French ship Orient (1756)

Orient was an 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, built by Antoine Groignard.

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Orient.
Orient being reduced to a 74-gun
History
France
Name: Orient
Laid down: April 1756 [1]
Launched: 9 October 1756 [1]
Acquired: May 1759 [1]
Fate: Wrecked, February 1782
General characteristics
Tons burthen: 3000 tons[2]
Length: 56.5 metres [1]
Beam: 14.5 metres [1]
Draught: 6.8 metres [1]
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement:
  • 12 to 15 officers
  • 650 to 734 men[2]
Armament:

Career

Orient was built in Lorient for the French East India Company by Antoine Groignard,[3] from April 1756[Note 1] to August 1759.[2] The French Royal Navy purchased her in May 1759.[2] Originally intended as a 80-gun, she was reduced to a 74-gun in early 1766.[2]

On 14 November 1759, under Captain Guébriant, Orient was part of a 20-ship fleet under Hubert de Brienne attempting invasion of Cornwall. She took part in the subsequent Battle of Quiberon Bay.[1]

Orient underwent a refit in Brest in 1766,[1] and again from 1777 to April 1778.[2] The same year, with the outbreak of the Anglo-French War, she took part in the Battle of Ushant.[1]

On 28 December 1778, under Thomas d'Estienne d'Orves, she sailed from Brest to reinforce the French colony of Isle de France (Mauritius) [5] arriving in September 1779, her crew suffering from scurvy.[1] In 1779, she captured the British privateer Vigilant[1] of Bristol, Marshall, master, and brought her to Lorient.[6]

By April 1781, Estienne d'Orves's health had deteriorated to the point where First Officer Bolle was in effective command. [7] After Estienne d'Orves died on 9 February 1782, Suffren put Captain Lapallière[Note 2] in command.[8]

In 1782, as present at the Battle of Negapatam on 6 July 1782, although she did not take part in the action, and took part in the Battle of Trincomalee between 25 August and 3 September 1782. [1]

In the wake of the Battle of Trincomalee, she was wrecked near Trincomalee in Sri Lanka on 8 September 1782, [1] around 0400, when Ensign Jean Anne Christy de La Pallière insisted to sail on his tack rather to effect a turn as the master pilot advised. Orient touched a rock at Pointe-Sale and stopped. She fired a gun to ask for help, and the rest of Suffren's squadron anchored nearby to provide assistance, but as Orient refloated, she ran into another rock nearby and became a total loss.[9] Part of her rigging was used as spare parts to repair Illustre and Héros. [10] The responsible officer, Ensign Christy de La Pallière, who was the son of Orient's Captain Jean Baptiste Christy de La Pallière, was dismissed from the Navy. [11]

Sources and references

Notes

  1. Ronald Deschênes gives 1750 as year of construction.[4]
  2. Sometimes spelt "la Pallière"[8]

References

  1. Roche (2005), p. 335.
  2. Demerliac (2004), p. 17, n°17.
  3. Binet (1911). "La construction du vaisseau de 100 canons "La Bretagne"". Annales de Bretagne et des pays de l'Ouest. 27–2: 218. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  4. Vaisseaux de ligne français de 1682 à 1780 « 2. du deuxième rang »
  5. Cunat (1852), p. 73.
  6. "The Marine List". Lloyd's List (1020). 1 January 1779. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
  7. Cunat (1852), p. 87.
  8. Cunat (1852), p. 104.
  9. Cunat (1852), p. 228.
  10. Cunat (1852), p. 229.
  11. Cunat (1852), p. 380.

Bibliography

  • Cunat, Charles (1852). Histoire du Bailli de Suffren. Rennes: A. Marteville et Lefas. p. 447.
  • Demerliac, Alain (2004). La Marine de Louis XVI: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1774 à 1792 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 2-906381-23-3.
  • Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours. 1. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922. (1671-1870)


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