''Andromaque'' was a 32-gun
frigate 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 ...
.
Career
''Andromaque'' was commissioned in Brest in 1778 and took part in the
American War of Independence. After an overhaul in which she was
coppered in April 1780, she captured the British 20-gun
post ship
Post ship was a designation used in the Royal Navy during the second half of the 18th century and the Napoleonic Wars to describe a ship of the sixth rate (see rating system of the Royal Navy) that was smaller than a frigate (in practice, carr ...
on 4 October 1780, off
Tortuga.
The French Navy took ''Unicorn'' into service as ''La Licorne''.
On 21 April 1781, ''Andromaque'' landed troops for the
Siege of Pensacola
The siege of Pensacola was a siege fought in 1781, the culmination of Spain's conquest of the British province of West Florida during the Gulf Coast campaign.
Background
When Spain entered the War in 1779, Bernardo de Gálvez, the energeti ...
, in the squadron under
Monteil.
On 20 April 1782, a 10-ship convoy departed Brest escorted by the 74-gun and , and the frigates and ''Andromaque''.
At sunset, at the mouth of the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
, the convoy met a British force of three 74-gun ships of the line under
John Jervis; in the ensuing
action of 20–21 April 1782
Action may refer to:
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video game
Film
* Action film, a genre of film
* ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford
* ''Action'' (1980 f ...
, ''Pégase'' and the 64-gun ''Actionaire'', armed
en flûte
''En flûte'' (French: "as a fluyt") is a French naval expression of the Age of Sail to designate the use of a warship as a transport with reduced armament.Willaumez, p. 294
Some warships, ships of the line or frigates, were occasionally used wit ...
, were captured.
''Andromaque'' was decommissioned in November 1791 and lied in reserve at Rochefort, until June 1793, when she was armed again.
Then was then tasked with convoy escort duty between Rochefort and La Rochelle, under Captain
Renaudin. She had a battle against a ship of the line and four Spanish frigates.
[Levot, p. 431]
In 1794, ''Andromaque'' cruised in the
Bay of Biscay under Lieutenant Guillotin. Lieutenant Farjenel took command later that year. In 1795, she crossed the Atlantic to Guadeloupe,
and Lieutenant Morel took command.
On 22 August 1796, while cruising with a naval division, she sprang a leak and has to detach. She was then chased by the frigate and the brig and beached herself in
Arcachon Bay
Arcachon Basin or alternatively Arcachon Bay (French: ''Bassin d'Arcachon'') is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean on the southwest coast of France, situated in Pays de Buch between the Côte d'Argent and the Côte des Landes, in the region of Aquitai ...
to avoid capture. The crew jumped overboard and swam to the shore, 20 men drowning to death.
The British launched boats whose parties boarded and took prisoner ''Andromaque''s captain, Lieutenant Morel, and four officers, and rescued a number of Portuguese prisoners who had been the crews of two Brazilian ships that her squadron had captured.
A boarding party from ''Sylph'' set fire to ''Andromaque'' as they left and she was completely burnt. There are reports that after seizing the entire crew, the British kept only the officers and released the seamen, only to open fire on them as they attempted to return ashore.
[Guérin, vol.6, p. 110]
Citations
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Andromaque
Frigates of the Royal Navy
Ships built in France
Age of Sail frigates of France
1777 ships
Nymphe-class frigates
Maritime incidents in 1796