1 x 4-pounder or 6-pounder gun (on a pivot amidships) + swivel guns on some schooners
The Mouche No. 2-class schooner-avisos were a class of twenty-eight 1-gun dispatch or advice boats of the French Navy, all built between 1808 and 1810. Jean Baudry designed the vessels based on the draught of Villaret.[lower-alpha 1] Baudry may have been the builder on the schooners launched at Bayonne.[1]
She was launched at Bayonne on 14 June 1808. She sailed from Bayonne for Isle de France (Mauritius), on 14 June, and disappeared at sea.[1]
Mouche No.3
She was launched at Bayonne on 5 June 1808.[1]HMSCossack captured her, but there are conflicting accounts of when and where this occurred. Lloyd's List reported that on 27 August "the Mouche French National Schooner of one gun, four swivels, and 24 men, from Bayonne to the Havannah, with Dispatches, arrived at Plymouth, 27 instant, Prize to the Cossack SW."[2] Some French records suggest that she was captured on 19 August 1808 in the Antilles. The prize money notice in the London Gazette gives the date of capture as 5 August.[3]
Mouche No.4
She was launched at Bayonne on 23 June 1808.[1] In late 1808 she was under the command of enseigne de vaisseau auxiliaire Sorel, and carrying dispatches from Saint-Domingue to Pasajes, and then returning to Bayonne.[4] She underwent refitting at Bayonne in January 1809, but a boat, under the command of Lieutenant Joseph William Bazalgette of HMSResistance, captured her on 27 February 1809 off the north coast of Spain. In the action, the lieutenant de vaiseau commanding Mouche No.4 was killed.[5] The prize money notice credited Resistance and HMSArethusa with the capture, as well as that of four other merchant vessels on the 26th and 27th. It also gave the name of Mouche No.4's commander as "Sorrel".[6]
Mouche No.5
She was launched at Bayonne on 25 June 1808.[1] She was initially under the command of enseigne de vaisseau auxiliaire Gautier.[7] French records indicate that she was destroyed on 9 March 1809 to prevent capture.[1]Resistance's crew received head money for her destruction.[8]
Mouche No.6
She was launched at Bayonne in June 1808.[1] On 26 July she was at Bayonne under the command of lieutenant de vaisseauDucrest de Villeneuve, who was to sail her on a mission to Ìle de France.[9] The Spanish seized her near Manilla on 24 May 1809. Lieutenant de vaisseauPierre Bouvet, in Entreprenant, recovered her crew.
Mouche No.7
She was launched at Bayonne on 8 July 1808.[1] Under the command of enseigne de vaiseau Kernafflen, she visited Pasajes and Bilbao.[10] On 10 June 1809 HMSAmelia, HMSStatira, and the Spaniards captured her at Santander, Spain.[11]
Mouche No.8
She was launched at Bayonne on 5 September 1808.[1] Under the command of enseigne de vaisseau provisoire Lamouroux she sailed from Santons to Castro Urdiales, and then to Santander.[10] The French Navy renamed her Serin on 4 June 1817, and recommissioned her on 28 June, probably for colonial service. She left Brest in August as part of an expedition whose objective was to re-establish French control over French Guiana, replacing the Portuguese.[lower-alpha 2]Serin was lost on 16 October in a squall as she was en route to Cayenne via Senegal.[1]
Mouche No.9
She was launched at Rochefort Dockyard on 10 September 1808, and her builder was Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne-Sérigny.[1] On 9 August 1814 she was at Rochefort under the command of enseigne de vaisseau de Maillé-Brézé.[12] She was condemned at Rochefort in March 1817 and broken up there in April.[1]
Mouche No.10
She was launched at Rochefort Dockyard on 10 September 1808 and her builder was Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne-Sérigny. She was condemned at Rochefort in March 1817 and broken up there in April.[1]
Mouche No.11
She was launched at Basse-Indre on 19 September 1808 and her builders were Mathurin & Antoine Crucy.[1] Between 9 October and 30 November 1809, while under the command of enseigne de vaisseau Flesselles, she carried dispatches from Paimbœuf to Basse-Terre.[13] The French Navy burned her at Guadeloupe in February 1810 to prevent the Royal Navy from capturing her during the invasion of Guadeloupe (1810). In early 1810 HMSHazard took part in the invasion of Guadeloupe. During the invasion, Hazard led the fleet into Anse de Barque where she saw a French schooner anchored under the batteries and on fire. Robertson and a boarding party of marines boarded the burning schooner Mouche despite fire from the shore batteries that were trying either to sink them or the schooner. By the time Robertson was able to board the schooner part of her deck had burnt away; while the boarding party was cutting away her masts the intense heat discharged all her guns. Still the boarding party was able to bring her out and to seize the French "general marine signal book", the signals of France's allies, and other important documents that she had just brought out with her from France.[14]
Mouche No.12
She was launched at Lorient Dockyard on 22 September 1808. Between 1814 and 1816 she was armed with one 4-pounder gun, and four 12-pounder carronades. The French Navy renamed her Rossignol on 24 March 1817 and then commissioned her on 9 April, probably for colonial service. She and her entire crew were lost on 21 October in a hurricane near Martinique.[1]
Mouche No.13
She was launched at Brest Dockyard on 5 November 1808.[1] In 1808 she may initially have served as a school ship.[15]HMSReindeer captured her on 8 March 1809.[16]Mouche №13 was under the command of enseigne de vaisseau Detcheverry and was carrying dispatches from Brest to San Domingo when Reindeer captured her west of the Azores.[1]
Mouche No.14
She was launched at Boulogne ca. October 1808, and her builder was Jean-Charles Garrigues.[1] In late 1808 she was under the command of enseigne de vaisseau Tinel.[17] She was captured by the British at Guadeloupe on 11 August 1815.[1]
Mouche No.15
She was launched at Boulogne ca. October 1808, and her builder was Jean-Charles Garrigues. The French Navy renamed her Éclair in January 1818, and recommissioned her on 1 May 1818. She was rated as an aviso for colonial service.[1] On 6 May enseigne de vaisseau Fontbonne sailed Eclair from Brest to Martinique.[18] She was decommissioned there on 10 June 1825, and struck.[1]
Mouche No.16
She was launched at Dunkirk on 13 September 1808 and her builder was Louis Bretocq.[1] On 10–11 September 1808 she was under the command of enseigne de vaisseau auxiliaire Desgardins and cruising in front of Dunkirk and Nieuport.[10] The French Navy renamed her Colibri in March 1817, and recommissioned her on 1 May 1817, probably as an aviso for colonial service. She was in Senegal by 1818. There she joined the brig Argus and the schooner Iris in suppressing the slave trade.[19][lower-alpha 3]Colibri was decommissioned and condemned there on 1 August 1832. She was off the fleet list in 1832 and sold and BU at Senegal.[1]
Mouche No.17
She was launched at Flushing ca. 15 September 1808 and was also known as Goélette No.17. The French Navy decommissioned her at Antwerp on 16 February 1814 and she was struck there in May. She was probably ceded to the Netherlands in August.[1]
Mouche No.18
She was launched at Flushing ca. 15 September 1808 and was also known as Goélette No.18. The French Navy decommissioned her at Antwerp on 1 March 1814 and she was struck there in May. She was probably ceded to the Netherlands in August.[1]
Mouche No.19
She was launched at Flushing ca. 15 September 1808 and was also known as Goélette No.19. The French Navy decommissioned her at Antwerp on 15 February 1814 and she was struck there in May. She was probably ceded to the Netherlands in August.[1]
Mouche No.20
She was launched at Toulon Dockyard on 24 March 1809.[1] Between 10 July and 4 October 1810 she was under the command of l'enseigne de vaisseau Chasseriau, and carried dispatches from Marseille to Port-Mahon.[22] The French Navy renamed her Ramier in January 1818, and recommissioned her on 25 March.[1] Between 28 April and 29 May and while under the command of enseigne de vaisseau de Ricaudy, she sailed from Toulon to Algiers, and then to Bône, where she took up station.[23] The Navy decommissioned her on 5 December 1826. She was condemned at Toulon on 10 March 1828 and struck there.[1]
Mouche No.21
She was launched at Toulon Dockyard on 24 March 1809. The French Navy renamed her Moucheron in January 1818 and recommissioned her on 17 April 1818.[1] Between 30 March and 30 July enseigne de vaisseau de Moges sailed Moucheron from Toulon to Saint-Louis, Senegal, via Marseille and Malaga.[20] She then was stationed at Senegal, being manned by an entirely Senegalese crew from 1823. She last appears in operational records in 1826. She was off fleet list and transferred to colonial accounts in September 1830.[1]
Mouche No.22
She was launched at Genoa on 15 July 1809 and her builder was François Pestel. The French Navy ceded her to their creditors on 17 March 1814, one day before the British captured the city; the British apparently did not seize her.[1]
Mouche No.23
She was launched at Bayonne on 2 August 1809.[1] On 18 September 1809 she was under the command of enseigne de vaisseau Gautier who sailed her for Île de France.[10] However she stayed a Pasajes for a while, before sailing from there on 10 February 1810.[24]HMS Nereide captured her on 2 June 1810 near the Cape of Good Hope. On 30 August, Astrée recaptured Mouche No.23. However, the British recaptured her in November during their invasion of Isle de France.
Mouche No.24
She was launched at Bayonne on 12 August 1809, and her builder was Jean Baudry.[1] On 18 September 1809 she was under the command of enseigne de vaisseau Goupilleau who sailed from Bayonne with dispatches for Île de France. However, she stopped for a while at Pasajes.[10] The French Navy renamed her Papillon in April 1817, and recommissioned her on 12 May 1817. She and all her crew disappeared in a hurricane at Martinique on 21 October.[1]
Mouche No.25
She was launched at Bayonne in 1809. The British captured her on 15 March 1810 at or near Guadeloupe.[1]
Mouche No.26
She was launched at Bayonne on 29 August 1809.[1] On 11 January 1810, HMSIndefatigable captured Mouche № 26 near Cap de Peñas. Under the command of Enseigne de vausseau provisorie Fleury she had sailed from Pasajes with despatches for Île de France. The next day Mouche № 26 foundered near the Penmarks. Fleury, presumably among others, was drowned.[22]
Mouche No.27
She was launched at Bayonne on 20 October 1809. On 7 September 1810 she was at Bayonne under the command of enseigne de vaisseau auxiliaire Lamouroux and about to embark on a mission to Île de France.[22] A British frigate flying the French flag captured her on 12 January 1811 at the entrance to Port Napoléon (Port Louis, Île de France).[1] The prize money notice gives the names of six British vessels that shared in the proceeds.
Mouche No.28
She was launched at Bayonne in November 1809.[1] On 15 November 1810 HMSHesper captured Mouche No. 28 near Île Bonaparte (Réunion) as she was carrying dispatches to the Île de France. A boarding party in Hesper's cutter suffered three men wounded while boarding Mouche; French casualties were two men killed and five wounded, one of whom was Mouche No.28's commander.[25] The British recommissioned her for the attack on Île de France.[1]
Mouche No.29
She was launched at Nantes on 19 February 1810 and her builder was Antoine Crucy. She was refitted at Lorient between March and May 1815, and she then sailed for Île Bourbon on 16 May. Once there, she probably became the Lys that was in service at Île Bourbon in June. Lys grounded in 1825 on Providence Atoll in the Indian Ocean, but remained in service at Bourbon in October 1827. Lys was never carried on fleet lists.[1]
Notes
↑ There is some confusion about Villaret's origins. French records describe Villaret as being the former HMSFlying Fish (or Kingfish). There is disagreement within British records and between British and French records as to the origins and the fate of Flying Fish. The French attribution is clearly incorrect. Not only did Flying Fish have a different history, the Ballahoo-class schooners, of which Flying Fish was one, were longer and wider than the Mouche No.2-class schooners.
↑ The Anglo-Portuguese invasion of Cayenne (1809), had established Portuguese control over French Guiana. The Treaty of Paris (1814) returned the colony to France, but a Portuguese government remained in place until the French returned in 1817.
↑ Iris was a brand-new schooner, one of the first naval vessels built after the Bourbon Restoration. Between 24 March and 22 May 1818 she sailed from the Île-d'Aixroads to Saint-Louis, Senegal, under the command of enseigne de vaisseau Lefèvre.[20] On 25 April 1820 she was back at Rochefort and under the command of enseigne de vaisseau Lainé.[21]
HMS Indefatigable was one of the Ardent-class 64-gun third-rate ships-of-the-line designed by Sir Thomas Slade in 1761 for the Royal Navy. She was built as a ship-of-the-line, but most of her active service took place after her conversion to a 44-gun razee frigate. She had a long career under several distinguished commanders, serving throughout the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. She took some 27 prizes, alone or in company, and the Admiralty authorised the issue of four clasps to the Naval General Service Medal in 1847 to any surviving members of her crews from the respective actions. She was broken up in 1816.
Five ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Eclair:
HMS Reindeer was a Royal Navy 18-gun Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, built by Samuel & Daniel Brent at Rotherhithe and was launched in 1804. She was built of fir, which made for more rapid construction at the expense of durability. Reindeer fought in the Napoleonic Wars before succumbing in 1814 to the guns of USS Wasp during the War of 1812.
The Sémillante was a 32-gun frigate of the French Navy and the 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.
Revenant was a 20-gun privateer corvette, launched in 1807, and designed by Robert Surcouf for commerce raiding. The French Navy later requisitioned her and renamed her Iéna, after Napoleon's then-recent victory at the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt. The British captured her in 1808 and she served in the Royal Navy as HMS Victor. The French Navy recaptured her in 1809, taking her back into service under the new name. The British again captured her when they took Isle de France in December 1810. They did not restore her to service, and she was subsequently broken up.
Pierre-François-Henri-Étienne Bouvet de Maisonneuve was a French Navy officer and privateer.
Néréide was a Sibylle-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 Isle de France, in 1810. After the Battle of Grand Port she was in such a poor condition that she was laid up and sold for breaking up in 1816.
HMS Magpie was a Royal Navy Cuckoo-class schooner that William Rowe of Newcastle built and launched on 17 May 1806. Like all her class, she was armed with four 12-pounder carronades and had a crew of 20. She had been in British service for less than a year when she grounded on the coast of France, which led to her capture. She then served in the French navy until 1828, including a few years as a prison ship.
Marsouin was a gabarre, the name-ship of her three-vessel class, built to a design by Raymond-Antoine Haran, and launched in 1787 or 1788 at Bayonne. She carried troops, supplies, invalids, etc., across the Atlantic to the Caribbean or back until the British captured her in 1795. Though the Royal Navy nominally took her into service, she was never actually commissioned, and she disappeared from the lists in 1799.
Entreprenant was the third of a sequence of vessels under the same name and with the same captain in the period 1807–1810. She served in the East Indies until the British captured her in 1810 and then had her broken up as unfit for further service.
Alexandre Louis Ducrest de Villeneuve was a French naval officer and admiral.
HMS Coureuse was a schooner launched in about 1785 at New York, that the French Navy acquired at Cayenne and armed and commissioned at Lorient in 1794. The British captured her in 1795 and the Royal Navy briefly used her as a dispatch vessel in the Mediterranean. The Admiralty sold her in 1799.
HMS Clyde was a Royal Navy Artois-class frigate built at Chatham Dockyard of fir, and launched in 1796. In 1797, she was one of only two ships whose captains were able to maintain some control over their vessels during the Nore mutiny. In 1805, HMS Clyde was dismantled and rebuilt at Woolwich Dockyard; she was relaunched on 23 February 1806. She was ultimately sold in August 1814.
Perçante was a 20-gun ship-corvette of the French Navy, built at Bayonne and launched in 1795. The British captured her in 1796 and took her into the Royal Navy under the name HMS Jamaica. They rated her as a sixth-rate 26-gun frigate. She served during both the French Revolutionary Wars and part of the Napoleonic Wars, during which she captured some privateers and participated in a boat attack. The Admiralty had her laid up in 1810 and sold her in 1814.
The French gun-vessel Eclair was one of 20 chasse-marées built in 1785 in southern Brittany for use as service craft in harbour construction at Cherbourg. In 1793 Martin or Jacques Fabien converted ten of them into chaloupes-canonnières (gun-vessels). One of these received the name Eclair. Sir Richard Strachan's squadron captured her in 1795 in Cartaret Bay, and the Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Eclair. She then sailed to the West Indies where she was probably out of service by 1801. In 1802 she was hulked under the name HMS Safety. She then served as a prison ship at Jamaica around 1808 to 1810. She may have been sold at Tortola in 1817/18, but in 1841 or so was brought back into service there as a receiving hulk. She was broken up in 1879.
Brave, launched at Le Havre in 1793, was the name vessel of a two-vessel class of brig-rigged canonnières, i.e., gun-brigs. The French Navy renamed her Arrogante in May 1795. The Royal Navy captured her on 23 or 24 April 1798. The British Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Arrogante, but renamed her HMS Insolent some four months later. She was sold in June 1818.
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 ship Généreux was originally the Portuguese merchantman Ouvidor Pereira. Captured by Entreprenant in 1809, the French navy took her into service as Généreux. In 1814 she was renamed Loire. She was decommissioned at Brest in July 1838 and struck from the lists in August before being broken up.
HMS Rapide was a British schooner of unknown name that the French captured in 1806. The French Navy took her into service as Villaret, but renamed her Rapide. She then became the model for a class of advice boats (avisos). The British Royal Navy captured her in 1808 in the West Indies and took her into service as the ship's tender Rapide. She was lost in 1814.
HMS Saint Pierre was launched in 1803 at Bordeaux as Saint Pierre, intended for use as a slave ship. The Department of Eure purchased her and donated her to the French government, which, however, found her unsuitable and returned her to her owner. The French Navy later requisitioned her between July and September 1805 as a storeship and renamed her Diligente. She was at Martinique in February 1809 when the British Royal Navy captured the island. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Saint Pierre.
References
Christophe, Henri and (King of Haiti), Thomas Clarkson (1952) Henry Christophe & Thomas Clarkson: A Correspondence. (University of California Press).
Fonds Marine. Campagnes (opérations; divisions et stations navales; missions diverses). Inventaire de la sous-série Marine BB4. Tome premier: BB4 210 à 482 (1805-1826)
Winfield, Rif; Roberts, Stephen S. (2015). French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786–1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN978-1-84832-204-2.
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French Navy 
