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French frigate Pomone (1787)
Encyclopedia
Pomone was a 40-gun 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...
built in 1783. The British captured her, along with Babet and Engageante
French frigate Engageante (1766)
Engageante was a 26-gun frigate of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. The British captured her in 1794 and converted her to a hospital ship. She served as a hospital ship until she was broken up in 1811.-French service:...
, off 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:...
during the Action of 23 April 1794
Action of 23 April 1794
The Action of 23 April 1794 took place between a British squadron of five frigates under the command of Sir John Borlase Warren and three frigates and a corvette under the command of Chef d'escadre F. Desgarceaux during the French Revolutionary Wars. Three of the French ships were captured.-The...
.
She was subsequently recommissioned in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
as HMS Pomone mounting 48 guns. Her design inspired that of the Endymion-class frigates
Endymion class frigate
The Endymion-class was a class of six Royal Navy 40-gun fifth-rate frigates, with the prototype launched in 1797 and five slightly amended versions built of fir launched from 1813 to 1814.-Design:...
. Pomone had a relatively brief but active career off the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of France before suffering sufficient damage from hitting a rock to warrant being taken out of service and then broken up in 1803.
British service
On 6 and 17 January 1795, Pomone, under Captain Sir John Borlase WarrenJohn Borlase Warren
Sir John Borlase Warren, 1st Baronet , was an English admiral, politician and diplomat. Born in Stapleford, Nottinghamshire, he was the son and heir of John Borlase Warren of Stapleford and Little Marlow...
, with Arethusa
HMS Arethusa (1781)
HMS Arethusa was a 38-gun Minerva-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy built at Bristol in 1781.She took part in the Action of 23 April 1794, capturing Pomone....
, Concorde
HMS Concorde (1783)
HMS Concorde was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had previously served in the French Navy under the name Concorde. Built in France in 1777, she entered service with the French early in the American War of Independence, and was soon in action, capturing in the West Indies. She...
, Galatea and Diamond, captured the French vessels David and Ormontaise, and recaptured the Phoenix.
On 12 February, Pomone put to sea with a squadron comprising The frigates Anson
HMS Anson (1781)
HMS Anson was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Plymouth on 4 September 1781 by Georgina, Duchess of Devonshire.-History:...
, Artois and Galatea, and the hired lugger Duke of York
Hired armed lugger Duke of York
The Hired armed lugger Duke of York served the Royal Navy from 14 October 1794 to 2 January 1799 when she foundered in the North Sea. She was of 57 44/94 tons burthen and was armed with eight 4-pounder guns....
. Anson lost her topsail mast in bad weather on the 14th so Warren sent her back to Plymouth.
On 18 February the British squadron spotted three French transports. Warren followed them and on the 21st caught up with a convoy of 20 vessels under the escort of a frigate that he believed to be the French frigate Néréide
French frigate Néréide (1779)
The Néréide was a Sybille 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 Île de France in...
. Warren's squadron chased the convoy from the lighthouse on Île d'Oléron
Oléron
Île d'Oléron is an island off the Atlantic coast of France , on the southern side of the Pertuis d'Antioche strait....
half way up the Pertuis D'Andoche before he had to break off the chase after having captured or destroyed several of the vessels.
Then on 26 February the squadron captured a schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
of eight brass guns off the Île de Groix
Groix
Groix is an island and a commune in the Morbihan department of the region of Brittany in north-western France.Groix lies a few kilometres of the coast off Lorient. Several ferries a day run from Lorient to Groix....
, near Lorient
Lorient
Lorient, or L'Orient, is a commune and a seaport in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France.-History:At the beginning of the 17th century, merchants who were trading with India had established warehouses in Port-Louis...
. She was the American-built Curieuse (later corrected to Coureuse) and she was escorting a convoy of three brigs and two luggers. They were sailing from Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
to Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
with clothing for the Army.
Between 13 and 26 February, Warren's squadron captured and sent to England the following vessels: the sloop Petit Jean, the brig St. Pierre, the brig Deux Freres, the ship Petite Magdalene, the packet boat De Cayene, the schooner Curieuse (Coureuse}, the lugger Liberte, the lugger Gloire, and the brig transport Biche. The squadron burned seven vessels: the schooner brig Desiree, the brig Three Friends, the brig Trois Freres, the brig Guerrier, the brig Liberte, the brig Esperance, and the lugger Patriote. The British scuttled four brigs:Graley, Jean et Marie, Pierre, and Anne. In all, Warren's squadron had taken nine prizes and destroyed 11 vessels.
On 15 April, Warren and his squadron chased the French privateer Jean Bart, of 26 guns and 187 men, off the Île de Ré
Île de Ré
Île de Ré is an island off the west coast of France near La Rochelle, on the northern side of the Pertuis d'Antioche strait....
. Artois made the actual capture. The next day Pomone, Artois, Anson and Galatea captured two vessels. Galatea captured Expedition, a corvette
Corvette
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...
of 16 guns and 120 men, which had at one time been a British packet. The British also captured the Maria François Fidelle.
Off Belle Île
Belle Île
Belle-Île or Belle-Île-en-Mer is a French island off the coast of Brittany in the département of Morbihan, and the largest of Brittany's islands. It is 14 km from the Quiberon peninsula.Administratively, the island forms a canton: the canton of Belle-Île...
, the squadron then caught up with a French convoy. The squadron burned and sank a brig and a sloop that were sailing in ballast. Artois captured two sloops with cargoes of fish. Later Artois reported that she had chased a ship and a brig from the convoy onto the rocks near the island of Hedic, where they were wrecked.
In June, Pomone participated at the landing of the ill-conceived and ill-fated Royalist expedition to Quiberon Bay
Quiberon Bay
The Baie de Quiberon is an area of sheltered water on the south coast of Brittany. The bay is in the Morbihan département.-Geography:The bay is roughly triangular in shape, open to the south with the Gulf of Morbihan to the north-east and the narrow peninsular of Presqu'île de Quiberon providing...
. Pomone shared in the prize money for the capture, on 23 June, of the French men of war, Alexander, Formidable and Tigre.
On 2 September, Pomone burnt the Rude, of 12 guns.
On 9 October 1795 Pomone shared with a number of British warships in the recapture of the ship Kent.
On 15 October, HMS Melampus
HMS Melampus (1785)
HMS Melampus was a Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate that served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. She captured numerous prizes before she was sold in 1815.-Design and construction:...
and HMS Latona, and later HMS Orion and HMS Thalia, and later still Pomone and Concorde, chased two French frigates, the Tortue and Veriade, 50-gun ship of the line Forte and the corvette Eveillé. The British ships had to give up the ship of the line and frigates due to the closeness of the shore. However, Pomone and the 74-gun third rate HMS Thunderer
HMS Thunderer (1783)
HMS Thunderer was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at the Wells brother's shipyard in Rotherhithe and launched on 13 November 1783...
, which had joined the chase, were able to take the Eveillé, of 18 guns, and 100 men. The French force had been out for 60 days and had captured 12 West Indiamen, two of which, Kent and Albion had already been recaptured. Pomone and her squadron had recaptured Kent on 9 October. Orion
HMS Orion (1787)
HMS Orion was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Deptford on 1 June 1787 to the design of the , by William Bately...
recaptured Albion. Warren's squadron returned to England in December with the remnants of the expedition to Quiberon Bay.
On 6 and 7 March 1796, the squadron captured the Sultana and Nancy. Then on 11 and 13 March the squadron captured the Harmony, Sans Peur and Agreeable, on the coast of France. On the 15th, Pomone captured the 22-gun corvette Robuste, which had a crew of 145 men. She was sailing from Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
to L'Orient. Robuste was taken into service as .
On 20 March after that, Warren's squadron, Pomone, Artois, Anson and Galatea engaged a French squadron escorting a convoy. The British captured four brigs from the convoy and Warren instructed the lugger Valiant to take them to the nearest port. The British squadron then engaged the French warships escorting the convoy but were not able to bring them to a full battle before having to give up the chase due to the onset of dark and the dangerous location. Galatea was the only vessel in the British squadron to suffer casualties; she lost two men killed and six wounded. The store-ship Etoile, under the command of Captain Berthcliée, struck. She was armed with 30 guns and had a crew of 160 men. Four French frigates, a corvette and a brig escaped. The four brigs were the Illier, Don de Dieu, Paul Edward, and
Felicite.
Another small convoy fell to Warren's squadron on 7 April near the Bec du Raz
Pointe du Raz
The Pointe du Raz is a promontory that extends into the Atlantic from western Brittany, in France. The local Breton name is Beg ar Raz. It is the western point of the commune of Plogoff, Finistère....
. The squadron captured four brigs and a sloop, four of which they sent in to England. One brig they scuttled. All were flour and corn. One sloop escaped, as did the corvette Voltiguer, of 16 guns, which was escorting the convoy. The four captured vessels were the Marie, Union, Bonne and an brig of unknown name. On 18 April the squadron captured the Jean Marie.
On 25 May 1796 Pomone captured the French privateer Fantaisie, of 14 guns and 75 men, near Morlaix
Morlaix
Morlaix is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Leisure and tourism:...
. She was only one day out of port and had not captured anything.
Commodore Warren's squadron, including Pomone, ran the 44-gun French frigate Andromache ashore on 23 August near the river Gironde
Gironde
For the Revolutionary party, see Girondists.Gironde is a common name for the Gironde estuary, where the mouths of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers merge, and for a department in the Aquitaine region situated in southwest France.-History:...
. Boats from Galatea and the Artois then boarded her. Some of her crew had endeavored to get to shore, many drowning in the surf in the attempt. Warren's squadron took on board the captain, a number of the officers, many of her crew, and a number of Portuguese prisoners from two vessels that the French squadron to which Andromache had belonged had taken. The 18-gun brig
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
Sylph then destroyed the French vessel with gunfire.
All these were burnt at the mouth of the Garonne. The remaining three were captured.
On 2 November Thalia and Artois were in a chase that Pomone joined. Artois finally caught their quarry about 11 leagues
League (unit)
A league is a unit of length . It was long common in Europe and Latin America, but it is no longer an official unit in any nation. The league originally referred to the distance a person or a horse could walk in an hour...
from Ushant
Ushant
Ushant is an island at the south-western end of the English Channel which marks the north-westernmost point of metropolitan France. It belongs to Brittany and is in the traditional region of Bro-Leon. Administratively, Ushant is a commune in the Finistère department...
. The quarry turned out to be the Franklin, armed with 12 6-pounder guns and with a crew of 100 men.
Between 24 January 1797 and 7 March, Warren's squadron sank or burnt four French vessels and two Spanish vessels. The French vessels were the sloops Providence and Intrepid, the brig Jenée and another brig of unknown name. The Spanish vessels were the brigs Santa Theresa and the St Jago de Compostella.
In July 1797, Pomone and Warren's squadron intercepted a convoy in Hodierne Bay
Audierne
Audierne is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France.The town lies on a peninsula at the mouth of the Goyen river and for centuries was a fishing village, with a wide sandy beach. Visitors can take a boat from Audierne's port of Esquibien to the Île de Sein.The...
consisting of 14 cargo vessels with a frigate, a ship, a corvette and a brig as escorts. The British drove the French 36-gun frigate Calliope onshore and holed her hull with gunfire, Sylph being particularly aggressive. The brig they sank with gunfire also. They burnt the Freedom, a large British-built ship armed en flute
En flûte
Arming a ship en flûte means removing some or all of the artillery. Since ships have a limited amount of cargo space, they may be armed en flûte to make room for other cargo, such as troops and ammunition...
and laden with squared timber. The French had run her onshore and the crew, with the wounded, had gotten away in their boats. The British also captured eight vessels:
A few days later, boats from the squadron destroyed two French merchant ships, the brig Fidelle and the sloop Henri, also in Hodierne Bay. The next day the squadron captured the Boston. In August, the squadron destroyed one French vessel and captured another. On 28 August, the squadron chased and captured vessels from a French convoy.
On 5 January 1798, Pomone was 94 leagues
League (unit)
A league is a unit of length . It was long common in Europe and Latin America, but it is no longer an official unit in any nation. The league originally referred to the distance a person or a horse could walk in an hour...
off Ushant when she encountered a large ship which she pursued. In the haze, the quarry underestimated Pomones size and armament and opened fire. The two vessels exchanged several broadsides before the quarry struck. She was the French privateer Cheri, from Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
, and was armed with a mix of twenty-six 12, 18 and 24-pounder guns. She had a crew of 230 men under the command of Mons. Chaffin. The engagement cost Pomone one man killed and four wounded, plus damage to masts and rigging. Cheri had 12 men killed and 22 wounded, and had lost her mizzen mast and all sails, and had taken several holes to her hull as well. Reynolds took her in tow and sent over his carpenter to plug the holes when she started to sink. He sent over Pomones boats and they were able to get everyone off Cheri, including the wounded, before she sank. Six days later, Pomone captured the French privateer Emprunt Fossé, of two guns, in the Channel.
On 18 May Pomone recaptured the West Indiaman Minerva, of Liverpool. She had been a prize to the French privateer brig Argus, of Bordeaux.
On 3 April 1799, Pomone had the good fortune to meet Argus after capture her after a pursuit of 108 miles that hit 12 knots an hour. Argus was only six months old and was pierced for 22 guns, though she carried 18 brass 9-pounders. In addition to the Minerva, Argus had captured to brigs from Teignmouth whose masters and crews were aboard her. '"Argus had a crew of 90 men.
Six days later Pomone recaptured an American schooner that had been sailing from Caracas to A Coruña
A Coruña
A Coruña or La Coruña is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. It is the second-largest city in the autonomous community and seventeenth overall in the country...
with a cargo of cocoa and indigo. She had had the misfortune to meet the French privateer Gironde on 1 April. Earlier, Pomone had captured two vessels of Cartagena, Spain
Cartagena, Spain
Cartagena is a Spanish city and a major naval station located in the Region of Murcia, by the Mediterranean coast, south-eastern Spain. As of January 2011, it has a population of 218,210 inhabitants being the Region’s second largest municipality and the country’s 6th non-Province capital...
, the French privateer Mutius Scaevola, of Genoa, and a Spanish coaster.
In April Pomone returned to Plymouth after having convoyed three ordnance transports to Minorca. She then went in for a refit.
On 3 August 1801, while cruising off the west side of Elba
Elba
Elba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago and the third largest island in Italy after Sicily and Sardinia...
during the Siege of Porto Ferrajo
Siege of Porto Ferrajo
The Siege of Porto Ferrajo was a French attempt to force the surrender of the Tuscan fortress town of Porto Ferrajo on the island of Elba following the French occupation of mainland Tuscany in 1801 during the French Revolutionary Wars...
, Pomone, Captain Edward Leveson-Gower
Edward Leveson-Gower
Edward Frederick Leveson-Gower DL, JP , styled The Honourable from birth, was a British barrister and Liberal politician...
commanding, took another prize, the Carrère
HMS Carrere (1801)
Carrère was a French frigate that served briefly in the French navy before the British captured her in 1801, naming her HMS Carrere...
, of 44 guns and 356 men. Pomone lost two men dead and three wounded, one of whom died of wounds shortly thereafter.
Less than a month later, on 2 September, the frigates Phoenix
HMS Phoenix (1783)
HMS Phoenix was a 36-gun Perseverance-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. The shipbuilder George Parsons built her at Bursledon and launched her on 15 July 1783. She served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and was instrumental in the events leading up to the battle of Trafalgar...
, Minerve
French frigate Minerve (1794)
The Minerve was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy. She was captured twice by the British and recaptured once by the French. She therefore served under four names:*Minerve, 1794–1795*HMS Minerve, 1795–1803*Canonnière, 1803–1810...
and Pomone recaptured Success and destroyed the 46-gun frigate Bravoure. (The French had captured Success, a 32-gun frigate, in February, off Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
.) In the middle of the month, men from Pomone were involved in operations ashore at Portoferraio, Elba
Elba
Elba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago and the third largest island in Italy after Sicily and Sardinia...
.
In April 1802 Pomone and escorted a convoy to the Mediterranean. She returned to Portsmouth on 16 July and then on 23 July sailed with a number of other ships for Lymington
Lymington
Lymington is a port on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It is to the east of the South East Dorset conurbation, and faces Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight which is connected to it by a car ferry, operated by Wightlink. The town...
and Jersey
Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
to collect Dutch troops they were to carry to Cuxhaven.
Fate
On 23 September 1802, Pomone struck a rock while entering St. Aubin's BaySaint Aubin, Jersey
Saint Aubin is a port in the Channel Island of Jersey. It opens out to a bay of the Gulf of Saint-Malo.Originally a fishing village at the opposite end of Saint Aubin's Bay from the town of Saint Helier, Saint Aubin is now the hub of the parish of St. Brelade. Its name refers to Saint Aubin of...
and sank. She was refloated and towed into Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
in October but was not worth repairing. A court martial on 27 October on in Portsmouth Harbour, tried the pilot, John Geram, for her loss. The court ruled that he should not have attempted to enter the bay at night as he could have safely waited at sea until daylight. The court fined him all pay and allowances due to him for his services as pilot on Pomone and sentenced him to to imprisonment in the Marshalsea
Marshalsea
The Marshalsea was a prison on the south bank of the River Thames in Southwark, now part of London. From the 14th century until it closed in 1842, it housed men under court martial for crimes at sea, including those accused of "unnatural crimes", political figures and intellectuals accused of...
for three months.
Pomone was broken up in 1803.