''Pauline'' was a 44-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 ...

Service history

On 27 February 1809, along , she captured the 32-gun .HMS Prosepine
. Accessed 4 April 2016 In October 1809, she sailed from

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

to escort a convoy bound for

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. Chased by a British squadron under Admiral Collingwood during the

Battle of Maguelone The Battle of Maguelone was a minor naval action that occurred in late October 1809, during the Peninsular War, between the escort of a French convoy, comprising three ships of the line and two frigates, and a six-ship squadron of the Royal N ...

, and sailing with , she managed to repel and escape HMS ''Tigre'' and , and returned to Toulon after joined up. ''Pauline'' was then used for convoy escort in the Mediterranean. She took part in the

action of 29 November 1811 The action of 29 November 1811 was a minor naval engagement fought between two frigate squadrons in the Adriatic Sea during the Adriatic campaign of the Napoleonic Wars. The action was one of a series of operations conducted by the British Roy ...

, fleeing the battle while frigate and the smaller were captured by the British. Her commanding officer, Captain

François-Gilles Montfort François-Gilles Montfort (Saint-Malo, 16 January 1769 - Marseille, 25 March 1826) was a French naval officer. Career In 1803 ''lieutenant de vaisseau'' François-Gilles Montfort was captain of the gunbrig ''Venteux''. On 27 June boats from HMS ...

, was subsequently court-martialled and relieved of command. On 11 April 1814, she was renamed ''Bellone''. She took part in the landing at

Sidi Ferruch Sidi Fredj, known under French rule as Sidi Ferruch, is a coastal town in Algiers Province, Algeria. It is located within the territory of the municipality of Staouéli, on a presque-isle on the Mediterranean Sea. It is the site of the ancie ...

during the

Invasion of Algiers in 1830 The invasion of Algiers in 1830 was a large-scale military operation by which the Kingdom of France, ruled by Charles X, invaded and conquered the Deylik of Algiers. Algiers was annexed by the Ottoman Empire in 1529 after the capture of Algie ...

, and used as a ferry the following years.

Citations

Sources and references

*
HMS Ambuscade website
Age of Sail frigates of France Hortense-class frigates 1807 ships Ships built in France {{France-mil-ship-stub