Hubert Le Loup de Beaulieu (died 1 March 1799) was a French Navy officer and sea captain. [1] [2] [3] [4] He was a cousin of Ambroise Louis Garneray. [5]
Hubert Le Loup de Beaulieu (died 1 March 1799) was a French Navy officer and sea captain. [1] [2] [3] [4] He was a cousin of Ambroise Louis Garneray. [5]
He served as second ensign on the East Indiaman Comte de Provence from 1763 to 1764, [6] and as first enseign on the chartered corvette Sage armed for Mauritius on 1 May 1766. [1]
In 1776, he commanded the merchantman Carnate for a journey from Indian to China. [2]
In 1796, Beaulieu-Leloup served in the Navy in Rochefort with the rank of Commander. [5] He commanded the frigate Forte [7] in Sercey's squadron. [7]
In September 1797, Sercey had him relieved of his command and he was replaced by Captain Ravenel, [8] but reinstated on the insistence of Mauritius governor Malartic, [note 1] who caved in to pressure from the Colonial Assembly and sent Prudente and Forte to engage in independent commerce raiding off Bengal, disturbing Sercey's plans. [9] Sercey was furious, and wrote to the Ministry of the Navy:
General Malartic knew that I intended not to leave such an important command as that of Forte in the hands of Captain Beaulieu, whose age and weariness have weakened the faculties. [10]
On 24 February 1799, Forte engaged the East Indiaman Osterley. [11] After the battle, Beaulieu-Leloup, deeming the fire from Forte to strike too low, ordered her guns raised by diminishing their quoins by 2.7 cm. [11]
In the evening of 27 February 1799, she captured the East Indiamen Endeavour and Lord Mornington; [12] unbeknownst to Beaulieu-Leloup, the flashes of the battle were spotted by the 38-gun HMS Sybille, under Captain Edward Cooke, which closed in to investigate. [12] She was spotted by the officers of Forte and identified as a British frigate, [4] but Beaulieu-Leloup insisted that she was another East Indiaman and sent his crew to sleep for the night. [4] It was only when Sybille's intent to intercept became evident that Beaulieu-Leloup called to battle stations; [4] even then, he closed in and ordered a restrained attack, firing his guns one by one to test his opponent. [4] [12]
Cooke reserved his fire and manoeuvered into a raking position before delivering a broadside into the stern of Forte. [4] [12] In the damage, confusion and smoke caused by Sybille's fire, Forte began to mistakenly fire her starboard battery at one of her own prizes, [4] leaving Sybille free to come about and deliver a second raking broadside from her other battery. [12] The two frigates then began trading broadsides at close range, mortally wounding Cooke at 1:30; [12] ten minutes later, Beaulieu-Leloup was killed by a cannonball. [4] [7]
After Beaulieu-Leloup's death, command of Forte passed to Lieutenant Vigoureux, who was killed himself at 2:00. [11] Lieutenant Luco took over and attempted to manoeuver Forte, but her entire rigging collapsed, putting an end to her resistance. [11] Sybille hailed to inquire whether Forte had struck, and ceased fire when this was confirmed. [11] The next morning, Sybille hoisted a French flag to deceive the prize crew on Endeavour and Lord Mornington and recapture the ships, but the ruse was foiled and the two East Indiamen escaped. [10]