The Caroline was a 40-gun Hortense Class

Hortense class frigate

Jacques-Noël Sané designed the Hortense class 40-gun frigates of the French Navy in 1802. Seven frigates were built to this new design between 1803 and 1807. Of the seven, one was wrecked at sea and the British Royal Navy captured four, taking three into service.* HortenseJacques-Noël Sané designed...

 frigate of the French Navy

French Navy

The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...

.

On 12 November 1808, the French authorities sent four new 40 gun frigates to the Indian Ocean. One of them was Caroline, under the command of Captain Jean-Baptise-Henri Feretier, which sailed from the port of Vlissingen in Holland.

Caroline initially patrolled with Manche

French frigate Manche (1803)

The Manche was a 40-gun Hortense Class frigate of the French Navy.She took part in operations at Île de France under Captain François-Désiré Breton....

 and Iéna

French corvette Revenant

Revenant was a 20-gun privateer corvette designed by Robert Surcouf for commerce raiding. She was later requisitioned for service in the French Navy, and was renamed Iéna, but was subsequently captured by and served in the Royal Navy as HMS Victor...

 under capitaine de vaisseau Billard. Manche was under the command of Captain Breton and was another of the four; she had sailed from Cherbourg.

Caroline captured several ships, notably the two 20-gun East Indiamen

East Indiamen

An East Indiaman was a ship operating under charter or license to any of the East India Companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries...

 Streatham and Europa on 3 May 1809, before returning to Saint-Paul

Saint-Paul, Réunion

Saint-Paul is the second-largest commune in the French overseas department of Réunion. It is located on the extreme west side of the island of Réunion.Until 1999, near Saint Paul there was the 428 metres tall mast OMEGA Chabrier transmitter.- Transport :...

. A third East Indiaman, Lord Kieth, escaped. Prize crews took Streatham and Europa to Réunion

Réunion

Réunion is a French island with a population of about 800,000 located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas departments of France...

, where the British recaptured them on 21 September.

On 21 September, HMS Sirius

HMS Sirius (1797)

HMS Sirius was a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Between 1797 and 1805, the Sirius was engaged in maintaining the blockade of Napoleonic Europe...

 and HMS Raisonnable

HMS Raisonnable (1768)

HMS Raisonnable was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, named after the ship of the same name captured from the French in 1758. She was built at Chatham Dockyard, launched on 10 December 1768 and commissioned on 17 November 1770 under the command of Captain Maurice Suckling,...

 captured her during the British Raid on Saint-Paul

Raid on Saint-Paul

The Raid on Saint-Paul was an amphibious operation conducted by a combined British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Marines force against the fortified French port of Saint Paul on Île Bonaparte during the Napoleonic Wars...

. She was taken into British service as HMS Bourbonaise, there already being an HMS Caroline.

The Admiralty attempted to auction Bourbonaise at Plymouth on 18 Sep 1816 at £2500, but bidding stopped at £2000. She was broken up in 1817.