nine vessels laden with timber, spars and cordage, which were the property of the Russian Emperor. Implacable, Melpomene and Prometheus deployed their boats to search all the creeks and inlets around the gulf, which yielded them three more cargo vessels. More importantly, the British discovered that a convoy was sheltering under Percola Point with an escort of eight gunboats. Each Russian gun-boat mounted both a 32 and a 24-pounder gun, and had a crew of 46 men. The British decided to send in a cutting out party to seize the convoy, and its protectors. In Martin's word, the intent was to "to impress these Strangers with that Sense of Respect and Fear, which His Majesty's other Enemies are accustomed to show to the British Flag".

At 9pm on 7 July, Implacable, Melpomene, Prometheus and Bellerophon assembled 17 boats, all under the command of Lieutenant Joseph Hawkey of Implacable. The Russians expected the British attack and positioned their vessels between two rocks off Hango Head (Hangöudde). This meant that the British would have to come straight towards the gunboats' cannon rather than flanking them. The British came straight in, enduring the fire without firing back, until they reached the Russians, at which point they boarded the gunboats.

Of the eight gunboats, the British captured six, among them gun boats No.5, No.10, No. 13, and No.15. They sank one gunboat and one escaped. The British also captured all twelve of the ships and vessels the gunboats had been protecting, as well as a large armed ship, which they burnt. These were laden with powder and provisions for the Russian army. British losses were heavy. Grapeshot killed Hawkey while he was boarding his second gunboat. Including Hawkey, Implacable lost six men killed and 17 wounded. In all, the British lost 17 men killed and 37 wounded. The Russians lost at least 65 men killed, and 127 taken prisoner, of whom 51 were wounded. For this action, the Admiralty issued the clasp "7 July Boat Service 1809" to the Naval General Service Medal.

In January 1810 Captain George Cockburn took command of Implacable. She then sailed to Quiberon Bay with a small squadron that also included Disdainful, a brig and the schooner Nonpareil, all escorting the Baron de Kolli. His mission was to arrange the escape of Ferdinand VII of Spain, whom the French had imprisoned at the Chateau of Valençay. The mission failed when Ferdinand refused to have anything to do with the British, and Kolli was arrested. Implacable then returned to Spithead.

On 17 July Rear Admiral Sir Richard Keats arrived on Implacable to take charge of the British support of the Spanish in the Siege of Cádiz. Marshal Victor's French army had completely blockaded the Isla de León by land and were further fortifying the coast with works that supplemented the existing defences. Eleven or twelve British and Spanish line-of-battle ships anchored as close to shore as they could without grounding. The allied troops defending Leon consisted of 16,500 Spaniards, 4,000 British and Germans, and 1,400 Portuguese.

In August the Allies attacked the French at Moguer, a town in the province of Huelva. Cockburn, sailing in the brig-sloop Jasper, directed the naval portion of the attack. General Lacey's Spanish troops and horses landed from the transports on 23 August about 22 miles south of the town. They then marched along the beach with 11 flat boats under Lieutenant Westphal of Implacable moving with them. The boats then ferried the troops across a large branch of the river, enabling the troops to reach Moguer next morning. The Spanish took the French somewhat by surprise and drove them out of the town. The French, numbering perhaps 1100 men, rallied and counter-attacked several times, but without success. The Spaniards followed them, but most of the French were cavalry and were able to withdraw towards Seville. Spanish casualties were slight.

Milford arrived in Cadiz on 2 September and Rear Admiral Keats moved to her. On 6 September Implacable sailed from Cadiz to Havana as escort to two Spanish 3-deckers. From there she sailed to Vera Cruz, Mexico, to pick up specie. She returned to Cadiz on 18 February 1811 with 2,000,000 dollars on board. Implacable then participated in the defense of the Isla de Leon. In August Captain I. R. Watson took command. By 1813 Implacable was back in Plymouth.

From August to November 1840 Implacable participated in the bombardment and capture of Acre, and operations on the coast of Syria. The Ottoman government awarded medals to the officers and men employed during the campaign. In 1847 the Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Syria" to the officers and men who had participated in the campaign and who claimed the medal.

From the Eastern Mediterranean Implacable sailed to Malta and then spent about a year in the Mediterranean, though she made one trip to Plymouth. She visited Syracuse, Corfu, Gibraltar and Tunis. By 15 February 1842, she was in Devonport, condemned as unfit for sea service. She was to be docked to extend her life.

From 1844 she was out of commission at Devonport. A conversion to a training ship permitted her to return to service in June 1855 in the Hamoaze. Initially she was under the command of Captain Arthur Lowe. In January 1865, under Commander Edward Hay, she became a training ship for boys. Commander Henry Carr took command in October 1877, with Commander Thomas Jackson following him in 1880.

In 1908 King Edward VII intervened to save the ship. In 1912 she was handed over to philanthropist Geoffrey Wheatly Cobb for preservation, and for use as a boys' training ship. There were several appeals to help preserve Implacable over the years, especially in the 1920s. Funds were raised and she underwent several restorations, which continued in the 1930s. In conjunction with HMS Trincomalee, she served as an accommodation ship, a training ship, a holiday ship and a coal hulk, and the two ships were renamed Foudroyant in 1943.

Unlike the unfortunate Wellesley, Implacable survived the Second World War. Still, the Admiralty scuttled her by an explosive charge on 2 December 1949. A fireboat towed her to a spot east of the Isle of Wight and she sank into Saint Catherine's Deep, about five miles from Ventnor. A French man-of-war was in attendance to render honours. Implacable was by then the second oldest ship of the Navy, after Victory, and there were heavy protests against her disposal, but given the post-War austerity, the British decided the cost of her upkeep was too much. In 1947 they had offered her to the French, who too declined to spend the money to turn her into a museum. Still, her figurehead and stern galleries were saved and are on display in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, while her capstan is on display at the maritime museum at Rochefort. Public reaction to the "criminal action against the maritime history of Britain" forced the government to support the preservation of Cutty Sark.

Coog
03-19-2012, 16:36
HMS BELLE POULE

HMS Belle Poule was a 40-gun Royal Navy fifth rate frigate, formerly Belle Poule, a Virginie-class frigate of the French Navy, which was built by the Crucy family's shipyard at Basse-Indre to a design by Jacques-Noël Sané. She was launched on 17 April 1802, and saw active service in the East, but in 1806 a British squadron under Sir John Borlase Warren captured Belle Poule. The Admiralty commissioned her into the Royal Navy, keeping her name. She was sold in 1816.

In March 1803, she joined the fleet of Rear-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois, whose mission was to re-take the colonies of the Indian Ocean, given to English at the peace of Amiens. The fleet included the 74-gun ship of the line Marengo, the frigates Atalante, Belle Poule and Sémillante, troop ships and cargoes with food and ammunition.

On 15 June 1803 Belle Poule landed troops at Pondichéry in India. The French fleet however, left the next day and the troops surrendered in September.

At the beginning of November, the division set sail for Batavia to protect the Dutch colonies. En route, Linois destroyed the English counters in Bencoolen, capturing five ships, and sailed for the South China Sea, where the China Fleet of the British East India Company was expected. The fleets met in the Battle of Pulo Aura, but the greater numbers and aggressive action of the British East Indiamen, some of whom flew Royal Navy flags, drove the French away. Linois returned to Batavia. He dispatched Atalante and Belle Poule to the Gulf of Bengal, where Belle Poule captured a few ships before returning to Ile de France).

In 1805 and 1806, Belle Poule and some other ships of the division cruised the African coast between the Red Sea and the Cape of Good Hope, capturing some ships. At the Action of 13 March 1806, Linois met with the division of Vice-Admiral Sir John Warren, with seven ships of the line (including the 108-gun London, the 82-gun Ramilles and Repulse, and the 80-gun Foudroyant), two frigates (including the 48-gun Amazon) and one corvette. After a fierce duel with London, Marengo struck her colours; Belle Poule battled against Amazon and later against Ramillies, and had to surrender as well.

At the time of her capture Belle Polue was armed with 40 18-pounder guns, had a crew of 320 men, and was under the command of Captain Brouillac. Marengo and Belle Poule had lost 65 men killed and 80 wounded. The British on London and Amazon had 13 officers and men killed and 26 officers and men wounded.


She entered service under the same name in 1808 under captain James Brisbane, joining the forces operating in the Adriatic campaign of 1807-1814 off Corfu, successfully blockading the island. In February 1809 Brisbane captured the storeship Var in a raid on the harbour at Valona; the British then used her as a storeship too. Var was anchored under he guns of two fortresses that nevertheless did not fire their guns, leaving '"Belle Poule free to concentrate her fire on the French vessel. Var was pierced for 32 guns but only had twenty-two 9-pounder guns and four 24-pounder carronades mounted. She had a crew of 200 men and was under the command of Capitaine de Frigate Palin, however Brisbane was unable to ascertain her losses as her crew abandoned her as she struck. She had been sailing from Corfu for any port in Italy that she could reach.

Between 2 and 12 October of the same year Belle Poule was involved in the invasions of the Ionian Islands of Cerigo, Cephalonia, and Zante, and would share in the booty captured there.

On 10 March 1810 Belle Poule captured the Charlotta.

Then a British force attacked the fortress of Santa Maura, which was a French strongpoint off Greece's west coast. Belle Poule's marines formed part of the assault on the enemy's lines; the fortress surrendered on 16 April 1810. Belle Poule had one man, Lieutenant Morrison, of the Royal Marines, wounded at this time. In all, during the siege of Santa Maura, from 31 March to 10 April, Belle Poule suffered six men wounded.

On 21 August 1810 Belle Poule captured the Saint Nicholo. Then on 11 December, Belle Poule captured the Italian brig Carlotta, pierced for 14 guns but with only 10 mounted. She had a crew of 100 men and when captured was sailing from Venice to Corfu. Montague and Acorn shared in the prize money for the hull. At around the same time Belle Poule also assisted at the capture of a French schooner on the Dalmatian Coast.

On 30 January 1811 Belle Poule, Leonidas, Victorious, and Imogene shared in the capture and destruction of the Italian man-of-war schooner Leoben. Leoben was sailing along the Albanian coast from Venice to Corfu with a cargo of ordnance stores when the British caught her. She was armed with ten guns and a crew of 60 men. Her own crew set her on fire and she subsequently blew up.

From 4-5 May 1811, Belle Poule participated with Alceste in an attack on Parenza (Istria). They chased a French 18-gun brig into the harbour but the ships could not close enough to bombard her. Instead, the two vessels landed 200 seamen and all their marines on an island nearby. They then landed two 9-pounders and two howitzers, which they placed in one battery, and a field piece that they placed further away. Eventually, they and the French in Parenza engaged in five hours of mutual bombardment, during which the British were able to sink the brig. They then returned men and cannons to their ships. In the action Belle Poule had one man killed and three wounded and Alceste had two men killed; all casualties occurred onshore.

Belle Poule then returned to Britain to join the Channel Fleet. On 22 December 1811, Belle Poule and Medusa captured and destroyed two chasse marees.

During 1812 Belle Poule patrolled the Western Approaches, capturing numerous American merchant vessels and privateers. On 27 January she detained and sent in the Spy from New York. Then she captured the Prudentia on 31 January and the Don Roderick on 16 February. At the capture of the Don Roderick, Belle Poule was in company with Achates, Dryad, and Lyra.

On 30 April 1812, Belle Poule and Hermes captured the American privateer schooner Gipsy or Gipsey, out of New York, in the middle of the Atlantic and after a three-day chase. Gipsey surrendered twice to Hermes and twice got away again before Belle Poule caught her. Gipsey was of 300 tons and was armed with twelve 18-pounder carronades and an 18-pounder gun on a pivot mount.

On 26 May, Belle Poule captured the General Gates while in company with Dryad and Abercrombie. Armide shared by agreement. Three days later Armide captured the Purse, and Belle Poule shared by agreement.

In September 1812 George Harris replaced Brisbane and over the next year Belle Poule captured several American vessels, including four privateers. Warspite and Belle Poule captured the Mars and her cargo, on 26 February 1813. On 11 March, Belle Poule and the privateer Earl St Vincent captured the American ship John and Francis, of 220 tons, two guns and 16 men. She was sailing from Bordeaux to New York with a cargo of brandy and wine.

On 3 April 1813 Belle Poule took the Grand Napoleon after a chase of nine hours. She was 29 days from New York, carrying a valuable cargo to Bordeaux. She was a new vessel of 305 tons, pierced for 22 guns but carrying only four, and had a crew of 43 men. Harris described her as "copper-fastened, and in every respect one of the finest vessels I ever saw." That same day Dispatch captured the Prussian vessel Enigheidt. Briton, Belle Poule, and Royalist shared by agreement. Belle Poule also captured the American schooner Napoleon, which may have been a different vessel than the Grand Napoleon. With respect to the Napoleon, Belle Poule was in company with Briton and the hired armed cutter Fancy, with Dispatch and Royalist sharing by agreement.

Belle Poule and Pyramus took the 10-gun privateer Zebra and her crew of 38 men on 20 April 1813. Zebra was sailing from Bordeaux to New York. At the time of the capture, Andromache was in sight.

On 11 May Belle Poule took the Revenge after a chase that lasted from 5 p.m. the previous evening until 2am. Revenge was a new vessel, sailing from Charleston to Bordeaux. She had a crew of 32 men and was pierced for 16 guns but carried only four long 9-pounders.

On 20 September Belle Poule captured two French chasse marees. the first was the Roze, of 32 tons and five men, sailing from Bordeaux to Nantes. The second was the Ambition, of 25 tons and three men, sailing from Bordeaux to Rochelle.

Lastly, on 14 December Belle Poule took the brig Squirrel, which was sailing from Arcasson, in the Gironde, to New York. The brig was of 169 tons, armed with two guns and had a crew of 17 men. Belle Poule was in company with Castilian and Tartarus.

In 1814 Belle Poule was under Captain Edward Williams. Then she entered the Gironde in Southern France. Before 9 April, a landing party of seamen and marines from Belle Poule, under Captain George Harris, marched 50 miles, successively entering and destroying the batteries of Pointe Coubre, Pointe Nègre, Royan, Soulac, and Mèche. In all, the landing party destroyed forty-seven 36-pounder guns and seventeen 13" mortars. On his return from this expedition, Harris organized the siege of the fortress at Blaye. Rear Admiral Penrose then had Belle Poule sail up the Gironde, "in advance of the advanced squadron".

Following a request from the Duke of Wellington, Belle Poule was commissioned as a troopship in June under Captain Francis Baker. She was fitted for that role in August and September. On 15 August she was in Plymouth, having come from Portsmouth with the 93d Regiment of Foot. On 17 September she embarked troops before sailing for Bermuda the next day and then on to New Orleans. The 93rd would then serve at the Battle of New Orleans, where they would take heavy casualties.

Belle Poule was part of the flotilla at the battle of New Orleans. In the run-up to that battle her boats participated in the Battle of Lake Borgne on 12-14 December 1814. Her only casualties were two men slightly wounded. Many years later her crew received a distribution of head-money arising from the capture of American gun-boats and sundry bales of cotton at the battle. In 1847, the Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "14 Dec. Boat Service 1814" to all surviving claimants from the action.

Belle Poule returned to Portsmouth on 17 May 1815. A week later she sailed for Cork. She was converted to a prison hulk in 1815. She was sold on 11 June 1816 for ₤2,700.

Coog
03-21-2012, 17:03
HMS NEREIDE

The Néréide was a Sybille class 32-gun, copper-hulled, frigate of the French Navy. On 22 December 1797 HMS Phoebe captured her and she was taken into British service as HMS Nereide. The French recaptured her at the Battle of Grand Port, only to lose her again when the British took Île de France in 1810. After the Battle of Grand Port she was in such a poor condition that she was broken up.

On 6 June 1780, along with Zodiaque (74 guns), she captured a British privateer, the 10-gun cutter Prince of Wales off Madeira. She was part of the fleet of Lamotte-Picquet that sailed from Brest and on 2 May 1781 captured 18 ships in a convoy from Sint Eustatius. In 1782 she served in the Caribbean under Vaudreuil.

From 1788, she served off Africa.

After a refit in Rochefort in October 1794, she was sailing off the Isles of Scilly under the command of Lieutenant de Vaisseau Chassériau when she encountered Phoebe. After exchanging broadsides with Phoebe for about an hour and a half, Néréide struck. She had suffered 20 killed and 55 wounded; Phoebe had suffered three men killed and 10 wounded. Although the French vessel had a larger crew, she had a substantially smaller broadside and that told. She entered into British service as HMS Nereide.

In the morning of 1 March 1800, Nereide saw five sail and made towards them. They were five well-armed French privateers, but they scattered as she approached. Nereide lost sight of them until the next morning when she re-encountered one. After a pursuit of 12 hours and 123 miles, Nereide captured the French privateer Vengeance, pierced for 18 guns but carrying sixteen 12-pounders and 174 men. Vengeance had left Bordeaux on 26 February and then had joined the Bellona (twenty-four 12-pounder guns, six 36-pounder carronades, and 420 men), Favorite (sixteen 8-pounder guns and 120 men), Huron (sixteen 6-pounder guns and 187 men), and the schooner Terrailluse (fourteen 6-pounder guns and 80 men).

The next day (3 March), Nereide recaptured the American ship Perseverance, of Baltimore, which was carrying a cargo valued at £30,000. Then on 17 March Nereide recaptured the Lord Nelson.

On 11 September Watkins sailed to Curaçao to forestall the French from taking it. Then on 13 September he took possession and signed the terms of capitulation on behalf of the British.

On 25 November 1806 Nereide was under the command of Captain Robert Corbett when she captured the Spanish privateer Brilliante, a privateer lugger of four guns with a crew of 50. She was two days out of Vigo and provisioned for a cruise of four months. Corbett was particularly pleased at the capture as she had not yet captured anything, but there were several sail in sight when Nereide commenced her pursuit.

On 15 July 1808 Nereide, Otter, and Charwell shared in the capture of the French brig Lucie, and her cargo of slaves. In December Nereide captured the French corvette Gobe Mouche after a chase on the morning of the 18th. She was pierced for 12 guns but had thrown most overboard during the chase. She was under the command of Enseigne de Vaisseau Sugor, and was sailing from the Seychelles to Port Louis with dispatches. She threw them overboard, but Nereide's boat crew was able to retrieve a considerable part of them. Gobe Mouche had a complement of 80 men, but had only 30 on board when captured as she had had to man a number of prizes on her previous cruize.

In 1809, she served as convoy escort. In September, still under the command of Corbett, she played a critical part in the Raid on Saint Paul at Île Bourbon (now Réunion). There Nereide and the landing party captured the frigate Caroline, and recovered the East Indiamen Streatham and Europa, and the 14-gun Bombay Marine brig Grappler. The British also captured some merchant vessels and destroyed several forts and batteries.

In March 1810, Nereide joined HMS Iphigenia, Leopard and Magicienne off Île de France (now Mauritius).

She took part in the Battle of Grand Port where she was severely battered and eventually captured.

Nereide was under the command of Captain Nesbit Josiah Willoughby when she surrendered in December 1810 when Île de France fell to the British. She was in such a bad shape that she was broken up.

Coog
03-23-2012, 09:32
HMS DAEDALUS

The Corona was a 40-gun Hortense-Class frigate of the French Navy. The French built her in 1807 for the Venetian Navy but took her over in 1810. The British captured Corona at the Battle of Lissa and took her into the Royal Navy as HMS Daedalus. She grounded and sank off Ceylon in 1813 while escorting a convoy.

Corona was initially built in Venice for the Venetian Navy but was transferred to the French Navy in April 1810. Under Captain Nicola Paschaligo (or Pasguilogo) she served as part of the French squadron operating in the Adriatic in 1811 under Commodore Bernard Dubourdieu.

Corona was one of the ships that Dubourdieu lost at Lissa on 13 March 1811 during the battle that resulted in his death. Corona's captain was also killed in the battle and in all she lost some 200 men killed and wounded. Following her capture by Active, a fire destroyed much of Corona's upper works and killed members of her crew and five members of the British prize crew before they could extinguish it. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Lissa" to the still living survivors of the battle.

Her captors took her to Malta and then to Britain where they renamed her after the ancient Greek inventor Daedalus and took her into the Royal Navy. She was laid up for a year while her battle damage was repaired. In October 1812 she was finally readied for sea under Captain Murray Maxwell, fresh from his own victory in the Adriatic.

Daedalus sailed for the East Indies on 29 January 1813. On 1 July 1813 Daedalus was escorting a number of East Indiamen off Ceylon near Pointe de Galle. Maxwell set a course for Madras that was supposed to take her clear of all shoals. When he believed he was some eight miles off shore he changed course. At 8am on 2 July she grounded on a shoal. Although she hit gently, she had irreparably damaged her bottom. Maxwell and his crew attempted numerous remedies but could not save Daedalus and the Indiamen took off her crew. Within five minutes of Maxwell's departure Daedalus sank. The subsequent court martial ruled that the master, Arthur Webster, had failed to exercise due diligence in that he had failed to take constant depth soundings; the court ordered that he be severely reprimanded.

Coog
03-24-2012, 09:29
HMS ARMIDE

Armide was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class, and launched in 1804 at Rochefort. She served briefly in the French navy before the British captured her in 1806. She went on to serve in the British Navy until 1815 when she was broken up.

She took part in Allemand's expedition of 1805. On 18 July, she captured and burnt a Prussian cutter to maintain the secrecy of the movements of the fleet, in spite of the neutrality of Prussia at the time. The next day, she captured HMS Ranger and burnt her. She then took part in the assault on the Calcutta convoy, helping Magnanime engage and capture HMS Calcutta.

In March 1806, under Amable Troude, Armide helped repel an attack led by Robert Stopford at Les Sables-d'Olonne.

During the Action of 25 September 1806, HMS Centaur, under the command of Commodore Sir Samuel Hood, captured Armide, which was under the command of Captain Jean-Jacques-Jude Langlois, and assisted in the capture of Infatigable, Gloire and Minerve. Centaur lost three men killed and three wounded. In addition, a musket ball shattered Hood's arm, which had to be amputated. The wound forced Hood to quit the deck and leave the ship in the charge of Lieutenant William Case. Centaur also lost most of her lower rigging. In all, the British lost nine men killed and 32 wounded. Hood estimated that the French had 650 men aboard each vessel, inclusive of soldiers, but put off till later any estimate of their losses.

Armide arrived at Plymouth on 2 October 1806, where she was laid up. In 1807 and 1808 she was in ordinary in Plymouth. She then underwent repairs between February and October 1809.

Armide entered British service as the 38-gun fifth rate HMS Armide. In August 1809 Captain Lucius Ferdinand Hardyman commissioned her and assumed command.

In January 1810 Armide, under Captain Hardyman, and the 80-gun second rate, HMS Christian VII, Captain Sir Joseph Sydney Yorke, were stationed off the Basque Roads. On 10 January, they sighted a small convoy sailing from the Île d'Aix to La Rochelle. The boats of the two ships went in under small arms and grapeshot fire from a shore battery and captured a chasse-maree of about 30 tons. The tide was ebbing too fast to bring off the other vessels so the British burnt a brig, a schooner and a chasse-maree. This was regrettable as the all were fully laden with cargoes consisting of best quality wines and brandies, soap, rosin, candles, pitch, oil, pine varnish, and the like. The cutting out expedition suffered no casualties. The captured chasse maree was probably the Felicite.

On 19 January Armide recaptured the brig Hope. The next evening, boats from Armide and Christian VII pursued about 30 vessels that were coming out from the Maumusson Pass, between the Île d'Oléron and the mainland, making for La Rochelle. The French convoy then ran aground close under shore batteries. Still, the British were able to take one chasse-maree and burn four, despite heavy fire from the shore batteries. The rest escaped and headed back from where they had come. Two French sailors died in the affair and Armide had one man wounded. The captured chasse maree was probably Glorieuse.

On the night of 12 February, another convoy of ten vessels sailed from the Charente River and three chasse-marees went aground on the reef off the Point de Chatelaillon between La Rochelle and Île d'Aix. Yorke then sent in three boats each from Armide and Christian VII, plus two from HMS Seine, to attack them. Nine French gunboats, each carrying a 12-pounder carronade and six swivel guns, and manned with suffient men for 20 to 30 oars, fled from the British boats. The British captured one gunboat, killing two of her crew and wounding three, including her commander; two gunboats grounded and could not be retrieved. The British then burnt the three chasse-marees that they captured.

On 29 April Armide was in company with Daring when the captured the Aimable Betsie.

On 4 May, boats from Armide, with the assistance of boats from the 8-gun Cherokee-class brig-sloop HMS Cadmus, the gun-brig HMS Monkey, and the 12-gun gun-brig HMS Daring, attacked a French convoy of armed and coasting vessels off the Île de Ré. Despite strong fire from shore batteries and the convoy's escorts, the British accounted for 17 ships, burning 13 of them and forcing four ashore. Armide lost three men killed and three wounded.

In August Captain Richard Dalling Dun assumed command. On 27 September, the boats of the 120-gun first rate HMS Caledonia, Captain Sir Harry Neale, the 74-gun Repulse-class third rate HMS Valiant, Captain Robert Dudley Oliver, and Armide, captured two laden brigs and burned a third that had taken shelter under the guns of a battery on the Point du Ché, near Angoulins. A force of 130 Royal Marines from the two ships of the line also took and destroyed the battery after engaging reinforcements on the way. The British suffered two men wounded, but killed at least 14 French soldiers in the battery alone. The next day Armide, Caledonia, Valiant, Snapper, Arrow and the hired armed cutter Nimrod captured the San Nicolas and Aventura.

On 9 January 1811, Armide and Pheasant recaptured the Nancy.

Captain Francis Temple assumed command in September 1812. On 16 January 1813, Armide grounded near two batteries on Point St. Jaques, Quiberon Bay. When the French hailed them, the pilot on Armide replied that she was the frigate USS President and that they required no assistance. Her crew managed to re-float Armide before the French discovered they had been tricked. Still, a court-martial reprimanded Temple, "dis-rated the master from his ship", and fined the pilot of all his pay, while also sentencing him to imprisonment in the Marshalsea for two months. (This setback did not destroy Temple's naval career. He went on to rise to the rank of Vice Admiral of the White.)

From 5 February 1813 to May 1815 Armide was under the command of Captain Edward Thomas Troubridge. On 14 May, he brought her into Nova Scotia, together with a convoy of three store ships from Cork.

On 7 August 1813 Armide captured an American schooner laden with munitions of war on the Rappahannock River at Windmill Point and with two ladies as passengers. Armide forwarded the ladies to their place of destination but kept their two male escorts and three sailors as British prisoners.

On 15 August, Armide was in company with Endymion when she captured the American privateer Herald of 230 tons burthen (bm), 17 guns and 100 men. She had thrown two guns overboard while pursued. The next day Armide captured the French letter of marque Invincible, formerly the Invincible Napoleon. She was armed with 16 guns but had thrown ten overboard. She was of 331 tons burthen (bm) and had a crew of 60 men.

To prepare for the attack on New Orleans, in early December 1814 Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane hoisted his flag in Armide and took her together with the 38-gun frigate HMS Seahorse and the 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop HMS Sophie off Pensacola to an anchorage at the Isle of Vaisseau at the beginning of December 1814. On her way down two American gunboats fired on Armide, which led to the Battle of Lake Borgne. Boats from the British fleet, under Captain Nicholas Lockyer of Sophie, and including Armide, captured the American flotilla. In the action the British lost 17 men killed, including one from Armide, and 77 wounded.

After the British had succeeded in silencing American naval opposition, the British transported their troops 60 miles to Bayou Catalan (or des Pecheurs) at the head of Lake Borgne. The troops landed on December 23 and took up a position across the main road to New Orleans. While Captain Troubridge took command of the naval brigade ashore, Armide remained at anchor off the Île au Chat.

After their defeat in the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815 the British withdrew. Cochrane left the British headquarters on 14 January, returning to Armide on the 16th.

In February Armide was at Bermuda ready for passage home. She was broken up in November 1815

Churruca
03-25-2012, 02:07
Impressive article collection!
You have done a great job, Coog, congratulations! A lot of interesting naval battles, with capture at the end.

Coog
03-25-2012, 15:01
HMS MINERVE

The Minerve was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy. She was captured twice by the British and recaptured once by the French. She served under the names:

Minerve, 1794–1795

HMS Minerve, 1795–1803

Canonnière, 1803–1810

Confiance, 1810

HMS Confiance, 1810–1814

Her keel was laid in January 1792, and she was launched in 1794. She took part in combat off Noli. On 23 June 1795, she and the 36-gun Artémise engaged the frigates HMS Dido and Lowestoffe. She surrendered to the British, Artémise having fled, and was commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Minerve.

On 19 December 1796, Minerve, under the command of Captain Cockburne, was involved in an action with HMS Blanche against the Spanish frigates Santa Sabina and Ceres. Minerve captured the Santa Sabina, which lost 164 men killed and wounded. Minerve herself lost eight killed, 38 wounded and four missing. Minerve also suffered extensive damage to her masts and rigging. Blanche went off in pursuit of Ceres. Early the next morning a Spanish frigate approached Minerve, which made ready to engage. However, two Spanish ships of the line and two more frigates approached. Skillful sailing enabled Cockburne to escape with Minerve but the Spaniards recaptured Santa Sabina and her prize crew.

In the evening of 2 July 1803 during a fog, Minerve, then under the command of Captain Jahleel Brenton, ran aground near Cherbourg. She had been pursuing some merchant vessels when she hit. The guns of two nearby forts immediately took her under fire and several French gunvessels plus the brigs Chiffonne and Terrible joined in the attack. Minerve's crew attempted to refloat her, but the fire forced Brenton to surrender after she had lost 12 men killed and about 15 men wounded. The French took Minerve back into their service under the name Canonnière.

In 1806, she was based in Île de France (now Mauritius), where she took part in various cruises under Captain César-Joseph Bourayne, notably fighting an inconclusive action on 21 April against the 74-gun HMS Tremendous and the 50-gun HMS Hindostan. She captured HMS Laurel on 12 September 1808, off the Île de France.

She returned to Mauritius in late March 1809 . As she required repairs beyond those possible in Mauritius, the French eventually sent her back to France in a semi-armed state under the name Confiance.

It was during this transit that HMS Valiant recaptured her on 3 February 1810; she then briefly re-entered the Royal Navy as HMS Confiance. She never returned to active service however, and was deleted from navy lists in 1814.

Coog
03-26-2012, 15:27
HMS MAIDA

The Viala was a 74-gun Téméraire-class ship of the line of the French Navy launched in 1795. She was captured by the Royal Navy in 1806 and sold in 1814.

Between 1794 and 1795, the French successively named her Viala (in honour of Joseph Agricol Viala), Voltaire (in honour of François-Marie Arouet), and Constitution (after the Constitution of the National Convention).

In the winter of 1796-1797, she took part in the Expédition d'Irlande. She managed to reach Bantry Bay, where she was damaged in a collision with Révolution.

In 1802, she was recommissioned in Toulon, under Captain Faure.

In 1803, she was renamed again to Jupiter, and joined Vice-Admiral Corentin Urbain Leissègues's squadron bound for Santo Domingo, under Captain Laignel. Donegal, while serving in a Royal Navy squadron under the command of Vice Admiral Duckworth, captured her at the Battle of San Domingo (6 February 1806). In the battle, Jupiter lost some men killed and wounded; Donegal had 12 men killed and 33 wounded.

Jupiter arrived in Portsmouth on 6 May 1805. The Royal Navy then commissioned her as Maida, in honour of the Battle of Maida, the name Jupiter being already used for the 50-gun fourth rate Jupiter.

On 26 October 1806, Tsar Alexander I of Russia declared war on Great Britain. The official news did not arrive there until 2 December, at which time the British declared an embargo on all Russian vessels in British ports. Maida was one of some 70 vessels that shared in the proceeds of the seizure of the 44-gun Russian frigate Speshnoy, and the Russian storeship Wilhelmina (or Vilghemina) then in Portsmouth harbour. The Russian vessels were carrying the payroll for Vice-Admiral Dmitry Senyavin’s squadron in the Mediterranean.

She was commissioned in February 1807 under Captain Samuel Hood Linzee.

Maida was one of the vessels at the Second Battle of Copenhagen. There she landed a party of seamen who manned the breaching battery before the city. Because she was one of the vessels present at the seizure of the Danish fleet on 7 September, her officers and crew were entitled to share in the prize money.

Maida was paid off at Portsmouth on 9 March 1808 and placed into ordinary. In 1813 she came under the command of Captain John Hayes. She remained in ordinary, i.e., she was not recommissioned, but served as flagship at Portsmouth to Rear-Admiral Edward Griffith Colpoys.

On 25 July 1814 the Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy put her up for sale. The conditions of sale included that the purchaser was to give a bond, with two sureties for ₤3000, that they would not sell or otherwise dispose of the ship but that they would break her up within twelve months from the date of sale. She was sold on 11 August 1814 for £4,700.

Coog
03-27-2012, 07:14
HMS DONEGAL

The Barra was a Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She was renamed Pégase in 1795, and Hoche in 1797. She was captured by the British on 12 October 1798 and recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Donegal.

As Hoche, she took part in the French attempt to land in County Donegal, in the west of Ulster, to support the Irish Rebellion of 1798. She formed the flagship of an expedition under Commodore Jean-Baptiste-François Bompart, consisting of the Hoche and eight frigates, and transporting 3,000 French troops. Aboard the Hoche was Wolfe Tone, the leading figure in the Society of United Irishmen. The ships were chased by a number of British frigates after they had left the port of Brest on 16 September. Despite throwing them off, they were then pursued by a fleet of larger ships under the command of Commodore Sir John Borlase Warren. Both sides were hampered by the heavy winds and gales they encountered off the west coast of Ireland, and Hoche lost all three of her topmasts and had her mizzensail shredded, causing her to fall behind. The French were finally brought to battle off Tory Island on 12 October 1798.

The battle started at 07:00 in the morning, with Warren giving the signal for HMS Robust to steer for the French line and attack Hoche directly. Hoche then came under fire from HMS Magnanime. The next three British ships into action, the frigates HMS Ethalion, Melampus and Amelia, all raked the isolated Hoche as they passed before pressing on sail to pursue the French frigates, now sailing towards to the south-west. With the Hoche heavily damaged, Bompart finally surrendered at 10:50 with 270 of his crew and passengers killed or wounded. Wolfe Tone was later recognised and arrested.

The captured Hoche was taken into service and renamed HMS Donegal, after the action in which she had been captured. She spent 1800 in Plymouth, and in 1801 came under the command of Captain Sir Richard Strachan, with William Bissell as her First Lieutenant from 1801 until December 1805. Donegal was initially deployed in the English Channel, but following the outbreak of hostilities with Spain, she was assigned to watch the French squadron at Cadiz. Whilst on this station, she spotted and gave chase to the large 42-gun Spanish frigate Amfitrite in November 1804. After pursuing her for 46 hours, Amfitrite lost her mizzen-top-mast and was subsequently overhauled by the Donegal.

A boat was dispatched from the Donegal and the Spanish captain was brought aboard. Sir Richard did not speak Spanish and the captain did not speak English, so it was with difficulty that Sir Richard attempted to inform him that his orders were to return the Amfitrite back to Cadiz. Sir Richard allowed the captain three minutes to decide whether he would comply with the order, but after waiting for six minutes without an answer, opened fire on the Amfitrite. The engagement lasted only eight minutes, and resulted in a number of deaths, including the Spanish captain, who fell to a musket ball. The Amfitrite surrendered and after being searched, was found to be laden with stores and carrying dispatches from Cadiz to Tenerife and Havana. She was taken over and later commissioned into the Navy as HMS Amfitrite. Donegal would later make another capture off Cadiz, taking a Spanish vessel carrying a cargo reputed to be worth 200,000 pounds.

By 1805 Donegal was still off Cadiz, under the command of Captain Pulteney Malcolm. She then accompanied Vice-admiral Nelson in his pursuit of the combined fleets across the Atlantic to the West Indies and back. She was not present at Trafalgar, but was able, on 23 October, to capture the partially dismasted Spanish first rate Rayo which had escaped Trafalgar, but had been ordered to sea again to attempt to recapture some of the British prizes.

Donegal was then part of a squadron off Cadiz under Vice-admiral John Duckworth, when news reached him that two French squadrons had sailed from Brest in December 1805. Duckworth took his squadron to Barbados to search for them, eventually sighting them off San Domingo on 6 February. Duckworth organised his ships into two lines, the weather line consisting of HMS Superb, HMS Northumberland and HMS Spencer, while the lee line consisted of HMS Agamemnon, HMS Canopus, HMS Donegal and HMS Atlas. The lines moved to attack the French ships and the Battle of San Domingo broke out. Donegal initially engaged the Brave with several broadsides, forcing her to surrender after half an hour. Captain Malcolm then moved his position to fire a few broadsides into the Jupiter before sending a boarding party aboard her. The crew of the Jupiter then surrendered her. Captain Malcolm then directed the frigate HMS Acasta to take possession of the Brave. After the battle, Donegal had lost her fore-yard and had 12 killed and 33 wounded.

She remained under the command of Pulteney Malcolm, and was stationed off Finisterre throughout 1807. She then became the flagship of Rear-admiral Eliab Harvey, and was later placed under the command of Rear-admiral Richard Keats in the Channel. Donegal was at Spithead in 1808 and over a period of five days from 1 August Captain Malcolm oversaw the disembarkation of Sir Arthur Wellesley's army at Mondego Bay. Donegal’s first-lieutenant James Askey acted as the beach-master during the landings.

On 23 February 1809 Donegal was part of a squadron under Rear-admiral Stopford, when they chased three enemy frigates into the Sable d'Olonne, leading to the Battle of Les Sables-d'Olonne. HMS Defiance was able to anchor within half a mile of them, whilst HMS Donegal and HMS Caesar had to anchor further out because of their deeper draughts. Their combined fire eventually forced two of the frigates to run ashore, whilst Donegal suffered one man killed and six wounded in the engagement. By April 1809 Donegal was sailing with Admiral James Gambier's fleet in the Basque Roads. During the Battle of the Basque Roads, Donegal’s first-lieutenant James Askey commanded the fire ship Hercule in the attack on the French fleet, with the assistance of midshipman Charles Falkiner, also of the Donegal.

Donegal was commanded by acting-Captain Edward Pelham Brenton when she sailed for Cadiz on 24 July 1809, carrying the ambassador to the Junta at Seville, Marquess Richard Wellesley, brother of Sir Arthur Wellesley. She arrived on 1 August, shortly after the Battle of Talavera, and after the failure of Richard Wellesley's mission, returned him to Britain in November. On her arrival, Captain Malcolm resumed command of the Donegal. On 13 October 1810, the frigates HMS Diana and HMS Niobe attacked and drove two French frigates ashore near La Hogue. Donegal and HMS Revenge arrived the next day and together the four ships fired upon the French for as long as the tide would allow. Donegal had three men wounded in this action.

She spent most of 1811 off Cherbourg, before being reduced to ordinary at Portsmouth later that year. She was later moved and spent 1814 in ordinary at Chatham. Donegal was eventually broken up in 1845.

Bligh
03-27-2012, 07:35
This set of articles is rapidly becoming a great data base ready for some ship conversions methinks.
Rob.

Coog
03-28-2012, 18:05
HMS SCIPION

Scipion was a 74-gun French ship of the line, built at Lorient to a design by Jacques Noel Sane. She was launched as Orient in late 1798, and renamed Scipion in 1801. She was first commissioned in 1802 and joined the French Mediterranean fleet based at Toulon, in the squadron of Admiral Leissègues. Consequently she was one of the ships ships afloat in that port when war with England reopened in May 1803. She participated in the Battle of Cape Finisterre and the Battle of Trafalgar. The British captured her in the subsequent Battle of Cape Ortegal. In 1810 she participated in the Java campaign, which in 1847 earned her surviving crew the Naval General Service Medal. She participated in the blockade of Toulon in 1813 and was paid off in 1814. She was broken up in 1819.

In 1805, she was part of Admiral Villeneuve's fleet. She took part in the Battle of Cape Finisterre and was one of Rear-Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley's ships at the Battle of Trafalgar.

Dumanoir commanded the six-ship vanguard of the French fleet, with Formidable, Scipion, Duguay-Trouin, Mont-Blanc, Intrépide, and Neptune. Nelson's attacks left these ships downwind of the main confrontation and Dumanoir did not immediately obey Villeneuve's orders to return to the battle. When the ships did turn back, most of them only exchanged a few shots before retiring.

On 4 November 1805, in the Battle of Cape Ortegal, Admiral Sir Richard Strachan, with HMS Caesar, HMS Hero, HMS Courageux, HMS Namur and four frigates, defeated and captured what remained of the squadron. HMS Phoenix and HMS Révolutionnaire took Scipion, which the Royal Navy commissioned as HMS Scipion.

Scipion arrived in Plymouth on 4 November 1805 and was laid up. She underwent repairs between June 1808 and November 1809, being commissioned under for the Channel in July 1809. Captain Charles Phillips Butler Bateman took command on 25 September 1809.

She became the flagship of Rear Admiral the Hon. Robert Stopford in 1810. Bateman and Stopford sailed her in the Bay of Biscay.

On 8 October she sailed for the Cape of Good Hope and then the East Indies. In 1811 Captain James Johnson took command. Stopford's fleet consisted of four sail of the line (including Scipion), thirteen frigates, seven sloops and eight cruisers of the East India Company, captured the island of Java on 18 September 1811. In 1847, the surviving members of the expedition were awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Java".

Captain Henry Heathcote took command on 28 April 1812. He then sailed Scipion for the Mediterranean on 20 July 1812. Here she participated in the blockade of Toulon, including Admiral Edward Pellew's skirmish with the French fleet on 5 November 1813.

Scipion was paid off at Portsmouth on 29 October 1814. She underwent a Middling Repair in September 1818, but then was broken up in January 1819.

rrrreubanks
03-29-2012, 11:15
But why are there so many more French ships in the British navy, than British in the French navy? (just kidding...)

Coog
03-29-2012, 14:56
But why are there so many more French ships in the British navy, than British in the French navy? (just kidding...)

I knew when I started this thread there would be quite a few, but I just keep finding more and more. There are still more that I need to post that have some interesting histories and a lot that I have passed up that were captured but have lackluster stories.

Coog
03-29-2012, 15:33
HMS UNITE

The Impérieuse was a 40-gun Minerve class frigate of the French Navy. She later served in the Royal Navy as HMS Imperieuse and HMS Unite.

In 1788, she cruised in the Middle East, and the Aegean Sea the two following years. She performed another cruise off the Middle East before returning to Toulon. On 11 October 1793, Impérieuse was captured off La Spezia by HMS Captain and the Spanish ship of the line Bahama.

She was subsequently recommissioned in the Royal Navy as the fifth rate frigate HMS Imperieuse.

Imperieuse entered service in 1795, and operated in the West Indies off Martinique and Surinam for most of the French Revolutionary Wars, under the command of Captain John Poo Beresford. Returning to Britain at the Peace of Amiens, Imperieuse was renamed Unite and when the Napoleonic Wars began returned to service in the Mediterranean. Under Captain Patrick Campbell Unite was the first frigate to enter the Adriatic Sea in the war and during the spring of 1808 captured a string of French and Italian gunboats and coastal merchant vessels, notably the Jeulie.

On 19 May 1810 Unite captured the French privateer Du Guay Trouin of 10 guns and 116 men.

By 1811 Unite was still operating in the Mediterranean, under Captain Chamberlayne. On 31 March, along with HMS Ajax, Unite helped capture the French supply ship Dromadaire off Corsica, and on 1 May, she blew up the French gunboats Giraffe and Nourrice sheltering near the island at Sagone, with the help of HMS Pomone and HMS Scout.

Through the summer Unite operated off the mouth of the Tiber and in the autumn she was once again sent to the Adriatic, participating in the Action of 29 November 1811 at which she captured the armed storeship Persanne.

By 1815, Unite was back in Britain in reserve at Deptford and she remained there until converted for harbour service in 1832. Between 1841 and 1858, she was used as a prison hulk. The ship was eventually broken up in January 1858 at Chatham Dockyard.

Coog
03-29-2012, 15:58
HMS FURIEUSE

Furieuse was a 38-gun frigate of the French Navy. She was captured by the Royal Navy in 1809 and taken into servive as the fifth rate HMS Furieuse.

Furieuse was built at Cherbourg in 1797 to a design by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait. She began as a Romaine-class frigate but was completed as a Seine-class frigate.

By 1809 Furieuse was in the Caribbean, sailing from Îles des Saintes on 1 April, carrying sugar and coffee to France. She was capable of carrying 48 guns, but was armed en flûte, carrying only 20 at the time of her capture. She had a large crew, with 200 sailors, 40 soldiers and a detachment of troops from the 60th regiment of the line. On her voyage to France she came across a large English merchant on 5 July. Furieuse was in the process of taking possession of the merchantman when the 20-gun sloop HMS Bonne Citoyenne, commanded by Commander William Mounsey, came upon the scene.

Bonne Citoyenne was returning to a convoy she was escorting, but on seeing what was happening, Mounsey ordered her to close. As Bonne Citoyenne approached, Furieuse abandoned her prize and began to flee northwards. Emboldened, Mounsey set off in pursuit; after an 18 hour chase Bonne Citoyenne had closed the range and brought Furieuse to battle.

The two ships exchanged broadsides for the next seven hours. Bonne Citoyenne was at a disadvantage early on. Not only was she much smaller, but three of her guns were quickly dismounted. She nevertheless fired 129 broadsides to the enemy's 70. By the end of the battle Bonne Citoyenne had lost her top masts, her lower masts were badly damaged, and her rigging, sails and boats had been shot to pieces. Realizing that he was running out of powder, Mounsey decided to force the issue and prepared to board the French ship. Before he could do so, Furieuse surrendered and Mounsey took possession.

Furieuse had suffered heavy damage, with her masts shot away and five feet of water in the hold. She had also suffered 35 killed and 37 wounded. In contrast, Bonne Citoyenne had just one man killed and five wounded. In 1847 the Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Bonne Citoyenne Wh. Furieuse" to all surviving claimants from Bonne Cityonne.

Bonne Citoyenne towed Furieuse into Halifax, where both were repaired. The Royal Navy commissioned the captured frigate as HMS Furieuse and appointed John Simpson to sail her to Britain. So far she has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name, though other ships have borne the English spelling, HMS Furious.

On her arrival Furieuse underwent a more thorough repair. After the repairs she was commissioned in November 1811 under her captor, William Mounsey, who had received promotion to post-captain for his victory.

Furieuse was initially employed in escorting a convoy to the Mediterranean, after which she joined the fleet blockading Toulon under Admiral Edward Pellew. The French fleet sailed out in May 1812, consisting of 12 sail of the line and seven frigates, of which one ship of the line and two frigates began to chase the British inshore squadron, consisting of Furieuse, the frigates HMS Menelaus and HMS Havannah, and the brig HMS Pelorus. The French gave up the chase when the British made clear their intention to fight.

On 9 November 1812 Furieuse captured the French privateer Nebrophonus, off Veutiliceo, after a chase of two hours. She was armed with four guns and had a crew of 54 men. She was 34 days out of Naples and had not made any captures. The day before she had escaped from Imperieuse and Unite. Unite was in sight when Furieuse captured Nebrophonus. On 24 November Furieuse captured the French schooner Fortuna. In October 1815 prize money was paid for Nebrophonus and Fortuna.

Then on 1 January 1813 Fureuse captured the privateer Argus off Montecristo. Argus was pierced for 12 guns but carried only four 12-pounders. She had a crew of 85 men and was eight days out of Leghorn without having captured anything.

In February 1813 Mounsey supported Charles John Napier in HMS Thames in the capture of the island of Ponza. They landed troops on 26 February, after passing through fire from shore batteries. Neither vessel, nor the troops they brought with them, suffered any casualties. The capture of the harbour provided an anchorage and fresh water for Royal Navy ships patrolling the coast.

On 7 May boats from Furieuse captured the French xebec Conception of two 6-pounder guns. The boats cut her out from under the tower and batteries of Orbisello and towed her out to sea under heavy fire. Fureiuse lost four men wounded in this operation.

On 4 October a convoy was sighted in the bay of Santa Marinella, a few miles east of Civitavecchia. Although two gunboats and a shore battery of two long 24-pounder guns protected the convoy, Mounsey decided to launch a cutting out expedition. Furieuse landed her Marines who, together with the boat crews, stormed and captured a fort while Furieuse used her guns to provide covering fire. The enemy retreated to a nearby castle and continued to pour small arms fire on the landing party. Still, the British were able to sink the two gunboats and bring out 16 merchant ships. Furieuse kept up a steady fire, preventing reinforcements from Civitavecchia from intervening. The landing party lost two men killed and 10 wounded in the operation.

For the rest of 1813 Furieuse formed part of Admiral Sir Josias Rowley's squadron. She was present at the capture of Viareggio and the unsuccessful assault on Livorno in December. In early March 1814, still with Rowley, Furieuse assisted in the occupation of La Spezia and the surrounding areas.

On 17 April a squadron consisting of Furieuse, HMS Aboukir, HMS Iphigenia, HMS Swallow and HMS Cephalus, among many others, including the Sicilian flotilla, and under the command of Vice-Admiral Pellew, supported the successful assault on Genoa.

The end of the War of the Sixth Coalition in 1814 saw Furieuse sailing from Gibraltar to Bermuda with Captain Andrew King's squadron, escorting a fleet of transports. Later she conveyed the 62nd regiment to Halifax. At the end of the War of 1812 she remained in the area to assist the British troops who had fortified the Castine Peninsula.

HMS Furieuse was paid off in autumn 1815. She was sold for breaking up in October 1816 at Deptford.

Capt P
03-29-2012, 16:19
Didn't know there was a real HMS Surprise. All your info is great. Can't wait for the ships to come out.

Coog
03-29-2012, 18:45
HMS POMONE

The Astrée was a 44-gun Pallas-class frigate of the French Navy, launched at Cherbourg in 1809. In December of the next year she captured HMS Africaine. The Royal Navy captured Astrée in 1810 and took her into service under her French name, but then in 1811 recommissioned her as HMS Pomone. She served during the War of 1812 and was broken up in 1816.

She took part in the campaign in the Indian Ocean under Captain Le Marant, part of Hamelin's squadron. She also was present in the final stages of the Battle of Grand Port.

Astrée came to be part of a squadron under Pierre Bouvet, who had assumed command of the French squadron at Grand Port after Duperré was wounded, and had been promoted to capitaine de frégate. The squadron also comprised Iphigenia as a flagship, and the sloop Entreprenant.

On 12 September 1810, Bouvet's squadron intercepted Africaine (commanded by Commodore Corbett) off Saint-Denis, as the frigate Boadicea, the sloop Otter and the brig Staunch were sailing from the bay of Saint-Paul. Bouvet lured the British into pursuit.

At midnight Bouvet sent Astrée forwards, creating the impression that Iphigénie was to slow Africaine down to allow the rest of the squadron to flee. At 3 am, Astrée regained her place at the rear of the squadron. The weather, which had been rough, improved somewhat, and in the moonlight Astrée suddenly found herself at gun range of Africaine.

A gunnery duel followed immediately, which damaged Astrée's rigging. She closed in to Iphigénie with Africaine in close pursuit. Africaine, her guns still trained at Astrée, soon found herself under fire from Iphigénie. After half an hour of exchanging fire at point-black range, an exchange in which the French had the upper hand, the British attempted a boarding, which Iphigénie easily eluded. The boarding attempt gave Astrée an opportunity to rake Africaine's bow. At 4:30, Africaine struck her colours.

All officers of Africaine had been killed or wounded in the action, save for Colonel Barry, and only 69 men were uninjured. Bouvet was given Corbett's dagger, which he kept ever since. The French abandoned Africaine and the next day HMS Boadicea recaptured her.

On 3 December 1810, the Île de France fell to the British. The ships moored at the island were surrendered, including Iphigénie, Bellone and Astrée. The British took Astrée into service as a 38-gun fifth rate and renamed her HMS Pomone on 26 October 1811, the previous HMS Pomone having been wrecked earlier in the month.

Pomone underwent repairs at Portsmouth from November 1811 to April 1812. She was commissioned under Captain Robert Lambert in February 1812. At some point Captain Francis William Fane took command, and on 23 May 1812 sailed her for Newfoundland. Captain Philip Cartaret took command in December 1812.

On 26 May 1813, Pomone received salvage from the owners on the recapture of the two Spanish vessels El Correv Diligente de Carraccas and Nostra Senora de los Desemperados. She apparently shared the reward with Tuscan and some three other vessels.

Early on the morning of 21 October 1813, Pomone was in the Bay of Biscay repairing damage following a gale in which she had lost her fore-yard. By chance she fell in with a ship under jury masts that proved to be a French frigate.

Carteret was about to attack when another vessel, which also appeared to be a frigate, and a brig flying French colours, emerged from the haze, followed by three more indistinct vessels. To avoid hazarding Pomone, Carteret got well to windward of them. However, when the wind cleared in the afternoon it was discovered that they were all merchantmen except for the frigate under jury masts and the second frigate.

Carteret moved to attack the second frigate but she turned out to be a large Portuguese East Indiaman, which the French had taken and the British retaken. Carteret then sailed for four days in a fruitless search for the frigate under jury masts before he was able to find out that Andromache had captured her on 23 October. She was the Trave, and the Royal Navy took her into service under the same name.

An anonymous letter from "The Pomone's Ship's Company" was passed to the Admiral at Lisbon asserting with respect to Carteret that "he had run from a French frigate". Carteret asked for a court martial to clear his name. The court martial took place at Plymouth on Salvador del Mundo on 31 December. When no one could be found to offer testimony against him, Carteret summoned those he suspected, plus one quarter of the ship's company chosen by lot. After the board had examined the witnesses it acquitted Carteret of all blame.

After service in the North Sea and the waters around France, Pomone sailed to the east coast of the United States to serve during the War of 1812. With Cydnus, Pomone captured the American privateer Bunker's Hill on 4 March 1814. Bunker's Hill carried 14 guns and had a crew of 86 men. Previously very successful, she had been cruising for eight days out of Morlaix without making a single capture. Bunker's Hill was the former Royal Navy cutter Linnet, which the French ship Gloire had taken about a year earlier on 25 February 1813 near Madeira.

Pomone was also part of the squadron that captured the USS President on 15 January 1815. In April 1815 Carteret moved to Desiree and Captain John Lumley took over command.

In the summer of 1815 Pomone was paid off at Chatham. She was broken up at Deptford in June 1816.

Coog
03-30-2012, 07:42
HMS BONNE CITOYENNE

Bonne Citoyenne was a 20-gun corvette of the French Navy, which the Royal Navy captured and recommissioned as the sloop-of-war HMS Bonne Citoyenne. Her most famous action was her capture of the French frigate Furieuse on 6 July 1809 for which her crew would earn the Naval General Service Medal. Her lines were used as the basis for the Hermes-class post ships. She was sold in 1819.

Bonne Citoyenne was built and launched in 1794, put into service in 1795 and served in the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay.

On 4 March she left Rochfort under the command of Capitaine de Vaisseau Mahé-La-Bourdonnais. She was in the company of the French frigates Forte, Seine, and Regenerée, and the brig Mutine. They were sailing for the Île de France with troops and Bonne Citoyenne also had a great deal of soldiers' clothing on board.

Bonne Citoyenne had the misfortune to be damaged in a storm and to become separated from the rest of the French squadron. On 10 March she had the further misfortune to encounter the fifth-rate frigate HMS Phaeton, under the command of Robert Stopford, and his squadron. The squadron captured her 58 leagues off Cape Finisterre.

Stopford then took her back to England as his prize. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Bonne Citoyenne.

Bonne Citoyenne's first captain was Commander Sir Charles Lindsay, who took command in June 1796. On 22 September she captured the Jonge George. Ten days later, she captured the Jussrouw Van Altona.

Lindsay sailed for the Mediterranean in January 1797 where she joined a squadron under Lord Viscount Garlies, off Cadiz. The squadron also included Lively, Niger, Meleager, Raven and Fortune. That month they captured the Spanish merchant vessels Santa Natalia and Caridad (alias Cubana).

Bonne Citoyenne was in company with the other vessels of Garlies' squadron when they captured the Spanish brigs San Juan Baptista on 6 February and the Virgine de Monserrate three days later. At about the same time they also captured the Spanish ship San Francisco, which they sent into Lisbon.

Bonne Citoyenne was at the Battle of Cape St Vincent on 14 February, when she signaled Admiral John Jervis that she had sighted the French fleet. Bonne Citoyenne shared in the prize money arising from the battle. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "St. Vincent" to all surviving claimants from the battle.

The British anchored in Lagos Bay with their prizes. Jervis then sent a squadron, that included Bonne Citoyenne, under Captain Velters Cornwall Berkeley in Emerald to find the 130-gun Santissima Trinidad. Six days later they did, only for Berkeley to break of the chase and lose her, for reasons that have never been explained. Terpsichore came up and found Santissima Trinidad, firing several broadsides into her before she broke off the engagement. As Santissima Trinidad was much larger and more heavily armed than Terpsichore it is not clear what Bowen actually expected to accomplish. At some point, Bonne Citoyenne, Emerald and Alcmene shared in the proceeds of the capture of the Spanish ship Concordia.

In March Captain Lord Mark Kerr took command, only to be replaced in May by Commander Richard Retalick. Bonne Citoyenne then had a productive summer capturing two privateers and numerous other vessels:

Pleuvier, a French privateer, of nine guns and 43 crew men. Bonne Citoyenne captured her between Carthaginia and Oran. Pleuvier was eight days out of Carthagina but had taken nothing. Bonne Citoyenne sent her to Algiers.

Canarde, a French privateer of 16 guns and 64 crew men. She was three months out of Marseilles and had captured one Prussian and one Russian vessel, as well as one vessel under the Turkish flag. Bonne Citoyenne sent her into Malta.

Two Spanish brigs sailing in ballast, from Catalonia to Trieste, but carrying 8,900 dollars.

A Spanish tartan, Jengin (or Virgine) del Rosario, which was sailing from Barcelona to Minorca with 20 recruits. Retalick reported that "the Wind being to the Southward, and scarce of Water, sent all the Prisoners on Board of her."

Eight other Spanish merchantmen of small value.

Commander Josiah Nisbet replaced Retalick in May 1798. On 28 October, Bonne Citoyenne and Goliath captured two vessels off Capo Passaro, Sicily. Both belonged to the French Republic. The brig San Giovanni e San Nicolo was carrying corn. The Bologna was carrying merchandise, with both vessel and merchandise being Genoese property.

Bonne Cityonne joined Admiral Horatio Nelson's squadron and went out with it to the Mediterranean, but did not arrive at Abu Qir Bay until ten days after the Battle of the Nile. Nisbet was promoted to post captain in December.

In January 1799 Nelson ordered Bonne Citoyenne to convey the Turkish Ambassador to Constantinople. Nisbet returned to Palermo with dispatches from Constantinople for Nelson. She then sailed to Malta to join the fleet blockading the French garrison there, arriving in early April.

Commander Thomas Malling took over in August. His successor, in September, was Lieutenant Archibald Duff (acting), who left after the Admiralty refused to confirm the appointment. The next month Commander Robert Jackson assumed command.

Bonne Citoyenne was among the many vessels of the Malta blockade sharing in the prize money accruing from the capture on 18 February of the French warship Genereux. The first distribution of the proceeds of the hull, provisions and stores totaled ₤24,000. On 2 April the squadron captured the Guillaume Tell, with the vessels of the squadron sharing in the prize money. Similarly Bonne Citoyenne shared in the capture on 6 April of the French polacca Vengeance, which was going into La Valletta. Next, on 27 June, vessels of the squadron captured the French privateers Redoubtable and Entreprenant. Bonne Citoyenne was also among the vessels sharing in the proceeds from the capture of the French frigate Dianne on 25 August off Malta as she and Justice attempted to escape. Although the British captured Dianne, Justice was able to slip away in the dark.

On 5 September 1800, the British took Malta after two years of blockade. Bonne Citoyenne was among the vessels and regiments that shared in the prize money. On 18 October, an Anglo-Portuguese squadron shared in the capture of the Ragusan polacca Madonna Della Gratia e San Gaetano, which was carrying plate, amongst other cargo. The British vessels were Alexander, Terpsichore, Bonne Citoyenne and Incendiary, and the Portuguese vessels, Principe Reale, Reynha de Portugal, Alfonso di Albuquerque, and the corvette Benjamin. The seizure on 27 October of two Greek polaccas off Malta also led to a shared payout, this one involving more, but only British vessels. One of the polaccas was the San Nicolo, but the name of the other is unknown. Nelson order the hulls burnt before La Valetta. The seizure on 31 October of the ship Fowler involved fewer vessels.

On 31 December 1800 Jackson and the Bonne Citoyenne captured the Spanish privateer settee Vives about 20 leagues off Cape Mola, outside Port Mahon. Vives was armed with ten 9-pounders and had a crew of 80 men. She was ten days out of Palma and had previously captured a merchant vessel carrying wine from Port Mahon to Citadella. Jackson recaptured this ship too.

Bonne Citoyenne then returned to Gibraltar. There she was among the vessels that shared in the capture of the Eurydice on 9 February 1801.

Next, she sailed for Egypt with Lord Keith's fleet. The force attacked the French at Alexandria. On 9 June, Bonne Citoyenne, and the brig-sloops Port Mahon and Victorieuse captured the Bonaparte, Vierge de Nieges, Felicité and [I]Josephine[I/] off Alexandria. The prize money was forwarded by the British agent there. Next, Bonne Citoyenne shared in the capture of the Almas di Purgatoria, off Alexandria, on 28 July. After the Battle of Alexandria and the subsequent siege, Captain Alexander Cochrane in the 74-gun third rate Ajax, with Bonne Citoyenne, Cynthia, Victorieuse and Port Mahon and three Turkish corvettes, were able to enter the harbour on 21 August.

In 1850 the Admiralty awarded the Medal for Egypt to the crews of any vessel that had served in the campaign between 8 March and 2 September 1801. Bonne Cityonne is listed among the vessels whose crews qualified.

Jackson was promoted to Post Captain in April 1802; his replacement, in May, was Captain Philip Carteret.

Bonne Citoyenne was paid off in 1803. By 1805 she was moored at Chatham, where she underwent repairs in 1808. She was recommissioned under John Thompson in May 1808, and served off the north coast of Spain. William Mounsey replaced Thompson on 18 April 1809. He then took despatches to Earl St Vincent. While Mounsey was in command of Bonne Citoyenne, she ran down and sank a merchant vessel, the Doris. Lieutenant Symes, first lieutenant of Bonne Citoyenne was the officer of the watch and was on deck at the time. The owners of Doris sued Mounsey, but the case was dismissed on the grounds that Mounsey had not appointed Symes.

Bonne Citoyenne returned to England after delivering the despatches, and on 18 June sailed from Spithead in company with HMS Inflexible. The two were acting as escorts for a convoy bound for Quebec. Whilst she escorted the convoy, on 2 July, lookouts spotted a suspicious sail astern, and Mounsey dropped back to investigate. In doing so he lost sight of the convoy.

As he sailed to rejoin the convoy, on 5 July he came across a French frigate that was in the process of capturing an English merchant. Despite the frigate's substantially larger size, Mounsey immediately gave chase, at which the French ship fled northwards. After a chase lasting 18 hours the Bonne Citoyenne caught up with the French ship on the morning of 6 July and brought her to battle.

The subsequent engagement lasted seven hours, with Bonne Citoyenne at a disadvantage early on, when three of her guns were dismounted. She nevertheless fired 129 broadsides to the enemy's 70. By the end of the battle Bonne Citoyenne had lost her top masts, her lower masts were badly damaged, and her rigging, sails and boats had been shot to pieces. Running out of powder Mounsey decided to force the issue and ordered his men to be prepared to board the French ship. Before he could do so, the French surrendered and Mounsey took possession.

The enemy ship was discovered to be the Furieuse, which had sailed from the Îles des Saintes on 1 April, carrying sugar and coffee to France. She was capable of carrying 48 guns, but she was armed en flute, only carrying 20 at the time. Even so, the weight of her broadside was considerable as she carried twelve 42-pounder carronades, two long 24-pounder guns, and six other guns of smaller caliber. She also had a much larger crew, with 200 sailors, 40 soldiers, and a detachment of troops from the 60th Regiment of the Line. Furieuse had suffered heavy damage; she had lost her masts, had five feet of water in the hold, and her casualties numbered 35 killed and 37 wounded. By contrast, Bonne Citoyenne had lost just one man killed and five wounded. Mounsey attributed the smallness of his losses to "the Lowness of the Bonne Citoyenne's Hull, and being so close under the Enemy's Guns."

Furieuse was patched up, with a great deal of effort, to the point where Bonne Citoyenne could tow her into Halifax, where both underwent repairs. The Royal Navy took HMS Furieuse into service under her existing name. Bonne Citoyenne returned to England in September.

A round of promotions followed the victory. Bonne Citoyenne's first lieutenant received a promotion to commander and Mounsey one to Post captain, effective 6 July, i.e., the date of the battle. Mounsey was promised command of Furieuse once she was repaired. Captain John Simpson commissioned Furieuse in Halifax and sailed her to Britain, arriving in Portsmouth on 20 June 1810. She then underwent repairs. Mounsey then commissioned her in November 1811.

Inflexible sued in Vice-Admiralty Court in Halifax to share in the prize money from the capture. However, the Court ruled that Bonne Citoyenne was the sole captor.

The Admiralty issued Mounsey with a gold medal for the action, one of only 18 that they so honoured. In 1847 the Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Bonne Citoyenne Wh. Furieuse" to all surviving claimants from Bonne Cityonne.

When Mounsey left Bonne Citoyenne in 1810, his successor was Commander Richard James O'Connor. On 21 June 1810, Bonne Citoyenne captured the French privateer Maitre de Danse in the Channel. She was pierced for 14 guns but only mounted four, and had a crew of 30 men. O'Connor sailed Bonne Citoyenne on a convoy to Madeira on 11 July 1810.

In November Pitt Burnaby Greene took command. Greene was promoted to Post captain on 7 March 1811, after which Bonne Citoyenne was re-classed as a Post-ship. Greene sailed her to the South American Station on 12 March. Bonne Citoyenne was based at the River Plate, and Greene was the senior officer of the station from December 1811 to September 1812 when Captain Peter Heywood arrived.

With the outbreak of the War of 1812 Greene took on a cargo of specie, worth some half a million pounds, and sailed from Rio de Janeiro. Unfortunately, a grounding damaged Bonne Citoyenne and he was forced to put into Salvador for repairs. Whilst she was in port, two American warships, the USS Constitution and USS Hornet arrived. James Lawrence of the Hornet sent a challenge to Greene, offering a single ship combat, with Commodore William Bainbridge of Constitution pledging not to intervene in any way.

Bonne Citoyenne and Hornet were evenly matched in terms of the number of guns, weight of their broadsides, and sizes of their crews. In his reply, Greene stated that he expected that he would emerge the victor in such a contest, but that he could not expect Bainbridge and Constitution to forsake their duty to intervene should Bonne Citoyenne emerge the victor. Consequently he declined the challenge at this time and place, but stated that he stood ready to accept the opportunity should the circumstances be different.

Constitution left on 6 January 1813, but Bonne Citoyenne did not sortie even though Hornet was now apparently alone. The arrival of the third rate Montagu on 24 January 1813 finally forced Hornet to leave. Greene sailed for Portsmouth on 26 January, arriving there in April. Bonne Citoyenne then returned to Jamaica, before again returning to Britain.

In August 1814 or so Captain Augustus Clifford took command of Bonne Citoyenne. She was laid up in ordinary in January 1815. The Navy put her up for sale on 3 February 1819, and sold her on that day to Joshua Crystall for ₤1,550.

csadn
03-30-2012, 15:50
But why are there so many more French ships in the British navy, than British in the French navy? (just kidding...)

Simply put: France's great naval commanders were mostly Nobility -- so when the Revolution started, most of them wound up exiled or dead; the ones who survived were the ones better at CYA than CQB (Villeneuve, et al.). The Revolution did more damage to the French Navy than the British ever managed, as it was due to the Rev that the Navy was unable to stop Britain controlling trade around Europe, and thus guaranteed the failure of the Revolution. (One ponders what might have been had Napoleon been a sailor instead of a landman.)

Coog
03-30-2012, 21:41
HMS ALCESTE

The Minerve was a 38-gun Armide class frigate of the French Navy, captured by the British in 1806 and brought into Royal Navy service as HMS Alceste. She was wrecked in 1817.

Alceste was built for the French Navy as the Minerve, an Armide Class 18-pounder/40-gun frigate to a design by Pierre Rolland. She was built at Rochefort and launched in 1805.

On 25 September 1806, she and Armide, Gloire and Infatigable were captured by a four-ship squadron under Samuel Hood.

The captured Minerve arrived at Plymouth on 26 October 1806, and after languishing there for some months, was taken into service as HMS Alceste, and commissioned in March 1807 under Captain Murray Maxwell. She was refitted at Plymouth for British naval service from April to August 1807. Maxwell took the Alceste into the Mediterranean to prey upon enemy shipping, and carry out raids along the Spanish, French and Italian coastlines.

In the Action of 4 April 1808 Alceste, in company with HMS Mercury and HMS Grasshopper attacked a Spanish convoy of Rota, destroying two of the escorts and driving many of the merchants ashore. Seven were subsequently captured and sailed back out to sea by marines and sailors of the British ships. Further raids were carried out that year on Frejus and Corsica and in 1810 two of her officers were imprisoned under a flag of truce while raiding off the Tiber.

On 21 June 1810, the boats of Alceste and Topaze captured two vessels in the bay of Martino in Corsica. A landing party captured a battery of three guns that protected the entrance to the bay. They were able to capture and render the guns unserviceable, and kill or wound a number of the garrison. The British lost one man killed and two wounded in the action.

In 1811, Alceste entered the Adriatic. On 4–5 May, she participated with Belle Poule in a raid at Parenza (Istria) that destroyed a French man-of-war brig. They chased a French 18-gun brig into the harbor but couldn't get the ships close enough to bombard her. Instead, the two vessels landed 200 seamen and all their marines on an island nearby and brought on to it two 9-pounders and two howitzers, which they placed in one battery, and a field piece that they placed further away. Eventually, they and the French in Parenza engaged in five hours of mutual bombardment, during which the British were able to sink the brig. They then returned men and cannons to their ships. In the action Belle Poule had one man killed and three wounded and Alceste had two men killed; all casualties occurred onshore.

Alceste raided Ragusa, and at the Action of 29 November 1811, Alceste led the British frigate squadron that outran and defeated a French military convoy carrying cannon. Two French ships were taken. In late 1812, Alceste was decommissioned and placed in ordinary at Deptford. Between February and July 1814 she was converted at Deptford into a troopship; in this role, she recommissioned in May 1814 under Commander Faniel Lawrence, and sailed with troops to North America.

In 1816 Alceste was recommissioned under Captain Maxwell again, whose previous ship HMS Daedalus had been wrecked in 1813. Maxwell was ordered to the Pacific, sailing for China on 9 February 1814 with Lord Amherst aboard, and passing through the Sunda Strait. Alceste made numerous voyages of exploration in the region, and also operated against a Chinese mandarin who tried to prevent their landing at Canton.

On 18 February 1817, Alceste was wrecked on a rock in the Java Sea. The crew came ashore but Malay Dyaks burnt the wreck before they could return. Forced into a stockade by the threatening behaviour of the Dyaks, the survivors were eventually picked up by an East India Company ship.

Coog
04-01-2012, 17:01
HMS REVOLUTIONNAIRE

The Révolutionnaire (or Revolutionaire), was a 40-gun Seine-class frigate of the French Navy, launched in May 1794. The British captured her in October 1794 and she went on to serve with the Royal Navy until she was broken up in 1822. During this service Revolutionnaire took part in numerous actions, including three for which the Admiralty would in 1847 award clasps to the Naval General Service Medal, and captured several privateers and merchant vessels.

On 21 October 1794 the 38-gun frigate Artois captured Révolutionnaire. Artois was part of a four-frigate squadron that encountered Revolutionnaire at daybreak about eight to ten leagues west of Ushant. She had been out of Le Havre eight days on her first cruise and was sailing to Brest. Artois outpaced the rest of the squadron and engaged Revolutionnaire, which surrendered after 40 minutes as the rest of the British squadron approached. The British had three men killed and five wounded. The French lost eight men killed and five wounded, including the captain, Citizen Thevenard. Artois shared the prize money with the other frigates, Arethusa, Diamond, and Galatea.

The Royal Navy commissioned Revolutionnaire in April 1795 under Captain Francis Cole. On 23 June Revolutionnaire participated in the Battle of Groix. After the battle, she towed Alexander, which the French had captured the previous November and which the British had just recaptured, back to Plymouth. In 1847 the Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "23rd June 1795" to all surviving claimants from the action.

In 1796 Revolutionaire was in the squadron commanded by Captain Sir Edward Pellew in Indefatigable. The squadron captured or sank a number of merchant vessels between 11 and 21 March.

Favorite Sultana, laden with salt—captured;

Friends, brig, laden with flour—captured;

Brig of unknown name, in ballast—sunk;

Chasse maree of unknown name, empty—sunk;

Providence, chasse maree, laden with wine and brandy—captured;

Brig of unknown name, laden with empty casks—sunk;

Four Marys, brig, in Ballast—captured;

Aimable Justine, brig, in ballast—captured;

Nouvelle Union, brig, in ballast—captured.

The vessels sharing in the prize money were: Indefatigable, Concorde, Revolutionaire, Amazon, Argo, and the hired armed luggers Dolly and Duke of York.[9]

On 12 April 1796 Revolutionaire captured the French frigate Unité. Unité, under the command of Citizen Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois, struck after Revolutionnaire's second broadside. Revolutionnaire had no casualties because the French had fired high, aiming for her rigging; the British fired into their quarry with the result that Unité suffered nine men killed and 11 wounded. In July there was an initial distribution of prize money for the capture of Unite and Virginie (captured by Indefatigable) of £20,000. Revolutionnaire and Indefatigable shared this with Amazon, Concorde and Argo. The Royal Navy took Unité into service under her existing name.

On 1 October 1796, Revolutionnaire, Indefatigable, Amazon, and Phoebe shared in the capture of the Vrow Delenea Maria.

Later that month, after the Battle of Tory Island, the French frigates Loire and Sémillante escaped into Black Sod Bay, where they hoped to hide until they had a clear passage back to France. However, late on 15 October, a British frigate squadron under James Newman Newman rounded the southern headland of the bay, forcing the French ships to flee to the north. Pressing on sail in pursuit, Newman ordered Révolutionaire to focus on Sémillante whilst he pursued Loire in Mermaid, accompanied by the brig Kangaroo under Commander Edward Brace. Loire and Sémillante separated to divide their pursuers; Mermaid and Kangaroo lost track of Loire in the early evening, and Sémillante evaded Révolutionaire after dark. Mermaid and Kangaroo eventually found Loire but after an inconclusive fight that left the British unable to pursue, Loire broke off the engagement and escaped.

Captain Cole died on 18 April 1798. His replacement was Captain Thomas Twysden.

Revolutionnaire shared with Boadicea, Pique and the hired armed cutter Nimrod in the capture of the Anna Christiana on 17 May 1798.

On 30 May 1799 Revolutionnaire captured the French privateer Victoire after an eight hour chase that lasted into the evening. Victoire was armed with sixteen 9-pounder guns and had a crew of 160 men. She was nine days out of Bayonne on a three-month cruise but had captured nothing.

Revolutionnaire was in company with Dryad and Diamond when Revolutionaire captured the French letter of marque brig Hyppolite on 29 May. She was sailing from Cayenne to Nantes.

On 7 July 1799, the same three British ships also captured the French privateer Determiné. Determiné was pierced for 24 guns and was armed with 18 brass 12 and 9-pounder guns. She had a crew of 163 men when she was captured. Then on 19 September, Revolutionnaire and Dryad captured the Cères, another French letter of marque, en route from Bordeaux to the Caribbean.

On 11 October Revolutionnaire chased a strange sail in a heavy gale for nine and a half hours over a distance of 114 miles (i.e., a rate of 12 miles per hour). When captured, the quarry turned out to be the Bordelais (or Bourdelaise), of Bordeaux. She was pierced for 26 guns but carried sixteen 12-pounder guns and eight 36-pounder carronades. She had a crew of 202 men. She had been cruising from Passage for 19 days during which time she had captured two vessels, an American ship carrying a cargo of tobacco, and a Portuguese ship sailing from Cork with provisions. Twysden, in an attempt to interest the Admiralty in purchasing her, described Bordelais as "a most beautiful new Ship, well calculated for His Majesty's Service; was the largest, and esteemed the fastest sailing Privateer out of France." The Admiralty took her into service as Bordelais.

On 4 March 1800 Revolutionnaire captured the French privateer ship Coureur. Coureur was armed with ten 6-pounder guns and four carronades. She had a crew of 158 men. On 28 February she had captured HMS Princess Royal, which had been sailing for Tortola. Twysden was pleased to discover that her captain and most of her crew were prisoners aboard the privateer. Coureur was new, copper-bottomed and on her first cruise. Apparently, she also sailed "delightfully". The Royal Navy took her into service as Trompeuse, there already being a Coureur in service and Trompeuse having been lost in May, shortly after the capture of Coureur.

At some point Revolutionnaire, under Twysden, recaptured the Marina, of Greenock, and Nimble, of Liverpool. Salvage money was paid in July 1801.

On 19 April 1800, Revolutionnaire and Dryad arrived in Milford Haven in a distressed state. Dryad had been on a cruise out of Cork and was on her way home when on 2 April, with her rigging much damaged by hurricanes, when she had encountered Revolutionnaire, which had lost her rudder. Dryad escorted Revolutionnaire to Cork, but when they were no more than an hour out of the port, the winds blew them towards Plymouth. On 16 April they were close to the rocks at Waterford when Dryad succeeded in getting a cable on to Revolutionnaire. Unfortunately, the cable broke and Dryad pulled away, expecting Revolutionnaire to wreck on the rocks. However, providentially, the wind shifted and pushed her away from shore. On 19 April both vessels succeeded in safely reaching Milford Haven.

On 16 February 1801, Revolutionnaire captured the French privateer Moucheron, of Bordeaux. Moucheron was armed with sixteen 6 and 12-pounder guns, and had a crew of 130 men. She was 20 days out of Passage and had capture the British brig William, of London, which had been sailing from St. Michael's with a cargo of fruit. The Royal Navy took her into service as Moucheron.

In October 1801 Revolutionnaire was under the temporary command of Commander Murray. In May 1802, shortly after the Peace of Amiens, Thomas Bladen Capel was appointed captain of Révolutionnaire. He sailed her from Spithead to the Mediterranean where he joined Phoebe as her captain.

Revolutionnaire was recommissioned in April 1803 under the command of Captain Walter Lock. On 20 May 1803, Revolutionnaire captured the French dogger Grand Adrian (or Grand Adrien). Two days later Revolutionnaire and Nemesis captured the Alexander. The next day Revolutionnaire captured the Windboud.

Lock then sailed Revolutionnaire to Gibraltar on 5 June. Eight days later, Revolutionnaire captured the French merchant vessel Hirondelle. In August, Captain Robert Hall took command for the Channel. On 16 October 1803, Revolutionnaire captured the French sloop Sophia, of eight men. Then on 1 December Revolutionnaire captured the French schooners Ceres, and her crew of 76 men, and the Marian, in ballast. As the size of her crew makes clear, Ceres was a privateer. Two days later Revolutionnaire recaptured the American brig Tartar. In December, Revolutionnaire returned to Britain from the West Indies.

In April 1804 Revolutionnaire was recommissioned under Captain the Honourable Henry Hotham. By November she was off the coast of the United States and stopped in at Norfolk, Virginia. Then she sailed up to New York where she picked up $750,000 in gold to take back to Britain. Hotham would have received a commission of about 1% of the value for carrying the money.

On 1 and 4 July 1805, vessels in a squadron captured the Harmony and the Rachael. Revolutionnaire was one of the 39 vessels that shared in the prize money.

On 4 November 1805, Revolutionnaire, participated in the Battle of Cape Ortegal. She and Phoenix captured Scipion, which the Royal Navy commissioned as HMS Scipion. In the battle, Revolutionnaire lost two men killed and six wounded. Revolutionnaire shared in the prize money for Formidable, Duguay Trouin and Mont-Blanc, as well as Scipion. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "4 Novr. 1805" to all surviving claimants form the battle.

In February 1806 Captain Charles Fielding took command as Revolutionnaire served in the Channel. On 25 September 1807 she shared with Pomone in the capture of the Danish ship Resolution.

Then between October 1811 and December 1812 she underwent a major overhaul at Plymouth. She was recommissioned in October 1812 under Captain John Woolcombe (or Woollcombe). At some point Revolutionnaire sailed to North America. On 25 July 1813, Revolutionnaire captured the American privateer schooner Matilda, of 190 tons. She was pierced for 18 guns but carried 11.

Already by August 1813, Revolutionnaire was part of a squadron under the command of Captain Sir George Collier. On 27 August the boats of the squadron made a successful attack on the island of Santa Clara, at the mouth of the harbour of Saint Sebastian. Revolutionnaire suffered no casualties. She then provided seamen to man a battery of 24-pounder guns from Surveillante hauled up to the top of the island. The battery then silenced the enemy's guns. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "St. Sebastian" to all claimants from Collier's naval operations in the region in August and September.

On 20 October Revolutionnaire captured the Fire Fly. Then on 5 November Revolutionnaire recaptured the Gaditana.

On the last day of 1813, Revolutionnaire sailed with a convoy for the East Indies. She and Zebra were in Simon's Bay in August 1816 where they were stranded and almost destroyed by a terrible hurricane. On 6 October she reached St. Helena and on 13 October she sailed for Britain.

In early 1817 Revolutionnaire underwent repairs at Plymouth. She was then fitted for sea between August 1818 and January 1819. She was commissioned under Captain Fleetwood Pellew Revolutionnaire in August 1818 for the Mediterranean.

At midnight or so on 16 December Vengeur, which was carrying the king of Naples, was under full sail when she ran into the side of Revolutionnaire. Fortunately the impact was oblique, not perpendicular, or Revolutionnaire would have been sunk. As it was, both vessels were badly damaged and had to put into the Bay of Baia for repairs.

On 18 May 1821 Revolutionnaire captured two piratical gun-boats, with bounty money for the crews being paid in 1834. Pellew remained in command until 1822.

Revolutionnaire was briefly under the command of Captain Henry Duncan, but was broken up on 4 October 1822

csadn
04-02-2012, 14:38
I can only imagine a conversation between two newly-arrived midshipmen in the RN:

"_Guerriere_, _Unité_, _Renommée_, _Néréide_, _Psyché_, _Africaine_, _Rhin_, _Oiseau_, _Seine_, _Belle Poule_ -- *whose* bloody Navy are we in?"

Coog
04-02-2012, 20:55
HMS SURVEILLANTE

The Surveillante entered service as a 40-gun Virginie class frigate of the French Navy. She was surrendered to the British in 1803, after which she served in the Royal Navy, classed under the British system as a 38 gun vessel, until 1814 when she was decommissioned. HMS Surveillante had a long and active career under two successful and distinguished commanders, from the Baltic to the North-Western coasts of France, Spain and Portugal, and was present at the Battle of Copenhagen (1807) and throughout the Peninsula War. Her record as a taker of prizes is notable for its success, particularly towards the end of her career.

Surveillante was present at Saint Domingue (Haiti) in November 1803 during the revolt of slaves against the French. The French naval commander who was also Surveillante's Captain, Henry Barre, prevailed upon British Commodore John Loring's representative, Captain John Bligh to accept the capitulation of the Surveillante, in order to put her, as well as her crew and passengers under British protection. The former slaves threatened to fire red hot shot at the ship from the overlooking forts.

The British naval Commander-in-Chief of the Jamaica Station, Admiral Sir John Duckworth, accepted the French commander General Rochambeau, his staff and entourage, as prisoners. Duckworth wrote "From General Rochambeau's extraordinary conduct in the public service, neither Captain Bligh or myself have any thing to say to him further than complying with his wishes in allowing him to remain on board the Surveillante until her arrival at Jamaica." Another French frigate, the Clorinde, suffered the loss of her rudder and was temporarily beached, although she was re-floated and taken as a prize. Consequently both frigates were brought into the Royal Navy under their original names as HMS Surveillante and HMS Clorinde. Surveillante, newly built, was bought into the Service quickly; the first recorded Navy Pay Office Ships' Pay Books from the Navy Board commenced from 11 July 1804.

On 9 January 1805, Surveillante, Captain John Bligh commanding, in company with HMS Tartar, Edward Hawker commanding, captured the Spanish ship El Batidor.

On 9 July, Surveillante in company with Fortunée and Echo captured several merchant vessels laden with sugar.

On 7 December, Surveillante, accompanied by Morne Fortunee, Lieutenant John Rorie commanding, captured the merchant ship Cleopatra.

On 5 July 1806, Surveillante, accompanied by the British vessels Fortunée, Echo , Superieure and Hercule, captured Spanish ship La Josepha, laden with quicksilver.

Captain George Collier took command of Surveillante on 22 April 1807 and took part in the Second Battle of Copenhagen that began late in August. She was present at the detention of numerous Danish merchant vessels that were taken as prizes, the proceeds of which were shared by the fleet. The Danish merchant ships shared by Surveillante were the Hans and Jacob taken 17 August 1807; Die Twee Gebfoders, taken 21 August 1807; Sally taken 22 August; Speculation detained 23 August Fama detained on 26 August, Aurora, Paulina and Ceres taken 30 August and 31 August; Odifiord and Benedicta, taken 4 and 12 September 1807. Admiral James Gambier sent the Surveillante back to England entrusted with dispatches, explaining the outcome of the battle and the subsequent Danish surrender. Gambier signed his dispatch on 7 September onboard flagship HMS Prince of Wales; Surveillante sailed directly from the Copenhagen Road to London, where Collier delivered the dispatch to the Admiralty Office in person on 16 September 1807.

Following Russia's declaration of war against Great Britain in 1807 following the Treaty of Tilsit between Napoleon and Alexander I of Russia, the British government issued an embargo against all Russian ships then found in British ports. Surveillante was one of 70 British vessels present at Portsmouth, at the detaining of the 44-gun frigate Speshnoy (Speshnyy) and the Wilhelmina (Vilgemina), which were carrying the payroll for Vice-Admiral Dmitry Senyavin’s squadron in the Mediterranean.

Lieutenant General Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington was appointed commander of the Portuguese expedition in March 1809, and received his letter of service on 2 April. He made his way to Portsmouth where he was received by the frigate assigned for his transportation, which was subsequently delayed from 3 to 14 April, nearly two weeks, waiting for a fair wind.[18] That frigate was Surveillante. She was able to set sail on 14 April 1809 allowing Wellesley to embark upon his second voyage to Lisbon during the Peninsula War; however, Wellesley, troubled by bad weather, was subjected to a storm during his first night at sea; it was remarked that the frigate narrowly escaped shipwreck off the coast of the Isle of Wight.[19] His aid-de-camp was sent by Captain Collier to request that Wellesley put his boots on and join him on deck, to which he replied he could swim better without his boots and would stay where he was.[20]

On 30 October 1809 Surveillante captured French corvette Le Milan, in sight of HMS Seine. 3 December 1809 saw Surveillante driven southward from her allotted station off Rochelle, where she fell in with a French cutter privateer, La Comtesse Laure, which she captured. Collier wrote "The privateer is of a class and possesses qualities admirably calculated for the annoyance of the British Trade.

On 23 June 1810 Surveillante captured the chasse marees Le Margaretta and L'Eclair, His Majesty's gun-brigs Constant and Piercer in company. On 5 September 1810, the Surveillante and the gun-brig HMS Constant, the latter commanded by Lieutenant John Stokes, were reconnoitring the Loire, when they observed a division of a French convoy running south from the Morbihan. The British ships gave chase and forced a single brig to seek shelter between two nearby batteries. Collier attacked the frigate with boats, whilst receiving fire from French troops ashore and succeeded in cutting out the brig without sustaining any casualties.

On 30 April 1811 Surveillante captured the French privateer La Creole. On 20 July Surveillante was appointed to escort a convoy bound for Corunna.

On 28 January 1812 the Surveillante, in company with HMS Sybille, Captain C. Upton, and HMS Spitfire, captured the American ship Zone. On 25 May 1812, HMS Surveillante captured the American schooner Young Connecticut.

In late July 1812, Surveillante was part of a British squadron stationed off the north coast of Spain, commanded by Captain Sir Home Popham of the 74-gun HMS Venerable.The British squadron, assisting Spanish Guerillas against the French, made an attack upon the town of Santander and the Castle of Ano. The castle was taken possession of by the Royal Marines, but the garrison of Santander was reinforced, and the Spanish and British attacking forces were obliged to fall back upon the Castle, sustaining losses as they retreated. Captain Lake of HMS Magnificent and Captain Sir George Collier, who commanded the British detachment, were wounded.

On 7 October 1812 Surveillante captured the American schooner Baltimore accompanied by His Majesty's Ships Venerable, Diadem, Briton, Latona and Constant. On 20 December 1812 Surveillante recaptured the American brig Ocean bound to Lisbon from New York, laden with flour.

On 4 February 1813 Surveillante was present at the capture of American schooner Rolla made by HMS Medusa, the Honourable D. Pleydell Bouverie commanding, and HMS Iris.[33] On 23 March 1813 Surveillante took the fishing schooner Polly as a prize. On 15 April she was present at the capture of the American schooner Price, captured by HMS Iris, Hood Hanway Christian commanding. 27 April 1813 saw Surveillante involved in a notable action against American letter of marque Tom. Collier wrote that she was captured "after a smart chase; she was from Charlestown, bound to Nantz; she is a remarkably fine vessel for her class, and, from her superior sailing, had already escaped eighteen of His Majesty's cruizers." Surveillante was accompanied by HMS Lyra. On 5 May 1813 she recaptured the American ship Mount Hope, sailing from Charlestown bound for Cadiz, laden with rice, in company with HMS Andromeda and HMS Iris. On 1 June 1813, Surveillante captured the American schooner Orders in Council, a letter of marque (privateer), after a five hour chase.The prize money from this action was shared with two British privateers who were in sight of the action but did not take part in it; they were the Rebecca and Earl Wellington.

In late July 1813, Surveillante under Captain Collier was involved in landing operations off St. Sabastian's, in which they attempted to breach a battery. In so doing they established an artillery position whilst under heavy fire from the fortification. Several of her crew, and an artillery officer from the army, were killed. Surveillante remained in action against the French garrison on the island of Santa Clara, at the mouth of Saint Sebastian harbour. Collier announced that a successful attack had been made on 27-28 July, despite being under heavy fire.

In September Surveillante was present at the fall of San Sebastian.Collier wrote that guns from the frigate's where dragged over land and mounted on Santa Clara had silenced the enemy's guns opposing them in the Castle of La Motte. The French commander, General Rey, flew a flag of truce, capitulating to the British. "The garrison," wrote Collier, "still upwards of seventeen hundred, became prisoners of war, and are to be conveyed to England."

Surveillante was broken up on 14 August 1814.

Coog
04-10-2012, 19:09
HMS MUTINE

HMS Mutine was a French 16-gun corvette launched in 1794 at Honfleur. The Royal Navy captured her from the French in May 1797 at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Mutine was sold in 1803.

Mutine was under the command of Citizen Xavier Paumier, Capitain de Frigate. She sailed from Brest on 8 May 1797 for Île de France and had put into the Bay of Santa Cruz on 26 May to take on water. Captain Paumier was on shore at the time of her capture.

Lieutenant Thomas Hardy captured Mutine on 29 May during the battle for Santa Cruz. (Hardy would later become Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson's flag captain at the Battle of Trafalgar). Hardy led a cutting out party using boats from Minerve and Lively and was able to board and capture the vessel. He then sailed her out of the port to the British fleet under heavy fire from shore and naval guns. Hardy was wounded during the action, as were 14 of the other British officers and men in the cutting out party.

Mutine was subsequently formally commissioned into the Royal Navy on 8 August 1797. Hardy was already in command of her, Captain Benjamin Howell having appointed him as a reward for the capture. This was the first ship Hardy would command.

On 5 June 1798 Mutine met up with Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson at St. Pietro, Sardinia, that ten ships of the line and a 50-gun ship were on their way to join him. When they did, Earl St. Vincent's orders were that Nelson should then seek out the French Toulon fleet. Nelson deployed his three third rates and Mutine in a screen while waiting for his reinforcements. The third rates Vanguard and Orion captured two Spanish merchantmen (out of a flotilla of 15), before Nelson ordered his vessels to abandon the chase. Once Nelson had met up with the British ships of the line that were joining him, he sent Mutine, his sole scouting vessel, to Civitavecchia to seek information about the whereabouts of the French. Mutine later rejoined Nelson without having found out anything. Mutine also visited Naples and Alexandria, arriving and leaving before the French fleet arrived, while seeking news of the French fleet. Eventually, Nelson and the French met off Egypt.

Under Hardy, Mutine was present at the Battle of the Nile on 1 and 2 August 1798. During the battle she came to the assistance of Culloden, which had run aground, and so did not directly participate in the fighting herself. After the British victory, Leander was sent to carry the dispatches of the battle, but was captured before she could deliver them. Mutine had been sent out on 13 August with a second copy, under the command of Lieutenant Thomas Bladen Capel, and so became the first ship to report the victory, when she arrived at Naples on 3 September. Capel then traveled overland and arrived with the dispatches at the Admiralty on 2 October.

In February 1799, Commander William Hoste assumed command, and was employed carrying dispatches for Nelson. Mutine returned from these duties in early 1799, by which time the French had occupied Naples. Mutine was tasked to sail off the coast to keep watch on their activities. She was refitted at Port Mahon in the summer of 1799, and then was present at the surrender of the French garrison at Civitavecchia on 21 September. Culloden, Minotaur, Mutine, Transfer, and the bomb vessel Perseus shared in the prize money for the capture of the town and fortress. The British also captured the French polacca Il Reconniscento.

Mutine was still in the Mediterranean in 1800. On 19 January she captured the ship Signor Delia Providenza, which was sailing from Marseilles to Genoa with a cargo of corn and wine, and another vessel of unknown name whose crew had deserted. She was carrying a cargo of corn and a few bales of leather.

On 20 February, Mutine recaptured the Ragusan brig Nova Sorte, which was sailing from Barcelona to Leghorn, carrying wine. The commissioned and warrant officers of Minotaur, Phaeton, Santa Dorothea, and Entreprenante shared in the prize money by agreement.

Then on 5 March Mutine recaptured another Ragusan brig, the Madona del Grazie, which was sailing the same route and carrying the same cargo as the Nova Sorte. The commissioned and warrant officers of Santa Dorothea shared by agreement.

The next day Mutine captured a Ragusan brig sailing from Barcelona bound to Leghorn, but carrying sundry merchandise. On 7 March, Mutine captured the Genoese polacre ship II Volante, sailing from Especia to Leghorn with a cargo of iron, coffee, etc. Two days later, Mutine captured the Genoese polacre Volante, which was sailing from Genoa to Cagliari with a cargo of iron, coffee, etc.

On 29 March Mutine captured the privateer Victoire. Victoire was armed with two guns and carried a crew of 28 men.

On 14 April, Phaeton and Peterell captured the St. Rosalia. Mutine, Minotaur, Santa Dorothea, Entreprenante and Cameleon shared with Phaeton by agreement.

On 3 May, Mutine, Phaeton and Cameleon captured eight vessels in Anguilla Bay:

Stella de Nort;

Santa Maria;

Nostra Senora del Carmine;

Fiat Volantes Deus;

Nostra Signora del Assunta;

Nostra Signora de Sonsove;

San Nicolas; and

San Joseph (San Giuseppe).

Five days later they captured eleven Genoese vessels. The captured the first eight at St Remo:

Polacre ship St. Giovanni, which was sailing in ballast from St Remo;

Polacre brig Achille, which was sailing from Marseilles to Genoa with a cargo of corn and wine;

Polacre barque St. Antonio, which was sailing from Cette to Genoa with a cargo of wine;

Polacre brig Santa (Assunta), which was sailing from Ard to Port Maurice with a cargo of wine;

Polacre ship Conception, sailing in ballast to Port Maurice;

Polacre ship Madona del Carmine, sailing from Cette to Genoa with a cargo of wine;

Settee Signora del Carmine, which was sailing from Marseilles to Genoa with a cargo of corn;

Settee St. Giuseppe, which was sailing from Marseilles to Port Maurice with a cargo of corn;

Settee Immaculate Conception, which was sailing from Cette to Genoa with a cargo of wine;

Settee Amina Purgatorio, which sailing from Cette to Genoa with a cargo of wine; and

Settee Virgine Rosaria, which was sailing from Cette to Genoa with a cargo of wine.

Mutine was in company with Corso when they destroyed one Genoese vessel on 24 July and captured three others on 25 July:

Settee, of unknown name, which was sailing in ballast from Port Maurice, and which they destroyed;

Polacre ship Saint Gio Baptiste, sailing from Marseilles to Port Maurice with a cargo of wine;

Settee Misericordia, which was sailing from Marseilles to Savona with a cargo of hoops; and

Settee Nostra Signora Montersero, which was sailing from Port Maurice to Marseilles with a light cargo.

On 20 August Mutine took the Dangerouse, a lateen vessel privateer of two guns and four swivel guns. Dangerouse was sailing from Bastia to Toulon.

Then on 2 September Mutine intercepted and captured the French brig Due Fratelli, in ballast. She also captured the Piccolo Tobia.

On 1 February 1801, Mutine and Caroline captured the Swedish brig Active, which was sailing from Mogadore to Leghorn with a cargo of hides. Later that month Mutine met the cutter Joseph at Minorca. Mutine transferred to Joseph dispatches from Egypt for Britain and the news that Rear-Admiral Warren's squadron had been following Admiral Ganteaume's squadron, which had been taking troops to Egypt but had lost the French during a gale off Sardinia. However, Ganteaume had had to return to Toulon after three of his ships of the line had lost their masts. Joseph arrived in Plymouth on 7 May. Mutine took Joseph's dispatches on to Egypt.

In 1801 she sailed to Trieste, and in 1802, under the command of Lord William FitzRoy, she sailed to Portsmouth, arriving on 4 September and then sailing for Chatham on 9 September to be paid off. She was sold in 1803.

Coog
04-10-2012, 19:30
HMS BELLEISLE

Lion was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the French Navy, which later served in the Royal Navy. She was built at Rochefort. She was later renamed Marat and then Formidable, with the changing fortunes of the French Revolution.

She took part in the Action of 6 November 1793, managing to rake HMS Alexander.

Fighting under captain Linois on 23 June 1795 at the Battle of Groix, she was captured by HMS Barfleur near the French port of Lorient. She was taken into service in the Royal Navy, but because the Navy already had a Formidable, she was renamed Belleisle, apparently in the mistaken belief that she had been captured off Belle Île, rather than the Île de Groix.

Captained by William Hargood, she was the second ship in the British lee column at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, and as such was engaged by the Franco-Spanish ships Achille, Aigle, Neptune, Fougueux, Santa Ana, Monarca and San Juan Nepomuceno. She was soon completely dismasted (the only British ship which suffered that fate), unable to manœuvre and largely unable to fight, as her sails blinded her batteries, but kept flying her flag for 45 minutes until the British ships behind her in the column came to her rescue. With 33 dead and 93 wounded, she was then towed to Gibraltar after the battle by the frigate HMS Naiad.

From 1811 she was in Portsmouth harbour, and in 1814 the decision was taken to have her broken up.

Coog
04-10-2012, 20:05
HMS IMPETUEUX

America was a Téméraire-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. The Royal Navy captured her in 1794 at the Battle of the Glorious First of June. She then served with the British under the name HMS Impetueux until she was broken up in 1813. She became the prototype for the Royal Navy America-class ship of the line.

She was captured by HMS Leviathan at the Battle of the Glorious First of June. In 1795 the Admiralty renamed her HMS Impétueux as there was already a ship named America in the British navy.

On 5 October 1796, Captain John Willet Payne was given command. After a refit at Portsmouth, she sailed for Spithead on Friday 11 October, where her refit continued until she sailed on Channel duty on 28 October, returning to Spithead on 1 January 1797. In that year Payne resigned his commission through ill-health and Captain Sampson Edwards assumed command until 1799, when Sir Edward Pellew took over on 1 March 1799.

In March 1799, while under Pellew's command, some of the crew of Impetueux fomented a mutiny. The Marine Guard remained loyal, which enabled Pellew to suppress the mutiny. Three were hanged and six were flogged around the fleet before being transferred to other ships.

On 4 June 1800, a squadron under Captain Edward Pellew in Impetueux, the 32-gun frigate Thames, Captain William Lukin, the 16-gun ship sloop Cynthia and some small-craft, attacked the south-west end of Quiberon and silenced the forts. Troops under Major Ramsey then landed and destroyed the forts. The attack resulted in the British taking several vessels and scuttling others. The only casualties were in Cynthia, which lost two men killed and one wounded.

On 29 July a boat each from Impetueux, Amethyst, and Viper, under the command of Lieutenant Jeremiah Goghlan of Viper brought out the brig Cerbère from Port-Louis, Morbihan. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp, "29 July Boat Service 1800" to the four surviving claimants from the action.

On 25 August a squadron and convoy under the command of Rear-Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren participated in another attack on a fort at the bay of Playa de Dominos (Doniños), outside the port of Ferrol. The Impétueux, 28-gun frigate Brilliant, Cynthia and the 14-gun hired armed cutter St Vincent silenced the battery, which was armed with eight 24-pounders. Then seamen from the ships landed to assist a large force of army troops to haul the guns up to the heights above Ferrol. However, it became apparent that Ferrol was too well fortified. The Navy then re-ebarked the troops and the whole British force withdrew.

Four days later, the same squadron sent a cutting out party consisting of two boats each from Amethyst, Stag, Amelia, Brilliant and Cynthia, four boats from Courageaux, as well as the boats from Renown, London and Impetueux into Vigo bay where the French privateer Guipe, of Bordeaux, had taken refuge. After a 15-minute fight the British captured the privateer and towed her out. She was flush-decked and or 300 tons. She was pierced for 22 guns but carried 18 9-pounders, and had a crew of 161 men under the command of Citoyenne Dupan. The expedition cost the British four dead, 23 officers and men wounded, and one man missing. The French lost 25 dead and 40 wounded. In 1847 the Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "29 Aug. Boat Service 1800" to all survivors of the this action that came forward to claim it.

Impétueux was broken up in 1813.

Bligh
04-11-2012, 01:03
Thanks for that info Bobby.
That Mutine was quite a busy little ship.
Rob.

Coog
04-11-2012, 19:37
HMS CURIEUX

Curieux was a French corvette launched in September 1800 at Saint Malo to a design by François Pestel, and carrying sixteen 6-pounder guns. She was commissioned under Capitaine de frégate Joseph-Marie-Emmanuel Cordier. The British captured her in 1804 in a cutting-out action at Martinique. In her five-year British career Curieux captured several French privateers and engaged in two notable single-ship actions, also against privateers. In the first she captured the Dame Ernouf; in the second, she took heavy casualties in an indecisive action with the Revanche. In 1809 Curieux hit a rock. All her crew were saved but they had to set fire to her to prevent her recapture.

On 4 February 1804, HMS Centaur sent four boats and 72 men under Lieutenant Robert Carthew Reynolds to cut her out at Fort Royal harbour, Martinique. The British suffered nine wounded, two of whom, including Reynolds, later died. The French suffered ten dead and 30 wounded, many mortally. Cordier, wounded, fell into a boat and escaped. The British sent Curieux under a flag of truce to Fort Royal to hand the wounded over to their countrymen.

The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Curieux, a brig-sloop. Reynolds commissioned her but he had been severely wounded in the action and though he lingered for a while, died in September.

Reynold's successor was George Edmund Byron Bettesworth, who had been a lieutenant on Centaur and part of the cutting out expedition. Curieux's first lieutenant was John George Boss who had been a midshipman on Centaur and also in the cutting out expedition.

In June 1804, Curieux recaptured the English brig Albion, which was carrying a cargo of coal. Then, on 15 July, she captured the French privateer schooner Elizabeth of six guns. That same day she captured the schooner Betsey, which was sailing in ballast.

In September Curieux recaptured the English brig Princess Royal, which was carrying government stores. Then in January 1805 Curieux recaptured an American ship, from St. Domingo, that was carrying coffee. The American had been the prize of a French privateer.

Then on 8 February 1805, Curieux chased the French privateer Dame Ernouf (or Madame Ernouf) for twelve hours before she able to bring her to action. After forty minutes of hard fighting Dame Ernouf, which had a crew almost double in size relative to that of Curieux, maneuvered to attempt a boarding. Bettesworth anticipated this and put his helm a-starboard, catching his opponent's jib-boom so that he could rake the French vessel. Unable to fight back, the Dame Ernouff struck. The action cost Curieux five men killed and four wounded, including Bettesworth, who took a hit in his head from a musket ball. Dame Ernouf had 30 men killed and 41 wounded. She carried 16 French long 6-pounder guns and had a crew of 120. This was the same armament as Curieux carried, but in a smaller vessel. Bettesworth opined that she had fought so gallantly because her captain was also a part-owner. She was 20 days out of Guadeloupe and had taken one brig, which, however, Nimrod had recaptured. The British took Dame Ernouf into service as Seaforth, but she capsized and foundered in a gale on 30 September 1805. There were only two survivors.

On 25 February Curieux, under Bettesworth, captured a Spanish launch, name unknown, which she took into Tortola.

Lieutenant Boss was on leave at the time of the action but later took over as acting commander while Bettesworth recuperated. At Cumana Gut, Boss cut out several schooners and later took a brig from St. Eustatia. On 7 July, Curieux arrived in Plymouth with dispatches from Lord Nelson. On her way, she spotted Admiral Villeneuve's Franco-Spanish squadron on its way back to Europe from the West Indies and alerted the Admiralty. Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Calder, with 15 ships of the line, intercepted Villeneuve on 22 July, but the subsequent Battle of Cape Finisterre was indecisive, with the British only capturing two enemy ships.

James Johnstone took command of Curieux in July 1805. After refitting she sailed for the Lisbon station. On 25 November 1805 Curieux captured the Spanish privateer Brilliano, under the command of Don Joseph Advis, some 13 leagues west of Cape Selleiro. She was a lugger of five carriage guns and a crew of 35 men. Brilliano, which had been out five days from Port Carrel and two days before Pomone captured her, had taken the English brig Mary, sailing from Lynn to Lisbon with a cargo of coal. Brilliano had also taken the brig Nymphe, which had been sailing from Newfoundland with a cargo of fish for Viana. The next day Curieux apparently captured the San Josef el Brilliant.

On 5 February 1806, two years after her own capture, Curieux captured the 6-gun privateer Baltidore (alias Fenix) and her crew of 47 men. The capture occurred 27 leagues west of Lisbon after a chase of four hours. Baltidore had been out of Ferrol one month, during which time she had captured the Good Intent, which had been sailing from Lisbon for London. About a month earlier, on 3 January, Mercury had recaptured Good Intent, which had been part of a convoy that Mercury had been escorting from Newfoundland to Portugal.

In March 1806 John Sheriff took over as captain of Curieux. On 3 December 1807, off Barbados, Curieux, now armed with eight 6-pounders and ten 18-pounder carronades, engaged the 25-gun privateer Revanche, commanded by Captain Vidal. Revanche, which had been the slaver British Tar, was the more heavily armed (chiefly English 9-pounders, and one long French 18-pounder upon a traversing carriage on the forecastle) and had a crew of 200 men. Revanche nearly disabled Curieux, while killing Sheriff. Lieutenant Thomas Muir wanted to board Revanche, but too few crewmen were willing to follow him. The two vessels broke off the action and Revanche escaped. Curieux, whose shrouds and back-stays were shot away, and whose two topmasts and jib-boom had been damaged, was unable to pursue.

In addition to the loss of her captain, Curieux had suffered another seven dead and 14 wounded. Revanche, according to a paragraph in the Moniteur, lost two men killed and 13 wounded. Curieux, as soon as her crew had partially repaired her, made sail and anchored the next day in Carlisle Bay, Barbados. A subsequent court martial into why Muir had not taken or destroyed the enemy vessel mildly rebuked Muir for not having hove-to to repair his vessel's damage once it became obvious that Curieux was in no condition to overtake Revanche.

In February 1808 Commander Thomas Tucker assumed command, to be succeeded by Commander Andrew Hodge. Lieutenant the Honourable Henry George Moysey, possibly acting, then took command. Under his command Curieux was engaged in the blockade of Guadaloupe, where she cut out a privateer from St. Anne's Bay, Jamaica.

On 18 February 1809, Latona captured the French frigate Felicité. Curieux shared in the prize money, together with all the other vessels that been associated in the blockade of the Saintes.

On 22 September 1809, at about 3:30am, Curieux struck a rock off Petit-Terre off the Îles des Saintes. The rock was 30 yards from the beach in 11 feet of water. At first light, Hazard came to her assistance and her guns and stores were removed. Hazard then winched Curieux off a quarter of a cable but she slipped back and ran directly onto the reef. There she bilged. All her crew was saved but she herself was burned to prevent capture. A court martial board found Lieutenant John Felton, the Officer of the Watch, guilty of negligence and dismissed him from the service. Moysey died the next month of yellow fever.

On 30 August 1860, the Prince of Wales was visiting Sherbrooke, where he met John Felton, who had emigrated to Canada after being dismissed the service. The Prince of Wales exercised his royal prerogative and restored Felton to his erstwhile rank in the Navy.

Coog
04-14-2012, 20:51
HMS SCOUT

Vénus was a corvette of the French Navy that the British captured in 1800. Renamed HMS Scout, she served briefly in the Channel before being wrecked by accident in 1801, a few days after taking a major prize.

Vénus was begun in Bordeaux in 1793 as a privateer but the French Navy bought her while she was still on the stocks. She was launched in January 1794 as the Vengeance and completed for service in the following April, but was renamed Vénus in May 1795.

The French commissioned her as a corvette and initially armed her with 26 guns: twenty-two 8-pounders on her upper deck and four 4-pounders on her galliards, i.e. her quarterdeck and forecastle. By 1796 she had had 4 obusiers (the French equivalent of the carronade) added on her gaillards, but by July 1798 these had been removed and she carried ten 4-pounders on her galliards.

Vénus took part in the Expédition d'Irlande and under the command of Captain André Senez, was in Commodore Savary's squadron at the Battle of Tory Island.

On 22 October 1800 Indefatigable captured Vénus off the Portuguese coast. The Indefatigable had been chasing Venus from the morning when in the afternoon Fisgard came in sight and forced Vénus to turn. Both British vessels arrived at Vénus at about 7pm. Vénus was armed with 32 guns and had a crew of 200 men. She was sailing from Rochefort to Senegal. Later, Indefatigable and Fisgard shared the prize money with Boadicea, Diamond, Urania and the hired armed schooner Earl St Vincent.

The Royal Navy commissioned Vénus as Scout in November 1800 under Commander George Ormsby. She was fitted out at Plymouth until March 1801. However Ormsby died in January 1801. Ormsby's successor was Commander Henry Duncan.

Scout was too small and too weak for the Royal Navy (RN) to take her in as a sixth-rate frigate or even a Post-ship. She was designed for short-range privateering in the Channel and the Bay of Biscay, rather than the longer-range escort or patrol work of a naval corvette. Accordingly she couldn't stow as much in the way of stores as the Admiralty needed; reducing her armament, relative to her French establishment, would have permitted her to carry the larger weight of stores she had to carry in RN service.

In March 1801, Scout was in company with the hired armed vessels Sheerness and the Lady Charlotte when they captured a large Dutch East Indiaman off St Alban's Head. She was the Crown Prince, of 1400 tons and 28 guns, and had been sailing from China to Copenhagen with a cargo of tea.

Scout was wrecked on the Shingles, Isle of Wight, on 25 March 1801. The crew attempted to lighten her but all efforts had had failed by late afternoon on 27 March. Due to the efforts of Beaver and the master attendant of the dockyard all the crew were saved.

On 1 April a court martial was held at Portsmouth on Gladiator for Commander Duncan, his officers and crew for the loss of Scout. The court acquitted Duncan, the pilot, the officers and the crew of all blame, ruling that the sinking was due to a strong tide catching Scout when she was vulnerable

Duncan received command of the Premier Consul, which Dryad had captured on 5 March 1801, and which the Admiralty renamed Scout. Scout foundered with the loss of all hands in 1801 or 1802. Naval opinion was that she went down off Newfoundland.

Coog
04-15-2012, 17:06
HMS NIOBE

The Diane was a 38-gun frigate of the French Navy.

She took part in the Battle of the Nile, managing to escape to Malta with the Justice.

In 1800, as she tried to escape from Malta, she was captured by HMS Success, HMS Northumberland and HMS Genereux.

She was recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Niobe.

On 16 July 1806, Niobe captured the 16-gun Néarque off Groix.

On 23 December 1810, off Le Havre along with Diana, Niobe sighted the 40-gun Amazone and the 44-gun Elisa. HMS Donegal and HMS Revenge joined the chase. Eventually, the Elisa was wrecked near La Hougue, while the Amazone escaped to Le Havre.

On 24 March 1811, she sailed with a squadron comprising HMS Berwick, Amelia, Goshawk and HMS Hawk again chased the Amazone, which was trapped near Barfleur and scuttled herself to avoid capture.

HMS Niobe was eventually sold on 31 July 1816.

Coog
04-15-2012, 18:30
HMS SYBILLE

The Sibylle was an 38-gun Hébé class frigate of the French Navy. She was launched in 1791 at the dockyards in Toulon and placed in service in 1792. After the 50-gun Fourth Rate HMS Romney captured her in 1794, the British took her into service as HMS Sybille. She served in the Royal Navy until disposed off in 1833. While in British service Sybille participated in three notable single ship actions, in each case capturing a French vessel. On anti-slavery duties off West Africa from July 1827 to June 1830, Sybille captured numerous slavers and freed some 3,500 slaves. She was finally sold in 1833 in Portsmouth.

From 23 April 1790 to October-December 1792, Sibylle escorted a convoy and transferred funds from Toulon to Smyrna, first under Capitaine de vaisseau (CV) Grasse-Briançon and then CV de Venel. From March 1793 to January 1794, under CV Rondeau, she escorted convoys between Toulon and Marseilles and then she moved to the Levant station. She cruised the Aegean Sea, and in June 1794 she was escorting a convoy from Candia to Mykonos when she encountered Romney. Romney, under Capt. Paget, captured Sibylle on 17 June; she was taken in British service as HMS Sybille.

In 1798, she served off the Philippines. In December, she gave chase to the privateer Clarisse, under Robert Surcouf. Clarisse escaped by throwing eight guns overboard.

In February 1799, while under the command of Captain Edward Cooke, Sybille patrolled the Indian Ocean in a hunt for the French frigate Forte, under captain Beaulieu-Leloup. The ships met on 28 February in the Balasore Roads in the Bay of Bengal. Sybille took Forte by surprise and captured her, as Forte's captain mistook Sybille for a merchantman. Cooke was wounded in the action and died at Calcutta 23 May, aged 26. Though his grave is in Calcutta, the East India Company erected a monument to him in Westminster Abbey in appreciation of the benefit to British trade of his capture of Forte. In all, Sybille lost five dead and 17 wounded. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Sybille 28 Feby. 1799" to all remaining survivors of the action.

In June 1799, Sybille came under the command of Captain Charles Adam. On 23 August 1800, Sybille, with Daedalus, Centurion and Brave captured a Dutch brig. The Royal Navy took her into service as Admiral Rainier. The British ships had entered Batavia Roads and captured five Dutch armed vessels in all and destroyed 22 other vessels. Sybille alone apparently captured one brig of six guns, four proas armed with swivels, four proas armed, between with three 8-pounder and three 4-pounder guns, and some 21 unarmed proas, of which five were lost. How many of these, if any, are among the vessels reported as being taken in the Batavia Roads is not clear.

On 19–20 August 1801, in the Roads of Mahé, Seychelles, Sybille captured the French frigate Chiffonne, under the command of Capitaine de Vaisseau Guieyesse. Chiffone had captured the Portuguese corvette Andorinha off the coasts of Brazil on 5 May, and the East Indiaman Bellona in the Madagascar Channel on 16 June. (Later, from 23 May 1803 to 1805, Charles Adams would command Chiffonne.)

On 3 May 1807, under Capt. Robert Winthrop, Sybille captured the French 4-gun privateer Oiseau in the Channel.

Sybille, under the command of Capt. Clotworthy Upton, participated in Battle of Copenhagen (1807), where she bombarded the city. The battle resulted in the British capturing the Danish Fleet.

On 25 January 1808, while on the Home station, Sibylle captured the French privateer lugger Grand Argus. Grand Argus was pierced for 12 guns but carried only four. She and her crew of 41 men were under the command of Michael Daguinet. She was on her first cruise from Granville but had made no captures in three days she had been out.

Then on 16 August, Sybille captured the French brig-corvette Espiègle, later recommissioned in the Royal Navy as Electra. Espiègle arrived in Cork on the evening of 31 August.

In the summer of 1809 Sybille cruised off the Greenland ice. Her role was to protect the whalers from privateers and then to escort them back to Britain.

In subsequent years she captured several privateers. In October 1810 she captured the French privateer Edouard on the coast of Ireland. Edouard, under Guillaume Moreau, was armed with 14 guns and had a crew of 90 men. She was eight days out of Abrevarake.

On 28 January 1812 Sybille was in company with Surveillante and Spitfire, when Surveillante captured the American ship Zone. In 10 May Sybille captured the French 14-gun privateer Aigle at sea. On 2 August she detained and sent into Cork the Perseverance of New York. Lastly, on 5 February 1813 Sybille captured the French 14-gun privateer Brestois at sea.

Captain Sir John Pechell took command of Sybille on 1 July 1823 and fitted her out for service in the Mediterranean. She sailed in October and proceeded to spend three years protecting the Ionian Islands and suppressing piracy.

A year later, Sybille enforced an indemnity on the Greek government of the United States of the Ionian Islands for an attack on a Turkish vessel in violation of their own neutrality. Pechell seized a number of Greek ships until the indemnity of 40,000 dollars was forthcoming. On 5 October 1824, her boats succeeded in cutting out three Greek schooners: Polyxenes of 8 guns and 69 men; San Niccolo of 10 guns and 73 men; and Bella Poula of 8 guns and 37 men. Sybille took the prizes to Zante and the prisoners to Corfu.

In October 1825, boats from Sybille and Medina, Captain Timothy Curtis, found a Greek pirate mistico and her prize at anchor in a cove at Catacolo. The British handed the Ionian prize over to the authorities in Zante and sent the mistico to Corfu.

Sybille's next notable action occurred when she attacked a pirate lair on a barren island near Candia at the end of June 1826. Sybille sent in her boats but they were unsuccessful, suffering some 13 dead and 31 wounded, five of whom died subsequently. Gunfire from Sybille killed many pirates until the pirates traded a Royal Marine they had captured from one of the boats for a cease-fire. Sybille left the island though some time later a Turkish brig chased the pirates' remaining boat ashore in Anatolia thus ending that threat.

From 4 December 1826 until 1830, Sybille was part of the West Africa Squadron, which sought to suppress the slave trade. There she was under the command of Commodore Francis Augustus Collier.

On 6 September 1827, Sybille captured the Brazilian ship Henriqueta (also Henri Quatre), with 569 slaves on board, of whom 546 survived to be liberated in Sierra Leone. In December the Admiralty purchased Henriquetta for £900 as a tender to Sybille and renamed her Black Joke. Black Joke would go on to be one of the most successful anti-slavery vessels in the squadron.

On 14 March 1828 Sybille was reported to have captured three slave vessels: possibly a Dutch schooner with 272 slaves; a Spanish schooner with 282 slaves; and the Hope, former tender to the Maidstone, with a cargo onboard for the purchase of slaves. When Sybille arrived at Sierra Leone on 17 May for refitting in preparation for a passage to Ascension Island, she reported that since she arrived on the station in July 1827 she had freed over 1100 slaves.

In 1829, 204 men died on board Eden from yellow fever. To convince the crew of Sybille that the fever was not contagious, her surgeon, Robert McKinnal, drank a glassful of black vomit from an ailing crew member.

Between February and March 1829 Sybille captured a Brazilian brig, and her tenders captured the slave schooner Donna Barbara. By 11 April 1829, Sybille claimed to have released over 3,900 slaves in the previous 22 months. On 29 April she captured a Spanish schooner with 291 slaves on board. Then on 12 May she sent in to the prize court a schooner with 185 slaves on board.

Sybille also seized and condemned a number of vessels for illicitly trafficking in slaves. On 11 October it was the brigantine Tentadora and on 1 November the brigantine Nossa Senhora da Guia, with 310 slaves, of whom 238 survived. On 30 January 1830 Sybille seized and condemned a third, unnamed vessel. Then on 15 January she took the Umbelino, 377 slaves of whom only 163 survived, and eight days later, the Primera Rosalia, with 282 slaves, of whom 242 survived. She also captured a brigantine from Lagos after a 27 hour chase; the vessel turned out to have 282 slaves on board. Her last capture occurred on 1 April when she captured Manzanares. Sybille finally returned to Portsmouth from the coast of Africa on 26 June and was paid off.

Between January 1830 and July 1831 she was fitted as a lazaretto for Dundee. She was eventually sold to Mr. Henry for ₤2,460 on 7 August 1833.

Coog
04-16-2012, 20:35
HMS MINORCA

The French brig Alerte was launched in 1787 and captured by the Royal Navy at Toulon in 1793. The British set her on fire when they evacuated Toulon later that year. After the French rebuilt her as Alerte, she served at the Battle of Aboukir Bay. The British recaptured her in 1799 and took her into service as Minorca. Minorca was sold in 1802.

Alerte was built at Rochefort and designed as an aviso. Hubert Pennevert completed here as a brig. She was commissioned as a brig of 10 guns. In 1790 she was under the command of Commandant D'Aujard in the Levant.

On 28 August 1793, the British occupied Toulon. Alerte was among the many vessels they seized. The British may have renamed her HMS Vigilante. In September she was under the command of Commander William Edge.

The Siege of Toulon went badly for the Royalist, Spanish and British forces and they were forced to quit the city on 18 December. As they did so, they set fire to the "Frigate Alerte", of "16 guns" and "in want of repairs".

Alerte burned to her waterline, but the French were able to rebuild her. On 1 August 1798 she was at the battle of Aboukir Bay (Battle of the Nile).

Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers hoped to lure the British fleet onto the shoals at Aboukir Island, sending the brigs Alerte and Railleur to act as decoys in the shallow waters, but the plan failed. Then, as the British fleet approached, Brueys sent Alerte ahead, passing close to the leading British ships and then steering sharply to the west over the shoal in the hope that the ships of the line might follow and become grounded. None of Nelson's captains fell for the ruse and the British fleet continued undeterred.

After the French defeat, Alerte left Alexandria in the squadron under Contre-Admiral Jean-Baptiste Perrée, consisting of the 40-gun Junon, 36-gun Alceste, 32-gun Courageuse, 18-gun Salamine and Alerte. The squadron then took shelter in Genoa.

On 17 June 1799 the squadron, still under Perrée, while enroute from Jaffa for Toulon, ran into a British squadron under the command of Captain John Markham of Centaur. The British captured the entire French squadron, with Captain capturing Alerte. Markham described Alerte as a brig of 14 guns and 120 men, under the command of Lieutenant Dumay.

The British took Alerte into service as Minorca. They commissioned her in August 1800 under Commander George Miller. On 26 January Foudroyant was in company with Minorca and Queen Charlotte when she recaptured the Ragusean brig Annonciata, Michele Pepi, master.

Minorca served with the British blockade of Malta. Between 29-31 March Minorca played an important role in the capture of the French ship of the line Guillaume-Tell by sailing to bring up ships of the blockading squadron while the frigate HMS Penelope harried her.

Minorca was among the many ships that shared in the proceeds of the capture of the French frigate Dianne on 25 August. On 16 February 1801 she captured the Turenne, J. Imbert, master, or the Furienne. Turenne or Furienne was a French xebec of six guns and a crew of 38 men. She had 1200 stand of arms on board and had been sailing from Leghorn to Alexandria.

In March Minorca returned to Aboukir Bay. She was part of Admiral Keith's naval force at the British expedition to Egypt. Here she was among the vessels moored as near as possible to the beach, with their broadsides towards it to support the landing of the troops. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the award of the Naval General Service medal with clasp "Egypt" to all claimants from vessels that had been present between March and September. Minorca was among the vessels listed as qualifying.

Minorca was paid off in April 1802. She was sold later that year.

csadn
04-17-2012, 13:56
Alerte was built at Rochefort and designed as an aviso.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviso

Coog
04-17-2012, 20:39
HMS ARETHUSA

The Aréthuse was a French frigate, launched in 1757 during the Seven Years' War. She was subsequently captured by the Royal Navy and became the fifth-rate HMS Arethusa.

Aréthuse was built at Le Havre for privateer warfare, as Pélerine. Soon after her launch, she was bought by the King, and commissioned as Aréthuse on 21 January 1758.

In June, under captain Vauquelin, she sailed through the British blockade of Louisbourg. She helped defend the place, and later departed, again forcing the blockade.

On the 18th of May 1759, she was in transit from Rochefort to Brest, under the command of the Marquis Vandrenil, when she was intercepted near Audierne Bay (Baie d'Audierne(French)) by three Royal Navy ships - HMS Thames, HMS Venus and HMS Chatham. She attempted to escape but after two hours, she lost her top-masts and was overtaken by her pursuers. The Thames and Venus engaged her with heavy fire, causing 60 casualties before she surrendered.

She entered service with the Royal Navy. For the rest of the war, she was in service in British home waters and was responsible for the capture of several French, privateer cutters.

In 1777, a Scotsman, James Hill , known as "Jack the Painter", was hanged from her mizzenmast for burning the Rope House at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard on 7 December 1776, to aid the cause of American independence . The mast was struck from the ship and re-erected at the dockyard entrance so as many as possibly could watch the execution.

On 17 June 1778, she fought a famous duel against the French, 26-gun frigate, Belle Poule. The Belle-Poule was on a reconnaissance mission, along with the 26-gun frigate Licorne, the corvette Hirondelle and the smaller Coureur when she encountered a large British squadron that included the Arethusa.

The Arethusa was the first to reach the French ships. A furious battle between her and the Belle Poule resulted in the deaths of the French second captain and 30 of the crew. But the Arethusa was crippled by the loss of a mast and had to withdraw, allowing the Belle Poule and the Licorne to escape the approaching British, although the two smaller French ships were captured.

This battle was the first between British and French forces during the American Revolutionary War and was widely celebrated in France as a victory, even inspiring a hair-style in court circles that included a model of the Belle Poule. It was also viewed as a victory in Britain and became the subject of a traditional Sea shanty, The Saucy Arethusa (Roud # 12675). The Arethusa is also the subject of a song on the Decemberists' album Her Majesty the Decemberists.

On the 18 March 1779, under captain Charles Holmes Everitt, the Arethusa engaged the French Aigrette, sustaining considerable damage in the fight. Arethusa was wrecked the next day off Ushant, at a point 48°27′4″N 5°4′4″W.

It was apparently the fame which this Arethusa which induced the Royal Navy, during the following two centuries, to bestow the name on a further seven cosecutive individual ships and two consecutive classes of cruisers.

Coog
04-18-2012, 15:07
HMS UNDAUNTED

The Aréthuse was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, built from 1789 following plans by Ozanne.

Launched on 3 March 1791, Aréthuse served in the Mediterranean under captain Pierre René Bouvet.

During the Siege of Toulon in 1793, she was surrendered to the British by Royalist rioters. She escaped to Portoferraio at the fall of the city, and was brough into Royal Navy service as HMS Arethusa.

In 1795, she was renamed HMS Undaunted.

In August 1796, under Robert Winthorp, she was wrecked at Morant Keys in the West Indies

Coog
04-18-2012, 15:20
HMS RAVEN

Aréthuse was a corvette of the French Navy, lead ship of her class, and launched in April 1798. Excellent captured her in 1799. The Royal Navy took her into service under the name HMS Raven. She was wrecked in 1804.

Aréthuse served between France and the Caribbean. On 9 October 1799 she was sailing towards Impregnable and her convoy when the 74-gun Excellent, which was to windward of Impregnable, spotted her. Excellent chased Aréthuse, catching her during the night. Captain Robert Stopford of Excellent described Aréthuse as having eighteen 9-pounder guns and a crew of 153 men, all under the command of a lieutenant de vaisseau. She was sailing from Lorient to Cayenne with dispatches that she succeeded in destroying before she struck. Excellent shared the capture with Impregnable.

Aréthuse arrived in Plymouth on 26 November 1799. She was fitted for service with the Royal Navy between September and December 1800. She was commissioned in September 1800 as HMS Raven under Commander James Sanders for the Channel. She was recommissioned in June 1802 under Commander Spelman Swaine and in August sailed for the Mediterranean.

On 4 January 1804 Raven sailed from Malta as escort to the merchant ship Dolphin, bound for Naples. She was following a course along the south coast of Sicily that would take her between the islands of Favignana and Marettimo. In the evening of the next day master's mate Robert Incledon had the watch and saw a light shape in the moonless night. He thought it was a sail but it turned out to be a tower on the cliffs near Mazari, on the south west coast of Sicily. At 11pm she ran aground. Despite efforts to lighten and free her, efforts that extended into the afternoon of 6 January, the pumps were unable to clear the water that was coming in and she had to be abandoned. Dolphin rescued her crew. The court martial on 10 February 1805 admonished the master for having steered too near the land.

Coog
04-18-2012, 15:27
If you didn't notice, the last three ships were all named Arethuse by their French builders. The French kept building them, naming them Arethuse, and the British kept capturing them.

csadn
04-18-2012, 18:08
If you didn't notice, the last three ships were all named Arethuse by their French builders. The French kept building them, naming them Arethuse, and the British kept capturing them.

This statement applies to just about every ship the French built or possessed in the period -- this is what happens when one's naval "institutional memory" is entirely focused in the one class of people the revolutionaries insist upon annihilating.

Coog
04-20-2012, 22:33
HMS FOUDROYANT

The Foudroyant was a 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She was later captured and served in the Royal Navy as the Third Rate HMS Foudroyant.

Foudroyant was built at Toulon to a design by François Coulomb, and was launched on 18 December 1750. She was present at the Battle of Minorca in 1756, where she engaged the British flagship HMS Ramillies. She then formed part of a squadron under Jean-François de La Clue-Sabran, during which time she was captured during the Battle of Cartagena off Cartagena, Spain on 28 February 1758 by Monmouth, Hampton Court and Swiftsure. The Monmouth's captain was wounded early in the fight and the two lieutenants commanded the ship for most of the battle. The captain of the Foudroyant insisted upon handing his sword to the lieutenants including Lt Hammick who commanded the main gun-deck. After the battle the ship's crew composed a poem about the action which included the lines "Gallant Hammick aimed his guns with care, not one random shot he fired in the air".

She was brought into Portsmouth and surveyed there in September 1758 for £163.10.2d. The Admiralty approved her purchase on 7 November that year, and she was duly bought on 6 December for the sum of £16,759.19.11d. She was officially named Foudroyant and entered onto the navy lists on 13 December 1758. She underwent a refit at Portsmouth between February and August 1759 for the sum of £14,218.9.2d to fit her for navy service.

She was commissioned in June 1759 under the command of Captain Richard Tyrell, serving as the flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Hardy between June and October 1759. She spent August sailing with Admiral Edward Hawke's fleet. Foudroyant underwent another refit at Portsmouth in the spring of 1760, commissioning later that year under Captain Robert Duff. She sailed to the Leeward Islands in April 1760, but had returned to Britain by Autumn 1761 to undergo another refit. She took part in the operations off Martinique in early 1762, before coming under the command of Captain Molyneaux Shuldham later that year. She served for a short period as the flagship of Admiral George Rodney, before being paid off in 1763. She underwent several surveys, and a large repair between February 1772 and January 1774, after which she was fitted to serve as the Plymouth guardship in April 1775. She recommissioned again in August that year, under the command of Captain John Jervis, and was stationed at Plymouth until early 1777.

In March 1777 she was fitted for service in the English Channel, and spent that summer cruising off the French coast. On 18 June 1778 she engaged and captured the 32-gun Pallas, and was then present with Admiral Augustus Keppel's fleet at the Battle of Ushant on 27 July 1778. Jervis was briefly replaced as captain by Captain Charles Hudson, while the Foudroyant became the flagship of her old commander, now Vice-Admiral Lord Shuldham. Jervis resumed command in 1779, sailing with Hardy's fleet, before being moved to a detached squadron in December 1779. Foudroyant returned to port in early 1780, where she was refitted and had her hull coppered. On the completion of this work by May, she returned to sea, sailing at first with Admiral Francis Geary's fleet, and later with George Darby's. She was then present at the relief of Gibraltar in April 1781, after which she was moved to Robert Digby's squadron. By the summer of 1781 she had returned to sailing with Darby's fleet, and by April 1782 had moved to a squadron under Samuel Barrington. She captured the French 74-gun Pégase on 21 April 1782, for which actions Jervis was knighted. She sailed again in July 1782, this time as part of a fleet under Admiral Richard Howe, before spending the autumn cruising in the Western Approaches. She briefly came under the command of Captain William Cornwallis in 1783, but was soon paid off and then fitted for ordinary.

An Admiralty order of 24 August 1787 provided for Foudroyant to be broken up and she was sold off for £479.3.2d. The breaking up had been completed by 26 September 1787.

Coog
04-25-2012, 16:34
HMS ARAB

HMS Arab was a 22-gun post ship of the Royal Navy. She was formerly the 18-gun French privateer Brave, which the British captured in 1798. She served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars until she was sold in 1810.

During her 12-year career she served on three separate stations, and was involved in two international incidents. The first incident occurred under Captain John Perkins and involved the Danes. The second incident occurred under Captain Lord Cochrane and involved the Americans. She participated in the capture of Sint Eustatius and Saba. Under Captains Perkins and Maxwell she also took a considerable number of prizes.


Brave was built in Nantes around 1797. On 24 April 1798 the 36-gun Phoenix, under the command of Captain Lawrence William Halsted, captured Brave off Cape Clear. She was pierced for 22 guns and was carrying eighteen, mixed 12 and 18-pounders. Unusually for a privateer, Brave resisted capture, suffering several men killed and 14 wounded before she surrendered. Phoenix had no casualties and suffered trifling damage to her sails and rigging. Brave had a crew of 160 men and also some 50 English prisoners on board, none of whom were injured. Halsted described Brave as being "a very fine ship, of 600 Tons, is coppered, and sails exceedingly fast."

After Phoenix captured Brave, the British brought her to Plymouth, where she arrived on 12 May. She was named and registered on 24 July 1798 and fitted out between November 1798 and April 1799. During this period a lower deck, quarterdeck and a forecastle were added. She was commissioned as HMS Arab in December 1798 under Commander Peter Spicer.

On 5 January 1799 Captain Thomas Bladen Capel took command; he sailed Arab for Jamaica 23 April. On 23 August, Quebec shared with Arab the capture of the American brig Porcupine. Porcupine, of 113 tons and with a crew of eight men, was sailing from New York to Havana with a cargo wine, oil, soap and sundries. Porcupine was condemned but Quebec appealed. During this period Arab detained, on suspicion, the Spanish brig Esperansa, which was sailing from Carthagena with a cargo of cotton, hides, and so forth.

Captain John Perkins (Jack Punch) took command in January 1801. In March 1801 Arab, in company with the 18-gun British privateer Experiment, caught and challenged two Danish vessels, the brig Lougen, under the command of Captain C.W. Jessen, and the schooner Den Aarvaagne. Arab approached the two Danish vessels and, according to Danish accounts, without warning, fired several broadsides at Lougen before the Danish ship was able to return fire. Lougen, which had escaped serious damage, began to return fire steadily. Experiment initially attempted to capture Aarvaagne, but Aarvaagne obeyed orders to stay out of the fight and instead escaped south to Christiansted on St. Croix with its intelligence on British actions. Experiment then joined Arab in the attack on Lougen, with the two British ships sandwiching the Danish ship. During the engagement, which lasted for over an hour, one of Lougen's shots struck the Arab's cathead and loosed the bower anchor. (Perkin's reported that it was the first shot from Lougen that loosed the bower anchor.) Arab's crew was unable to cut the anchor free, leaving Arab unable to manoeuvre effectively. This allowed Jessen to steer a course that brought him under the protection of the shore batteries and then into St Thomas.

The Danish government awarded Jessen a presentation sword made of gold, a medal and 400 rixdollars (the equivalent of a whole year’s salary) for his actions in escaping from a numerically superior force. Still, Perkins, after having repaired his battle damage, cruised outside the harbour and in a two week period captured more than a dozen Danish and other foreign vessels.

On 13 April Arab captured the Spanish armed schooner Duenda. Perkins then used her and Arab to transport Colonel Blunt and 100 men of the Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) to the wealthy islands of Sint Eustatius and Saba. On 16 April Perkins and Blunt captured the islands, together with their French garrisons, forty-seven cannon and 338 barrels of gunpowder.

Command of Arab passed to Captain Robert Fanshawe in 1802. Fanshawe took her back to Plymouth, where she spent between August and December being repaired and refitted. After a brief period spent laid up she was brought back into service with the resumption of war with France.

Arab was recommissioned in October 1803 under Captain Lord Cochrane, who had been assigned to Arab by Earl St Vincent. In his autobiography, Cochrane compared the Arab to a collier, and his first thoughts on seeing her being repaired at Plymouth were that she would "sail like a haystack". Under Cochrane's command Arab twice collided with Royal Navy ships, first with the 12-gun HMS Bloodhound, and then with the storeship HMS Abundance. Despite his misgivings, Cochrane still managed to intercept and board an American merchant ship, the Chatham, thereby creating an international incident that led to the consignment of Arab and her commander to fishing fleet protection duties beyond Orkney in the North Sea, an assignment that Cochrane bitterly complained about. Cochrane would later refer to his time in the Arab in the North Sea and the Downs as "naval exile in a dreary tub".

Captain Keith Maxwell replaced Cochrane in 1805, and sailed Arab to serve with the squadron off Boulogne. On 18 July the British spotted the French Boulogne flotilla sailing along the shore. Captain Edward Owen of HMS Immortalite sent Calypso, Fleche, Arab and the brigs HMS Watchful, HMS Sparkler, and HMS Pincher in pursuit of 22 large schooners flying the Dutch flag. As Maxwell came close to shore he found the water barely deep enough to keep Arab from running aground. Still, the British managed to force three of the schooners to ground on the Banc de Laine near Cap Gris Nez; their crews ran two others ashore. The British also drove six French gun-vessels on shore. However, the bank off Cape Grinez, and the shot and shells from the right face of its powerful battery, soon compelled the British to move back from the shore. Arab suffered seven wounded and a great deal of damage. Fleche was the closest inshore owing to her light draft of water; she had five men severely wounded and damage to her rigging.

At some point a shell from a shore battery hit Arab's main-mast-head and then fell to the gun deck. At first a seaman named Clorento tried to defuse the shell. While he was doing this master's mate Edward Mansell and two more seamen came up. Together they got the shell into the sea, where it exploded. The next day Arab buried her dead at sea, after which the men on Immortalite cheered Arab. Maxwell wrote to the Patriotic Fund at Lloyd's, drawing its attention to the heroism of the four men. Thereafter, the Fund voted Mansell £50 and the three other seamen £20 each. The fund gave an additional £125 for Maxwell to divide between eight other crewmen in graduated amounts.

In December 1805, Arab was off the west coast of Africa, together with Favourite. Subsequently Arab returned to the West Indies. During her time there Lieutenant Edward Dix, as acting captain, temporarily replaced Maxwell for a period of five weeks in 1806. Two days after Dix joined Arab, yellow fever broke out which the crew of Arab, except Dix and eight others, contracted; 33 men died. Maxwell resumed command and returned to Spithead in 1807 where Arab's remaining crew were paid off.

Arab was placed in ordinary at Woolwich and was sold at Deptford on 20 September 1810.

Coog
05-12-2012, 08:14
HMS BABET

HMS Babet was a 20-gun sixth-rate post ship of the Royal Navy. She had previously been a corvette of the French Navy under the name Babet, until her capture in 1794, during the French Revolutionary Wars. She served with the British, capturing several privateers and other vessels, and was at the Battle of Groix. She disappeared in the Caribbean in 1801, presumably having foundered.

Babet was built at Le Havre, one of a two ship class of 20-gun corvettes built to a design by Joseph-Marie-Blaise Coulomb. In the Bay of Biscay, on 18 May 1793, Captain Andrew Snape Douglas's HMS Phaeton captured her sister, Prompte, which the Royal Navy took into service as HMS Prompte. Babet was laid down in September 1792, fitted out in May 1793 and launched on 12 December 1793. In French service she carried twenty to twenty-six 8-pounder guns.

Babet's French career was brief. Under Lieutenant Pierre-Joseph-Paul Belhomme she was part of a squadron consisting of two frigates and another corvette that a British squadron under John Borlase Warren engaged off the Île de Batz on 23 April 1794. HMS Melampus and HMS Arethusa captured Babet and brought her into Portsmouth, arriving on 30 April. The action had cost Babet some 30 to 40 of her crew killed and wounded. Arethusa had three men killed and five wounded.

Babet was registered for service on 19 June 1794, and was commissioned in December that year under Captain the Honourable John Murray, for service with Lord Howe's fleet. Captain Joshua Mulock replaced Murray in April 1795 while Babet was being fitted for service at Portsmouth, a process completed on 10 May that year, having cost £2,544. Captain Edward Codrington replaced Mulock; Babet was Codrington's first command after he had made post captain.

Codrington then sailed Babet to join Lord Bridport's fleet. On 23 June 1795 she was with the fleet at the battle of Groix. In 1847, the Admiralty awarded any remaining survivors who claimed it, the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "23rd June 1795".

Captain William Lobb replaced Codrington in December 1795 and sailed Babet to the Leeward Islands in February the following year. There Babet was present at the capture of Demerara on 23 April, and the capture of Berbice on 2 May 1796.

In July 1796, Babet, Prompte, Scipio and Pique captured the Catherina Christina in July 1796. At some point Babet sailed in company with Prompte and the two vessels captured the Danish brig Eland Fanoe. On 23 July, Scipio, Babet, Pique and Prompte shared in the capture of the Ariel and the Zee Nymphe.

On 16 September Thorn, Scipio and Babet captured the John and Mary. The first, fourth and fifth-class shares of the prize money were shared, by agreement, with Madras and Prompte. Thorn captured the schooner Abigail on 24 September. This time the first, fourth and fifth-class shares were shared with Scipio, Babet, Madras and Prompte. Then on 16 November Thorn and Resource captured the Spanish schooner Del Carmen. Once again the first, fourth and fifth class shares were shared with Scipio, Babet, Madras and Prompte.

On 10 January 1797, Babet and Bellona drove a small French privateer schooner ashore on Deseada. They tried to use the privateer Legere, of six guns and 48 men, which Bellona had captured three days earlier, to retrieve the schooner that was on shore. In the effort, both French privateers were destroyed. Then Babet chased a brig, which had been a prize to the schooner, ashore. The British were unable to get her off so they destroyed her.

Between 25 July and 5 October Babet captured three merchant vessels:

brig Decision (or Decisive or Maria), of 200 tons and eight men, recaptured while sailing from Cape to Puerto Rico in ballast;

brig Schylhill (probably Schuylkill), of Philadelphia, of 100 tons and eight men, sailing from New York to Puerto Rico with a cargo of flour, supposedly Spanish property; and

barque Æolus, of Copenhagen and of 180 tons and 10 men, sailing from Marseilles to St. Thomas, with a cargo of wine, French property.

Captain Jemmett Mainwaring took command of Babet in June 1797. Then on 16 January 1798 Babet's boats captured the French schooner Désirée. The schooner was sailing towards Babet as Babet was sailing between Martinique and Dominique. As soon a the schooner realized that Babet was a British warship she attempted to escape. The wind failed and the schooner then took to her sweeps. Lieutenant Pym of Babet took 24 men in her pinnace and launch and went after the schooner. After rowing several leagues the boats closed to within range of their cannon, which they then commenced to fire. The British closed on their quarry despite a strong counter-fire. The British then boarded Désirée and took her. She was armed with six guns and had a crew of 46 men. The British lost one man killed and five wounded; the French had three men killed and 15 wounded. Désirée was six days out of Guadeloupe and had taken one American brig that had been sailing from St. Vincent to Boston.

Babet was refitted at Portsmouth between July and December 1798 at a cost of £5,194. Then, in December she recaptured the American ship Helena.

On 18 and 19 January 1799, Babet captured two French fishing vessels, Deux Freres Unis, with a cargo of herring, and the Jacques Charles. On 24 June Babet was in company with Harpy when they captured the ship Weloverdagt.

Then Babet, under the command of Captain Jemmett Mainwairing, took part in the Anglo-Russian Invasion of Holland in 1799. There she briefly served as Vice-Admiral Andrew Mitchell's flagship in the Zuider Zee. On 28 August 1799, the fleet captured several Dutch hulks and ships in the New Diep, in Holland. Babet was listed among the vessels qualifying to share in the prize money. However, by the time this was awarded in February 1802, Babet had been lost at sea. Similarly, Babet was also present at the subsequent Vlieter Incident on 30 August.

Babet was among the numerous vessels that shared in the proceeds after Dart cut out the French frigate Desirée from Dunkirk harbour on 8 July 1800.

Babet left Spithead on 14 September 1801, arrived at Fort Royal Bay, Martinique, on 24 October, and sailed the next day for Jamaica. She was not seen again; she had probably foundered at sea during a tropical storm.

Coog
05-12-2012, 08:37
HMS PIQUE

HMS Pique was a 38-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had formerly served with the French Navy, initially as the Fleur-de-Lys, and later as the Pique. She was captured in 1795 by HMS Blanche, in a battle that left the Blanche's commander, Captain Robert Faulknor, dead. HMS Pique was taken into service under her only British captain, David Milne, but served for just three years with the Royal Navy before being wrecked in an engagement with the French ship Seine in 1798. The Seine had been spotted heading for a French port and Pique and another British ship gave chase. All three ships ran aground after a long and hard-fought pursuit. The arrival of a third British ship ended French resistance, but while the Seine and Jason were both refloated, attempts to save the Pique failed; she bilged and had to be abandoned.

Pique was built at Rochefort as the Fleur-de-Lys, one of the six ship Galatée class designed by Raymond-Antoine Haran. She was launched on 2 December 1785. The French Revolution led to her being renamed Pique in June 1792.

The Pique encountered HMS Blanche off the island of Desirade at Pointe à Pitre, Guadeloupe on 4 January 1795. The Pique at first tried to avoid an action, but eventually the two ships came to close quarters in the early hours of 5 January. The two ships closed and exchanged broadsides, with both sustaining heavy damage; the Blanche lost her main and mizzen masts. The Pique then turned and ran afoul of the Blanche, with her bowsprit caught across her port quarter. While the French made several attempts to board, which were repulsed, the crew of the Blanche attempted to lash the bowsprit to their capstan, but during the attempt Captain Faulknor was killed by a musket ball to the heart. The Pique then broke away from the Blanche and came round her stern, this time colliding on the starboard quarter. Blanche's men quickly lashed the bowsprit to the stump of their mainmast, which held her fast. The Pique was now unable to manoeuvre or bring any of her guns to bear on the Blanche. After being repeatedly raked by Blanche's guns, the Pique surrendered. Casualties for the British were eight killed, including Captain Faulknor, and 21 wounded. The Pique had lost 76 killed and 110 wounded. The two ships were joined later that morning by the 64-gun HMS Veteran, which helped exchange and secure the prisoners and tow the ships to port. The Blanche towed her prize to a British port, where she was named and registered on 5 September.

HMS Pique was commissioned in September 1795 under Captain David Milne, and assigned to serve in the Leeward Islands. On 9 March 1796 Pique and Charon captured the French privateer Lacédémonienne off Barbados. She was described as a brig of 14 guns and 90 men. The British took her into service.

Pique then went on to serve as part of a squadron. She was present at the capture of the Dutch colonies of Demerera and Essequibo on 23 April 1796, and the capture of Berbice on 2 May 1796. She then returned to Britain and operated in the English Channel from 1797.

In July 1796, Babet, Prompte, Scipio and Pique captured the Catherina Christina in July 1796.

Pique shared with Révolutionnaire, Boadicea and the hired armed cutter Nimrod in the capture of the Anna Christiana on 17 May 1798.

While patrolling off the Penmarks on 29 June 1798 she and her consorts Mermaid and Jason came across the French frigate Seine. The Seine had crossed the Atlantic from the West Indies and was bound for a French port. The British squadron manoeuvred to cut her off from land, but the Mermaid, under Captain James Newman-Newman, soon lost contact, leaving the Pique under Milne and the Jason under Captain Charles Stirling, to chase down the Frenchman.

The chase lasted all day, until 11 o'clock at night when Pique was able to range alongside the Seine and fire a broadside. The two exchanged fire for several hours, with the lighter Pique suffering considerable damage to her masts and rigging. Jason then ranged up and Captain Stirling called upon Milne to anchor, but Milne did not hear and was determined to see the Seine captured, and pressed on. Before the battle could be resumed Pique ran suddenly aground. The Jason too ran aground before she could swing way, while the Seine was observed to have grounded, and lost all her masts in the process. As the tide rose the Seine was able to swing into a position to rake the two British ships. With difficulty the sailors of Jason dragged several guns to the bow in order to exchange fire, while the Pique was able to bring her foremost guns to bear. Under fire from both British ships, the appearance on the scene of the Mermaid convinced the French to surrender. Jason had lost seven killed and 12 wounded, while Pique sustained casualties of two killed and six wounded. The Seine however had 170 killed and 100 wounded.

Mermaid arrived and retrieved Jason, but Pique had bilged and had to be destroyed. St Fiorenzo too arrived and was instrumental in recovering Seine. The Royal Navy took Seine into service under her existing name.

Coog
05-12-2012, 08:46
HMS LACEDEMONIAN

HMS Lacedemonian (or Lacedaemonian) was the French brig Lacedemonienne, launched in 1793, that the British captured in 1796 near Barbados. She was at the capture of Saint Lucia in May of the next year, but the French re-captured her a year after that.

Pique and Charon captured Lacedemonian on 9 March 1796 to the windward of Barbados. She was described as a privateer brig of 14 guns and 90 men. The British took her into service and commissioned her in May under the command of the newly promoted Commander George Sayer.

She was part of the expeditionary force under Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercromby and Rear-Admiral Sir Hugh C. Christian at the capture of the island of Saint Lucia in May 1796. Commander Thomas Boys replaced Sayer and he sailed Lacedemonian to Martinique. Boys received promotion to post-captain on 3 July 1796. His replacement was Commander Thomas Harvey. Shortly thereafter Harvey transferred to Pelican. Commander Matthew Wrench took command on 27 March 1797.

Lacedemonian was under Wrench's command when the French captured her on 6 April 1797. She was patrolling near Point Salines, Grenada, when she encountered a sloop. Lacedemonian gave chase for much of the day, when towards late afternoon another sloop appeared and started to chase Lacedomonian, while firing some random shots from long range. Lacedemonium gave up her chase and turned her attention towards her pursuer. Eventually, the newcomer caught up and Wrench stopped, with his crew at quarters. The newcomer did not display a flag but replied to queries in English. Lacedemonian's crew relaxed, so when the newcomer sent over a boat with armed men, and ran into Lacedemonian, they were taken by surprise. Wrench tried to organize resistance but the attackers knocked him down and took over the brig. The subsequent court martial ordered a severe reprimand for Wrench for having allowed himself to be caught unprepared.

Coog
06-03-2012, 06:25
HMS ALBANAISE

The French brig Albanaise (or Albannese) was launched in 1790. In June 1800 the Royal Navy captured her in the Mediterranean and took her into service as HMS Albanaise. In November her crew mutinied, took command of the vessel, and sailed her to Malaga where they surrendered her to the Spanish.

Albanaise was a tartane built for the purpose of transporting lumber for shipbuilding from Albania and Italy. She was built to a design by Ricaud du Temple, with the plans being dated 23 September 1789 and approved 23 October 1789. However the project was abandoned and she was employed as an ordinary transport. In late 1792 she served as a powder magazine for four small frigates converted into bomb vessels. At the time she was armed with four cannons. She then served out of Agde and Sète under Enseigne de vaisseaux Bernard.

In 1795 the French Navy converted her to a gun boat, of eight guns. Then between 1798 and February 1799 the French converted her to a brig, and armed her with 12 cannons.

On 4 June 1800 Phoenix and Port Mahon captured Albanaise. She was sailing from Toulon with provisions for Genoa when she encountered the Port Mahon, which initiated the chase about 35 miles west of Corsica. The chase lasted until early evening when Phoenix came up as Albanaise was just six miles out of Port Fino on Elba. Lieutenant Etiénne J. (or S.) P. Rolland fired two broadsides and then struck. (A subsequent court martial exonerated Rolland of the loss of his vessel.) Haerlem shared in the capture, as did a number of other vessels in the squadron blockading Genoa.

The British took her into service as HMS Albanaise and commissioned her under the command of Lieutenant Francis Newcombe.

On 20 September she captured the Spanish vessel Virgen del Rosario. Then on 9 October she cleared the trabaccolo Santa Maria, which was carrying linseed from Barré to Ferraro.

However in November the crew of Albanaise mutinied while she was escorting a small convoy of seven merchantmen that were carrying cattle and barley from Arzew for the garrison at Gibraltar. On 22 November she had captured a small Spanish vessel and taken her eight-man crew board, while putting five men aboard the prize, including master's mate John Terrel as commander. Newcombe then took special precautions, worried about the possibility of the prisoners conspiring against their captors.

Newcombe was awakened by noises at midnight and on discovering the mutiny, was able to shoot Hugh Keenan, one of the mutineers, dead. He would have shot the ringleader, Jacob Godfrey, but his pistol misfired. The mutineers then overpowered him and tied him up. The mutineers also restrained the other officers and loyal crew. The next day the mutineers took Albanaise into Malaga where they surrendered her to the Spanish.

The court martial of Newcombe and his officers for their conduct during the mutiny took place on 7 June 1801 on board Kent off Alexandria. The court acquitted Newcombe and his officers, judging that the crew (many of whom were foreigners), had risen and overpowered the officers or restrained them and that the gunner, Mr. Lewyn, was to be especially commended for having resisted until wounded. The court gave its opinion that Lieutenant William Prosser Kent was unfit to hold a commission in the Navy because he refused, “from mistaken religious motives”, to give his evidence under oath. It further stated that it had reason to believe that Master’s Mate John Tyroll (or Tyrell), although away in a prize at the time of the mutiny, knew of the plan and had not given warning. The court recommended further investigation into the crewmen Alexander M’Kiever and Thomas Parsons, who had been seen armed.

Godfrey was hanged in January 1802. Four crewmen were tried on Donegal in Portsmouth on 18 June 1802. Tyroll was acquitted, the only evidence against him being an ambiguous statement by Godfrey and hearsay from another mutineer who was never caught. Furthermore, his conduct in the year after the mutiny, when he had been transferred from vessel to vessel, had been exemplary as he participated in some 30 boat and other actions. The other three, Parsons, M’Keiver and J. Marriott, had returned from Malaga with Newcombe. The court martial board ordered that all three were to forfeit all pay and were to be incarcerated for three months in the Marshalsea. In addition, M’Keiver received 50 lashes and Marriott 100.

The British also captured several of the mutineers. Three more were tried on 27 September 1802 aboard Centaur. The court martial acquitted one man and sentenced another to 300 lashes. The court judged a third man, Patrick (or Henry) Kennedy, to have been a ringleader and ordered him tried separately. He was tried on 5 October and was sentenced to be hanged. He was hanged aboard Hussar on 16 October.

Coog
09-07-2012, 16:32
HMS WASP

HMS Wasp was an 18-gun sloop of the Royal Navy. She was formerly the French privateer Guèpe, captured in 1800. She served with the British during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and was sold out of the service in 1811.

Guèpe was a brig built at Bordeaux in 1798 that operated against British shipping in the Atlantic. On 29 August 1800 the vessels of the British blockading squadron, which was under the command of Sir John Warren, sent their boats into the harbour at Vigo to attack and cut her out.

The party went in and, after a 15-minute fight, captured the Guêpe and towed her out. She had a flush deck and was pierced for 20 guns but carried eighteen 9-pounders. She and her crew of 161 men were under the command of Citizen Dupan. In the attack she lost 25 men killed, including Dupan, and 40 wounded. British casualties amounted to four killed, 23 wounded and one missing. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "29 Aug. Boat Service 1800" to all surviving claimants from the action.

A prize crew took Guêpe back to Portsmouth where the Admiralty fitted her out between October 1800 and August 1801. During this time she was re-rigged.

Now named HMS Wasp she was commissioned in July 1801 under Commander Charles Bullen, and sent to Sierra Leone at the end of the year. She sailed from there to the West Indies, and was paid off in July 1802.

Wasp recommissioned again in May 1803 under Commander Frederick William Aylmer, and on 19 July that year captured the privateer Despoir. Despoir was a lugger, pierced for 10 guns but only mounting two. She had a crew of 28 men under the command of Jean Delaballe. She was three days out of Hodierne and had made no captures. At the time Seahorse was in company with Wasp.

Aylmer sailed to the Mediterranean in June 1804. In August Wasp captured a Spanish lugger and sloop. The French privateer Venus recaptured these vessels, only to be herself captured by several East Indiamen, notably the Eliza Ann. Venus had five crewmen from Wasp on board as prisoners.

On 12 and 16 January 1805, Wasp, under Alymer, captured the Spanish brigs Minerva and Carmen, and their cargoes. About two weeks later, on 21 February, Wasp captured the Spanish ship Victoria, and her cargo.

Aylmer was succeeded by Lieutenant Joseph Packwood in an acting capacity, and he by Commander John Simpson, also in 1805. Wasp was with Sir John Orde's squadron patrolling off Cadiz, and had a narrow escape from a French squadron in August 1805.

On 12 December, Boadicea, Arethusa and Wasp left Cork, escorting a convoy of 23 merchant vessels. Four days later the convoy encountered a French squadron consisting of five ships of the line and four sailing frigates, as well as nine other vessels that were too far away for assessment. The letter writer to the Naval Chronicle surmised that the distant vessels were the Africa squadron that Lark had escorted and that the French had captured. On this occasion, the British warships and six merchant vessels went one way and the rest went another way. The French chased the warships and the six for a day, ignored the 17, and eventually gave up their pursuit. Boadicea then shadowed the French while Wasp went back to French and Spanish coasts to alert the British warships there. Arethusa and her six charges encountered the French squadron again the next day, but after a desultory pursuit the French sailed off.

Lieutenant Buckland Sterling Bluett of Scorpion received promotion to Commander and took over command of Wasp in 1806. He then sailed to the Leeward Islands. On 24 May she came across the former British cutter HMS Dominica, which had been taken by mutineers four days earlier and delivered to the French, who had immediately commissioned her under the name Napoléon and sent her out to capture some merchant vessels at Roseau. Wasp retook the cutter, which had on board 73 men under the command of Vincent Gautier, two of whom were killed before she surrendered.

In 1807 Commander William Parkinson took command. Wasp returned to Britain later that year under the command of Commander John Haswell.

Wasp was laid up at Deptford in May 1809. She was offered for sale on 13 December 1810, and was sold there on 17 May 1811.

Diamondback
01-26-2013, 01:25
I'm going to confine my notes to ships we're seeing in the first release, for ships you might look into:

Temeraire-class 74-gun 3rd Rate Ship of the Line: Genereux played Musical Flags, taken by the RN from August to December 1793, going back to the French and retaken in 1800 to serve out her last days under RN colors. Fougueux was captured at Trafalgar, but had no chance to show her stuff for New Management being wrecked soon after. Commerce de Marseiiles->Lys->Tricolore was taken by the RN at Toulon in August 1793, but destroyed in a siege there that December. (Best guess, same events as Genereux's cchanging hands.) Impetueux, too, was taken but burned by accident at Portsmouth, thus also-captured sister-ship America took her name upon recommissioning into the RN. Aquilon was also taken, at the Battle of the Nile, recommissioned as HMS Aboukir. Additionally, two classes of two ships each were built to the Temeraire design in English yards, the Pompees (HMS Superb and Achilles, built from studying Pompee) and Americas (HMS Northumberland and Renown, similarly reverse-engineered from captured L'America/HMS Impetueux. Actually, out of 67 Temeraires listed at ThreeDecks, twenty-five, over a THIRD of the class, are listed as captures--this implies to me that the RN was impressed enough by the design to perhaps adopt an unofficial policy of "let the French do the building work, then go take their toys away for a free expansion of the Fleet whenever possible."

Concorde-class 32-gun 5th Rate Frigate: La Concorde and Courageuse--2/3 of the entire class--were captured by the Royal Navy, the exception La Hermione being wrecked.

Going the opposite direction:
Bellona/Arrogant/Ramillies/Elizabeth-class 74-gun 3rd Rate Ship of the Line: The former HMS Swiftsure and Berwick saw service at Trafalgar, in the French Marine Nationale.

Amazon-class 5th Rate Frigate: To find captures, I need to know exactly which of the THREE classes from 1773 to 1799 (latter two only four years apart) Andrea's designing for. I THINK I saw a capture or two listed for the 1773's, but none for the 1795's or the two 1799's.

Bligh
01-26-2013, 04:16
Thanks for all this info.
As a bit of a layman when it comes to Naval warefare, it is great to see how much milage there is in the first release shipping.
It will keep me researching and painting for quite some time.
Bligh.

csadn
01-26-2013, 22:56
Actually, out of 67 Temeraires listed at ThreeDecks, twenty-five, over a THIRD of the class, are listed as captures--this implies to me that the RN was impressed enough by the design to perhaps adopt an unofficial policy of "let the French do the building work, then go take their toys away for a free expansion of the Fleet whenever possible."

Pretty-much -- the French built great ships; but esp. given what the Revolution did to the command ranks (the officers all being Nobles), the French may as well have left the ships at anchor outside their harbors with placards saying "FREE TO GOOD HOME". The Spanish were even worse, both before and after the Rev started....

Of course, with all their time spent training for the Big War, the British (as our dear Coog has amply illustrated) were losing smaller ships in job-lots, so.... :)

Diamondback
01-27-2013, 02:01
Pretty-much -- the French built great ships; but esp. given what the Revolution did to the command ranks (the officers all being Nobles), the French may as well have left the ships at anchor outside their harbors with placards saying "FREE TO GOOD HOME". The Spanish were even worse, both before and after the Rev started....

Under those conditions, I woulda helped myself to one... other than that pesky problem of needing several hundred unpredictable meatbags to help me get it home. LOL

7eat51
04-12-2013, 21:33
Bobby, thanks for all the work on this thread. Very informative. :hatsoff:

Diamondback
04-12-2013, 21:43
Guerriere's history conflicts... Wikipedia has her as a modified and upgunned conventional version of Forfait's Romaine-class mortar frigates, while ThreeDecks has her designed by Jean-Francois Lafosse. This is most annoying, as I'm trying to ID possible sculpts for War of 1812 and Guerriere is a high-profile sticking point.

Coog
04-12-2013, 22:01
It seems there is a lot of conflicting information on this period on lots of ships. Quite often there is not any surviving records on ship constuction and much is speculated based on the information that is available.

7eat51
04-12-2013, 22:37
History, in general, can be a bit tricky. We had a good conversation about such matters on another thread. DB, I am confident that where you land will be valuable input.

Diamondback
04-12-2013, 22:51
Right--if Greenwich and the various French naval museums would digitalize their draughts and plans collections, that'd be a big help. It'd help MORE if Wikipedia weren't "anybody who feels like it can toss up any crap they like"... If I could get plans for Guerriere and a Romaine I could either confirm or dispose of the theory, just like the question about HMS's Revenge and Milford as decendents of 1782 Temeraire. (Revenge is dimensionally VERY close, and her gun layout is almost identical to the rearmament of RN Temeraires with their added 6-gun midships roundhouse, but there's a LOT of room to hide differences in a box of several thousand cubic feet.)

David Manley
04-13-2013, 01:02
Of course, with all their time spent training for the Big War, the British (as our dear Coog has amply illustrated) were losing smaller ships in job-lots, so.... :)

Not that daft theory again :)
Losing ships in "job lots" because the duties involved were dangerous and conducted regularly on the enemies shores - and taking far bigger job lots in return (I think we established the loss rate even for the small ships was in the region of 10:1)

Bligh
04-13-2013, 02:56
Yes indeed I'll second that.
Time for a little cudos me thinks.
Bligh.

csadn
04-14-2013, 15:07
Losing ships in "job lots" because the duties involved were dangerous and conducted regularly on the enemies shores - and taking far bigger job lots in return (I think we established the loss rate even for the small ships was in the region of 10:1)

Hardly "daft" if Coog keeps unearthing examples of it.

And I don't think anyone's ever established how one counts instances of a merchantman being captured by each side at least once; or how many "battles" consisted of one side firing a couple guns and the other side promptly giving up (given the morale problems of the French maritime services, I suspect that's how most British small-ship "victories" occurred -- and why they aren't much commented-on in the histories; sort-of difficult to make " I RESIGN! " sound glorious, no? :) ).

David Manley
04-14-2013, 23:10
Hardly "daft" if Coog keeps unearthing examples of it.

And I don't think anyone's ever established how one counts instances of a merchantman being captured by each side at least once...

Yes, daft. As Coog said himself, his postings were selective. Because page after page of HM Frigate xxx engaged French frigate yyy would be boring.

And it was a 10;1 win/loss ratio in WARSHIPS. If you add merchies into the equation you need to add some zeroes to that ratio (remember, RN merchant ship captures were in the tens of thousands).

pward
04-23-2013, 19:56
This thread is a great read... thanks to all for posting the stories.