French frigate Infatigable (1799)

Last updated

History
Civil and Naval Ensign of France.svgFrance
NameInfatigable
BuilderLe Havre (Construteur:Charles-Henri Tellier)
Laid down19 July 1797
Launched6 April 1799
CommissionedMarch 1800
Captured25 September 1806
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
NameImmortalite
Acquired25 September 1806 (by capture)
Commissioned23 September 1801
Fate Scrapped, 1811
General characteristics [1]
Type Frigate
Displacement1,341 tons (French)
Length47.75 m (156.7 ft) (overall); 42.22 m (138.5 ft)
Beam12.07 m (39.6 ft)
Complement340 (war); 260 (peace)
Armament
  • French service
    • Upper deck: 28 × 18-livre
    • QD and Fc: 12 × 8-livre + 4 × 36-livre obusiers
  • British service: Not re-armed

Infatigable was a 40-gun Valeureuse-class frigate of the French Navy, launched at Le Havre in 1799. She took part in Allemand's expedition of 1805. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1806. She was taken into the Royal Navy but never used and she was broken up in 1811.

Contents

French career

Infatigable was under the command of capitaine de vaiseau Meynne between 22 October 1801 and 26 December 1802. First she sailed from Havre to Cherbourg. Then she carried troops from Cherbourg to Cap-Français via Douvres, Dunkirk, and Flessingue. From Cap-Français she conducted a mission to Havana, from which she returned to Cap-Français before sailing back to Brest. [2]

Around 31 July 1803 capitaine de vaisseau Troude brought the colonial prefect (governor) of "Aure" and passengers from Cap-Français back to Lorient. [3]

A French squadron consisting of Actæon, Armide, Gloire, Infatigable, Jemmapes, Lion, Lynx and Magnanime burnt the sloop Eclipse, Lady Nelson, Matthew, Thetis, and Thomas in an attack at Saint Kitts. The same squadron burnt the Lady Jane Halliday, the Nelly, and the Themis at Nevis.

Between 11 and 20 November 1805, Infatigable, under the command of capitaine de vaisseau Joseph-Maurice Girardias, was in Île-d'Aix roads. [4]

Capture

A four-ship squadron of the Royal Navy under Samuel Hood captured her in the action of 25 September 1806, together with Gloire, Minerve and Armide after they had left Rochefort the evening before. Infatigable was under the command of capitaine de vaisseau "Giradiers". French casualties were heavy as the French squadron was carrying troops. [5]

Fate

The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Immortalite but never used her. She was broken up in 1811.

Citations

  1. Winfield & Roberts (2015), p. 142.
  2. Fonds Marine, p. 267.
  3. Fonds Marine, p. 286.
  4. Fonds Marine, p. 341.
  5. "No. 15962". The London Gazette . 30 September 1806. pp. 1306–1307.

Related Research Articles

French frigate <i>Sémillante</i> (1791) French Navy ship

The Sémillante was a 32-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. She was involved in a number of multi-vessel actions against the Royal Navy, particularly in the Indian Ocean. She captured a number of East Indiamen before she became so damaged that the French disarmed her and turned her into a merchant vessel. The British captured her and broke her up in 1809.

Sardine was a corvette of the French Navy, launched in 1771. The Royal Navy captured her at the Siege of Toulon but the French retook her when the Anglo-Spanish force retreated. The Royal Navy captured her again in 1796. She then served as HMS Sardine until the Royal Navy sold her in 1806.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amable Troude</span> French Navy officer

Amable Gilles Troude was a French Navy officer, who served in the Napoleonic Wars.

<i>Seine</i>-class frigate 42-gun frigates of the French Navy

The Seine class was a class of four 42-gun frigates of the French Navy, designed in 1793 by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait. A fifth vessel, Furieuse, was originally ordered at Cherbourg in February 1794 to Forfait's Romaine-class design, but was instead completed to the design of the Seine class.

French frigate <i>Armide</i> (1804)

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 Royal Navy captured her in 1806. She went on to serve in the Royal Navy until 1815 when she was broken up.

French frigate <i>Gloire</i> (1803)

Gloire was a 44-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class.

French corvette <i>Sylphe</i> (1804) Abeille-class brig-corvette of the French Navy

Sylphe was an Abeille-class 16-gun brig-corvette of the French Navy. The class was built to a design by François Pestel. The British captured her in 1807 and took her into the Royal Navy as HMS Seagull, but apparently never used her in any capacity. She was sold in 1814.

HMS Pilchard was a Royal Navy Ballahoo-class schooner of four 12-pounder carronades and a crew of 20. The prime contractor for the vessel was Goodrich & Co., in Bermuda. She was commissioned under Lieutenant Samuel Crew in May 1804, launched in 1805, and completed at Plymouth in 1806. Although Pilchard was often near naval engagements, she seems not to have had to fire her cannons before she was laid up in 1812. Entries in Lloyd's Register indicate that she continued in mercantile trade from at least 1817 until 1833, under a variety of owners and masters, and as far afield as Africa and Valparaiso.

Nourrice was the first of two flûtes built to a design by Raymond-Antoine Haran. She was launched on 3 August 1792 at Bayonne and coppered in 1795. She served at Brest and Toulon, until a British squadron cornered her in the Bay of Sagone on Corsica's east coast in 1811 and destroyed her.

French corvette <i>Torche</i> (1795)

Torche was a French naval Etna-class ship-sloop launched in 1795. She participated in the action of 19 July 1805, with the Royal Navy capturing her one-month later, in August. She was taken into service as HMS Torch but never commissioned and was broken up in 1811.

Vésuve was an 18-gun Etna-class corvette of the French Navy, launched in 1795. She was decommissioned in 1815 and broken up in 1830.

Créole was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, a one-off design by Jacques-Augustin Lamothe. The French Navy loaned her to a privateer in 1797. Later, she served in the Brest squadron, took part in Ganteaume's expeditions of 1801 to Egypt, and was involved in the French acquisition of Santo Domingo and briefly detained Toussaint Louverture before he was brought to France. The 74-gun ships HMS Vanguard and HMS Cumberland captured her Santo Domingo on 30 June 1803. The Royal Navy took her into service but she foundered soon afterwards during an attempt to sail to Britain; her crew were rescued.

French ship <i>Génois</i> (1805) Ship of the line of the French Navy

Génois was a Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, of the sub-type of Borée and Pluton.

The French brig Nisus was a Palinure-class brig of the French Navy, launched in 1805. The Royal Navy captured Nisus at Guadeloupe in 1809. The British took her into service as HMS Guadaloupe, and sold her in November 1814.

The French brig Observateur, which was launched in 1800 for the French Navy, was a Vigilant-class 16-gun brig, one of six built to a design by Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait. The Royal Navy captured her in 1806 and took her into service as HMS Observateur. She participated in two actions, one for the French Navy and one for the Royal Navy, and one campaign before she was laid up in 1810. The Navy did not succeed in selling her until 1814.

French frigate <i>Proserpine</i> (1809)

HMS Proserpine was a 32-gun Amphion-class frigate built for the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. The French Navy captured her off Toulon about a year after her commissioning and took her into service as Proserpine. She served in various capacities such as a frigate, troopship, hospital ship, and prison hulk until 1865.

The French brig Pandour was a brig of the French Navy launched in 1804 that the Royal Navy captured in 1806. In 1807 she became a whaler in the South Seas Fisheries, but was lost in late 1809.

HMS <i>Barbuda</i> (1780) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Barbuda was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1780 after having briefly served as an American privateer. Barbuda was one of the two sloops that captured Demerara and Essequibo in 1781, but the French Navy captured her there in 1782 and took her into service as Barboude. The French Navy sold her to private owners in 1786, and she served briefly as a privateer in early 1793 before the French Navy purchased her again and named her Légère. She served them until mid-1796 when the Royal Navy captured her and took her into service as HMS Legere. She was wrecked off the coast of Colombia, without loss of life, in February 1801.

French corvette <i>Naïade</i> (1793)

The French corvette Naïade was launched at Brest in 1793 as a brig-corvette for the French Navy. The Royal Navy captured her in 1805 and took her into service as HMS Melville. She was sold for breaking up in 1808.

French frigate Proselyte was a one-off built to a design by Charles-Louis Ducrest, and launched in 1786 at Le Havre. French Royalists handed her over to the British Royal Navy when it occupied Toulon in 1793. The Royal Navy commissioned her as a floating battery. She was lost in action at the siege of Bastia in April 1794.

References