French schooner Découverte (1800)

Découverte

History
France
Name:	Découverte
Builder:	Brest Dockyard[1]
Laid down:	1799
Launched:	22 August 1800[1]
Captured:	c. 23 November 1803
History
UK
Name:	Decouverte
Acquired:	by capture
Decommissioned:	1806
Fate:	Sold 1808
General characteristics [1]
Class and type:	Découverte-class schooner
Displacement:	110 tons (French)
Tons burthen:	165 (bm)[2]
Length:	25 m (82 ft) (overall) 21 m (69 ft) (keel)
Beam:	6.4 m (21 ft)
Sail plan:	Schooner
Complement:	French service:52 at capture British service:
Armament:	French service: Originally: 8 x 4-pounder guns At capture:6 x 6-pounder guns + 6 brass swivel guns British service: 8 x 12-pounder carronades[2]

The French schooner Découverte was a French Navy vessel launched in 1800. The British captured her at Santo Domingo in 1803 and took her into service as HMS Decouverte. She was decomissioned in January 1806 and sold in 1808.

French career

Between March and November 1800, Découverte was under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Passart, carrying despatches between Brest and Ferrol. Still under Passart's command, she was at Ferrol between end-January and end-February 1802.

Capture

Découverte was present at Saint Domingue (Haiti) in November 1803 during the revolt of slaves against the French, while the British blockade of Saint-Domingue trapped the French army and naval forces at Cap-François. The British observed a schooner in the Caracol Passage and Commodore John Loring, having received information that General Rochambeau, his staff and entourage might try to escape via her, decided to cut the schooner out. The boats of HMS Bellerophon and HMS Elephant went in during the night of 22 November and captured the schooner, which turned out to be the Decouvert, of six 6-pounder guns, six brass swivel guns, and a crew of 52 men under the command of ensign de vaisseau Froyant. The launches met with some resistance, but the British suffered no casualties; Découverte had two men wounded.^[3] Rochambeau surrendered on 30 November.

British service

The Royal Navy commissioned HMS Decouverte in May 1804 at Jamaica under the command of Lieutenant E. Whyte.^[4] She spent the rest of her career on the Jamaica station.

Fate

Decouverte was decommissioned in January 1806, and sold in 1808.^[2]

Citations and references

Citations

1. Winfield and Roberts (2015), p. 243.
2. Colledge and Warlow (2006), p. 105.
3. The London Gazette: no. 15672. pp. 164–165. 4 February 1804.
4. "NMM, vessel ID 383281" (PDF). Warship Histories, vol v. National Maritime Museum. Retrieved 30 July 2011.

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. OCLC 67375475.
• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1-86176-246-1.
• Winfield, Rif & Stephen S Roberts (2015) French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786 - 1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates. (Seaforth Publishing). ISBN 9781848322042

This article includes data released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported UK: England & Wales License, by the National Maritime Museum, as part of the Warship Histories project