''Belle Poule'' was a French
frigate of the , designed by
Léon-Michel Guignace. She is most famous for her duel with the British frigate on 17 June 1778, which began the French involvement in the
American War of Independence.
1768 – 1777
''Belle Poule'' was built in
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
between March 1765 and early 1767. She served in two campaigns in the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
, where due to her good sailing performance she was selected for the first French attempt at covering her hull with copper to resist marine growths.
From 1772 to 1776, she was sent on hydrographic missions, during which the young
La Pérouse came to the attention of his superiors.
On 12 December 1776, she left
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
to return to
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 ...
. At the time, France was not yet engaged in the
American War of Independence, but there had been numerous incidents involving French and British ships. Indeed, on 27 April 1777, ''Belle Poule'' was chased by a British
ship of the line, which she easily evaded to reach Brest. In December 1777, Belle Poule was selected to ferry
Silas Deane
Silas Deane (September 23, 1789) was an American merchant, politician, and diplomat, and a supporter of American independence. Deane served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, where he signed the Continental Association, and then became the ...
back to America, along with news of the French-American Alliance.
1778 – 1801
![Belle-Poule-10 lbp1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Belle-Poule-10_lbp1.jpg)
On 7 January, the British ships of the line and stopped her and demanded to inspect her. In spite of the overwhelming superiority of the British forces, her captain,
Charles de Bernard de Marigny
Charles-René-Louis, vicomte de Bernard de Marigny (1 February 1740, in Sées – 25 July 1816, in Brest) was a French vice admiral, grand-cross of the ordre de Saint-Louis and commander of the Brest fleet.
Biography
Born the fourth boy of an ...
, answered:
The British offered apologies and let the frigate sail through. However, opposing winds prevented the ship from crossing the Atlantic, and after 36 days, ''Belle Poule'' had to return to Brest. Franklin later sailed to America aboard '' Sensible''.
Fight of ''Belle Poule'' and ''Arethusa''
When war broke out, ''Belle Poule'' was sent on a reconnaissance mission, along with the 26-gun frigate , the
corvette , and the smaller ''Coureur'', to locate the squadron of
Admiral Keppel. They encountered the British squadron, which chased them.
![Coiffure Belle-Poule 2A](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Coiffure_Belle-Poule_2A.jpg)
caught up with the French and a furious battle ensued. Eventually, ''Arethusa'' had to break off the fight, having lost her main mast. The British captured the smaller French ships, but the two frigates escaped the numerous ships of the line pursuing them. ''Belle Poule'' lost 30 killed and 72 wounded, among which her captain, Lieutenant
Jean Isaac Chadeau de la Clocheterie
Jean Isaac Timothée Chadeau, Sieur de la Clocheterie (1741–1782) was a French naval officer of the American Revolutionary War.
Biography Early career
Chadeau de la Clocheterie entered the French naval service in 1754, at the age of thirteen, ...
. ''Arethusa'' had eight men killed and 36 wounded. The battle was so famous that ladies of the high society invented the hairstyle "Belle Poule", with a ship on the top of the head.
Between September and October 1778, ''Belle Poule'' teamed up with French ship ''Vengeur'' and captured five privateers. In 1779, ''Belle Poule'' served as coast guard and convoy escort.
Capture
On the evening of 14 July 1780 Captain Sir James Wallace of the 64-gun ship of the line was off the
Loire
The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...
where her boats were burning the French frigate ''Legere''.
[ He observed three vessels to the north west, signalling each other and immediately gave chase. At about midnight ''Nonsuch'' caught up with one of the three off ]Île d'Yeu
Île d'Yeu () or L'Île-d'Yeu, is an island and commune just off the Vendée coast of western France. The island's two harbors, Port-Joinville in the north and Port de la Meule to the south, in a rocky inlet of the southern granite coast, are fam ...
and commenced a two-hour action. When the French vessel struck she turned out to be ''Belle Poule''. She was armed with thirty-two 12-pounder guns, had a crew of 275 men and was under the command of Chevalier Kergariou-Coatlès.[ In the engagement ''Belle Poule'' lost 25 men killed, including Kergariou, and 50 other officers and men, including her second captain, wounded. ''Nonsuch'' had lost three men killed and ten wounded, two of whom died later.][ The two French vessels that escaped were the frigate ''Aimable'', of thirty-two 8-pounder guns, and the corvette ''Rossignol'', of twenty 6-pounder guns.]
British service
She was commissioned in February 1781 into the British Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
, retaining her name. She served for the next 21 months under Captain Philip Patton with William Bligh
Vice-Admiral William Bligh (9 September 1754 – 7 December 1817) was an officer of the Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. The mutiny on the HMS ''Bounty'' occurred in 1789 when the ship was under his command; after being set adrift i ...
as the ship's Master
Master or masters may refer to:
Ranks or titles
* Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans
*Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...
. On 17 April she, with , captured 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 ...
''Calonne'', under the command of Luke Ryan. ''Calonne'' was only two years old, a fast sailer, and well equipped for a voyage of three months and a crew of 200 men. She was armed with twenty-two 9-pounder guns, six 4-pounder guns and six 12-pounder carronades.
''Belle Poule'' participated in the 1781 battle of Dogger Bank. ''Hollandia'', one of the Dutch ships-of-the-line, sank after the battle. ''Belle Poule'' took away her flag, which was kept flying, and carried it to Admiral Parker.[Allen, p. 319.]
Fate
The Royal Navy put ''Belle Poule'' into ordinary at Chatham in November 1782. She then served briefly as a receiving ship from 1796 before the Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
*Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
*Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
* Admiralty, Traf ...
sold her for breaking up in 1801.
Citations references
Citations
References
* Allen, Joseph, ''Battles of the British navy, Volume 1'' H. G. Bohn, London,(1852)
* Ferreiro, Larrie D. ''Brothers at Arms: American Independence and the Men of France and Spain Who Saved It''. New York: Alfred Knopf. 2016.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belle Poule (1765)
Captured ships
Age of Sail frigates of France
Ships built in France
Dédaigneuse-class frigates
1766 ships
Frigates of the Royal Navy