French corvette Naïade (1793)

Incomplete plan of Diligente, sister ship to Naïade, drawn 1811 by Edward Sison, Master Shipwright, Woolwich Dockyard, National Maritime Museum
History
France
Name:	Naïade
Builder:	Brest dockyard
Laid down:	May 1793
Launched:	24 October 1793
Captured:	1805
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Melville
Acquired:	1805 (by capture)
Fate:	Broken up 1811
General characteristics
Type:	Brig
Displacement:	270 tons (French; unladen)
Tons burthen:	353 (bm)
Length:	31.75 m (104.2 ft) (overall)
Beam:	8.31 m (27.3 ft)
Depth of hold:	4.17 m (13.7 ft)
Sail plan:	ship-sloop (1806 on)
Complement:	French service: 187 At capture: 170
Armament:	French service Originally: 12 × 12-pounder guns + 4 × 6-pounder guns 1798:16 × 8-pounder guns 1800: 16 × 12-pounder guns 1804: 18 × 12-pounder guns At capture: 16 × 12-pounder guns + 4 × 2-pounder swivel guns HMS:16 × 32-pounder carronades + 2 × 6-pounder chase guns

The French corvette Naïade was launched at Brest in 1793 as a brig-corvette for the French Navy. The Royal Navy captured her in 1805 and took her into service as HMS Melville. She was sold for breaking up in 1808.

Naïade was built to a plan by Pierre-Agustin Lamothe and was the name ship of her three-vessel class. The Royal Navy captured one sister ship, Diligente, in 1800 and employed her as a 14-gun transport until they sold her in 1814.

The French Navy employed Naïade to patrol and escort convoys between Ouessant and Socoa. She then escorted a convoy between Ostend and Dunkirk. Lastly, she cruised in the North Sea and the Pas-de-Calais. Then she was stationed at Flessingue. During this time she was first under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Julien (24 February 1794 to 17 May 1794), and then lieutenant de vaisseau Léonard (1-22 December 1794).

At some point Naïade transferred to the Caribbean.

Naïade and Cyane left Martinique on 29 September 1805 provisioned for a cruise of three months.Enseigne de vaisseau Hamon, who had assumed command of Naïade shortly before they sailed, was the senior officer of the pair.

Six days later HMS Princess Charlotte was off Tobago when she sighted them in the distance. The two French vessels were too far away for Princess Charlotte to chase them. Captain George Tobin of Princess Charlotte decided to disguise his vessel as best he could in the hope that he could lure them to approach. He was successful and an engagement ensued.

Eventually, Princess Charlotte succeeded in capturing Cyane, which had been a Royal Navy sloop until the French had captured her in May; Naïade as Tobin put it, "by taking a more prudent Situation and superior sailing, effected her Escape without any apparent Injury."

On 13 October 1805 HMS Jason captured Naiade off Barbados (14°5′N 55°48′W / 14.083°N 55.800°W / 14.083; -55.800) after a chase of nine hours. She was pierced for 22 guns, but mounted sixteen 12-pounder guns and four brass 2-pounder swivels. She had a crew of 170 men under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Hamon, and had had one man killed before she surrendered. She had come out from France the previous March with the Toulon squadron and was 15 days out of Martinique, provisioned for a two months' cruise. Captain P.W. Champain of Jason described her as, " one of the largest Brigs in the French Service; extremely well fitted, fails very fast, (having escaped from many of our Cruizers,) and appears particularly calculated for His Majesty's Service."