French frigate Aréthuse (1812)
Louis-Philippe Crepin
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History | |
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France | |
Name | Aréthuse |
Namesake | Arethusa |
Builder | Nantes, France |
Laid down | 1807 |
Launched | 15 May 1812 |
Out of service | 1861 |
Fate | Broken up in 1865. |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Pallas-class frigate |
Displacement | 1,080 tonnes |
Length | 46.93 m (154 ft 0 in) |
Beam | 11.91 m (39 ft 1 in) |
Draught | 5.9 m (19 ft 4 in) |
Propulsion | 1,950 m2 (21,000 sq ft) of sail |
Complement | 326 |
Armament |
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Aréthuse was a 46-gun
Construction and career
Aréthuse was
Like her sisters, the Aréthuse was designed to carry a broadside of fourteen pairs of
In keeping with the army-style manpower organisation introduced in the
Cruise off West Africa, 1812–1813
On 28 November 1812, Bouvet loaded the material for his crew's new uniforms on board, and later that day the Aréthuse and her sister-ship
On 27 January 1813, Aréthuse intercepted the brig
In the night of 5 February, a storm threw Rubis ashore, wrecking her. The same storm damaged Aréthuse' rudder. Rubis was abandoned and set afire, while Aréthuse effected her repairs.
On 6 February, Amelia, guided and reinforced by sailors from Daring, attacked Aréthuse. A furious, 4-hour night battle followed. Aréthuse and Amelia disabled each other by shooting at their sails and rigging. Eventually the ships parted, neither able to gain the upper hand, and both with heavy casualties: Amelia had 46 killed and 51 wounded; Aréthuse suffered over 20 killed and 88 wounded, and 30 round shot had struck her hull on the starboard side below the quarter deck.[7]
Aréthuse returned to the wreck of Rubis to gather her crew, and returned to France. Soon afterwards Aréthuse captured the British privateer Cerberus, and arrived back in
Later career and disposal
The Aréthuse took part in the
The conversion was regarded as producing a very fast ship, with the added advantages of relatively shallow draught and very high gunport freeboard (fully loaded, these are quoted at 5.38 metres (17.7 ft) and 2.15 metres (7.1 ft) respectively), but limited the habitable space on board.
Notes
- ^ Little Belt was a brig of 173 tons (bm) built in Canada in 1811. Her owner was J. Pozin.[9]
- ^ Cerberus, a brig of 294 tons (bm), was armed with ten 9 and 4-pounder guns, and six 18-pounder carronades. Her master, John Tregowith, had received a letter of marque on 13 January 1813.[10]
Citations
- ^ Winfield & Roberts (2015), p. 149.
- ^ a b Winfield & Roberts, op. cit., p. 148.
- ^ a b Bouvet (1865), p. 156.
- ^ James (1817), p. 196, Lepelley (1993), p. 459, n. 4.
- ^ Bouvet, op. cit., pp. 157-158.
- ^ a b Bouvet, op. cit., pp. 158-159.
- ^ a b c James (1837), Vol. 6, pp.183–190.
- ^ Lloyd's List №4764. Accessed 3 November 2016.
- ^ Lloyd's Register (1813) Seq. №L287.
- ^ Letter of Marque,"War of 1812: UK sources for Privateers". Archived from the original on 2015-07-09. Retrieved 2015-10-07. - accessed 14 May 2011.
- ^ a b c d Winfield & Roberts, op. cit., p. 191.
References
- Bouvet, Pierre (1865) Précis des campagnes de l'amiral Pierre Bouvet. Paris: Michel Lévy Frères.
- James, William (1817) A Full and Correct Account of the Chief Naval Occurrences of the Late War. London: T. Edgerton.
- James, William (1837) The Naval History of Great Britain from the declaration of war by France in February 1793 to the accession of George IV in January 1820: with an account of the origin and progressive increase of the British Navy (New edition in Six volumes). (London): R Bentley.
- Lepelley, Roger (1993) Frégates dans la tourmente, 1812-1814. Versailles: R. Lepelley.
- Winfield, R., and Roberts, S.S. (2015) French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786-1861. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing.