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HMS Révolutionnaire (1794)
Encyclopedia
The Révolutionnaire (or Revolutionaire), was a 40-gun Seine-class frigate
Seine class frigate
The Seine class was a class of five 42-gun frigates of the French Navy, designed in 1793 by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait. The first four were originally designed to carry a main armament of 24-pounder guns, but in the event were completed at Le Havre with 18-pounders...
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...
, launched in May 1794. The British captured her in October 1794 and she went on to serve with 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...
until she was broken up in 1822. During this service Revolutionnaire took part in numerous actions, including three for which the Admiralty would in 1847 award clasps to the Naval General Service Medal, and captured several privateers and merchant vessels.
French service
On 21 October 1794 the 38-gun frigate captured Révolutionnaire. Artois was part of a four-frigate squadron that encountered Revolutionnaire at daybreak about eight to ten leaguesLeague (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...
west of Ushant. She had been out of Le Havre eight days on her first cruise and was sailing 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...
. Artois outpaced the rest of the squadron and engaged Revolutionnaire, which surrendered after 40 minutes as the rest of the British squadron approached. The British had three men killed and five wounded. The French lost eight men killed and five wounded, including the captain, Citizen Thevenard. Artois shared the prize money with the other frigates, , , and .
British service: French Revolutionary Wars
The Royal Navy commissioned Revolutionnaire in April 1795 under Captain Francis Cole. On 23 June Revolutionnaire participated in the Battle of GroixBattle of Groix
The Second Battle of Groix was a naval engagement that took place on 23 June 1795 during the French Revolutionary War off the west coast of France....
. After the battle, she towed , which the French had captured the previous November and which the British had just recaptured, back to Plymouth. In 1847 the Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "23rd June 1795" to all surviving claimants from the action.
In 1796 Revolutionaire was in the squadron commanded by Captain Sir Edward Pellew
Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth
Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, GCB was a British naval officer. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary, and the Napoleonic Wars...
in . The squadron captured or sank a number of merchant vessels between 11 and 21 March.
- Favorite Sultana, laden with salt—captured;
- Friends, brig, laden with flour—captured;
- Brig of unknown name, in ballast—sunk;
- Chasse maree of unknown name, empty—sunk;
- Providence, chasse maree, laden with wine and brandy—captured;
- Brig of unknown name, laden with empty casks—sunk;
- Four Marys, brig, in Ballast—captured;
- Aimable Justine, brig, in ballast—captured;
- Nouvelle Union, brig, in ballast—captured.
The vessels sharing in the prize money were: Indefatigable, , Revolutionaire, , , and the hired armed luggers Dolly and Duke of York
Hired armed cutter Duke of York
The Hired armed cutter Duke of York served the Royal Navy from 23 June 1803 to 24 September 1810. She was of 82 27/94 tons burthen and was armed with eight 4-pounder guns....
.
On 12 April 1796 Revolutionaire captured the French frigate Unité
French frigate Gracieuse (1788)
The Gracieuse was a 32-gun Charmante class frigate of the French Navy. Renamed to Unité, she took part in the French Revolutionary Wars...
. Unité, under the command of Citizen Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois
Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois
Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand, Comte de Linois was a French admiral during the time of Napoleon Bonaparte. He won a victory over the British at the Battle of Algeciras in 1801 and was reasonably successful in a campaign against British trade in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea in...
, struck after Revolutionnaires second broadside. Revolutionnaire had no casualties because the French had fired high, aiming for her rigging; the British fired into their quarry with the result that Unité suffered nine men killed and 11 wounded. In July there was an initial distribution of prize money
Prize money
Prize money has a distinct meaning in warfare, especially naval warfare, where it was a monetary reward paid out to the crew of a ship for capturing an enemy vessel...
for the capture of Unite and Virginie (captured by Indefatigable) of ₤20,000. Revolutionnaire and Indefatigable shared this with Amazon, Concorde and Argo. The Royal Navy took Unité into service under her existing name.The initial distribution probably yielded each of the five British captains ₤1000.
On 1 October 1796, Revolutionnaire, Indefatigable, Amazon, and shared in the capture of the Vrow Delenea Maria.
Later that month, after the Battle of Tory Island
Battle of Tory Island
The Battle of Tory Island, was a naval action of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought on 12 October 1798 between French and British squadrons off the northwest coast of Donegal, then in the Kingdom of Ireland...
, the French frigates Loire
French frigate Loire (1797)
The Loire was a 44-gun frigate of the French Navy.-French service and capture:She took part in the Expédition d'Irlande, and in the Battle of Tory Island, where she battled , , and . After the battle, Loire and Sémillante escaped into Black Sod Bay, where they hoped to hide until they had a clear...
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 Mermaid
HMS Mermaid (1782)
HMS Mermaid was a 32-gun Active-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy .-Design and construction:Mermaid was one of the eight ship Active class, designed by Edward Hunt. She was initially ordered from the shipwright George White, of Woolwich Dockyard Shipwright on 27 August 1778, and laid down...
, accompanied by the brig Kangaroo 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 but after an inconclusive fight that left the British unable to pursue, Loire broke off the engagement and escaped.
Captain Cole died on 18 April 1798. His replacement was Captain Thomas Twysden.
Revolutionnaire shared with , and the hired armed
Hired armed vessels
right|thumb|250px|Armed cutter, etching in the [[National Maritime Museum]], [[Greenwich]]During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Royal Navy made use of a considerable number of hired armed vessels...
cutter Nimrod
Hired armed cutter Nimrod
During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars the Admiralty also made use of hired armed vessels, one of which was the hired armed cutter Nimrod. Three such vessels are recorded, but the descriptions of these vessels and the dates of their service are such that they may well represent one...
in the capture of the Anna Christiana on 17 May 1798.
On 30 May 1799 Revolutionnaire captured the French privateer Victoire after an eight hour chase that lasted into the evening. Victoire was armed with sixteen 9-pounder guns and had a crew of 160 men. She was nine days out of Bayonne on a three-month cruise but had captured nothing.
Revolutionnaire was in company with and when Revolutionaire captured the French letter of marque
Letter of marque
In the days of fighting sail, a Letter of Marque and Reprisal was a government licence authorizing a person to attack and capture enemy vessels, and bring them before admiralty courts for condemnation and sale...
brig Hyppolite on 29 May. She was sailing from Cayenne to Nantes.
On 7 July 1799, the same three British ships also captured the French privateer Determiné. Determiné was pierced for 24 guns and was armed with 18 brass 12 and 9-pounder guns. She had a crew of 163 men when she was captured. Then on 19 September, Revolutionnaire and Dryad captured the Cères, another French letter of marque
Letter of marque
In the days of fighting sail, a Letter of Marque and Reprisal was a government licence authorizing a person to attack and capture enemy vessels, and bring them before admiralty courts for condemnation and sale...
, en route from Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
to the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
.
On 11 October Revolutionnaire chased a strange sail in a heavy gale for nine and a half hours over a distance of 114 miles (i.e., a rate of 12 miles per hour). When captured, the quarry turned out to be the Bordelais (or Bourdelaise), of Bordeaux. She was pierced for 26 guns but carried sixteen 12-pounder guns and eight 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. She had a crew of 202 men. She had been cruising from Passage for 19 days during which time she had captured two vessels, an American ship carrying a cargo of tobacco, and a Portuguese ship sailing from Cork with provisions. Twysden, in an attempt to interest the Admiralty in purchasing her, described Bordelais as "a most beautiful new Ship, well calculated for His Majesty's Service; was the largest, and esteemed the fastest sailing Privateer out of France." The Admiralty took her into service as .
On 4 March 1800 Revolutionnaire captured the French privateer ship Coureur. Coureur was armed with ten 6-pounder guns and four carronades. She had a crew of 158 men. On 28 February she had captured "His Majesty's Ship Princess Royal", which had been sailing for Tortola.It is not clear what ship Princess Royal was, as the only Royal Navy vessel by that name was , a 98-gun ship of the line. There was, however, a British letter of marque
Letter of marque
In the days of fighting sail, a Letter of Marque and Reprisal was a government licence authorizing a person to attack and capture enemy vessels, and bring them before admiralty courts for condemnation and sale...
by that name that is a candidate. Twysden was pleased to discover that her captain and most of her crew were prisoners aboard the privateer. Coureur was new, copper-bottomed and on her first cruise. Apparently, she also sailed "delightfully". The Royal Navy took her into service as , there already being a in service and having been lost in May, shortly after the capture of Coureur.
At some point Revolutionnaire, under Twysden, recaptured the Marina, of Greenock, and Nimble, of Liverpool. Salvage money was paid in July 1801.
On 19 April 1800, Revolutionnaire and Dryad arrived in Milford Haven
Milford Haven
Milford Haven is a town and community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is situated on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, a natural harbour used as a port since the Middle Ages. The town was founded in 1790 on the north side of the Waterway, from which it takes its name...
in a distressed state. Dryad had been on a cruise out of Cork and was on her way home when on 2 April, with her rigging much damaged by hurricanes, when she had encountered Revolutionnaire, which had lost her rudder. Dryad escorted Revolutionnaire to Cork, but when they were no more than an hour out of the port, the winds blew them towards Plymouth. On 16 April they were close to the rocks at Waterford when Dryad succeeded in getting a cable on to Revolutionnaire. Unfortunately, the cable broke and Dryad pulled away, expecting Revolutionnaire to wreck on the rocks. However, providentially, the wind shifted and pushed her away from shore. On 19 April both vessels succeeded in safely reaching Milford Haven.
On 16 February 1801, Revolutionnaire captured the French privateer Moucheron, of Bordeaux. Moucheron was armed with sixteen 6 and 12-pounder guns, and had a crew of 130 men. She was 20 days out of Passage and had capture the British brig William, of London, which had been sailing from St. Michael's with a cargo of fruit. The Royal Navy took her into service as .
In October 1801 Revolutionnaire was under the temporary command of Commander Murray. In May 1802, shortly after the Peace of Amiens, Thomas Bladen Capel
Thomas Bladen Capel
Admiral Sir Thomas Bladen Capel GCB RN was an officer in the British Royal Navy whose distinguished service in the French Revolutionary War, the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 earned him rapid promotion and great acclaim both in and out of the Navy...
was appointed captain of Révolutionnaire. He sailed her from Spithead
Spithead
Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds, except those from the southeast...
to the Mediterranean where he joined as her captain.
British service: Napoleonic Wars
Revolutionnaire was recommissioned in April 1803 under the command of Captain Walter Lock. On 20 May 1803, Revolutionnaire captured the French doggerDogger (boat)
The dogger was a form of fishing boat, developed during the seventeenth century, that commonly operated in the North Sea. The dogger takes its name from the Dutch word dogger, meaning a fishing vessel operating a trawl...
Grand Adrian (or Grand Adrien). Two days later Revolutionnaireand captured the Alexander. The next day Revolutionnaire captured the Windboud.
Lock then sailed Revolutionnaire to Gibraltar on 5 June. Eight days later, Revolutionnaire captured the French merchant vessel Hirondelle. The advance payment of prize money was ₤860. A second advance was ₤6944.As captain, Lock would have received one-quarter of the money, or ₤1951, or somewhere between four and eight years salary. The able and ordinary seamen, landsmen and boys would have shared a quarter also, though not equally.
In August, Captain Robert Hall took command for the Channel. On 16 October 1803, Revolutionnaire captured the French sloop Sophia, of eight men. Then on 1 December Revolutionnaire captured the French schooners Ceres, and her crew of 76 men, and the Marian, in ballast. As the size of her crew makes clear, Ceres was a privateer. Two days later Revolutionnaire recaptured the American brig Tartar. In December, Revolutionnaire returned to Britain from the West Indies.
In April 1804 Revolutionnaire was recommissioned under under Captain the Honourable Henry Hotham
Henry Hotham
Vice Admiral Sir Henry Hotham KCB was a Royal Navy hero who saw a great deal of service during the Napoleonic Wars.-Naval career:...
. By November she was off the coast of the United States and stopped in at Norfolk, Virginia. Then she sailed up to New York where she picked up $750,000 in gold to take back to Britain. Hotham would have received a commission of about 1% of the value for carrying the money.
On 1 and 4 July 1805, vessels in a squadron captured the Harmony and the Rachael. Revolutionnaire was one of the 39 vessels that shared in the prize money.
On 4 November 1805, Revolutionnaire, participated in the Battle of Cape Ortegal
Battle of Cape Ortegal
The Battle of Cape Ortegal was the final action of the Trafalgar Campaign, and was fought between a squadron of the Royal Navy and a remnant of the fleet that had been destroyed several weeks earlier at the Battle of Trafalgar...
. She and captured Scipion, which 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...
commissioned as HMS Scipion. In the battle, Revolutionnaire lost two men killed and six wounded. Revolutionnaire shared in the prize money for Formidable
French ship Formidable (1795)
Formidable was an 80-gun Tonnant class ship of the line of the French navy, laid down as Figuires and renamed in 1795. She was launched at Toulon in 1795. She participated in the Battle of Algeciras, the Battle of Cape Finisterre and several other actions before the British captured her at the...
, Duguay Trouin
HMS Implacable (1805)
HMS Implacable was a 74-gun third rate of the Royal Navy. She was originally the French Navy's Téméraire-class ship of the line Duguay-Trouin, launched in 1800....
and Mont-Blanc
French ship Mont-Blanc (1791)
Mont-Blanc was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the French Navy.She was built at Rochefort as Pyrrhus in 1791. She was renamed Mont-Blanc in 1793 before being renamed Trente-et-un Mai in 1794. Under that name she fought at the Battle of the First of June in June 1794 under Honoré Joseph...
, as well as Scipion. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "4 Novr. 1805" to all surviving claimants form the battle.
In February 1806 Captain Charles Fielding took command as Revolutionnaire served in the Channel. On 25 September 1807 she shared with in the capture of the Danish ship Resolution.
Then between October 1811 and December 1812 she under went a major overhaul at Plymouth. She was recommissioned in October 1812 under Captain John Woolcombe (or Woollcombe). At some point Revolutionnaire sailed to North America. On 25 July 1813, Revolutionnaire captured the American privateer schooner Matilda, of 190 tons. She was pierced for 18 guns but carried 11.
Already by August 1813, Revolutionnaire was part of a squadron under the command of Captain Sir George Collier
Sir George Collier, 1st Baronet
Sir George Ralph Collier, 1st Baronet KCB was an officer of the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and the War of 1812. He had an eventful early life, being shipwrecked early in his career and later captured by the French...
. On 27 August the boats of the squadron made a successful attack on the island of Santa Clara, at the mouth of the harbour of Saint Sebastian. Revolutionnaire suffered no casualties. She then provided seamen to man a battery of 24-pounder guns from hauled up to the top of the island. The battery then silenced the enemy's guns. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "St. Sebastian" to all claimants from Collier's naval operations in the region in August and September.
On 20 October Revolutionnaire captured the Fire Fly. Then on 5 November Revolutionnaire recaptured the Gaditana.
On the last day of 1813, Revolutionnaire sailed with a convoy for the East Indies. She and were in Simon's Bay in August 1816 where they were stranded and almost destroyed by a terrible hurricane. On 6 October she reached St. Helena and on 13 October she sailed for Britain.
Post-war
In early 1817 Revolutionnaire underwent repairs at Plymouth. She was then fitted for sea between August 1818 and January 1819. She was commissioned under Captain Fleetwood PellewFleetwood Pellew
Admiral Sir Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds Pellew CB KCH was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He was the son of Captain Edward Pellew, who later became an admiral and first Viscount Exmouth...
Revolutionnaire in August 1818 for the Mediterranean.In 1794 Fleetwood Pellew had brought back to England, in Revolutionnaire, the official letter by his father, Edward Pellew, announcing the details of her capture.
At midnight or so on 16 December , which was carrying the king of Naples, was under full sail when she ran into the side of Revolutionnaire. Fortunately the impact was oblique, not perpendicular, or Revolutionnaire would have been sunk. As it was, both vessels were badly damaged and had to put into the Bay of Baia for repairs.
On 18 May 1821 Revolutionnaire captured two piratical gun-boats, with bounty money for the crews being paid in 1834. Pellew remained in command until 1822.
Fate
Revolutionnaire was briefly under the command of Captain Henry Duncan, but was broken up on 4 October 1822.Miscellany
- The English composer William BealeWilliam BealeWilliam Beale was an English composer and baritone.Beale was born in Landrake, Cornwall. He first served as a chorister at Westminster Abbey under Dr. Arnold until his voice broke. He then served as a midshipman on HMS Révolutionnaire from 1799 to 1801...
served as a midshipman between 1799 and 1801, before deciding instead to pursue music as a career. Apparently, while a midshipman, he almost drowned in Cork harbour. - In 1821 Arthur Fleming MorrellArthur Fleming MorrellArthur Fleming Morrell was British naval officer, explorer, and colonial administrator of Ascension Island, who saw service spanning the end of the Napoleonic era and well into the Victorian era.- Early naval career :...
, British naval officer and later explorer and colonial administrator of Ascension IslandAscension IslandAscension Island is an isolated volcanic island in the equatorial waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, around from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America, which is roughly midway between the horn of South America and Africa...
, was first lieutenantFirst LieutenantFirst lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...
aboard Revolutionnaire under Captain the Hon. Fleetwood PellewFleetwood PellewAdmiral Sir Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds Pellew CB KCH was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He was the son of Captain Edward Pellew, who later became an admiral and first Viscount Exmouth...
.