''Glorieux'' was a

74-gun The "seventy-four" was a type of two- decked sailing ship of the line, which nominally carried 74 guns. It was developed by the French navy in the 1740s, replacing earlier classes of 60- and 62-gun ships, as a larger complement to the recently-de ...

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

in 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 ...

. Built by Clairin Deslauriers at

Rochefort Rochefort () may refer to: Places France * Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, in the Charente-Maritime department ** Arsenal de Rochefort, a former naval base and dockyard * Rochefort, Savoie in the Savoie department * Rochefort-du-Gard, in the Ga ...

and launched on 10 August 1756, she was rebuilt in 1777.

French service

On 4 June 1781 ''Glorieux'' captured the cutter . On 30 August 1781, she was with the French fleet under Admiral de Grasse. According to French sources, the British sloop and the frigate were on picket duty in the Chesapeake when they encountered the French fleet. ''Guadeloupe'' escaped up the York River to York Town, where she would later be scuttled. The English court martial records report that ''Loyalist'' was returning to the British fleet off the Jersey coast when she encountered the main French fleet. The French frigate ''Aigrette'', with the

in sight, was able to overtake ''Loyalist''. The French took her into service as ''Loyaliste'' in September, but then gave her to the Americans in November 1781.Demerliac (1996), p.75, #481. On 12 April 1782 the ship, under command of Captain (Baron) D'Escars, faced first HMS ''Duke'' then at the

Battle of the Saintes The Battle of the Saintes (known to the French as the Bataille de la Dominique), also known as the Battle of Dominica, was an important naval battle in the Caribbean between the British and the French that took place 9–12 April 1782. The Brit ...

. In her approach she nailed her white colours to the mast and a sergeant of the Auxerrois regiment tied his

halberd A halberd (also called halbard, halbert or Swiss voulge) is a two-handed pole weapon that came to prominent use during the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. The word ''halberd'' is cognate with the German word ''Hellebarde'', deriving from ...

and bravely stood at the head of the ship waving it. When shot in his right arm, he deftly caught the halberd in his left hand and continued to wave. He was later made an officer for his bravery. Following the battle, despite the attempts of

Denis Decrès Denis Decrès (18 June 1761 – 7 December 1820) was an officer of the French Navy and count, later duke of the First Empire. Early career Decrès was born in Châteauvillain, Haute-Marne on 18 June 1761 and joined the Navy at the age of 18, ...

aboard ''

Richemont Compagnie Financière Richemont S.A., commonly known as Richemont, is a Switzerland-based luxury goods holding company founded in 1988 by South African businessman Johann Rupert. Through its various subsidiaries, Richemont produces and sells je ...

'' (previously a British ship) to give tow to the stricken vessel, she was captured.Famous Fighters of the Fleet, Edward Fraser, 1904, p.120 Towed instead to a British controlled port she was recommissioned her into the

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 F ...

as HMS ''Glorieux'' or HMS ''Glorious'' the following day. She was rated as a

third rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third r ...

Fate

She sailed with the fleet for England on 25 July 1782 but was lost later that year in a hurricane storm off

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

on 16–17 September, along with the other captured French prize ships and ''Hector''. ''Glorieux'' was lost with all hands, including her captain, Thomas Cadogan, son of

Charles Cadogan, 3rd Baron Cadogan Charles Sloane Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan (29 September 1728 – 3 April 1807) was a British peer and Whig politician. Early life Cadogan was the only son of Charles Cadogan, 2nd Baron Cadogan and his wife, the former Elizabeth Sloane. His ma ...

. This disaster to the fleet of Admiral Graves also saw the loss of , , the storeships ''Dutton'' and ''British Queen'', and other merchantmen from a convoy of 94 ships, with a total of over 3,500 men lost.

Other

Heller SA Heller Hobby GmbH is a French manufacturing company established in 1957 in Paris. Currently headquartered in Radevormwald, Germany, Heller produces plastic scale model kits of cars, aircraft, ships, and military vehicles. History Heller was f ...

has created a 1:150 scale model of ''Le Glorieux'' in its French guise.

Citations

References

* *Demerliac, Alain (1996) ''La Marine De Louis XVI: Nomenclature Des Navires Français De 1774 À 1792''. (Nice: Éditions OMEGA). * *Winfield, Rif, British Warships of the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates, pub Seaforth, 2007,

External links