''Torche'' was a French naval
''Etna''-class ship-sloop launched in 1795. She participated in the action of 19 July 1805, with the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
capturing her one-month later, in August. She was taken into service as HMS ''Torch'' but never commissioned and was broken up in 1811.
Career and capture
From 2 June 1795, ''Torche'' served at Honfleur under Lieutenant Péronne.
On 9 February 1803, ''Torche'', under Lieutenant Dehen the elder, departed
Camaret, bound to Le Havre and Dunkirk. From there, she ferried troops to Santo Domingo, and transported general
Pierre Quantin
Pierre Quantin (born 19 June 1759 in Fervaques, Calvados – died 7 February 1824) was a French general. Quantin attained the rank of general de brigade in July 1796 and was promoted to general de division the next month. He retired in 1811 after ...
on her journey back to Cadiz, where she arrived on 27 November 1803.
On 19 July 1805 ''Torche'', which was under the command of lieutenant Nicolas-Philippe Dehen, was part of a squadron of four vessels under
François-André Baudin
François-André Baudin (2 December 1774 – Strasbourg, 18 June 1842) was a French naval officer. His nephew Auguste Baudin was a colonial governor and naval officer.
Life
He took part in the Baudin expedition to Australia, led by his namesak ...
, that three days after they had left Martinique captured HMS ''Blanche'' off Puerto Rico. ''Torche''s companions were the 40-gun French frigate ''
Topaze'', the 22-gun corvette
''Départment des Landes'', and the 16-gun brig ''
Faune''.
[''Cobbetts Weekly Political Register'', Vol. 8, p.512.]
On 14 August, the
74-gun
The "seventy-four" was a type of two- decked sailing ship of the line, which nominally carried 74 guns. It was developed by the French navy in the 1740s, replacing earlier classes of 60- and 62-gun ships, as a larger complement to the recently-de ...
,
third rate
In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third r ...
was in the
Channel Fleet
The Channel Fleet and originally known as the Channel Squadron was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1854 to 1909 and 1914 to 1915.
History
Throughout the course of Royal Navy's history the ...
when she saw a sail to eastward and three sail to westward. The lone sail was ''Faune'', which trailed behind her squadron and had lost contact with it.
''Goliath'' sailed east, meeting up with and assisting her in chasing and capturing ''Faune'',
which
struck when the much more powerful ''Goliath'' came in range.
[Troude (1867), pp.427.] ''Faune'' had on board as prisoners 22 men from ''Blanche''.
The three remaining ships proceeded, but on the 16th, ''Torche'' was lagging behind and in danger of behind caught by ''Goliath'', which had been joined by
HMS ''Raisonnable''. Deeming that waiting for ''Torche'' entailed accepting battle against the overwhelming British forces, Baudin ordered his squadron to take whatever actions were necessary for their security; this allowed ''Topaze'' and ''Départment des Landes'' to escape.
''Goliath'' caught up with ''Torche'', which struck after a few shots from ''Goliath''.
[ ''Torche'' was carrying 52 men from the crew of ''Blanche''. However, ''Topaze'' and ''Départment-des-Landes'' escaped.
]
Fate
The Royal Navy took ''Torche'' into service as HMS ''Torch''. The Navy placed her in ordinary and there is no record of her ever being commissioned. She was broken up in 1811.[Winfield (2008), p.272.]
Citations
References
*Duncan, Archibald (1806) ''The British trident; or, Register of naval actions, from ... the Spanish armada to the present time''.
*Fonds Marine. Campagnes (opérations; divisions et stations navales; missions diverses). Inventaire de la sous-série Marine BB4. Tome premier: BB210 à 482 (1805-18826
*
*Walters, Samuel (1949) ''Memoirs of an Officer in Nelson's Navy''. (Liverpool University Press).
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Torche (1805)
Sloops of the Royal Navy
Captured ships
1795 ships
Ships built in France
Etna-class corvettes