''Belle Poule'' was a French

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

of the , designed by Léon-Michel Guignace. She is most famous for her duel with the British frigate on 17 June 1778, which began the French involvement in the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

1768 – 1777

''Belle Poule'' was built in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

between March 1765 and early 1767. She served in two campaigns in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

, where due to her good sailing performance she was selected for the first French attempt at covering her hull with copper to resist marine growths. From 1772 to 1776, she was sent on hydrographic missions, during which the young La Pérouse came to the attention of his superiors. On 12 December 1776, she left

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

to return to

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. At the time, France was not yet engaged in the

, but there had been numerous incidents involving French and British ships. Indeed, on 27 April 1777, ''Belle Poule'' was chased by a British

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

, which she easily evaded to reach Brest. In December 1777, Belle Poule was selected to ferry Silas Deane back to America, along with news of the French-American Alliance.

1778 – 1801

On 7 January, the British ships of the line and stopped her and demanded to inspect her. In spite of the overwhelming superiority of the British forces, her captain,

Charles de Bernard de Marigny Charles-René-Louis, vicomte de Bernard de Marigny (1 February 1740, in Sées – 25 July 1816, in Brest) was a French vice admiral, grand-cross of the ordre de Saint-Louis and commander of the Brest fleet. Biography Born the fourth boy of an ...

, answered: The British offered apologies and let the frigate sail through. However, opposing winds prevented the ship from crossing the Atlantic, and after 36 days, ''Belle Poule'' had to return to Brest. Franklin later sailed to America aboard '' Sensible''.

Fight of ''Belle Poule'' and ''Arethusa''

When war broke out, ''Belle Poule'' was sent on a reconnaissance mission, along with the 26-gun frigate , the

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 ...

, and the smaller ''Coureur'', to locate the squadron of Admiral Keppel. They encountered the British squadron, which chased them. Coiffure Belle-Poule 2A

caught up with the French and a furious battle ensued. Eventually, ''Arethusa'' had to break off the fight, having lost her main mast. The British captured the smaller French ships, but the two frigates escaped the numerous ships of the line pursuing them. ''Belle Poule'' lost 30 killed and 72 wounded, among which her captain, Lieutenant

Jean Isaac Chadeau de la Clocheterie Jean Isaac Timothée Chadeau, Sieur de la Clocheterie (1741–1782) was a French naval officer of the American Revolutionary War. Biography Early career Chadeau de la Clocheterie entered the French naval service in 1754, at the age of thirteen, ...

. ''Arethusa'' had eight men killed and 36 wounded. The battle was so famous that ladies of the high society invented the hairstyle "Belle Poule", with a ship on the top of the head. Between September and October 1778, ''Belle Poule'' teamed up with French ship ''Vengeur'' and captured five privateers. In 1779, ''Belle Poule'' served as coast guard and convoy escort.

Capture

On the evening of 14 July 1780 Captain Sir James Wallace of the 64-gun ship of the line was off the

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...

where her boats were burning the French frigate ''Legere''. He observed three vessels to the north west, signalling each other, and immediately gave chase. At about midnight ''Nonsuch'' caught up with one of the three off Île d'Yeu and commenced a two-hour action. When the French vessel

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her colours was identified as ''Belle Poule''. She was armed with 32 12-pounder guns, had a crew of 275 men and was under the command of Chevalier Raymond-Marie, chevalier de Kergariou-Coatlès. In the engagement ''Belle Poule'' lost 25 men killed, including Kergariou, and 50 other officers and men, including her second captain, wounded. ''Nonsuch'' had lost three men killed and 10 wounded, two of whom died later. The two French vessels that escaped were the frigate ''Aimable'', of 32 8-pounder guns, and the corvette ''Rossignol'', of 20 6-pounder guns.

British service

She was commissioned in February 1781 into the British

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 ...

, retaining her name. She served for the next 21 months under Captain

Philip Patton Admiral Philip Patton (27 October 1739 – 31 December 1815) was a Royal Navy officer. Naval career Educated at Kirkcaldy's grammar school, Patton joined the Royal Navy in 1755. As a junior officer he saw action at the Battle of Lagos in Augu ...

with William Bligh as the ship's Master. On 17 April she, with , captured the

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

''Calonne'', under the command of Luke Ryan. ''Calonne'' was only two years old, a fast sailer, and well equipped for a voyage of three months and a crew of 200 men. She was armed with twenty-two 9-pounder guns, six 4-pounder guns and six 12-pounder

carronade A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and was used from the mid-18th century to the mid-19th century. Its main func ...

s. ''Belle Poule'' participated in the

Battle of Dogger Bank (1781) The Battle of Dogger Bank was a naval battle that took place on 5 August 1781 during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, contemporaneously related to the American Revolutionary War, in the North Sea. It was a bloody encounter between a British sq ...

. ''Hollandia'', one of the Dutch ships-of-the-line, sank after the battle. ''Belle Poule'' took away her flag, which was kept flying, and carried it to Admiral Parker.Allen, p. 319.

Fate

The Royal Navy put ''Belle Poule'' into

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at Chatham in November 1782. She then served briefly as a receiving ship from 1796 before the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...

sold her for breaking up in 1801.

Citations

References

* Allen, Joseph, ''Battles of the British navy, Volume 1'' H. G. Bohn, London,(1852) * Ferreiro, Larrie D. ''Brothers at Arms: American Independence and the Men of France and Spain Who Saved It''. New York: Alfred Knopf. 2016. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Belle Poule (1766) Captured ships Age of Sail frigates of France Ships built in France Dédaigneuse-class frigates 1766 ships Frigates of the Royal Navy