''Muiron'' was a 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 ...

, famous for ferrying Bonaparte on the 22 August 1799 under the flagship of Admiral Ganteaume from Egypt to France after the Battle of the Nile. The ''Muiron'' was one of two 18-pounder armed frigates that were building on the stocks in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

in November 1796, when Bonaparte took Venice during the Campaign of Italy. The two frigates were launched in August 1797 under the names ''Carrère'' and ''Muiron'', and completed during November by the orders of

Pierre-Alexandre Forfait Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait (21 April 1752, Rouen – 8 November 1807, Rouen) was a French engineer, hydrographer and politician, and Minister of the Navy. Career Born to a family of rich merchants, Forfait studied at a Jesuit college in Ro ...

. ''Muiron'' was named to honour Colonel Jean-Baptiste Muiron, an aide-de-camp of Bonaparte who had covered Bonaparte with his body during the

Battle of the Bridge of Arcole The Battle of Arcole or Battle of Arcola (15–17 November 1796) was fought between French and Austrian forces southeast of Verona during the War of the First Coalition, a part of the French Revolutionary Wars. The battle saw a bold maneuver b ...

. The ''Muiron'' was armed with 28 × 18-pounder

guns A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, ...

on the upper deck, and 12 × 6-pounder guns on the quarterdeck and forecastle, and manned with a complement of 340. She was incorporated in the fleet that invaded Egypt, and after the Battle of the Nile, Bonaparte departed for France aboard. She later took part in the Battle of Algeciras Bay. In 1807, Napoleon ordered that the ''Muiron'' be preserved as a monument; to this effect, he wrote a letter to the Ministry of the Navy, stating "''I wish that the ''Muiron'' on which I came back from Egypt be kept as a monument and placed in such a way that it be preserved, if possibly, several hundreds years''". She was repaired and docked in Toulon, which a golden inscription on her hull stating "''The ''Muiron'', taken in 1797 in Venice arsenal by the conqueror of Italy. She brought back the saviour of France from Egypt in 1799''"."''La Muiron, prise en 1797 dans l'Arsenal de Venise par le conquérant de l'Italie. Elle ramena d'Égypte en 1799 le sauveur de la France''" Napoléon also had a finely crafted scale model made for his study in Malmaison in 1803. This model is now on display at the ''

Musée national de la Marine The Musée national de la Marine (National Navy Museum) is a maritime museum located in the Palais de Chaillot, Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. It has annexes at Brest, Port-Louis, Rochefort ( Musée National de la Marine de ...

'' in Paris. At the Bourbon Restoration, ''Muiron'' was decommissioned, and she was eventually destroyed in 1850, in circumstances that remain unclear. Conflicting theories have it that she was either sold for material and broken up, or destroyed by fire after being struck by lightning. The British captured her sister ship in August 1801 and added her to the British Navy as .

References

External links

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Histoire de la frégate La Muiron (France)
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Model of 'La Muiron' which Napoleon commissioned for his study

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murion Age of Sail frigates of France Ships built in Venice Frigates of the French Navy 1797 ships