''Vaillant'' was a privateer corvette launched in 1801 at Bordeaux. She made several cruises before 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 F ...

captured her in June 1805. The Navy took her into service as HMS ''Barbette'' but never commissioned her or fitted her for sea. It sold her for breaking up in 1811.

Career

Privateer

''Vaillant'' was commissioned in January 1801. 1st cruise (1801): Captain Alexandre Etienne 2nd cruise (1802): Captain Destebetcho 3rd cruise (August to December 1803): Captain Alexandre Etienne On 2 December ''Vaillant'' encountered the merchant ship at as ''Rachael'' was returning to England from Honduras. ''Vaillant'' captured ''Rachael'' and sent her for Bordeaux. But on 6 December recaptured ''Rachael''. Last cruise: Captain Dettebecho (?) the Elder. ''

Lloyd's List ''Lloyd's List'' is one of the world's oldest continuously running journals, having provided weekly shipping news in London as early as 1734. It was published daily until 2013 (when the final print issue, number 60,850, was published), and is ...

'' (''LL'') carried a report from the French papers that ''Vaillant'' had captured the packet boat ''Brilliant'', from the West Indies. The crew had landed in France.

Capture

HMS encountered ''Vaillant'' (''Valiant'') on 26 June 1805 and gave chase. After 12 hours ''Vaillant'' had to surrender when and arrived on the scene and cut her off. Captain

Maitland Maitland is an English and Scottish surname. It arrived in Britain after the Norman conquest of 1066. There are two theories about its source. It is either a nickname reference to "bad temper/disposition" (Old French, ''Maltalent''; Anglo Norm ...

, of ''Loire'', stated that had they not come up the chase would have taken two more hours; she had thrown her six 6-pounder guns overboard during the chase. She had been out for 20 days on a four-month cruise but had only captured the Halifax packet ''Lord Charles Spencer''. Maitland described her as "one of the most complete Ships ever fitted out at Bourdeaux, and is perfectly calculated to be taken into His Majesty's Service; sails incomparably fast...".

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy purchased ''Vaillant'' and brought her into the Royal Navy as the 6th-rate HMS ''Barbette'', but never commissioned her or fitted her for sea. The Navy sold her in May 1811 for breaking up.

Citations

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vaillant (1801) 1801 ships Ships built in France Privateer ships of France Captured ships Sixth rates of the Royal Navy