''Cybèle'' was a 40-gun
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
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
Sunda Strait campaign of January 1794
In May 1792, under Captain
Armand de Saint-Félix
Armand de Saint-Félix (20 September 1737 – 13 August 1819) was a French Navy officer and admiral.
Biography
Saint-Félix joined the Navy in 1755. he served on the 16-gun ''Calypso'', where he took part in the Battle of Quiberon Bay on 20 No ...
, ''Cybèle'' departed Brest, bound for
Port Louis
Port Louis (french: Port-Louis; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Polwi or , ) is the capital city of Mauritius. It is mainly located in the Port Louis District, with a small western part in the Black River District. Port Louis is the country's ec ...
, where she arrived in December 1792. She cruised off the Malabar, Mahé and Pondichéry.
In 1794, ''Cybèle'' was part of a frigate division under
Jean-Marie Renaud
Jean-Marie Renaud (?— 16 February 1805) was a French Navy officer. He is mainly known as the commander at the action of 22 October 1794.
Career
With the rank of ship-of-the-line captain, Captain, Renaud commanded the India station, comprising ...
, along with
''Prudente''. She took part in the
Sunda Strait campaign of January 1794
The Sunda Strait campaign of January 1794 was a series of manoeuvres and naval actions fought between warships and privateers of the French Republic and a squadron of vessels sent by the British East India Company to protect trade in the region ...
. During the Sunda Strait campaign the squadron captured the
East Indiaman
East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vesse ...
.
She also participated in the
action of 22 October 1794
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Film
* Action film, a genre of film
* Action (1921 film), ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford
* Ac ...
off
Ile de France
Ile may refer to:
* iLe, a Puerto Rican singer
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* Another ...
under
Pierre Julien Tréhouart.
Robert Surcouf
Robert Surcouf (12 December 1773 – 8 July 1827) was a French privateer and slave trader who operated in the Indian Ocean between 1789 and 1801, and again from 1807 to 1808, capturing over 40 prizes. He later amassed a large fortune as a ...
volunteered to serve as an officer for the action and earned his first command for his behaviour on that day.
In 1796 she took part in patrols in the Indian Ocean in Admiral
Sercey's squadron, notably taking part in the
action of 8 September 1796
The action of 9 September 1796 was an inconclusive minor naval engagement between small French Navy and British Royal Navy squadrons off northeastern Sumatra, near Banda Aceh, during the French Revolutionary Wars. The French squadron comprised si ...
.
Returned to France, she was twice refitted in Rochefort, first from 29 April 1798 and later from 19 November 1802.
In 1803, her armament was increased to 44 guns, with 28 18-pounders in the battery, 12 8-pounders and 4 36-pounder
obusiers de vaisseau,
under Captain
.
[Quintin, p. 341]
L'Hermite's expedition
In 1806 ''Cybèle'', was attached to a squadron under Commodore
Jean-Marthe-Adrien L'Hermite, along with the 74-gun , the frigate and the brig-corvette . During
L'Hermite's expedition
L'Hermite's expedition was a French naval operation launched in 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars. The operation was intended as both a commerce raiding operation against the British trading posts of West Africa and as a diversion to the Trafalgar c ...
, she took part in the capture of the brig and of about 20 merchantmen, notably the
slave ship
Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea coast ...
s and ''Plowers'' ().
On 18 August, a hurricane scattered the squadron between Saint Domingue and Bermuda, and ''Cybèle'' lost 38 men before taking shelter in the Chesapeake.
''Cybèle'' then returned by 1807.
Battle of Les Sables-d'Olonne
On 24 February 1809, under Captain
Raymond Cocault, she took part in the
Battle of Les Sables-d'Olonne,
where she had eight killed and 16 wounded.
The battle left her aground and the hull so badly damaged that she was broken up.
Citations
References
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*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cybele (1790)
Nymphe-class frigates
1789 ships
Ships built in France
Maritime incidents in 1809
Shipwrecks of France