HMS Fortune (1778)

HMS Fortune was a British 14-gun sloop launched in 1778 that was captured by the French in April 1780 and served with the French navy under the same name.

Career
HMS Fortune in an action against the French at Cancale Bay on 13 May 1779

The beginning of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War in 1780 effectively put the Dutch Republic on the French side of the Anglo-French War and the War of American Independence. The Dutch expected a British invasion of their Dutch Cape Colony, and France assembled a 5-ship squadron under Suffren to reinforce it. The task force comprised the 74-gun Héros (under Suffren himself) and Annibal (under Trémignon), and the 64-gun Artésien (under Cardaillac), Sphinx (under du Chilleau) and Vengeur (under Forbin), [1] as well as the 16-gun corvette Fortune (under Lieutenant Lusignan), and seven transports [2] carrying the Régiment de Pondichéry, under Brigadier General Thomas Conway.[3] The squadron departed Brest on 22 March 1781. [2] Fortune and Annibal were the only two ships in the squadron not to have a copper sheathing.[4]

She took part in the Battle of Porto Praya, where she captured the fireship HMS Infernal; Suffren then ordered Lusignan to bring orders to the French transports, and he abandoned Infernal after taking her captain and 15 men prisoners. Infernal returned to Porto Praya harbour. [5]

On 21 August 1782, Ilustre and Saint-Michel arrived at Batacalo, making their junction with the squadron under Suffren. They were escorting 8 transports and preceded by the corvette Fortune, under Lusignan.[6]

On 20 August 1782, Lusignan was at the vanguard of the French squadron when it departed Batacalo for the Battle of Trincomalee. [6] After the Battle, in early September 1782, Suffren promoted Bouvet de Maisonneuve to the command of Fortune.[7] In April 1783, after the Peace of Paris brought about a cease-fire between the French and the British, Suffren sent Fortune back to France to report on his situation.[7]

In October 1783 she became a packet ship under the name Courrier de Lorient (and later Courrier de Lorient No.3), serving out of Lorient on the line Lorient-New York. In January 1787 she was transferred to the Régie des Paquebots, for whom she served on the Havre-New York line.[8] She was put up for sale at Havre in December 1788 and sold in January 1789 to Mr. Ruellan.[9]

Citations and references

Citations

  1. Cunat (1852), p. 48.
  2. Cunat (1852), p. 49.
  3. Cunat (1852), p. 63.
  4. Lacour-Gayet (1910), p. 480.
  5. Cunat (1852), p. 57.
  6. Cunat (1852), p. 205.
  7. Levot (1852), p. 177.
  8. Demerliac (1996), p. 74, #472.
  9. Demerliac (1996), p. 216, #2208.

References

  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
  • Cunat, Charles (1852). Histoire du Bailli de Suffren. Rennes: A. Marteville et Lefas. p. 447.
  • Demerliac, Alain (1996). La Marine de Louis XVI: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1774 à 1792 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 2-906381-23-3.
  • Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot. ISBN 0-948864-30-3.
  • Lacour-Gayet, Georges (1910). La marine militaire de la France sous le règne de Louis XVI. Paris: Honoré Champion. pp. 431–434.
  • Levot, Prosper (1852). Biographie bretonne: recueil de notices sur tous les Bretons qui se sont fait un nom (in French). Vol. 1. Caudran.
  • Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours. Vol. 1. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922. (1671-1870)
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