French lugger Affronteur (1795)
| History | |
|---|---|
 France
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| Name: | Affronteur |
| Builder: | Dieppe naval dockyard |
| Laid down: | 1794 |
| Launched: | 18 July 1795 |
| In service: | November 1795 |
| Captured: | 18 May 1803 |
 UK
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| Name: | Caroline |
| Acquired: | May 1803 by capture |
| Fate: | Possibly broken up 1807 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Affronteur class |
| Type: | lugger, converted to brig |
| Tons burthen: | 158 (bm) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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The French lugger Affronteur was launched in 1795 and in 1796-7 participated in the Expédition d'Irlande. In 1803, HMS Doris captured her and she subsequently served the Royal Navy either as a commissioned vessel or, more probably, as His Majesty's hired armed brig Caroline. In 1807 she was either broken up, or became a letter of marque.
Affronteur was the name ship of her two-vessel class. Boadicea captured her sister ship Vautour in November 1803. The vessels were probably built to a design by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait.
In 1796 she was under the command of Enseigne de vaisseau non entretenu Catelain. Between December 1796 and January 1797 she participated in the Expédition d'Irlande, Republican France's attempt to assist the outlawed Society of United Irishmen, a popular rebel Irish republican group, in their planned rebellion against British rule. Weather and events conspired to render the expedition ineffectual; most of the French vessels returned to France, having accomplished nothing. Between 23 September 1800 and 14 November 1801 Affronteur was at Brest, being refitted.
On 18 May 1803, Doris, under the command of Captain Richard Harrison Pearson, captured the lugger Affronteur, off Ushant. Affronteur was armed with fourteen 9-pounder guns and had a crew of 92 men under the command of Lieutenant de Vaisseau M. Morce André Dutoya. Affronteur resisted capture in an engagement during which Doris suffered one man wounded, while Affronteur lost Dutoya and eight other men killed, and 14 men wounded, one of whom died shortly thereafter.
Affronteur had sailed to demand of Doris why she was in the area. The capture took place on the very day that Britain declared war, and before the news had reached France. The French complained that the British had struck, in effect, before declaring war. Histories also consider Lieutenant Dutoya the first casualty of the Napoleonic Wars, at least as they involved England.
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Wikipedia