French corvette Revenant
Musée national de la marine . Victor (ex-Revenant) is visible in the background.
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Revenant |
| Namesake | Revenant (French: "ghost") |
| Builder | Saint-Malo |
| Launched | 1807 |
| Acquired | July 1808 by French Navy |
| Renamed | Iéna September 1808 |
| Fate | Captured on 8 October 1808 |
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Victor |
| Acquired | 8 October 1808 |
| Captured | 2 November 1809 |
| France | |
| Name | Victor |
| Acquired | 2 November 1809 by capture |
| Captured | 3 December 1810 |
| Fate | Broken up |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Corvette |
| Displacement | 300 tons (French) |
| Tons burthen | c.400[1] |
| Length | 36 meters |
| Beam | 9 meters |
| Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
| Speed | up to 12 knots |
| Armament |
|
Revenant was a 20-gun privateer corvette, launched in 1807, and designed by Robert Surcouf for commerce raiding. The French Navy later requisitioned her and renamed her Iéna, after Napoleon's then-recent victory at the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt. The British captured her in 1808 and she served in the Royal Navy as HMS Victor. The French Navy recaptured her in 1809, taking her back into service under the new name. The British again captured her when they took Isle de France (now Mauritius) in December 1810. They did not restore her to service, and she was subsequently broken up.
Career
Her coppered hull allowed her to sail at up to 12 knots. Her cost was 277,761 francs-or. One of her owners was the banker Jacques Récamier.
Indian ocean cruises (1807 - 1808)
In February 1807,
After Revenant returned to Port-Louis from her first campaign Surcouf gave Potier command of the ship on 2 April.[9]
In late April, as Revenant was completing her preparations and plotting her route, a prize taken by the privateer Adèle gave news of the new war between France and Portugal; Adèle also brought intelligence about the Conceçáo-de-Santo-Antonio, a 64-gun ship of the line armed en flûte, which was in Goa preparatory to sailing for Rio de Janeiro and Lisbon.[9] Surcouf sent Portier to intercept, and Revenant departed Port-Louis on 30 April.[9] She arrived in her patrol zone on 17 May and sighted her prey on the 24th.[9] Revenant captured Conceçáo-de-Santo-Antonio after a one-hour battle.[7][10][11] Potier gave Conceçáo a prize crew under First Lieutenant Fonroc, and returned to Mauritius one month later with his prize.[12]
Surcouf then planned to send Revenant back to France en aventurier with colonial goods.[12]
General
Iéna set sail to cruise the Persian Gulf and Bay of Bengal. On 8 October 1808, off the Sandheads near the mouth of the
On 2 May 1809, under Stopford's command, she departed from the Sandheads with a convoy of five Indiamen and several smaller vessels. On 24 May a storm split the convoy and Victor and the small ships separately lost touch with the Indiamen. Two of the Indiamen, Monarch and Earl Spencer, deviated to Penang with Earl Spencer accompanying Monarch, which had developed a bad leak and needed to reach a port to repair. The three remaining Indiamen, Streatham, Europe, and Lord Keith continued on their way while hoping to meet up with Victor. They did not and the French frigate Caroline captured Streatham and Europe in the action of 31 May 1809; Lord Keith escaped.
On 2 November 1809, Victor, still under Stopford's command, encountered the 44-gun frigate
On 21 February, she sailed for a cruise in the Indian Ocean and the Mozambique Channel in a squadron comprised Bellone and
Upon their return to Île de France, the French squadron encountered a British frigate squadron attempting to seize the island. In the ensuing Battle of Grand Port, Victor was used as a support ship, behind the French line of battle, as her armament was weaker than that of the more powerful frigates.
On 17–18 September 1810, along with Vénus, she captured the 40-gun HMS Ceylon. Vénus and Ceylon were damaged in the battle, and the next day a British squadron composed of HMS Boadicea, HMS Otter, and the brig HMS Staunch captured Vénus and Ceylon; Victor managed to escape.
Fate
The British recaptured Victor when Isle de France fell on 3 December 1810. Most sources state that she was not restored to service but instead was broken up,[1] though one source claims that Royal Navy recommissioned her in October 1811, and she was then paid off at Portsmouth in August 1814.[19]
In art
- Gustave Alaux (1887 - 1965), peintre de la Marine, painted a full portrait of Revenant, set at Isle de France in 1808.[7]
- Victor appears in the background of the Combat de Grand Port, by Musée national de la marine. She is barely visible behind a cloud of smoke, between Minerveand Ceylon.
Citations
- ^ a b c Winfield (2008), pp. 272–273.
- ^ Gallois, vol.2, p.303
- ^ Cunat, p.412
- ^ Fonds Marine, p. 362
- ^ Cunat, p.399
- ^ More on Surcouf, apen10.tripod.com
- ^ a b c Corvette Le Revenant à l'Ile de France en 1808 par Gustave Alaux
- ^ Piat (2007), p.95.
- ^ a b c d Cunat, p.413
- ^ Cunat, p.417
- ^ Report of Captain Joseph Potier, quoted in Lepelley, p. 143 — 144
- ^ a b Cunat, p.418
- ^ Fonds Marine, p. 377
- ^ Les marins de l'Empereur
- ^ James, op. cit., p.73
- ^ Hennequin, op. cit., Vol 2, p.386
- ^ Hepper (1994), p.130.
- ^ Troude, op- cit., p. 87
- ^ Austen (1935), p. 167.
References
- Austen, Harold Chomley Mansfield (1935). Sea Fights and Corsairs of the Indian Ocean: Being the Naval History of Mauritius from 1715 to 1810. Port Louis, Mauritius: R.W. Brooks.
- Cunat, Charles (1857). Saint-Malo illustré par ses marins (in French). Imprimerie de F. Péalat.
- Fonds Marine. Campagnes (opérations ; divisions et stations navales ; missions diverses). Inventaire de la sous-série Marine BB4. Tome premier : BB4 210 à 482 (1805-1826) [1]
- Gallois, Napoléon (1847). Les Corsaires français sous la République et l'Empire [The French privateers during the Republic and Empire] (in French). Vol. 2. Julien, Lanier et compagnie. OCLC 6977453.
- Hennequin, Joseph François Gabriel (1835). Biographie maritime ou notices historiques sur la vie et les campagnes des marins célèbres français et étrangers (in French). Vol. 2. Paris: Regnault éditeur.
- Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot. ISBN 0-948864-30-3.
- ISBN 0-85177-909-3.
- Lepelley, Roger (2000). La Fin d'un empire : les derniers jours de l'Isle de France et de l'Isle Bonaparte : 1809 - 1810. Economica. ISBN 2-7178-4148-2.
- Levot, Prosper (1866). Les gloires maritimes de la France: notices biographiques sur les plus célèbres marins (in French). Bertrand.
- (in French) Robert Surcouf, Les marins de l'Empereur
- (in French) Rôle d’Equipage « Victor » (ex Revenant)[permanent dead link]
- Piat, Denis (trans: Mervyn North-Coombes) (2007) Pirates and Corsairs in Mauritius. (Christian le Comte). ISBN 978-99949-905-3-5
- Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours, 1671 - 1870. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. OCLC 165892922.
- Troude, Onésime-Joachim (1867). Batailles navales de la France (in French). Vol. 4. Challamel ainé.
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.