''Jean Bart'' 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 ...

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 ...

Ship history

The ship was laid down at

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

on 1 June 1788 from a design by

Jacques-Noël Sané Jacques-Noël Sané (18 February 1740, Brest – 22 August 1831, Paris) was a French naval engineer. He was the conceptor of standardised designs for ships of the line and frigates fielded by the French Navy in the 1780s, which served during the ...

, and launched on 7 November 1790. Construction was delayed by lack of materials, and she was not completed until March 1791. In 1793, she was part of the squadron led by Van Stabel. Along with the , she rescued the which was in danger of being captured by the British. She took part in the

Atlantic campaign of May 1794 The Atlantic campaign of May 1794 was a series of operations conducted by the British Royal Navy's Channel Fleet against the French Navy's Atlantic Fleet, with the aim of preventing the passage of a strategically important French grain convoy t ...

, and in the capture of on 6 November. She was also part of the ''

Croisière du Grand Hiver The ''Croisière du Grand Hiver'' (French "Campaign of the Great Winter") was a French attempt to organise a winter naval campaign in the wake of the Glorious First of June. Context The Glorious First of June had ended on a strategic success f ...

'' winter campaign in 1794/95, serving in Van Stabel's division. On 15 May 1795, Captain

Louis-Marie Le Gouardun Louis-Marie Le Gouardun (Lorient, 9 September 1753 — Lorient, 18 December 1814) was a French Navy officer. Starting his career in the French East India Company, he served under Suffren in the Indian Ocean during the Anglo-French War, and later in ...

took command.Quintin, p.221 ''Jean Bart'' was present at the

Battle of Genoa The Battle of Genoa (also known as the Battle of Cape Noli and in French as ''Bataille de Gênes'') was a naval battle fought between French and allied Anglo-Neapolitan forces on 14 March 1795 in the Gulf of Genoa, a large bay in the Ligurian ...

in March 1795, and in

Cornwallis's Retreat Cornwallis's Retreat was a naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars in which a British Royal Navy squadron of five ships of the line and two frigates was attacked by a much larger French Navy fleet of 12 ships of the line and 11 fri ...

and the subsequent

Battle of Groix The Battle of Groix was a large naval engagement which took place near the island of Groix off the Biscay coast of Brittany on 23 June 1795 ( 5 messidor an III) during the French Revolutionary Wars. The battle was fought between elements of the ...

in June 1795. In 1800, she sailed to the Mediterranean and made her homeport at

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

. On 9 August 1803, Le Gouardun returned as captain, keeping command until 26 May 1808. In February 1809, she formed part of a French fleet which departed from

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 *Brest, ...

intending to aid the French colony of

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...

which was under threat from invasion. The fleet sailed for

Basque Roads Basque Roads, sometimes referred to as ''Aix Roads'', is a roadstead (a sheltered bay) on the Biscay shore of the Charente-Maritime département of France, bounded by the Île d'Oléron to the west and the Île de Ré to the north. The port of La ...

to rendezvous with the

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 ...

squadron but upon entering the roadstead they were immediately blockaded by the British. On 26 February 1809, the ''Jean Bart'' grounded on a shoal near

Île Madame Île Madame () is an island in the Charente estuary on the Atlantic coast of France joined to the mainland by a causeway. The island has an area of four square miles and is unpopulated. It is part of the town Port-des-Barques. Hundreds of Cathol ...

while attempting to enter the anchorage south of

Ile d'Aix Ile may refer to: * iLe, a Puerto Rican singer * Ile District (disambiguation), multiple places * Ilé-Ifẹ̀, an ancient Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria * Interlingue (ISO 639:ile), a planned language * Isoleucine, an amino acid * Another ...

and was subsequently declared a wreck. In April, the British seized the wreck and burnt the remains.

Replica

A full-scale model is under construction in

Gravelines Gravelines (, ; ; ) is a commune in the Nord department in Northern France. It lies at the mouth of the river Aa southwest of Dunkirk. It was formed in the 12th century around the mouth of a canal built to connect Saint-Omer with the sea. As ...

, France.

Notes and references

; References ; Bibliography * * (1671-1870) * ; External links
La guerre sur mer pendant la révolution et l'empire.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jean Bart (1790) Ships of the line of the French Navy Téméraire-class ships of the line Ships built in France 1790 ships Maritime incidents in 1809 Shipwrecks in the Bay of Biscay