Bordelais (1798 ship)
| History | |
|---|---|
 France
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| Name: | Bordelais |
| Builder: | Courau brothers, Bordeaux. Plans by Forfait |
| Laid down: | 1798 |
| Commissioned: | December 1798 |
| Captured: | 11 October 1799 |
| History | |
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Bordelais |
| Acquired: | 11 October 1799 by capture |
| Fate: | Broken up in 1804, or 1806 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Corvette |
| Displacement: |
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| Tons burthen: | 624 63⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: | 42.55 m (139.6 ft) (overall); 38.0 m (124.7 ft) (keel) |
| Beam: | 9.74 m (32.0 ft) |
| Draught: | 4.87 m (16.0 ft) |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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Bordelais (or Bourdolaise, or Bourdelais, or Bordolois), launched in 1799, was a privateer corvette from Bordeaux. She took part in three campaigns before HMS Révolutionnaire captured her. She then served the Royal Navy until broken up in 1804.
Bordelais departed Bordeaux in December 1798 under Jean-François Thibaut, returning in February 1799. Her command then passed to Jean-Baptiste Darrigrand, who cruised from February to through June.
At the beginning of June Bordelais left Pasajes in company with Grand Décidé and Courageux. They planned to intercept a convoy from Brazil, send their prizes to Pasajes, and then return there. It is not clear that they were at all successful, and in any case HMS Alcmene captured Courageux on 26 June.
Thibaut resumed command from July to August. In August, Jacques Moreau took command of Bordelais. Her armament was upgraded she departed for a cruise.
On 11 October 1799 Révolutionnaire was off the Irish coast when she sighted a strange sail. Révolutionnaire chased her quarry in a heavy gale for nine and a half hours over a distance of 114 miles (i.e., a rate of 12 miles per hour). When captured, the quarry turned out to be Bordelais, of Bordeaux. She was pierced for 26 guns but carried sixteen 12-pounder guns and eight 36-pounder carronades. She had a crew of 202 men. She had been cruising from Passage for 19 days during which time she had captured two vessels, an American ship carrying a cargo of tobacco, and a Portuguese ship sailing from Cork with provisions. Twysden, in an attempt to interest the Admiralty in purchasing her, described Bordelais as "a most beautiful new Ship, well calculated for His Majesty's Service; was the largest, and esteemed the fastest sailing Privateer out of France."
Bordelais arrived at Plymouth on 24 November. Four hundred French prisoners from Aréthuse and Bourdelaise landed at Plymouth on the same day. The Admiralty took Bordelais into service as the sixth-rate post ship Bordelais.
Bordelais stayed at Plymouth until April 1800, undergoing fitting out. Captain Thomas Manby commissioned her in January 1800. On 15 July, Bordelais captured the French vessel Phoenix. Indefatigable, Sirius, and Boadicea shared with Bordelais by agreement, as did Shannon. At some point, on a trip to Ireland the Bordelais foundered on a sandbank; Manby managed to refloat her by throwing everything possible overboard and she limped back to Plymouth.
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Wikipedia