French frigate Aurore (1768)

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Aurore.

History
France
Name	Aurore
Namesake	Aurora
Ordered	31 March 1766 [1]
Builder	Rochefort [1]
Laid down	September 1766 [1]
Launched	23 November 1768 [1]
In service	1769
Captured	Surrendered to the British by Royalist traitors in August 1793 [1]
Great Britain
Name	HMS Aurora
Acquired	August 1793
Fate	Broken up 1803
General characteristics
Displacement	1100 tonneaux
Tons burthen	600 port tonneaux
Length	44.2 metres
Beam	11.2 metres
Draught	5.7 metres
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	28 × 12-pounder long guns 6 × 6-pounder long guns

Aurore was a frigate of the French Navy

Career

Aurore was ordered on 31 March 1766 as Envieuse, and renamed to Aurore in February 1767, while still under construction. ^[1]

Aurore took part in the 1772 edition of the Escadre d'évolution under Captain de La Tullaye. ^{[1] [2]}

On 16 July 1778, she departed Toulon under Captain Bompar ^[3] for a mission in the Mediterranean, as part of a squadron under Louis de Fabry de Fabrègues. ^[1]

On 20 January 1779, Aurore recaptured the storeship Heureux Jérôme, that the British had taken as prize, and brought her to Toulon. ^[1]

In October 1779, Aurore departed Marseille under Joseph de Flotte, escorting a 26-ship convoy bound for Martinique, ferrying supplies for the French colonies of the Caribbeans and for the division under Chef d'Escadre Lamotte-Picquet. ^[4] Arriving in Saint Lucia channel, the body of water between the islands of Saint Lucia and Martinique, ^[5] the convoy met a 13-ship British squadron under Admiral Hyde Parker. The British gave chase, and Lamotte scrambled to cover the escape of the convoy, leading to the Battle of Martinique. ^[6]

In 1780, she sailed from the Caribbean to Cadiz to take part in the Great Siege of Gibraltar. ^[1]

In 1793, she was surrendered to the British by Royalist insurgents that had seized control of the city and harbour of Toulon. ^[1]

The British removed her when they evacuated Toulon and the ship was renamed Aurora. She was hulked as a prison ship in 1799 at Gibraltar and was broken up there in 1803. ^[7]

Citations

1. Roche (2005), p. 58.
2. Pusch (2010), p. 20.
3. Blondy (2014), p. 315.
4. La Monneraye (1998), p. 144.
5. La Monneraye (1998), p. 144, Note 4.
6. La Monneraye (1998), p. 153.
7. Winfield & Roberts (2017), p. 178.

References

• Blondy, Alain (2014). Documents consulaires, Lettres reçues par le chargé d'affaires du Roi à Malte au XVIIIème siècle. Vol. 1. ISBN   9781291863017. OCLC   994218731.
• La Monneraye, Pierre-Bruno-Jean (1998). Bonnichon, Philippe (ed.). Souvenirs de 1760 à 1791. Librairie Droz. ISBN   978-2-7453-0079-9. OCLC   165892922.
• Demerliac, Alain (1996). La Marine de Louis XVI: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1774 à 1792 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN   9782906381230. OCLC   468324725.
• Pusch, Donald E. (2010). The Logs of the Chariot Royal, 1752-1753. France: Petite Presse du Lac. ISBN   9780578047553. OCLC   759084455.
• Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671 - 1870. ISBN   978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC   165892922.
• Winfield, Rif; Roberts, Stephen S. (2017). French warships in the age of sail, 1626-1786: design, construction, careers and fates. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN   9781473893511.

External links

• Archives nationales (2011). "Fonds Marine, sous-série B/4: Campagnes, 1571-1785" (PDF). Retrieved 29 April 2020.