HMS Fortune (1778)

HMS Fortune was a 14-gun sloop launched in 1778 and captured by the French in April 1780 and served with the French navy under the same name.

Career

The beginning of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War in 1780 effectively put the Dutch Republic on the French side of the Anglo-French War and the War of American Independence. The Dutch expected a British invasion of their Dutch Cape Colony, and France assembled a 5-ship squadron under Suffren to reinforce it. The task force comprised the 74-gun Héros (under Suffren himself) and Annibal (under Trémignon), and the 64-gun Artésien (under Cardaillac), Sphinx (under du Chilleau) and Vengeur (under Forbin), [1] as well as the 16-gun corvette Fortune (under Lieutenant Lusignan), and seven transports [2] carrying the Régiment de Pondichéry, under Brigadier General Thomas Conway.[3] The squadron departed Brest on 22 March 1781. [2] Fortune and Annibal were the only two ships in the squadron not to have a copper sheathing.[4]

She took part in the Battle of Porto Praya, where she captured the fireship HMS Infernal; however, Suffren then ordered Lusignan to bring orders to the French transports, and he abandoned Infernal after taking her captain and 15 men prisoners. Infernal returned to Porto Praya harbour. [5]

On 21 August 1782, Ilustre and Saint-Michel arrived at Batacalo, making their junction with the squadron under Suffren. They were escorting 8 transports and preceded by the corvette Fortune, under Lusignan.[6]

On 20 August 1782, Lusignan was at the vanguard of the French squadron when it departed Batacalo for the Battle of Trincomalee. [6] After the Battle, in early September 1782, Suffren promoted Bouvet de Maisonneuve to the command of Fortune.[7] In April 1783, after the Peace of Paris brought about a cease-fire between the French and the British, Suffren sent Fortune back to France to report on his situation.[7]

In October 1783 she became a packet ship under the name Courrier de Lorient (and later Courrier de Lorient No.3), serving out of Lorient on the line Lorient-New York. In January 1787 she was transferred to the Régie des Paquebots, for whom she served on the Havre-New York line.[8] She was put up for sale at Havre in December 1788 and sold in January 1789 to Mr. Ruellan.[9]

Citations and references

Citations

  1. Cunat (1852), p. 48.
  2. Cunat (1852), p. 49.
  3. Cunat (1852), p. 63.
  4. Lacour-Gayet (1910), p. 480.
  5. Cunat (1852), p. 57.
  6. Cunat (1852), p. 205.
  7. Levot (1852), p. 177.
  8. Demerliac (1996), p. 74, #472.
  9. Demerliac (1996), p. 216, #2208.

References

  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
  • Cunat, Charles (1852). Histoire du Bailli de Suffren. Rennes: A. Marteville et Lefas. p. 447.
  • Demerliac, Alain (1996). La Marine de Louis XVI: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1774 à 1792 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 2-906381-23-3.
  • Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot. ISBN 0-948864-30-3.
  • Lacour-Gayet, Georges (1910). La marine militaire de la France sous le règne de Louis XVI. Paris: Honoré Champion. pp. 431–434.
  • Levot, Prosper (1852). Biographie bretonne: recueil de notices sur tous les Bretons qui se sont fait un nom (in French). 1. Caudran.
  • 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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