French frigate Aurore (1768)

Aurore was a frigate of the French Navy

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

History
France
NameAurore
NamesakeAurora
Ordered31 March 1766[1]
BuilderRochefort[1]
Laid downSeptember 1766[1]
Launched23 November 1768[1]
In service1769
CapturedSurrendered to the British by Royalist traitors in August 1793[1]
Great Britain
NameHMS Aurora
AcquiredAugust 1793
FateBroken up 1803
General characteristics
Tons burthen600 tons[1]
Length44.2 metres
Beam11.2 metres
Draught5.7 metres
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament

Career

Aurore was ordered on 31 March 1766 as Envieuse, and renamed to Aurore in February 1767, while still under construction.[1]

Aurore took part in the 1772 edition of the Escadre d'évolution under Captain de La Tullaye.[1][2]

On 16 July 1778, she departed Toulon under Captain Bompar[3] for a mission in the Mediterranean, as part of a squadron under Louis de Fabry de Fabrègues.[1]

On 20 January 1779, Aurore recaptured the storeship Heureux Jérôme, that the British had taken as prize, and brought her to Toulon.[1]

In October 1779, Aurore departed Marseille under Joseph de Flotte, escorting a 26-ship convoy bound for Martinique, ferrying supplies for the French colonies of the Caribbeans and for the division under Chef d'Escadre Lamotte-Picquet.[4] Arriving in Saint Lucia channel, the body of water between the islands of Saint Lucia and Martinique,[5] the convoy met a 13-ship British squadron under Admiral Hyde Parker. The British gave chase, and Lamotte scrambled to cover the escape of the convoy, leading to the Battle of Martinique.[6]

In 1780, she sailed from the Caribbean to Cadiz to take part in the Great Siege of Gibraltar.[1]

In 1793, she was surrendered to the British by Royalist insurgents that had seized control of the city and harbour of Toulon.[1]

The British removed her when they evacuated Toulon and the ship was renamed Aurora. She was hulked as a prison ship in 1799 at Gibraltar and was broken up there in 1803.[7]

Citations
  1. Roche (2005), p. 58.
  2. Pusch (2010), p. 20.
  3. Blondy (2014), p. 315.
  4. La Monneraye (1998), p. 144.
  5. La Monneraye (1998), p. 144, Note 4.
  6. La Monneraye (1998), p. 153.
  7. Winfield & Roberts (2017), p. 178.

References
  • Blondy, Alain (2014). Documents consulaires, Lettres reçues par le chargé d'affaires du Roi à Malte au XVIIIème siècle. Vol. 1. ISBN 9781291863017. OCLC 994218731.
  • La Monneraye, Pierre-Bruno-Jean (1998). Bonnichon, Philippe (ed.). Souvenirs de 1760 à 1791. Librairie Droz. ISBN 978-2-7453-0079-9. OCLC 165892922.
  • Demerliac, Alain (1996). La Marine de Louis XVI: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1774 à 1792 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 9782906381230. OCLC 468324725.
  • Pusch, Donald E. (2010). The Logs of the Chariot Royal, 1752-1753. France: Petite Presse du Lac. ISBN 9780578047553. OCLC 759084455.
  • Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671 - 1870. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
  • Winfield, Rif; Roberts, Stephen S. (2017). French warships in the age of sail, 1626-1786: design, construction, careers and fates. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 9781473893511.
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