French frigate Topaze (1805)
| History | |
|---|---|
 France
|
|
| Name: | Topaze |
| Builder: | Nantes Dockyard |
| Laid down: | 1803 |
| Launched: | 1 March 1805 |
| Commissioned: | September 1805 |
| Captured: | 22 January 1809 |
 United Kingdom
|
|
| Name: | HMS Jewel |
| Acquired: | 22 January 1809 |
| Renamed: | HMS Alcmene |
| Fate: | Scrapped, 1816 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Frigate |
| Tons burthen: | 1148 bm |
| Length: | 46 metres (151 ft) |
| Beam: | 12 metres (39 ft) |
| Draught: | 7 metres (23 ft) |
| Complement: | 330 men |
| Armament: |
|
| Armour: | Timber |
Topaze was a Gloire class 44-gun frigate of the French Navy. The British captured her in 1809 and she the served with the Royal Navy under the name Jewel, and later Alcmene until she was broken up in 1816.
She was built in Nantes in 1803 on plans by Pierre Forfait and launched on 1 March 1805. She was put into service in September.
She departed from Nantes in June 1805 for Fort-de-France to carry new instructions to Admiral Villeneuve, but failed to reach him as the fleet was already heading for Europe. On 19 July she was the lead vessel of a squadron of four vessels that captured HMS Blanche. The other three were the 22-gun corvette Départment des Landes, the 18-gun Torche, and the 16-gun brig-corvette Faune.
On 14 August, a British squadron comprising the 74-gun Goliath, HMS Camilla and HMS Raisonnable captured Faune, which was trailing. Two days later, the British caught up with the three remaining ships, and Baudin had to abandon Torche, which surrendered after a token resistance against Goliath.
Raissonable chased Topaze, which she engaged in the morning of 17 August. The two ships were becalmed at first and unable to manoeuver, until Topaze caught some breeze. Baudin prepared to board Raisonnable, but abandoned the project after considering that his frigate was ferrying the crew of Blanche; he later told Captain Mudge to testify that Raisonnable would have been taken, had it not been for Mudge's presence on Topaze.
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