Robert (1793 ship)
| History | |
|---|---|
 France
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| Name: | Robert |
| Builder: | Nantes |
| Launched: | 1793 |
| Captured: | 13 June 1793 |
 UK
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| Name: | HMS Espion |
| Acquired: | 13 June 1793 by capture |
| Captured: | 22 July 1794 |
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France
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| Name: | Espion |
| Acquired: | 22 July 1794 by capture |
| Captured: | 4 March 1795 |
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UK
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| Name: | HMS Spy |
| Acquired: | 4 March 1795 by capture |
| Captured: | Sold 7 September 1801 |
 UK
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| Name: | Spy |
| Owner: |
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| Acquired: | 1801 by purchase |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 400 tons (French) |
| Tons burthen: |
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| Length: |
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| Beam: | 27 ft 3 3⁄4 in (8.3 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 13 ft 0 in (4.0 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sail |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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| Armour: | Timber |
Robert was the 16-gun French privateer corvette launched in 1793 at Nantes. The British captured her in 1793 and named her HMS Espion. The French recaptured her in 1794 and took her into service as Espion. The British recaptured her in 1795, but there being another Espion in service by then, the British renamed their capture HMS Spy. She served under that name until the Navy sold her in 1801. She then became a slave ship, whaling ship, privateer, and again a whaler, serving in the South Seas whale fisheries until perhaps 1813.
Robert was in Nantes in February 1793 under captain François-Marie Pied. She was on her first cruise when the British captured her.
The frigate HMS Syren , Captain John Manley, captured Robert on 13 June 1793 in the Bay of Biscay after a chase of 28 hours. One report gave Robert 22 guns and a complement of 200 men, but all other reports trimmed this to 16 carriage and eight swivel guns, and 170 men.Robert had been out three days from Bordeaux, had captured nothing.
The Royal Navy commissioned HMS Espion in March 1794 under the command of Commander William Hugh Kittoe, for the Channel. On 22 July 1794 Tamise and two other French frigates captured Espion south of the Isles of Scilly. Kittoe was so outnumbered and outgunned that he struck without resistance. The French Navy took her into service as the corvette Espion.
On 23 August 1794, HMS Flora, Captain John Borlase Warren, and HMS Arethusa, Captain Sir Edward Pellew, chased two French corvettes, Alerte and Espion into Audierne Bay. The two corvettes anchored off the Gamelle Rocks, but when they saw that the British intended to capture them, their captains got under weigh and ran their vessels aground below the guns of three shore batteries. The corvettes continued to exchange fire with the two British frigates until early evening, when the corvettes' masts fell. At that point many of the French crewmen abandoned their vessels and went ashore. Warren sent in the boats from both Flora and Arethusa, all under Pellew's command, with orders to set fire or otherwise destroy the two corvettes. Pellew went in and took possession of both, but determined that he could not extract the wounded. Pellew therefore left the vessels, which he determined were bilged and scuttled, with rocks having pierced their bottoms, and left with 52 prisoners. Pellew estimated that Alerte had suffered 20 to 30 men killed and wounded, and that Espion had lost more.
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Wikipedia