HMS Heureux (1800)
| History | |
|---|---|
 France
|
|
| Name: | Heureux |
| Fate: | Captured, 5 March 1800 |
 United Kingdom
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|
| Name: | HMS Heureux |
| Acquired: | by capture, 5 March 1800 |
| Commissioned: | August 1800 |
| Fate: | Lost at sea, June 1806 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Brig |
| Tons burthen: | 598 18⁄94 tons (bm) |
| Length: | 127 ft 8 1⁄2 in (38.9 m) (overall); 102 ft 9 in (31.3 m) (keel) |
| Beam: | 32 ft 7 in (9.9 m) |
| Depth: | 16 ft 2 in (4.9 m) |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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Heureux was a 22-gun French privateer brig that the British captured in 1800. She served with the Royal Navy as the 22-gun post ship HMS Heureux. She captured numerous French and Spanish privateers and merchant vessels in the Caribbean before she was lost at sea in 1806. Her fate remains a mystery to this day.
The frigate Phoebe, commanded by Captain Robert Barlow, captured the privateer Heureux in the English Channel off Bordeaux on 5 March 1800.Heureux, of 22 long brass 12-pounders and 220 men, mistook Phoebe for an East Indiaman, and approached her.Heureux did not discover her mistake until she had arrived within point-blank musket-shot. She then wore upon the Phoebe's weather bow and hauled to the wind on the same tack. Heureux opened fire in an attempt to disable Phoebe's masts, rigging, and sails, and thereby enable Heureux to escape.Phoebe's broadside, however, was too powerful and Heureux was forced to strike her colours. Phoebe had three seamen killed, or mortally wounded, and three slightly wounded. Heureux had 18 men killed and 25 wounded, most of whom lost limbs. Eleven former British sailors were found serving among Heureux's crew, and were placed in irons for transportation back to England.
She had been out 42 days but had only taken one prize, a small Portuguese sloop with a cargo of wine. The sloop had been blown out to sea while on her way from Limerick to Galway.Heureux had intended to cruise the West Indies. Instead, she arrived at Plymouth as a prize on 25 March 1800.
Barlow described Heureux as "the most complete flush deck ship I have ever seen, copper fastened, highly finished and of large dimensions". Furthermore, "she will be considered as a most desirable ship for His Majesty's Service."
The Admiralty bought Heureux and she completed her fitting out in November. She was armed with two 9-pounder guns at her bow and twenty 32-pounder carronades for her broadsides. Captain Loftus Bland commissioned her in August 1800 under her existing name. She sailed for the Leeward Islands in February 1801.
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Wikipedia