''Clorinde'' was a 40-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 ...

, designed by Sané. 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 ...

captured her in 1814 and renamed her HMS ''Aurora''. After 19 years as a

coal hulk A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea. Hulk may be used to describe a ship that has been launched but not completed, an abandoned wreck or shell, or to refer to an old ship that has had its rigging or internal equipment ...

she was broken up in 1851.

French frigate

From June 1809, she was stationed with the 16-gun and the 38-gun . In September, she sailed with ''Renommée'', ''

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 ...

'', and '' Seine'' to Guadeloupe. On 13 December, she and ''Renommée'' captured . On 15 December 1809, ''Clorinde'' ran aground, and freed herself by dropping guns and ammunition overboard. She took part in the

action of 20 May 1811 The Battle of Tamatave (sometimes called the Battle of Madagascar or the Action of 20 May 1811) was fought off Tamatave in Madagascar between British and French frigate squadrons during the Napoleonic Wars. The action was the final engagement o ...

, fought off Madagascar, and returned to Brest. Captain

Jacques Saint-Cricq Jacques de Saint-Cricq (1781–1819) was a French sailor who took part in the Baudin expedition to Australia, leaving from Le Havre on 19 October 1800. An enseigne de vaisseau on board ''Naturaliste'',''Voyage dans les quatre principales îles ...

was found guilty of failing to properly support his commodore. Saint-Cricq was demoted of rank, expelled from the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

, and sentenced to three years in prison. On 6 December 1813, ''Clorinde'' captured the British merchant vessel in the Atlantic Ocean (). ''Lusitania'', Johnston, master, had been sailing from London to Suriname. ''Clorinde'' then put the crews of four other vessels that she had captured aboard ''Lusitania'' and sent her into Plymouth. The other four were: * , of 473 tons ( bm), Barr, master, which had been sailing from London to Bermuda; * , of 426 tons (bm), P. Inglis, master, which had been sailing from London to Martinique; * ''Aurora'', Scheidt, master, which had been sailing to

Amelia Island Amelia Island is a part of the Sea Islands chain that stretches along the East Coast of the United States from South Carolina to Florida; it is the southernmost of the Sea Islands, and the northernmost of the barrier islands on Florida's Atlanti ...

; and, * ''Superb'', R. Roberts, of 130 tons (bm), which had been sailing from Gibraltar to England. ''Clorinde'' abandoned ''Blenden Hall'' at sea, where the Falmouth packet ''Eliza'', homeward bound from Malta, found her floating. brought ''Blenden Hall'' into Plymouth. They arrived on 19 December, on the same day as ''Lusitania''. On 18 February 1814 ''Clorinde'' captured the

Post Office Packet Service The Post Office Packet Service dates to Tudor times and ran until 1823, when the Admiralty assumed control of the service. Originally, the Post Office used packet ships to carry mail packets to and from British embassies, colonies and outposts. Th ...

packet Packet may refer to: * A small container or pouch ** Packet (container), a small single use container ** Cigarette packet ** Sugar packet * Network packet, a formatted unit of data carried by a packet-mode computer network * Packet radio, a fo ...

, Captain James Cock, at . Although Captain Denis Lagarde, flew Portuguese colours in an attempt to trick Cock, Cock surmised that the frigate was French, not Portuguese, and threw his mails overboard before the Frenchmen boarded ''Townshend''. ''Clorinde'' sank ''Townshend''. On 25 February 1814, at , the 38-gun chased ''Clorinde''. A violent fight ensued for two hours and 20 minutes that left both ships dismasted, ''Eurotas'' suffering 20 killed and 30 wounded (including Captain John Phillimore), and ''Clorinde'', 40 killed and 80 wounded. During the night, the ships built

jury rig In maritime transport terms, and most commonly in sailing, jury-rigged is an adjective, a noun, and a verb. It can describe the actions of temporary makeshift running repairs made with only the tools and materials on board; and the subsequent r ...

s and resumed the pursuit the next day, when and intervened. The helpless ''Clorinde'' struck after the first cannon shot from ''Dryad'', which towed ''Clorinde'' into

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

British frigate

''Clorinde'' was brought into British service as HMS ''Aurora''. She served off South America during the years 1821–25, and in the Caribbean, 1826–28.

Fate

From January 1832, she was used as a coal hulk in Falmouth. She was eventually

broken up Ship-breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for either a source of Interchangeable parts, parts, which can be sold for re-use, ...

in May 1851.

Notes

Citations

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clorinde (1808) Age of Sail frigates of France Pallas-class frigates (1808) Ships built in France 1808 ships Coal hulks