French brig Foudre (1796)

Foudre was a brig-rigged aviso that the French Navy launched in 1796. The Royal Navy captured her in March 1799, only to have the French recapture her the next month. The British recaptured her in 1800, returned her to service, but sold her in 1801.

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Foudre.

Foudre
History
French Navy EnsignFrance
NameFoudre
NamesakeLightning
BuilderToulon dockyard
Laid down1795
Launched1796[1]
Great Britain
NameHMS Foudre
AcquiredMarch 1799 by capture
CapturedApril 1799
French Navy EnsignFrance
NameFoudre
AcquiredApril 1799 by capture
Captured1800
Great Britain
NameHMS Foudre
Acquired1800 by capture
FateSold 1801
General characteristics [1][2]
Tons burthen192 (bm)
ComplementFrench service:52 at capture
Armament
  • French service:
  • Originally: 6 x 4-pounder guns (pierced for 8)
  • At capture: 8 guns
  • British service: 8 guns

French career

Between 28 August 1794 and 11 December, Foudre was under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau non entretenu Lambert, and escorting a convoy from Saint-Malo to Saint-Valery-sur-Somme.[3] From there between 14 January 1795 and 14 June, she escorted convoys between Cherbourg and Boulogne, before returning to Havre.[4] Around April 1796 she escorted a convoy from Dieppe to Saint-Valery-sur-Somme.[5]

Capture

Foudre was one of a flotilla of seven vessels that Commodore Sir Sidney Smith in HMS Tigre took at Acre on 18 March 1799, all of which the British took into service. At capture Foudre carried six guns and had a crew of 52 men.[6]

See also: List of gun-vessels Commodore Sir Sidney Smith captured at Acre in March 1799

The flotilla of gun-vessels was carrying siege artillery and other siege supplies to reinforce Napoleon's troops besieging Acre. Smith immediately put the guns and supplies to use to help the denizens of the city resist the French, and the gun-vessels to harass them.

Main article: Siege of Acre (1799)

Smith anchored Tigre and HMS Theseus, one on each side of the town, so their broadsides could assist the defence. The gun-vessels were of shallower draft and so could come in closer. Together, they helped repel repeated French assaults.[7] The French attacked multiple times between 19 March and 10 May before Napoleon finally gave up. On 21 May he destroyed his siege train and retreated back to Egypt, having lost 2,200 men dead, 1,000 of them to the plague.[8]

Recapture

However, on 9 April, the French frigate Courageuse recaptured Foudre and the French navy took her back into service.[9]

Re-recapture

Then in 1800 the Royal Navy recaptured her and returned her to service as HMS Foudre. She was sold in 1801.[1]

Citations
  1. Winfield & Roberts (2015), p. 242.
  2. Winfield (2008), p. 337.
  3. Fonds Marine, 1790-1804, p.95.
  4. Fonds Marine, 1790-1804, p.152.
  5. Fonds Marine, 1790-1804, p.184.
  6. "No. 15149". The London Gazette. 18 June 1799. pp. 609–610.
  7. Shankland (1975), p. 70.
  8. Pawley (2006), p. 6.
  9. Fonds Marine, p.229.

References
  • Archives de France. Fonds marine campagnes : opérations, divisions et stations navales, missions diverses : inventaire de la sous-série Marine BB⁴. Centre historique des Archives nationales. ISBN 978-2860002653.
  • Pawley, Ronald (2006). Napoleon's Mamelukes. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 9781841769554.
  • Shankland, Peter (1975). Beware of Heroes: Admiral Sir Sidney Smith's War against Napoleon. London: W. Kimber. ISBN 07183-0004-1.
  • Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.
  • Winfield, Rif; Roberts, Stephen S. (2015). French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786–1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-204-2.
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