Vanneau (1782 ship)
| History | |
|---|---|
.svg){kind=small}  France
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| Name: | Vanneau |
| Namesake: | The lapwing |
| Launched: | 25 July 1782 |
| Fate: | Captured Bay of Biscay, 6 June 1793 |
 United Kingdom
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| Acquired: | Captured 6 June 1793 |
| Fate: | Wrecked 176 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | lugger aviso or cutter |
| Tons burthen: | 120 (bm) |
| Armament: | 6 × 4-pounder guns |
| Notes: | Copper sheathing |
Vanneau was a lugger aviso or cutter of the French Royal Navy, launched in 1782. The British captured her in 1793 and brought her into the Royal Navy. She served briefly in the Mediterranean before being wrecked in 1796.
Denys and Baron de Brave built her at Dunkirk and launched her on 25 July 1782. She was copper sheathed during construction. Initially she was armed with four 3-pounder guns, but by the time she was captured she carried six 4-pounders.
In 1787 she came briefly under the command of Julien Marie Cosmao-Kerjulien. Later that year the French navy sent Vanneau to reconnoitre the Isle of Wight. On her return, her commander, Sous-lieutenant de vaisseau Camelin, filed a false report, having also falsified his vessel's log. He was found out, dis-ranked, expelled from the navy, and was sentenced to a year in prison.
Between July and November 1790, Vanneau was under the command of Sous-lieutenant de vaisseau Motard, patrolling the southern coasts of the United Kingdom from Cherbourg. In February 1792 she was patrolling between Cape La Hève and Saint-Malo, while under the command of acting Enseigne de vaisseau non entretenu Guérin de l'Épinay.
On 6 June 1793 Vanneau was in the Bay of Biscay when she encountered Colossus. The Royal Navy took Vanneau into service under her existing name.
After her capture, the British commissioned Vanneau in May under the command of Lieutenant L.J. Woolstoncraft; she then served to carry dispatches to the Mediterranean. On 8 November 1794, Admiral Hotham placed Lieutenant John Gourly (or Gourlay) in command of Vanneau. On 15 January 1795 a major storm hit Corsica, and especially Bastia, wrecking a number of vessels and damaging Vanneau.
That spring, while Gourly and Vanneau were at Bastia, ten English captains and a boy, all former prisoners of the French, arrived there in a cartel, utterly destitute. Gourly met them and took them to dinner. They informed him that as they were unknown locally, no one would accept their bills drawn on their bankers in England, and that they needed £55 in total for their immediate support. Gourly immediately went to the British commissary-general, the Honourable John Erskine, and asked Erskine to cash his bill for that amount. Erskine refused, saying that he would simply lend Gourly the money, but asked what it was for. On being told the story, Erskine immediately stated that as he could better afford the loss than Gourly, should the captains fail to repay, he would lend them the money directly. A few days later Vanneau took the men to Leghorn, where they were able to write bills and remit to Erskine the entire amount they owed.
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Wikipedia