French corvette Vénus (1794)
| History | |
|---|---|
  France
|
|
| Name: | Vénus |
| Namesake: | Venus |
| Builder: | Bordeaux |
| Laid down: | 1793 |
| Launched: | January 1794 |
| In service: | April 1794 |
| Captured: | 22 October 1800 |
 United Kingdom
|
|
| Name: | Scout |
| Acquired: | 22 October 1800 by capture |
| Fate: | Wrecked off Isle of Wight March 1801 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 550 tons (French) |
| Tons burthen: | 405 53⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: | 111 ft 0 in (33.8 m) (overall; 89 ft 10 5⁄8 in (27.4 m) (keel) |
| Beam: | 29 ft 1 1⁄2 in (8.9 m) |
| Draught: | 4.55 m (14.9 ft) (laden) |
| Depth of hold: | 13 ft 4 in (4.1 m) |
| Sail plan: | Full-rigged ship |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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Vénus was a corvette of the French Navy that the British captured in 1800. Renamed HMS Scout, she served briefly in the Channel before being wrecked in 1801, a few days after taking a major prize.
Vénus was begun in Bordeaux in 1793 as a privateer but the French Navy bought her while she was still on the stocks. She was launched in January 1794 as Vengeance and completed for service in the following April, but was renamed Vénus in May 1795.
The French commissioned her as a corvette and initially armed her with 26 guns: twenty-two 8-pounders on her upper deck and four 4-pounders on her galliards, i.e. her quarterdeck and forecastle. By 1796 she had had 4 obusiers added on her gaillards, but by July 1798 these had been removed and she carried ten 4-pounder guns on her galliards.
Vénus took part in the Expédition d'Irlande and under the command of Captain André Senez, was in Commodore Savary's squadron at the Battle of Tory Island.
On 22 October 1800 Indefatigable captured Vénus off the Portuguese coast.Indefatigable had been chasing Venus from the morning when in the afternoon Fisgard came in sight and forced Vénus to turn. Both British vessels arrived at Vénus at about 7pm.Vénus was armed with 32 guns and had a crew of 200 men. She was sailing from Rochefort to Senegal. Later, Indefatigable and Fisgard shared the prize money with Boadicea, Diamond, Urania and the hired armed schooner Earl St Vincent.
The Royal Navy commissioned Vénus as Scout in November 1800 under Commander George Ormsby. She was fitted out at Plymouth until March 1801. However Ormsby died in January 1801. Ormsby's successor was Commander Henry Duncan.
Vénus was too small and too weak for the Royal Navy (RN) to take her in as a sixth-rate frigate or even a post-ship. She was designed for short-range privateering in the Channel and the Bay of Biscay, rather than the longer-range escort or patrol work of a British sloop. Accordingly, she couldn't stow as much in the way of stores as the Admiralty needed; reducing her armament, relative to her French establishment, would have permitted her to carry the larger weight of stores she had to carry in RN service.
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Wikipedia