HMS Victor (1808)
Detail of Combat de Grand Port, by Pierre Julien Gilbert, Musée national de la marine. Victor (ex-Revenant) is visible in the background.
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| History | |
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 France
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| Name: | Revenant |
| Namesake: | Revenant (French: "ghost") |
| Builder: | Saint-Malo |
| Launched: | 1807 |
| Acquired: | July 1808 by French Navy |
| Renamed: | Iéna September 1808 |
| Fate: | Captured on 8 October 1808 |
 United Kingdom
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| Name: | Victor |
| Acquired: | 8 October 1808 |
| Captured: | 2 November 1809 |
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France
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| Name: | Victor |
| Acquired: | 2 November 1809 by capture |
| Captured: | 3 December 1810 |
| Fate: | Broken up |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Corvette |
| Displacement: | 300 tons (French) |
| Tons burthen: | c.400 |
| Length: | 36 meters |
| Beam: | 9 meters |
| Sail plan: | Full-rigged ship |
| Speed: | up to 12 knots |
| Armament: |
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Revenant was a 20-gun privateer corvette, launched in 1807, and designed by Robert Surcouf for commerce raiding. The French Navy later requisitioned her and renamed her Iéna, after Napoleon's then recent victory. The British subsequently captured her and she served in the Royal Navy as HMS Victor. The French Navy recaptured her in 1809, and she served for a year under her original name. The British again captured her when they captured Isle de France (now Mauritius) in December 1810. However, they did not restore her to service and she was subsequently broken up.
Her coppered hull allowed her to sail at up to 12 knots. Her cost was of 277,761 francs-or. One of hers owners was the banker Jacques Récamier.
In February 1807, Surcouf enlisted Potier as first officer on his new privateer Revenant.Revenant then departed from Saint-Malo on 2 March, and sailed for Isle de France. Revenant arrived there on 10 June, along with several prizes she had taken during her journey. She cruised the Bay of Bengal from September to 31 January 1808 under Surcouf, capturing the rice ships Trafalgar, Mangles, Admiral Alpin, Susannah Hunter, Success, Fortune, New Endeavour, Colonel Macauley, William Burroughs, Oriente and Jean Labdam.Trafalgar, of about 800 tos (bm), was a copper-sheathed three-master, carrying 10,000 sacks of rice from Bengal. Maingless was also a copper-sheathed three-master, in this case carrying 8,000 sacks of rice from Bengal, but also books, mirrors, and furniture. Lastly, Suzanne, of 400 tons (bm), copper-sheathed three-master, was carrying rice and sailcloth. They had been captured on 11, 18, and 25 November, and arrived at Port-Louis on 2 and 16 December.
After Revenant returned to Port-Louis from her first campaign Surcouf gave Potier command of the ship on 2 April.
In late April, as Revenant was completing her preparations and plotting her route, a prize taken by the privateer Adèle gave news of the new war between France and Portugal; Adèle also brought intelligence about the Conceçáo-de-Santo-Antonio, a 64-gun ship of the line armed en flûte, which was in Goa preparatory to sailing for Rio de Janeiro and Lisbon. Surcouf sent Portier to intercept, and Revenant departed Port-Louis on 30 April. She arrived in her patrol zone on 17 May and sighted her prey on the 24th.Revenant captured Conceçáo-de-Santo-Antonio after a one-hour battle. Potier gave Conceçáo a prize crew under First Lieutenant Fonroc, and returned to Mauritius one month later with his prize.
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Wikipedia