''Charmante'' was a 32-gun 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 ...
, lead ship of
her class.
Career
In 1778, under Lieutenant
Henri Pantaléon de Mac Nemara, ''Charmante'' cruised in the Caribbean, arriving at
Fort Royal
Fort-de-France (, , ; gcf, label= Martinican Creole, Fodfwans) is a commune and the capital city of Martinique, an overseas department and region of France located in the Caribbean. It is also one of the major cities in the Caribbean.
Histo ...
[Present-day ]Fort-de-France
Fort-de-France (, , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Fodfwans) is a Communes of France, commune and the capital city of Martinique, an overseas department and region of France located in the Caribbean. It is also one of the major cities in the ...
on 23 June 1778.
On 1 September, as ''Charmante'' was escorting a convoy from
Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...
around
Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to refer ...
along with
''Dédaigneuse'', she encountered the British frigate
HMS ''Active'', under Captain
Williams-Freeman,
[Winfield (2007), p.229.] and captured her.
On 16 February 1780, under Baron de la Haye, she was part of a squadron comprising the 64-gun
''Ajax'' and
''Protée'', as well as the fluyt
''Éléphant''. In the
action of 24 February 1780
The action of 24 February 1780 was a minor naval battle that took place off the island of Madeira during the American Revolutionary War.Winfield pp 74 A French convoy was intercepted and pursued by a British Royal Navy squadron ending with the Fre ...
, the convoy encountered a British force under
George Rodney
Admiral George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, KB ( bap. 13 February 1718 – 24 May 1792), was a British naval officer. He is best known for his commands in the American War of Independence, particularly his victory over the French at the ...
, and ''Protée'' sacrificed herself to cover the retreat of her fellows. While the convoy sailed on to the Indian Ocean with ''Ajax'', ''Charmante'' returned to Lorient to bring the news of the battle, arriving there on 3 March.
Fate
''Charmante'' was wrecked on 24 March 1780 when a gale pushed her on the
Chaussée de Sein. 83 men, including Captain
Mengaud de la Haye, managed to escape on the ship's
longboat
A longboat is a type of ship's boat that was in use from ''circa'' 1500 or before. Though the Royal Navy replaced longboats with launches from 1780, examples can be found in merchant ships after that date. The longboat was usually the largest boat ...
,
while 210 men died.
Notes
Citations
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Charmante (1777)
Age of Sail frigates of France
Ships built in France
1777 ships
Charmante-class frigates
Maritime incidents in 1780
Shipwrecks in the Caribbean Sea