| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Dauphine |
| Builder | Ile Bourbon (La Réunion) |
| Laid down | circa 1772 [1] |
| Launched | June 1773 [2] |
| In service | August 1773 [1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Propulsion | Sail |
| Armament |
|
| Armour | Timber |
Dauphine was a small 4-gun corvette of the French Navy. She is notable for the rescue operation to Tromelin Island that gave it its present name, and for taking part in the Second voyage of Kerguelen. The Baie de la Dauphine, in the Kerguelen Archipelago, is named in her honour.
Dauphine was launched in June 1773 at Ile Bourbon and commissioned under Ferron du Quengo. [2] She was part of a squadron under Kerguelen-Trémarec, also comprising the 64-gun Roland [3] [4] and the 32-gun frigate Oiseau, [5] [6] under Captain de Saulx de Rosnevet. The squadron left Ile Bourbon on 19 October 1773 for Kerguelen's second expedition in search of the fabled Terra Australis. [2]
On 16 December, Dauphine discovered Îles Nuageuses. On 6 January, the squadron arrived at Baie de l'Oiseau and Ensign Rochegude left a message claiming the Kerguelen Islands for France. [2] The Baie de la Dauphine is named for her. Dauphine, Gros Ventre and Oiseau returned to Madagascar, calling Antongil Bay. On 9 March 1774, Kerguelen ordered Dauphine to return to Mahavelona to trade slaves. Dauphine returned on 24 March. [2]
Ensign Tromelin-Lanuguy took command of Dauphine on 14 June 1774. In late 1774 and December 1775, Dauphine sailed to Madagascar resupply Maurice Benyovszky. [2]
On 29 November 1776, Dauphine rescued 7 women and an 8-month child, sole survivors of 160 slaves abandoned by the crew of a slave ship wrecked on "Isle aux Sables" (now Tromelin Island) on 27 September 1761, some 15 years earlier. [7]
In 1778, Dauphine was reconfigured with a brig rigging. [1]
In June 1780, she was captured by three British privateers. [1]
Tromelin Island, once called the Isle of Sand, is a low, flat island in the Indian Ocean about 500 km north of Réunion and about 450 km east of Madagascar. Tromelin is part of the Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean, the fifth district of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, a French Overseas Territory, but Mauritius claims sovereignty over the island.
HMS Serapis was a Royal Navy two-decked, Roebuck-class fifth rate. Randall & Brent built her at Greenland South Dockyard, Rotherhithe and launched her in 1779. She was armed with 44 guns. Serapis was named after the god Serapis in Greek and Egyptian mythology. The Americans captured her during the American War of Independence. They transferred her to the French, who commissioned her as a privateer. She was lost off Madagascar in 1781 to a fire.
Pandour was a French a 14-gun gun-brig launched in 1780 as a cutter. The Royal Navy captured her in December 1795 and took her into service as Pandora, but she foundered in June 1797.
Saint Louis was a French East Indiaman, launched on 27 July 1752. She served in the Indian Ocean where she participated in three battles and at least one single-ship action. In 1768, she became a careening hulk in Lorient.
Brisson was a 22-gun corvette of the French Navy.
Cumberland was a 24-gun frigate of the French Navy, originally the East Indiaman Duke of Cumberland.
Louis-Hyacinte de Cavelier, chevalier de Cuverville was a French Navy officer.
Jacques Marie Boudin de Tromelin, Chevalier de La Nuguy was a French Navy officer. He served in the Indian Ocean under Suffren during the War of American Independence. Tromelin Island is named after him.
Maurice Jean Marie Boudin de Launay de Tromelin was a French Navy officer.
Charles de Mengaud de La Haye was a French Navy officer. He served in the War of American Independence.
Oiseau was a 32-gun frigate of the French Navy.
Baie de l'Oiseau is a natural harbour in the Loranchet Peninsula, in the North-Western part of the island Grande Terre, part of the Kerguelen Islands. It was the landing site of the expedition under Yves de Kerguelen in 1772, and later of the expedition under James Cook in 1776. The site of Port-Christmas is part of the bay.
Eure was a Meurthe-class aviso of the French Navy. She was launched in 1886. She is notable as having claimed territories of the Southern Indian Ocean for France, including the Kerguelen Islands in 1893. She continued to serve in the Pacific until 1901.
Baie de la Dauphine is a natural harbour located on the Loranchet Peninsula, at the north-west of the island of Grande Terre in the Kerguelen Islands.
The Kerguelen Arch is a former natural arch on the island of Grande Terre in the Kerguelen Islands of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, an archipelago in the southern Indian Ocean. Although the arch collapsed sometime between 1908 and 1913, the remaining pillars can be found on the littoral zone of the cape between Baie de l'Oiseau and Baie de la Dauphine, north of the Loranchet Peninsula. It is one of the best-known structures of the area, and its twin pillars are depicted on numerous postage stamps of the TAAF.
Gros Ventre was an armed storeship of the French Navy. She is notable for taking part in the First voyage of Kerguelen and for her subsequent solo mission of discovery to Australia. Anse du Gros Ventre was named in her honour.
Fortune was an armed storeship of the French Navy. She is notable for taking part in the First voyage of Kerguelen.
The first voyage of Kerguelen was an expedition of the French Navy to the southern Indian Ocean conducted by the fluyts Fortune and Gros Ventre, under Lieutenant Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec. The aims of the expedition were to survey recently discovered sea routes between Isle de France and India, to seek the postulated Terra Australis Incognita, and to explore Australia.
The Second voyage of Kerguelen was an expedition of the French Navy to the southern Indian Ocean conducted by the 64-gun ship of the line Roland, the 32-gun frigate Oiseau, and the corvette Dauphine, under Captain Kerguelen. The aims of the expedition were to confirm the findings of the First voyage of Kerguelen, returning the Kerguelen Islands and exploring what was thought to be a peninsula of a southern continent.
Port-Christmas is a natural and historical site on the Kerguelen Islands, located at the northern tip of the main island, on the east coast of the Loranchet Peninsula. It covers the bottom of Baie de l'Oiseau, the first shelter for sailors approaching the archipelago from the north, and is easily identifiable by the presence at the entrance of a natural arch, now collapsed, known as the Kerguelen Arch.