The Généreux was a French Téméraire class

Téméraire class ship of the line

The Téméraire class ships of the line was a class of 107 74-gun ships of the line built between 1782 and 1813 for the French navy. The type was and remains the most numerous class of capital ship ever built....

 ship of the line.

She was launched in 1785 at Rochefort

Rochefort, Charente-Maritime

Rochefort is a commune in southwestern France, a port on the Charente estuary. It is a sub-prefecture of the Charente-Maritime department.-History:...

. With the Guillaume Tell, she was one of only two ships to escape the British attack at the Battle of the Nile

Battle of the Nile

The Battle of the Nile was a major naval battle fought between British and French fleets at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt from 1–3 August 1798...

 in August 1798.

Shortly after the battle of the Nile, on 18 August 1798

Action of 18 August 1798

The Action of 18 August 1798 was a minor naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought between the British fourth rate ship HMS Leander and the French ship of the line Généreux...

, she fell in with a smaller British ship of the line, HMS Leander

HMS Leander (1780)

HMS Leander was a Portland-class 50-gun fourth rate of the Royal Navy, launched at Chatham on 1 July 1780. She served on the West Coast of Africa, West Indies, and the Halifax station. During the French Revolutionary Wars she participated in the Battle of the Nile before a French ship captured her....

 of 50 guns. After a long battle, the Généreux captured the Leander, with the Leander suffering 35 killed and 57 wounded and the Généreux suffered around 100 killed and 180 wounded.

In March 1799, Généreux escorted a convoy to Corfu. En route, her captain, Lejoille, decided to bombard Brindisi

Brindisi

Brindisi is a city in the Apulia region of Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, off the coast of the Adriatic Sea.Historically, the city has played an important role in commerce and culture, due to its position on the Italian Peninsula and its natural port on the Adriatic Sea. The city...

. He was killed in the ensuing exchange of fire, and lieutenant Claude Touffet

Claude Touffet

Captain Claude Touffet was a French Navy officer.- Biography :...

 took over. The city fell on 3 March after a two-hour battle.

On 6 February 1800, Généreux departed from Toulon leading a squadron comprising the frigate Badine, the corvettes Sans Pareille and Fauvette, and the fluyt Ville de Marseille, under Rear-Admiral Jean-Baptiste Perrée

Jean-Baptiste Perrée

Jean-Baptiste Perrée was a French contre-amiral. He was born in Saint-Valéry-sur-Somme in Picardy.Perrée was midshipman in 1793, and was promoted to acting lieutenant de vaisseau in May 1793, taking command of Proserpine and raiding commerce, capturing 63 prizes. His rank was confirmed in late 1793...

. In the morning of 18 February, an English fleet chased the French squadron off Lampedusa

Lampedusa

Lampedusa is the largest island of the Italian Pelagie Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The comune of Lampedusa e Linosa is part of the Sicilian province of Agrigento which also includes the smaller islands of Linosa and Lampione. It is the southernmost part of Italy. Tunisia, which is about ...

 island. In the ensuing Battle of the Malta Convoy

Battle of the Malta Convoy (1800)

The Battle of the Malta Convoy was a naval engagement of the French Revolutionary Wars fought on 18 February 1800 during the Siege of Malta. The French garrison at the city of Valletta in Malta had been under siege for eighteen months, blockaded on the landward side by a combined force of British,...

, Perrée was killed, and Généreux covered the squadron, allowing Badine, Sans Pareille and Fauvette to escape, before striking her colours.

She became HMS Généreux and was finally broken up in 1816.