French frigate Égyptienne (1799)
Portrait of Égyptienne by Jean-Jacques Baugean
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History | |
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France | |
Name | Égyptienne |
Builder | Toulon |
Laid down | 26 September 1798 |
Launched | 17 July 1799 |
Completed | November 1799 |
Captured | 2 September 1801, by the Royal Navy |
United Kingdom | |
Name | Egyptienne |
Acquired | 2 September 1801 |
Fate | Sold for breaking up 30 April 1817 |
General characteristics [1] | |
Type | 40-gun fifth-rate frigate |
Tons burthen | 1,434 4⁄94 (bm) |
Length |
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Beam | 43 ft 8 in (13.31 m) |
Depth of hold | 15 ft 1 in (4.60 m) |
Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
Complement |
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Armament |
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Égyptienne was a French
Design and construction
Égyptienne was part of the two-ship
French service
In 1801 Napoleon required reinforcements in Egypt so the frigates Égyptienne and Justice, each carrying troops and munitions, left Toulon. On 3 February the vessels anchored in the old or western port of Alexandria.
The British discovered Causse, Égyptienne, Justice,
The British took Égyptienne into service on 27 September and Captain Thomas Stephenson sailed her to Britain;[1] on this voyage she carried Colonel Tomkyns Hilgrove Turner, who was bringing the Rosetta Stone to England. As Égyptienne was coming into the Downs she collided with the East Indiaman Marquise Wellsley.[5] She finally arrived at Woolwich on 13 February 1802.
British service
The Admiralty added her to the Royal Navy as HMS Egyptienne and she was fitted out at Woolwich between October and December 1802, at a cost of £12,625.[1] During this period she was under the command of Captain Charles Ogle.
She commissioned under Captain
On 30 August Egyptienne captured the privateer Chiffonette. Chiffonette was armed with 16 guns and a crew of 80 men. She was 26 days out of Bordeaux and had captured a brig from Jersey that Endymion had already recaptured. Chiffonette was in the process of attacking another British brig when Egyptienne approached, an attack that Chiffonette then abandoned. Fleming remarked in his report that she was an extremely fast vessel that had several times eluded British frigates, including Egyptienne herself on one occasion.[7]
Then she sailed to St Helena escorting a convoy of ships. During this time
Egyptienne was present at the Battle of Cape Finisterre, but did not participate in the engagement.[9] While reconnoitering in advance of the fleet she captured a Danish merchant brig. After the battle she took the disabled Spanish 74-gun Firme in tow. After the battle, Admiral Robert Calder requested a court-martial to review his decision not to pursue the enemy fleet after the engagement. Fleming was one of the witnesses. The court martial ruled that Calder's failure to pursue was an error of judgment, not a manifestation of cowardice, and severely reprimanded him.[10]
On 2 October Egyptienne captured the French
In November Egyptienne captured several ships: Paulina, the French lugger Edouard, Maria Antoinette, under the command of J. Heget, and the French sloop Esperance.[13] Paulina, which Egyptienne captured on 20 November, was a 12-gun Spanish letter of marque, under the command of Don Antonio Acibal. The chase took nine hours, during which Paulina threw eight of her guns overboard. She was out of Pasaia, Spain on her way to cruise the West Indies.[14]
On 24 December off Rochefort, Egyptienne, under Lieutenant Handfield, his promotion still not confirmed, and Captain
Captain Charles Paget replaced Elphinstone in December. Egyptienne's boats cut out the privateer Alcide from Muros on 8 March 1806 and under incessant but ineffective fire from two shore batteries. The boats were under the command of Phillips Crosby Handfield, her first lieutenant, who stayed with Egyptienne as a volunteer as his promotion to commander had not been confirmed.[16] Alcide was frigate-built and pierced for 34 guns. She was only two years old and when she had last gone to sea had had a complement of 240 men.[16] The Royal Navy took Alcide into service as HMS Muros.
Fate
Egyptienne was paid off at Plymouth and put into
Citations
- ^ a b c d e f g h Winfield 2008, p. 134
- ^ Roche (2005), p. 169.
- ^ "No. 15426". The London Gazette. 10 November 1801. p. 1354.
- ^ Lloyd (1950), Vol. 2, pp. 358–9.
- ^ Laughton et al.,(1902/2002), p. 338.
- ^ "No. 15607". The London Gazette. 2 August 1803. p. 963.
- ^ "No. 15620". The London Gazette. 13 September 1803. p. 1229.
- ^ "No. 15808". The London Gazette. 6 October 1804. p. 674.
- ^ "No. 15829". The London Gazette. 31 July 1805. pp. 981–982.
- ^ Duckworth (1805).
- ^ "No. 15861". The London Gazette. 31 July 1805. p. 1399.
- ^ Colledge (2006), p. 3.
- ^ "No. 15980". The London Gazette. 2 December 1806. p. 1573.
- The European Magazine, and London Review, Vol. 49, p. 73.
- ^ a b c "No. 15876". The London Gazette. 28 December 1805. p. 1625.
- ^ a b "No. 15900". The London Gazette. 18 March 1806. p. 353.
References
- ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
- Duckworth, Sir John Thomas (1805) Minutes of a court martial, holden on board His Majesty's ship Gladiator, in Portsmouth Harbour : on Thursday, the 25th day of April 1805, and the two following days, for the trial of Sir J.T. Duckworth, K.B., Vice Admiral of the Blue, on charges exhibited against him by Captain James Anthol Wood, of the Royal Navy. (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme).
- Laughton, John Knox, William Gordon Perrin, Christopher Lloyd, N A M Rodger & Michael Duffy (1902/2008) The Naval miscellany. (London: Printed for the Navy Records Society).
- Lloyd, Christopher (ed.) (1950) The Keith Papers: Selected from the papers of Admiral Viscount Keith. (Printed for the Navy Records Society).
- Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours. Vol. 1. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. OCLC 165892922.
- Winfield, Rif (2008). ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.
External links
- Media related to HMS Egyptienne (ship, 1801) at Wikimedia Commons