French brig Furet (1801)
1/36th scale model of Cygne, sister-ship of Furet, on display at the Musée national de la Marine in Paris.
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| History | |
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 France
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| Name: | Furet |
| Namesake: | Ferret |
| Ordered: | 24 December 1800 |
| Builder: | Toulon Dockyard |
| Laid down: | September 1801 |
| Launched: | 24 December 1801 |
| Commissioned: | 1802 |
| Captured: | 27 February 1806 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Abeille-class brig |
| Displacement: | 350 ton (French) |
| Length: | 32 m (105 ft) |
| Beam: | 8.7 m (29 ft) |
| Draught: | 3.5 m (11 ft) |
| Complement: | 141 |
| Armament: | 16 × 8-pounder guns |
| Armour: | Timber |
Furet was an Abeille-class 16-gun brig of the French Navy, launched in 1801. HMS Hydra captured her on 27 February 1806, off Cadiz.
Around 23 June 1802, Furet, under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Demay, sailed on a secret mission from Toulon to Mahon, and return.
Furet, with Demay still in command, sailed with Admiral Villeneuve's fleet from Toulon on 29 March 1805 to Martinique. She returned to Europe with the fleet and then participated in both the battles of Finisterre and Trafalgar.
After Trafalgar, Furet found herself blockaded in Cadiz.
Captain Julien Cosmao decided to sortie from Cadiz on 23 October, in an attempt to retake some of the vessels the British had captured at Trafalgar. He put to sea in company with five ships of-the-line, three French, the 80-gun Indomptable and Neptune, and the 74-gun Pluton, and two Spanish, the 100-gun Rayo and the 74-gun San Francisco de Asis. Some smaller French ships that had been present at the battle but had not taken part accompanied the ships of the line: the frigates Cornélie, Thémis, Hortense, Rhin, and Hermione, and the brigs Furet and Argus. In preparation for the counter-attack the British cast off several of the prizes and formed a defensive line, allowing the frigates to retake two of the captured prizes, both Spanish ships, the 112-gun Santa Ana and the 80-gun Neptuno. Of the two recaptured ships, only the Santa Ana made it back to Cadiz, when the sortieing ships ran into difficulties in the heavy storm that blew up after the battle. Neptuno ran aground and was destroyed, while a similar fate befell both Indomptable, after she grounded off Rota, and San Francisco de Asis, in Cadiz Bay. Rayo attempted to anchor off San Lucar and ride out the storm, but rolled out her masts in the heavy seas. HMS Donegal came up, and being unable to resist, Rayo surrendered to her, but was driven on shore on 26 October and wrecked.Neptune had to be towed back into Cadiz.
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Wikipedia