HMS Espoir (1797)
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| History | |
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 France
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| Name: | Espoir |
| Builder: | Bayonne |
| Laid down: | December 1787 |
| Launched: | March 1788 |
| Completed: | April 1788 |
| Renamed: |
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| Captured: | By Thalia, 18 September 1797 |
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Espoir |
| Acquired: | by capture, 18 September 1797 |
| Commissioned: | June 1798 |
| Decommissioned: | December 1799 |
| Honours and awards: |
Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Espoir 7 Augt. 1798" |
| Fate: | Sold, September 1804 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Hasard-class brig-sloop |
| Tons burthen: | 267 (bm) |
| Length: | 92 ft 10 in (28.3 m) (overall); 75 ft 1 in (22.9 m) (keel) |
| Beam: | 25 ft 10 in (7.9 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 10 ft 10 in (3.3 m) |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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L'Espoir was a French brig-sloop (Fr. brick-aviso) that served for 9½ years in the French Navy before HMS Thalia captured her in September 1797. In her subsequent short career within in British service as HMS Espoir she captured three prizes, with the capture in 1798 of the more heavily armed Genoese pirate Liguria earning her crew a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal. Espoir was laid up in 1799 and sold in 1804.
L'Espoir was one of six brig-sloops of the Hasard class, designed by Raymond-Antoine Haran. She was built in Bayonne between December 1787 and April 1788, and launched in March 1788. She originally mounted just 4-pounder guns and carried a crew of 5 officers and 65 ratings; by 1794 she carried twelve 6-pounder guns and 125 men.
Espoir cruised the coasts of Newfoundland while under the command of chevalier de Fabry, lieutenant de vaisseau, around 17 August 1790. Between 13 July 1792 and 12 January 1793, Espoir carried dispatches to Senegal, and then returned. At the time she was under the command of enseigne de vaisseau, later lieutenant de vaisseau, Martin.
Espoir sailed from Rochefort to Verdon, escorted a convoy from Verdon to Rochelle, cruised and conducted escorts on the coasts of Poitou and la Charente, and between Rochefort and Bayonne, and escorted a convoy from France to Cayenne. Between 5 February and 17 July 1793 she was under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Charles-Nicolas Lacaille; in August her commander was lieutenant de vaisseau Vignier.
Espoir was renamed Lazouski (or Lazousky) on 28 September 1793 (in honour of Revolutionary leader Claude François Lazowski). She escorted convoys between Bayonne and Brest, cruised in the Bay of Biscay and south of Ireland, and was at Rochefort. From 1 January 1794 to 22 May, she was under the command of enseigne de vaisseau, later lieutenant de vaisseau, Farjanel. Then between 27 May and 8 September her captain was enseigne de vaisseau non entretenu Barbé. On 26 May 1795 her captain was lieutenant de vaisseau Barrère. Under his command Lazouski, based at Rochefort, cruised the Gulf of Gascony, and escorted a convoy from Rochelle to Pasajes.
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Wikipedia