French Frigate Topaze (1790)

HMS ''Topaze'' was a Royal Navy 32-gun frigate, originally completed in 1791 as a French . In 1793 Lord Hood's fleet captured her at Toulon. The Royal Navy took her into service under her existing name. She was broken up in 1814.

French service

''Topaze'' was ordered on 14 March 1789. In 1793, she cruised in the Gulf of Lion, along with the 40-gun frigate ''Aréthuse''. In August, her home port of Toulon rebelled against Convention nationale and her commanding officer, Grasse-Limermont, surrendered her to the British. At the end of the Siege of Toulon, she fled to Porto-Ferrayo, and was incorporated in the British Royal Navy.

British service

French Revolutionary Wars

In August 1795, ''Topaze'' was commissioned under the command of Captain Stephen George Church. She sailed for Halifax in March 1796. On the morning of 28 August ''Topaze'' was part of a British squadron that was sitting becalmed about four leagues from Cape Henry when they spotted three strange vessels. was the closest to them and signaled that they were enemy frigates. The British were not able to set out in pursuit until midday. ''Topaze'' was the first to catch the breeze and outdistanced her companions. She caught up with the laggard after about five and half hours. The French vessel fired a broadside and then surrendered. and ''Bermuda'' then took possession of the prize and accompanied her to Halifax while the rest of the squadron pursued, unsuccessfully, the other two French frigates. When ''Assistance'' took possession the French vessel she turned out to be the ''Elizabeth'', of twenty-four 12-pounder and twelve 8-pounder (or 9-pounder) guns, and with a crew of 297 men. The Royal Navy did not purchase ''Elizabeth''. She was an Indiaman, i.e., a merchant vessel, that the French government had bought and apparently was "an indifferent sailer".James (1837), Vol. 1, p.346.

In 1800 ''Topaze'' captured a few small prizes, one of them being the galliot ''Louisa'', which came into Plymouth on 30 May. ''Topaze'' and sailed for the West Indies on 13 February 1801 as escorts to a large convoy. Church died in August in the West Indies, of a fever. In 1801 she came under the command of Captain Robert Honyman, who had come out to Jamaica on during the summer. Honyman then sailed ''Topaze'' back to England, where she served on the Irish station.

Napoleonic Wars

In April 1803 ''Topaze'' was commissioned under Captain Willoughby Lake. On 4 June ''Providence'' came into Plymouth. ''Topaze'' had captured her while she was sailing from Charlestown to Ostend with a cargo of rice and cotton. At the end of the month, 34 French fishing boats came into Portsmouth. They were prizes to ''Africaine'' and ''Topaze''. ''Topaze'' also brought in a French brig from Algiers. Nine of the fishing boats were given up (released) shortly thereafter.

On 4 February 1804 ''Topaze'' was one of the escorts for the West Indies fleet sailing from Cork. She was to accompany the fleet as far as Madeira.

On 25 September 1804, ''Topaze'' encountered and captured the French letter of marque ship ''Minerve'', of Bordeaux, which was sailing to Martinique. She was pierced for 18 guns, but carried only fourteen 9-pounders, and had a crew of 111 men. She came into Cork on 3 October. She was carrying a cargo of wine and brandy. ''Topaze'' only captured her at after a chase of 12 hours.

Then some six months later, on 13 February 1805, ''Topaze'' captured and brought into Cork the ketch-rigged ''General Augereau'', of Bayonne. ''General Augereau'' was armed with fourteen 12-pounder carronades, and had a crew of 88 men. She had been cruising 47 days but had taken no prizes. Apparently ''General Augereau'' was notorious for her past success, and particularly the capture of the West Indiaman, . ''Topaze'' had captured ''General Augereau'' at .

On 7 May 1805, Lake and ''Topaze'' captured the Spanish privateer ''Napoleon'', of St. Sebastian. ''Napoleon'' was pierced for 20 cannon but was armed with ten 9-pounder guns and four 18-pounder carronades; she had a crew of 108 men. She was out of Bordeaux in the 57th day of her first cruise during which she had captured the letter of marque ''Westmoreland'', of Liverpool, after a sharp action, and the brig ''Brunswick'', which had been sailing from Honduras.

Then on 20 May, ''Topaze'' captured the Spanish privateer brig ''Fenix'', also of St. Sebastian. ''Fenix'' armed with 14 guns and had a crew of 85 men. She was ten days out of Vigo and had taken no prizes. ''Topaze'' sent both into Cork, where they arrived in June.

The French corvette ''Sylphe'' captured on 13 May 1805 at a number of vessels in a convey that had left Cork on the 9th for Newfoundland. ''Topaze'' and each recaptured one. ''Topaze'' also recaptured ''Young William'', Young, master, which a Spanish corvette of 20 guns had captured. ''Young William'' had been sailing from Cork to Westport.

By June 1806 Captain Anselm John Griffiths had taken command of ''Topaze'' on the Irish station. He sailed her to the Mediterranean on 8 January 1808.

In 1809 she joined the forces operating in the Adriatic campaign of 1807-1814. When the French despatched the frigates ''Danaé'' and ''Flore'' from Toulon to the Adriatic, ''Topaze'' and ''Kingfisher'' intercepted them on 12 March. Despite bringing the French to action, the British were unable to prevent them reaching Corfu and then sailing north to augment French defences in the Adriatic. ''Topaze'' sustained no casualties or meaningful damage.

On 31 May, off Demata, Albania, boats from ''Topaze'' attacked a French coastal convoy under the fortress of St. Maura. The boats captured:
*Xebec ''Joubert'', armed with eight guns and six swivel guns, with a crew of 55 men under the command of Enseigne de Vaisseau Martin;
* Cutter ''Menteur'', of four guns and 20 men, under the command of Enseigne de Vaisseau P. Gabriel;
*Felucca ''Esperance'', of three guns and 18 men;
*Balancelle ''San Juan'', of 18 tons;
*Trabaccolo ''San Nicolai'', of 14 tons.
Her boats destroyed four vessels whose names were unknown:
*Gun-boat, of one gun and 16 men;
*Gun-boat, of one gun and 15 men;
*Trabaccolo, of 29 tons; and
*Trabaccolo, of 30 tons.
All the vessels, except ''Joubert'', were carrying government-owned cargoes of timber and brandy for Corfu. The boat action took place under heavy fire with the result that ''Topaze'' lost one man killed and one man wounded.

After this action Captain Henry Hope took command of ''Topaze'' and operated off the coast of Spain. In October 1809, in 1809, she took part in the Battle of Maguelone, a squadron under Rear Admiral George Martin, of Collingwood's fleet, chased an enemy convoy off the south of France. They succeeded in driving two of the three escorting ships of the line, ''Robuste'' and ''Lion'', ashore near Frontignan, where their crews burnt them after dismantling them and stripping them of all usable material. The crews of the third ship of the line, ''Borée'', and the frigate ''Pauline'' escaped into Sète.James (1837), Vol. 5, pp.143-4.

The transports that had been part of the convoy, including the armed storeship ''Lamproie'', of 18 guns, two bombards (''Victoire'' and ''Grondeur''), and the xebec ''Normande'', sailed into the Bay of Rosas where they hoped that the castle of Rosas, Fort Trinidad and several shore batteries would protect them. On 30 October , , ''Volontaire'', , ''Topaze'', , ''Tuscan'' and sent in their boats. By the following morning the British had accounted for all eleven vessels in the bay, burning those they did not bring out. Some of the British boats took heavy casualties; ''Topaze'' lost four men killed and eight men wounded. In January 1813, prize money was awarded to the British vessels that took part in the action for the capture of the ships of war ''Grondeur'' and ''Normande'', and of the transports ''Dragon'' and ''Indien''. A court declared a joint captor. Head money was also paid for the ''Grondeur'' and ''Normande'' and for the destruction of ''Lemproye'' and ''Victoire''.

On 9 December ''Topaze'' rescued 100 men from the garrison at Marbella when it fell to the French.

On 21 June 1810, the boats of and ''Topaze'' captured two vessels in the bay of Martino in Corsica.< A landing party captured a battery of three guns that protected the entrance to the bay. They were able to capture and render the guns unserviceable, and kill or wound a number of the garrison. The British lost one man killed and two wounded in the action.

On 24 August ''Topaze'' captured the ''Centinelle''. ''Topaze'' was also involved in the Battle of Fuengirola in October 1810. On 11 October Hope and ''Topaze'' took Lord Blayney from Gibraltar to Ceuta. two days later they left, escorting a division of gunboats and some transports carrying artillery, a battalion of the 89th Regiment of Foot ("Blayney's Bloodhounds"), the Spanish Imperial Regiment of Toledo and some others to Fuengirola to attack a Polish garrison there. The battle proved a defeat for the Anglo-Spanish force and Blayney himself was captured.

In November 1810 Captain John Richard Lumley took command of ''Topaze''. His successor was Captain Edward Harvey. He sailed ''Topaze'' off Corfu until December 1812 when he escorted a convoy back to Britain. ''Topaze'' was in poor condition when he paid her off in February 1812.

Fate

In 1812, HMS ''Topaze'' was laid up at Portsmouth. The Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy offered her for sale there on 11 August 1814, together with a number of other frigates and larger ships. Buyers had to post bond with two guarantors of £3000 that they would break up their purchases within a year and not sell or otherwise dispose of them. She was sold on 1 September 1814 for £1,300, and broken up in 1814.

Notes

Citations

References

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*Napier, Sir William Francis Patrick (1833) ''History of the war in the Peninsula and in the south of France: from the year 1807 to the year 1814'', Volume 3 (T. and W. Boone).
* (1671-1870)
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External links

Ships of the Old Navy

{{DEFAULTSORT:Topaze (1793)
1790 ships
Magicienne-class frigates
Frigates of the Royal Navy
Captured ships
Frigates of the French Navy