French Frigate Psyché (1804)

''Psyché'' was a 36-gun vessel built between February 1798 and 1799 at Basse-Indre (Nantes) as a privateer. As a privateer she had an inconclusive but bloody encounter with of the Royal Navy, commanded by Commander Henry Lambert, off the Indian coast in April 1804. The French then brought her into service in June 1804 as the frigate ''Psyché''. In February 1805 she encountered , under the command of the same Henry Lambert, now an acting captain. After a sanguinary engagement of over three hours, ''Psyché'' surrendered. The British took her into service as HMS ''Psyche''. In British service she captured several prizes and took part in the capture of Mauritius and in an operation in Java. She was broken up at Ferrol in 1812.

Naval service

''Psyché'' was capable of sailing 13 knots in favourable conditions.

''Psyché'' was recommissioned in the Navy in January 1801. From February to May 1801 she cruised under Lieutenant Pierre-François L'Éveillé.

On 12 April 1801, , White, master, was on her way to Suriname from London when a French frigate of 38 guns and 300 men captured her. The capture took place near Madeira and her captor sent ''Trelawney Planter'' to Tenerife.

On 2 June 1801 the brig ''St Sebastian'', White, master, arrived at Falmouth from Madeira. She was carrying 23 ladies and gentlemen who had been passengers on board ''Trelawney Planter'', White, master, which had been on her way to Tobago from London when the French privateer ship ''Psyche'' had captured her and landed them at Madeira.

Merchant

From February 1802 to December 1802 ''Psyché'' was a merchantman under ''capitaine de vaisseau provisoire'' Jacques Bergeret, or Bonsergent. She sailed for the Indian Ocean. From July to December 1803, ''Psyché'' was under the command of Captain Trogoff.

Privateer

On 1 January 1804 ''Psyché'' captured the East Indiaman , of 558 tons (bm), near Mauritius.

On 9 April 1804, while under the command of Captain Trogoff, she encountered , which was escorting the country ship ''William Petrie'' to Trincomalee. ''Psyché'' outgunned ''Wilhelmina'', which was armed ''en flûte''. She had only 21 guns: eighteen 9-pounder and two 6-pounder cannon, and one 12-pounder carronade. ''Psyché'' carried 36 cannon, a broadside that was more than double that of ''Wilhelmina'': twenty-four 12-pounder guns, two 6-pounders and ten 18-pounder carronades. ''Psyché'' also had a crew of 250 men, compared with ''Wilhelmina''s 124. Nevertheless, Captain Henry Lambert of ''Wilhelmina'' sailed towards ''Psyché'' to give ''William Petrie'' a chance to escape.

Light winds meant that the engagement did not begin until 11 April, when both ships opened fire, exchanging broadsides and attempting to tack around to rake their opponent. After several hours fighting, ''Psyché'' broke off and fled. Both ships had sustained heavy damage, ''Wilhelmina'' to her masts and rigging, while ''Psyché'' was reduced to a near-sinking condition. ''Wilhelmina'' had nine of her crew wounded, three mortally and six slightly, while ''Psyché'' lost ten killed and 32 wounded, 13 of them mortally. ''Wilhelmina'' put into port, while ''William Petrie'' also arrived safely at her destination.

French naval service

In June 1804 Governor Decaen purchased ''Psyché'' for the French Navy at Réunion. On 10 January 1805, under Captain Jacques Bergeret, she captured the country ship ''Elisa''. However, the East Indiaman recaptured ''Eliza'', Waters, master; ''Eliza'' then went into Madras.

On 8 January 1805 ''Psyché'' captured as ''Gilwell'' was sailing from Bengal to Bombay. However, ''Psyché'' gave her up as ''Psyché'' did not have the crew to man ''Gilwell''.

On 14 February, ''Psyché'' captured the country ships ''Pigeon'' and ''Thetis''. Bergeret armed ''Pigeon'' with four guns and gave her a crew of 34 men under the command of Lieutenant Ollivier.

On 14 February, ''Psyché'', ''Pigeon'', and ''Thetis'' encountered , now under the command of Captain Henry Lambert (acting), off the Malabar Coast of India. The French abandoned ''Thetis'' as ''San Fiorenzo'' approached and Lambert put a prize crew aboard her under the command of a midshipman, and continued his pursuit.

At ten minutes past eight, ''San Fiorenzo'' and ''Psyché'' started to exchange broadsides at about a cable length () from each other. After one hour, ''San Fiorenzo'' could hardly govern; Bergeret seized the opportunity to manoeuver and rake her, but as ''Psyché'' had lost all her carronades and several guns, her fire was ineffective. After ''San Fiorenzo'' managed to train her guns on ''Psyché'' again, the superiority of ''San Fiorenzo''s fire led Bergeret to attempt a boarding. At 9:45, the two frigates sailed side by side and for twenty minutes French boarding parties attempted to storm ''San Fiorenzo'', but British small arms fire repelled them. A fire breaking out in the orlop deck of ''Psyché'' further distracted her crew from the fight.

At this point, ''Pigeon'' fired four to five shots to distract ''San Fiorenzo'', before escaping into the night. Around 11:00 or 11:30, the two frigates parted, both unmanageable, and ''Psyché'' with only two guns still operable. Both crews attempted to repair their ships and around midnight, ''San Fiorenzo'' had effected her repairs and came to re-engage the hapless and ungovernable ''Psyché''.

Seeing the hopelessness of his position, Bergeret sent Ensign Hugon on a boat to negotiate a capitulation, offering to surrender ''Psyché'' in exchange for the British permitting his crew to keep their personal weapons and effects and to stay aboard overnight to attend to the wounded. Lambert accepted the terms and Bergeret struck his colours at midnight.

''Psyché'' had 57 killed and 70 wounded out of her crew of 240 men; ''San Fiorenzo'' had 12 killed and 36 wounded. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "San Fiorenzo 14 Feby. 1805" to any still surviving claimants from the action.

British naval service

''Psyché'' entered British service as HMS ''Psyche'', being commissioned under Commander William Woolridge in about August 1805. Under Woolridge ''Psyche'' took a number of small prizes in 1806:
* 26 March – French sloop packet ship ''Alexandriane'', taken at sea while sailing from Île Bourbon;
* 20 May – French schooner ''Célestine'', taken at sea while carrying a cargo of plank, corn, and cloves;
* 26 May – A French brig, (Name unknown), which ''Psyche'' ran on shore where she wrecked under the batteries of St. Gilles;
* 26 May – French lugger ''Uranie'', taken at sea with a cargo of rice;
* 26 May – French lugger ''Sophie'', taken at sea and burnt after her cargo of rice was removed;
* 1 June – Brig ''Paque Bot'', taken at sea with a cargo of gum and rice;
* 2 June – French schooner ''Étoile'', taken at sea and scuttled after her cargo of rice had been removed;
* 10 June – French brig ''Coquette'', taken at sea with a cargo of rice;
* 10 June – French lugger ''Grange'', taken at sea and scuttled.

Captain Fleetwood Pellew took command in 1807. His father, Rear Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, "Commander in Chief of His Majesty's Ships and Vessels in the East Indies", sent ''Psyche'' and to reconnoitre the port of Surabaya. On 30 August they captured a ship from Batavia and from her learned the disposition of the Dutch military ships in the area. ''Psyche'' proceeded to Samarang while ''Caroline'' pursued another vessel. ''Psyche'' arrived at Samarang at midnight and next morning her boats captured and brought out from under the fire of shore batteries an armed 8-gun schooner and a large merchant brig. However, ''Psyche'' had seen three more Dutch vessels, one of them a warship, and so Pellew destroyed the two captured vessels and at mid-day set out after the three other vessels.

By 3:30 on 1 September ''Psyche'' had caught up with the Dutch vessels and run them ashore. She went as close as the water depth would allow, anchored and exchanged fire with them. All three surrendered quickly. One that she captured was the 24-gun corvette , which had a crew of 150 men. ''Scipio'' was badly shot up and her commander, Captain-Lieutenant Jan Hendrik Correga, had been mortally wounded. The largest armed merchant ship was ''Resolutie'', of 700 tons. She had a valuable cargo and as passengers the colours and staff of the Dutch 23rd European Battalion. The third vessel was the brig ''Ceres'', of 12 guns and 70 men. Pellew had too few men to be able to deal with the prisoners so he paroled the officers to the governor of Samarang and gave up all the other men against a receipt. The British took ''Scipio'' into service under her existing name, but then renamed her ''Samarang''.

Captain John Edgcumbe assumed command at Bombay in 1808. He then sailed ''Psyche'' to the Persian Gulf with Brigadier-General John Malcolm and his staff on an embassy to the Persian Empire. There, during the four hottest months of the year, ''Psyche'' provided protection for the British embassy at Abusheer. At the beginning of 1809, a detachment of troops from the 56th Regiment of Foot came on board ''Psyche'' to serve as marines.

''Psyche'' returned to Bombay and then convoyed troops to Pointe de Galle. From there she went to Colombo to embark troops for Travancore to suppress a mutiny among the native troops in 1809. ''Psyche'' silenced some batteries and her boats destroyed several vessels, suffering one man wounded in the process. Later, ''Psyche'' captured two vessels transporting elephants to the mutineers.

Next, ''Psyche'' accompanied to Manila in search of two French frigates, and to induce the government of the Philippines to side with Spain against France. After they returned to Prince of Wales Island, ''Psyche'' escorted their Dutch prize to Bombay.

''Psyche'' and ''Doris'' captured in the China Sea an American ship named ''Rebecca''. ''Rebecca'' had left Baltimore in December 1807 and arrived at Batavia on 18 May 1808. She finished unloading there on 3 June. The Dutch government chartered her to carry a cargo to take a cargo to Decuma and then return to "Souza Caya". She left Batavia on 29 April 1809 and it was on this outward bound voyage that on 29 May ''Psyche'' and ''Doris'' captured ''Rebecca''. They brought her into Bombay where on 3 January 1810 the new Vice admiralty court condemned her for a violation of His Majesty's Order in Council of 7 January 1807, prohibiting trade between enemy ports or ports from which British ships were excluded. Her cargo of 4,000 bags of Batavian sugar and 13,710 pieces of sapan-wood were auctioned on 7 March 1810. Then on 10 March ''Rebecca'', of 600 tons burthen, teak-built at Pegu, too was auctioned off. ''Rebecca''s owners appealed the condemnation but lost on appeal on 18 July 1811.

Later in 1810 ''Psyche'' transported Brigadier-General Malcolm on a second embassy to Persia. She then sailed to the Cape of Good Hope before sailing to Rodrigues where the British were assembling a fleet to attack Isle de France (now Mauritius). On 29 November the force landed at Grand Baie; the island surrendered on 3 December.

Between May and August 1811 ''Psyche'' participated in an expedition to Java under Rear Admiral Sir Robert Stopford. While there, Edgcumbe succumbed to hepatitis and had to be invalided back to Britain. Captain Robert Worgan George Festing, who had been serving on shore with the Army, received promotion to Post-captain on 9 October 1811 and assumed command of ''Psyche''. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the award of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Java" to any surviving participants that claimed it.

Fate

In 1812 Festing sailed ''Psyche'' to Europe. She was in such a dilapidated state that she had to put into Ferrol to be broken up. M. Santos, the purchaser, took possession on 6 August. Her crew was repatriated to Britain on the transport ''Bideford''.

Notes

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References

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External links

Action of 13 February 1805

{{DEFAULTSORT:Psyche (1804)
Age of Sail frigates of France
1798 ships
Frigates of the French Navy
Privateer ships of France
Captured ships
Ships built in France