''Brune'' was a
''Coquette'' class 20-gun
corvette
A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...
of the
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
, launched in 1781 and captured in 1799 at the
siege of Corfu, which saw a joint Russian and Turkish fleet capture
Corfu
Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...
from an occupying French force.
Career
On 15 November 1794,
''Minerve'', in company with
''Alceste'' and ''Brune'', under Ensign
Deniéport sailed for a diplomatic mission to Tunis before returning to Toulon on 29 December.
[Fonds Marine, p.81] ''Brune'' was present at the
action of 8 March 1795
The action of 8 March 1795 was a minor naval engagement in the Mediterranean theatre of the French Revolutionary Wars. The action was part of series of battles fought in the spring of 1795 between British and French fleets for control of the Ligu ...
, and near the subsequent battle of
Hyères Islands:
in mid-July, ''Brune'' and the frigate
''Vestale'', under Commander Delorme, escorted a 25-ship wheat convoy from Genoa to France, when three enemy frigates gave chase; ''Brune'', which was a very bad sailor, had to take refugee at
La Spezia
La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy.
La Spezia is the second largest city ...
, while ''Vestale'' managed to keep the frigates at bay and defend the convoy. After Deniéport was promoted to Lieutenant and Commander, she continued to escort convoys in the Adriatic Sea.
On 26 March 1797, ''Brune'' departed
Ancona
Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic S ...
in a division led by Commander Sibille, of the eight-gun ''Bonaparte''. The other vessels were the lugger ''Libérateur d'Italie'' (under Laugier), the xebec ''Corse'' (under Muron), and two transports loaded with ammunition.
[Troude, vol.3, p.64]
By 1798, ''Brune'' was at Corfu, when the city came
under siege
''Under Siege'' is a 1992 American action thriller film directed by Andrew Davis, written by J. F. Lawton, and starring Steven Seagal as a former Navy SEAL who must stop a group of mercenaries, led by Tommy Lee Jones, after they commandeer the ...
by a Russo-Ottoman fleet. During the siege she slipped by the Russian ships and into Corfu to inform General
Chabot that reinforcements were coming from Ancona. The reinforcements did leave on 8 December, but only reached Corfu's north coast in early January. They then left when they were unable to establish contact with Chabot.
On 28 February 1799, the Russians and Ottomans attacked
Vido
Vido ( el, Βίδο) is an island of the Ionian Islands group of Greece.
It is a small island (less than a kilometer in diameter) at the mouth of the port of Corfu.
History
The island was known to the ancients as Ptychia ( grc, Πτυχία ...
, which is a small island (less than kilometer in diameter) at the mouth of the port of Corfu. After a four-hour bombardment by several ships, the attackers had succeeded in suppressing all five shore batteries on the island. and ''Brune'' tried to intervene but were damaged and forced to retreat to the protection of the batteries of Corfu.
On 3 March 1799, the Russians captured ''Brune''. At the end of the siege the victors divided up the spoils, and the Russians gave her to the Ottomans.
[''Naval Chronicle'', Vol. 2, p.377.]
Notes and references
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
*Şukul, Kahraman (2009) ''An Ottoman Global Moment: War of Second Coalition in the Levant''. (Georgetown Univ.: Unpublished PhD dissertation).
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brune (1781)
Age of Sail frigates of France
Coquette-class corvettes
Ships built in France
1781 ships
Captured ships