French frigate Créole (1797)
| History | |
|---|---|
 France
|
|
| Name: | Créole |
| Builder: | Louis and Antoine Crucy, Basse-Indres, Nantes |
| Laid down: | 5 January 1794 |
| Launched: | 27 June 1797 |
| In service: | January 1799 |
| Captured: | 30 June 1803 by the Royal Navy |
 United Kingdom
|
|
| Name: | HMS Creole |
| Acquired: | 30 June 1803 |
| Fate: | Wrecked on 2 January 1804 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 1,350 tons (French) |
| Length: | 48.93 m (160.5 ft) |
| Beam: | 11.91 m (39.1 ft) |
| Draught: | 5.8 m (19 ft) |
| Complement: |
|
| Armament: |
|
Créole was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, a one-off design by Jacques-Augustin Lamothe. The French Navy loaned her to a privateer in 1797. Later, she served in the Brest squadron, took part in Ganteaume's expeditions of 1801 to Egypt, and was involved in the French acquisition of Santo Domingo (also known as the Era de Francia) and briefly detained Toussaint Louverture before he was brought to France. The 74-gun ships HMS Vanguard and HMS Cumberland captured her Santo Domingo on 30 June 1803. The Royal Navy took her into service but she foundered soon afterwards during an attempt to sail to Britain; her crew was rescued.
After her launch, Créole was fitted for four months before being lent 19 October 1797 to a privateer from Nantes. She was commissioned in the Navy on 29 April 1798 and started patrolling off Brest in February 1799.
On 12 April, capitaine de vaisseau Pierre-Paulin Gourrège took command. On 26 April 1799, Créole departed Brest with the oceanic fleet and took part in Bruix' expedition of 1799 into the Mediterranean. She was detached to Oneglia, along with Romaine and Vautour, to support the French invasion of Italy.
The British hired armed cutter Sandwich was under the command of Lieutenant George Lempriere and cruising off the coast of Barcelona on 14 June 1799 when she sighted a large fleet. Lempriere believed the vessels to be a British fleet and sailed towards them. When the strange vessels did not reply to the recognition signals, Lempriere realized that they were enemy vessels and attempted to sail away. The French fleet detached a lugger, possibly Affronteur, to pursue Sandwich. A frigate joined the lugger in pursuit and towards evening the lugger opened fire with her bow chasers. The frigate then too opened fire, with Sandwich returning fire as best she could. By 1a.m. the frigate was within musket shot of Sandwich and any further resistance would have been futile. Lempriere then struck to Créole.
...
Wikipedia