French frigate Chiffone (1800)
HMS Sybille capturing Chiffonne
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| History | |
|---|---|
 France
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| Name: | Chiffonne |
| Laid down: | 10 November 1793 |
| Launched: | 31 August 1799 |
| In service: | December 1800 |
| Captured: | 20 August 1801 |
 Great Britain
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| Name: | Chiffonne |
| Acquired: | 30 November 1803 |
| Fate: | Broken up in September 1814 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Heureuse-class frigate |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 37 ft 11 in (11.56 m) |
| Draught: | 5.8 m (19 ft) |
| Propulsion: | Sail |
| Complement: | French service: 250 men |
| Armament: |
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| Armour: | Timber |
Chiffonne was a 38-gun Heureuse-class frigate of the French Navy. She was built at Nantes and launched in 1799. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1801. In 1809 she participated in a campaign against pirates in the Persian Gulf. She was sold for breaking up in 1814.
On 11 July 1801, Chiffone, under the command of Captain Pierre Guiyesse arrived at Mahé, Seychelles from the port of St Nazaire with 33 deportees under sentence of exile from France. The exiles had been involved in the Plot of the Rue Saint-Nicaise against Napoleon.
On 15 May, off Brazil, she captured a Portuguese schooner. Three days later she captured the Brazilian frigate Hirondelle, armed en flute. Hirondelle (or possibly Andorhina) was armed with twenty-four 24-pounder carronades and put up a short fight. Guiyesse had her guns thrown overboard, took her stores (cables, spare rigging and sails), and then released her officers and crew under parole.
On 16 June, Chiffone captured the East Indiaman Bellona on her way from Bengal to London. In taking Bellone, Chiffone had her mizzen mast crippled. A prize crew under Ensign Jean-Michel Mahé took Bellona to Mauritius where she arrived a month later.
On 19 August HMS Sibylle, Captain Charles Adam, chased her off Mahé, Seychelles. At the time of the British attack Chiffone was at anchor and aided her defense by constructing a battery using some of her forecastle guns and heating the shot. Her captain, Commander Guiyesse, attempted to avoid capture by beaching Chiffonne, but the British captured her the next day. She had lost 23 men killed and 30 wounded; Sybille lost two men killed and one wounded. She was brought into British service as HMS Chiffonne. When Adams arrived in Madras with his prize the insurance company there presented him with a sword worth guineas, while the merchants of Calcutta later too presented him with a sword and a piece of plate.
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Wikipedia