''Thétis'' 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 ...

. From 1790, she served in various diplomatic missions in the Indian Ocean, before returning for a refit in

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

in 1793. From 1795, she was shuttled from France to

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...

. She took part in the Invisible Squadron of

Zacharie Allemand Zacharie Jacques Théodore Allemand (1 May 1762, in Port-Louis – 2 March 1826, in Toulon) was a French admiral. Biography Early career Allemand was born to a captain of the East Indian Company. Orphaned at an early age, he started his sail ...

, before returning to Martinique along with the 16-gun brig . On 17 December 1806, ''Thétis'' and the brig captured . The French sold ''Netley'' and she became the

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

''Duquesne''. Less than nine months later, on 23 September 1807, HMS ''Blonde'' captured ''Dusquesne''. (The ''Chroniques de la Marine Française'' report that in 1807, ''Thétis'' captured an 18-gun brig named ''Methly''. This may be a slightly garbled reference to the capture of ''Netley'', there being no Royal Navy vessel named ''Methly''.) captured ''Thétis'' off Lorient in the

action of 10 November 1808 The action of 10 November 1808 was a minor naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars, in which a British frigate defeated and captured a French frigate in the Bay of Biscay. The action formed part of the blockade of the French Biscay ports during ...

. British casualties in the engagement were severe, with 19 killed and 51 wounded, but French losses were several times larger, with 135 dead, including her commander, ''Capitaine de Vaisseau'' Jacques Pinsum, and 102 wounded. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS ''Brune''. ''Brune'' was broken up in 1838.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thetis (1788) Frigates of the Royal Navy Ships built in France Age of Sail frigates of France 1788 ships Nymphe-class frigates Captured ships