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French frigate Loire (1797)
Encyclopedia
The Loire was a 44-gun frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
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...
.
French service and capture
She took part in the Expédition d'IrlandeExpédition d'Irlande
The Expédition d'Irlande was an unsuccessful attempt by the First French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars to assist the outlawed Society of United Irishmen, a popular rebel Irish republican group, in their planned rebellion against British rule...
, and in the Battle of Tory Island, where she battled , , and . After the battle, Loire and Sémillante
French frigate Sémillante (1792)
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 the she became so damaged that the French disarmed her and...
escaped into Black Sod Bay, where they hoped to hide until they had a clear passage back to France. However, late on 15 October, a British frigate squadron under James Newman Newman rounded the southern headland of the bay, forcing the French ships to flee to the north. Pressing on sail in pursuit, Newman ordered Révolutionaire to focus on Sémillante whilst he pursued Loire in , accompanied by the brig under Commander Edward Brace. Loire and Sémillante separated to divide their pursuers; Mermaid and Kangaroo lost track of Loire in the early evening, and Sémillante evaded Révolutionaire after dark. Mermaid and Kangaroo eventually found Loire on 17 October, but after an inconclusive fight that left the British unable to pursue, Loire broke off the engagement and escaped. The next day Loire again engaged Kangaroo and Anson, and was forced to strike after she ran out of ammunition. Out of the 664 men, including three artillery regiments and their Etat-Major, carried on board Loire, 48 were killed and 75 wounded. She was also found to be carrying a large store of clothing, weapons, ammunition and tools for her troops' intended operations. Anson had two men killed and 13 wounded, while the Kangaroo appears to have suffered no casualties.
British service
The Royal Navy brought her into service as HMS Loire.Loire was commissioned at Portsmouth under Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland
Frederick Lewis Maitland
Frederick Maitland may refer to:*Frederick Maitland *Frederick Lewis Maitland , captain in the Royal Navy*Frederick Lewis Maitland , son of the above, Rear admiral in the Royal Navy...
in October 1802.
On 27 June 1803 the Loires boats captured the French navy brig Venteux while she was anchored close to shore batteries on the Île de Batz
Île de Batz
The Île de Batz is an island off Roscoff in Brittany, France. Administratively, it is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.-Population:...
. Venteux had a crew of 82 men under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Gilles-François Montfort and was armed with four 18-pounder guns and six brass 36-pounder carronade
Carronade
The carronade was a short smoothbore, cast iron cannon, developed for the Royal Navy by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, UK. It was used from the 1770s to the 1850s. Its main function was to serve as a powerful, short-range anti-ship and anti-crew weapon...
s. The British had six men wounded, two mortally; the French lost their second captain and two men killed, and all five remaining officers, including Montfort, wounded, as well as eight other men wounded. In 1847 the Admiralty recognized the action with the clasp "27 June Boat Service 1803" to the Naval General Service Medal, awarded to all surviving claimants from the action. The Royal Navy brought Venteux into service as , and next year renamed her HMS Eclipse.
On 16 March 1804 Loire captured the French privateer Braave on the Irish station.
On 17 August 1804 Loire fell in with the French ship privateer Blonde, of Bordeaux, mounting 30 guns, eight-pounders on the main deck, with a crew of 240 men; the same ship that, about five months previous, captured the Wolverine. After a chase of 20 hours, including a running fight of a quarter of an hour, during which the Loire had one midshipman (Ross Connor) and five men wounded, and the Blonde two men killed and five wounded, the latter hauled down her colours.
On 2 June 1805 boats from Loire captured the Spanish privateer felucca
Felucca
A felucca is a traditional wooden sailing boat used in protected waters of the Red Sea and eastern Mediterranean including Malta, and particularly along the Nile in Egypt, Sudan, and also in Iraq. Its rig consists of one or two lateen sails....
Esperanza alias San Pedro in the Bay of Camarinas, east of Cape Finisterre. She was armed with three eighteen-pounders, four four-pounder brass swivels and a crew of 50 men. Loire had only three men slightly wounded. The captured Spanish crew had lost 19 of their 50 men, mostly killed, some however jumped overboard.
On 4 June 1805 Loire made an attack on Muros
Muros
Muros is a fictional character from the Philippine telefantasyes Encantadia and Etheria. He was second in command to Aquil in Encantadia and took over his role as the head of the Lirean army when the latter was killed during the final battle in the original series...
. Two French privateer vessels were discovered lying in the bay, including the Confiance pierced for 26 guns, twelve- and nine-pounders, although not having them on board. A landing party of 50 men from Loire under first lieutenant James Lucas Yeo
James Lucas Yeo
Sir James Lucas Yeo KCB was a British naval commander who served in the War of 1812.Yeo was born in Southampton on 7 October 1782, and joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman at the age of 10. He first saw action as a lieutenant aboard a brig in the Adriatic Sea, and distinguished himself during the...
stormed the town's fort (which was firing 12 eighteen-pounder guns on the ship), slaying the governor and many of the defenders (including some of the French crews) and forcing the remainder to surrender. Yeo hoisted the British colours, spiked the guns and rendered the carriages unserviceable. Loire had six men slightly wounded in the shore party (including Yeo), with a further nine injured on the ship, one dangerously. The Confiance was taken possession of and subsequently brought into service under Yeo's command. The second vessel, the Belier brig pierced for 20 eighteen-pounder carronades was deemed too unseaworthy to carry away, so Maitland burnt her. The clasp "4 June Boat Service 1805" was added to the Naval General Service Medal
Naval General Service Medal
The Naval General Service Medal was a campaign medal approved in 1847, for issue to officers and men of the Royal Navy. William Wyon was the designer...
and issued to surviving claimants in respect of the action.
On 24 December 1805, along with HMS Egyptienne, she captured the French Libre
French frigate Libre (1796)
The Libre was a Romaine-class frigate of the French Navy. She was built at Le Havre, and though launched in 1796, was not placed into service until 1798. She sailed from Le Havre in March 1801 in the company of Indienne towards Cherbourg, then Cadiz and La Corogne under Captaine de Frégate Bourdet...
, and took her in tow to Plymouth. Libre was not purchased into service.
On 22 April 1806, Loire captured the Spanish privateer Princess of Peace, 14 guns, 23 men.
Loire was eventually paid off at Deptford on 6 October 1806.
On 21 June 1810 Loire and escorted 100 vessels through the Great Belt
Great Belt
The Great Belt is a strait between the main Danish islands of Zealand and Funen . Effectively dividing Denmark in two, the Belt was served by the Great Belt ferries from the late 19th century until the islands were connected by the Great Belt Fixed Link in 1997–98.-Geography:The Great Belt is the...
into the Baltic.
On 18 February 1814, Loire encountered the USS President
USS President (1800)
USS President was a nominally rated 44-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She was named by George Washington to reflect a principle of the United States Constitution. Forman Cheeseman was in charge of her construction, and she was launched in April 1800 from a...
off New York. Loire escaped once she realized President was a 44-gun frigate.