Confiance (1797 ship)

''Confiance'', launched in 1797, was a privateer corvette from Bordeaux, famous for being Robert Surcouf's ship during the capture of the British East India Company's East Indiaman ''Kent''. The British Royal Navy captured ''Confiance'' in 1805, took her into service under her existing name, and sold her in 1810. Before she was sold, ''Confiance'' took part in two notable actions.

French service

Completed in Bordeaux in November 1797, ''Confiance'' capsized at her launch and had to be refloated. On 3 February 1799 ''Confiance'' captured as ''Echo'' was sailing from the Cape of Good Hope for London. ''Confiance'' sent ''Echo'' to France. 1799 ''Confiance'' was commissioned under Aurnaud Taudin in May 1799.

On 24 December 1799, ''Confiance'' encountered the American ship ''Atlantic'' and the British East India Company "extra ship" (chartered ship) near the Sandheads in the Bay of Bengal. The engagement was inconclusive both that day and the next morning. ''Confiance'' broke off the action and sailed away early on Christmas morning.

In May 1800, ''Confiance'' was recommissioned in Île de France and her command was awarded to Robert Surcouf, with a complement of 23 officers and 190 men, and an armament of six 8-pounder long guns, sixteen 6-pounders and two 36-pounder obusiers de vaisseau.

On 7 October, she encountered the East Indiaman ''Kent'' and captured her after a fierce battle; an 81-man prize crew under Joachim Drieux brought ''Kent'' to Île de France (Mauritius), where she was sold for 30,900 piastres.

In 1801, ''Confiance'' had her crew reduced to 89 men and sailed '' en aventurier'' to La Rochelle, loaded with colonial goods for her return to France. According to one source ''Confiance'' sailed "''à l'aventure''"; she was a letter of marque, a vessel that was primarily a merchantman, but with the legal authorization to attack targets of opportunity. On the journey, Surcouf still managed to capture a number of ships, notably the Portuguese ''Ebre'', with eighteen 12-pounder carronades and a 60-man crew; he released her against a ransom of 10,000 piastres and after exchanging her main mast for that of ''Confiance''. After her arrival in France, ''Confiance'' was commissioned as a merchantman under Paul Castanet from May 1802.

Capture

By late 1803, she served in Muros, Spain, under Captain Roque and later under Papin. On 4 June 1805, HMS ''Loire'' attacked the town of Muros, in Spain, and captured ''Confiance'', as well as her consort ''Bélier''. ''Loire'' had six men wounded in the landing party that captured a fort, a battery, and the two vessels, and nine men wounded on ''Loire'' by fire from the batteries before the British could capture them. The Spaniards lost 12 men killed, including the commander of the fort and ''Confiance''s 2nd captain, and 30 men wounded, including most of ''Confiance''s officers. Captain Frederick Maitland, of ''Loire'', reported that ''Confiance'' was a "very fit Ship for His Majesty's Service; is reckoned to sail excessively fast; was to have gone to Sea in a few Days, bound to India, with a Complement of 300 men". Maitland burnt ''Bélier'', which he described as also fitting for sea, "supposed to be destined to cruise to Westward of Cape Clear."

The action led to promotion to Commander for Lieutenant James Lucas Yeo, who commanded the cutting out party. Lloyd's Patriotic Fund awarded a sword worth 150 guineas to Maitland, and two swords, each worth 50 guineas, to lieutenants Yeo and Mallock.

HMS ''Confiance''

The British commissioned ''Confiance'' into the Royal Navy in June as an 18-gun sloop under the newly promoted Commander James Yeo, and for the Channel. (''Confiance'' kept her status as a sloop until 1807, when the Admiralty re-rated her as a sixth rate. She remained at Plymouth from 19 June to 14 March 1806 undergoing fitting out.

''Confiance'' shared with , , and in the proceeds from the recapture on 11 January 1807 of the schooner ''Monarch''.

On 18 August, as ''Confiance'' was sailing to Oporto, Yeo received information that the ''Reitrada'', a small Spanish privateer lugger that had been active along the coast of Portugal, was anchored at La Guardia. Yeo sent in a cutting out party in ''Confiance''s boats. They captured the lugger, which was armed with one 12 and two 4-pounder guns, and had a crew of 30 men. The Spaniards had one man killed, several wounded, and the rest of the crew jumped overboard. The privateer had sheltered under the guns of two forts, which fired on the boats as they came in. One fort was armed with four 24-pounder guns and the other with six 18-pounder guns; there were also 150 troops. Despite the Spaniards' fire, the British sustained no casualties.

''Confiance'' sailed to Portugal on 16 January 1808. The French had captured Lisbon and the Royal Navy was maintaining a blockade in the Tagus where the onset of the Anglo-Russian War had trapped a squadron of Russian ships under the command of Vice-Admiral Dmitry Senyavin. ''Confiance'' was off the Tagus when on 13 February she sent her cutter and jolly boat, with 15 men under the command of Master's Mate R. Trist, to row picket because of rumours that Senyavin was about to leave. Trist observed a French gun-vessel anchored under the guns of Fort San Pedro, between Fort Belem and Fort Julian. He immediately attacked, capturing Gunboat #1, which was armed with one 24-pounder gun and two 6-pounder carronades. She had 100 stands of arms aboard, and a crew of 50 men under the command of ''ensign de vaisseau'' Gandolphe. The British suffered no casualties; the French had three men killed and nine wounded. Trist, who had passed his exams for Lieutenant a year earlier, received promotion to that rank for his feat. In 1847 the Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM) with clasp "13 Feb. Boat Service 1808" to all surviving claimants from the action.

''Confiance'' next sailed to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. On 14 January 1809 ''Confiance'' took part in the capture of Cayenne, French Guiana.

Yeo received permission from the commander-in-chief of the Royal Navy's Brazil station, Admiral Sir Sidney Smith to mount an operation against the French. Yeo took ''Confiance'', two armed Portuguese brigs, an unarmed Portuguese brig, a Portuguese cutter, and 4-500 Portuguese soldiers, and sailed to Oyapoc, in French Guiana, which they captured on 8 December 1808. A week later they captured Appruagoc (or Appruague).

Emboldened by the ease of their victories, Yeo and the Portuguese commander then decided to attack Cayenne. They captured three forts and defeated the French forces under the command of Victor Hugues, the French governor. British casualties were only one man killed and 23 men wounded.

On 13 January 1809, while Yeo was on shore with three-quarters of ''Confiance''s crew, seamen and marines, the approached Cayenne. She was carrying flour and was under orders to avoid combat, but the British did not know that. Midshipman G. Yeo, Yeo's younger brother, another midshipman, the remaining 25 men of the crew, and 20 local Negroes that the two midshipmen induced to join them, set sail towards ''Topaze''. ''Topaze'', judging from the sloop's boldness that she had company that would be forthcoming, turned away. A few days later captured ''Topaze''.

King George knighted James Yeo in 1810 for his victory. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Confiance 14 Jany. 1809" to all surviving claimants from the operation.

Fate

The Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy offered the "Confiance Sloop, 560 ons Burthen, lying at Deptford, for sale on 22 December 1810. She sold on that day. She appears to have sailed as a merchantman at least until 1816.La ''Confiance''
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External links

HMS ''Confiance''
Guy le Moing, in ''Chasse-Marée'' n°302

{{DEFAULTSORT:Confiance (1800)
1797 ships
Ships built in France
Captured ships
Maritime incidents in 1800
Privateer ships of France
Sixth rates of the Royal Navy