''Polonais'' 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 ...

. First named ''Glorieux'', she was renamed on 23 February 1807. In 1809, under Captain Mequet, she departed Lorient, France with Troude's squadron, bound for the Caribbean. The squadron included and . On 29 March, the ships arrived at the Saintes and landed reinforcements. On 29 May, ''Polonais'' and ''Courageux'' reached Cherbourg, France along with seven prize ships captured on the way. ''D'Hautpoul'' had been captured in the action of 14–17 April 1809. In April 1814, at the Bourbon Restoration, ''Polonais'' was renamed ''Lys'' captained by Troude. She then ferried

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...

back to France. She was briefly renamed ''Polonais'' during the

Hundred Days The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration ...

of Napoleon, and then back to ''Lys'' again. After the Bourbon Restoration, ''Lys'' was sent to retake possession of the island 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 ...

, along with the frigate and the corvette . The squadron arrived at Fort Royal on 5 October 1814. From 1822, she was used as a storage hulk, and she was broken up in Brest on 1825.

Citations

References

* 1808 establishments in France 1825 disestablishments in France Ships of the line of the French Navy Téméraire-class ships of the line 1808 ships Louis XVIII {{France-line-ship-stub