French ship Le Généreux
| History | |
|---|---|
   France
|
|
| Name: | Généreux |
| Namesake: | Generosity |
| Builder: | Rochefort shipyard |
| Launched: | 1785 |
| Captured: | by Britain, 1800 |
 United Kingdom
|
|
| Name: | Généreux |
| Acquired: | 1800 |
| Fate: | Broken up in 1816 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Téméraire-class ship of the line |
| Displacement: |
|
| Length: | 55.87 metres (183.3 ft) (172 pied) |
| Beam: | 14.90 metres (48 ft 11 in) |
| Draught: | 7.26 metres (23.8 ft) (22 pied) |
| Propulsion: | Up to 2,485 m2 (26,750 sq ft) of sails |
| Armament: |
|
| Armour: | Timber |
Généreux was a French Téméraire-class 74-gun ship of the line. After capture she completed her career as part of the Royal Navy as HMS Généreux.
She was launched in 1785 at Rochefort. Under Louis-Jean-Nicolas Lejoille, she was one of only two ships to escape the British attack at the Battle of the Nile in August 1798, along with Guillaume Tell.
Shortly after the battle of the Nile, on 18 August 1798, she fell in with a smaller British ship of the line, HMS Leander of 50 guns. After a long battle, the Généreux captured the Leander, with the Leander suffering 35 killed and 57 wounded and the Généreux suffered around 100 killed and 180 wounded.
In March 1799, Généreux escorted a convoy to Corfu. En route, her captain, Lejoille, decided to bombard Brindisi. He was killed in the ensuing exchange of fire, and lieutenant Claude Touffet took over. The city fell on 3 March after a two-hour battle.
On 6 February 1800, Généreux, under Captain Renaudin, departed from Toulon leading a squadron comprising the frigate Badine, the corvettes Sans Pareille and Fauvette, and the fluyt Ville de Marseille, under Rear-Admiral Jean-Baptiste Perrée. In the morning of 18 February, an English fleet chased the French squadron off Lampedusa island. In the ensuing Battle of the Malta Convoy, Perrée was killed, and Généreux covered the squadron, allowing Badine, Sans Pareille and Fauvette to escape, before striking her colours. Her battle ensign, a 16 m by 8.3 m tricolour, was given to the city of Norwich by Berry and Nelson. The flag has been preserved; its size and completeness marking it as a special artifact of the period.
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Wikipedia