French corvette Lynx (1804)
| History | |
|---|---|
 France
|
|
| Name: | Lynx |
| Ordered: | 21 February 1803 |
| Builder: | Jean Baudry, Bayonne |
| Laid down: | May 1803 |
| Launched: | 17 April 1804 |
| Commissioned: | 14 June 1804 |
| Captured: | 21 January 1807 |
 United Kingdom
|
|
| Name: | Heureux |
| Struck: | 1814 |
| Honours and awards: |
Naval General Service Medal with clasp "28 Nov. Boat Service 1808" |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Brig |
| Displacement: | 402 tons |
| Tons burthen: | 336 48⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: | 93 ft 10 in (28.60 m) (gundeck); 78 ft 8 3⁄8 in (23.987 m) |
| Beam: | 29 ft 6 in (8.99 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) |
| Sail plan: | Brig rigged |
| Complement: |
French service:94 men British service:100 |
| Armament: |
|
French service:94 men
Lynx (or Linx) was a 16-gun brig of the French Navy, launched at Bayonne on 17 April 1804. The British captured her in 1807 and named her HMS Heureux. After service in the Caribbean that earned her crew two medals, including one for a boat action in which her captain was killed, she was laid up in 1810 and sold in 1814.
Lynx was the name ship of her two-vessel class of brigs. She was built to plans by Pierre-Jacques-Nicolas Rolland. The French Navy commissioned her in June 1804 under Lieutenant Fargenel. She took part in the Trafalgar Campaign, ferrying dispatches between Fort de France and France, where she arrived on 10 July 1805.
She was then attached to a five-frigate squadron under Commodore Eleonore-Jean-Nicolas Soleil, tasked with ferrying supplies and troops to the French West Indies. A British squadron intercepted the convoy, which led to the Action of 25 September 1806, where the British captured four of the frigates. Lynx, the frigate Thétis, and the corvette Sylphe escaped, with Lynx managing to outrun HMS Windsor Castle. Lynx finally arrived in Martinique on 31 October.
The boats of Galatea, under Lieutenant William Coombe, captured Lynx off Les Saintes on 21 January 1807. The boats, manned with five officers, 50 seamen and 20 marines, had to row for eight hours, mainly in the blazing sun, to catch her. During the action Coombe, who had already lost a leg in a previous action, received a musket ball through the thigh above the previous amputation. The British only succeeded in boarding Lynx on their third attempt and a desperate struggle occurred on deck as the crew of the Lynx outnumbered their attackers. The British lost nine men killed and 22 wounded, including Coombe. The French had 14 killed and 20 wounded, including the captain.
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