French Ship Vengeur (1803)

''Vengeur'' ("Avenger") was a first-rate 118-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, of the ''Océan'' type, designed by Jacques-Noël Sané. She was the first ship in French service to sport 18-pounder long guns on her third deck, instead of the lighter 12-pounder long guns used before for this role.

Career

Laid down as ''Peuple'' in covered basin no.3 at Brest Dockyard in October 1793, she was renamed as ''Vengeur'' after the Bataille du 13 prairial an 2 in honour of the ''Vengeur du Peuple'' by a decree passed by the National Convention. She was launched on 1 October 1803 and completed in February 1804. She was again renamed in March 1805, becoming ''Impérial''.

During the War of the Third Coalition, ''Impérial'' was the flagship of a squadron under the overall command of Vice-Admiral Corentin-Urbain Leissègues which was part of a larger French force that sailed from Brest, France, on 13 December 1805 for what was planned as a 14-month cruise to attack British merchant shipping while avoiding combat with major Royal Navy forces.Clowes, p. 184. On 15 December 1805, the French force split into two squadrons which proceeded independently from one another.
Aboard ''Impérial'', Leissègues led his squadron across the Atlantic Ocean bound for the Caribbean. After encountering a storm off the Azores in late December 1805,James, Vol. IV, p. 198. ''Impérial'' and most of the squadron arrived at French-held Santo Domingo on Hispaniola on 20 January 1806, where Leissègues ordered the ships to be recaulked after their long and difficult transatlantic voyage.

On the morning of 6 February 1806, a Royal Navy squadron under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth arrived off Santo Domingo to attack Leissègues′s force.Clowes, p. 189. Leissègues was conducting business ashore when the British squadron was sighted, and the French force was delayed in getting underway while it awaited his return to ''Impérial''. Several of Leissègues′s ships were not yet ready for sea, but once aboard ''Impérial'', Leissègues ordered his ships to get underway and sail westward along the coast of Hispaniola toward Nizao.

In the resulting Battle of San Domingo, the French squadron maintained close formation, and the five French ships of the line formed a line of battle with ''Impérial'' second in line behind ''Alexandre'' and ahead of , ''Jupiter'', and ''Brave''. Duckworth ordered his squadron to concentrate fire on the three leading French ships of the line, and accordingly the flagship of Rear-Admiral Alexander Cochrane, the British 74-gun third-rate ship of the line , engaged ''Impérial'' closely, while another 74-gun third rate, , opened fire on ''Impérial'' and ''Diomède'' simultaneously. As the engagement at the head of the French line became confused, with ships of the two sides intermingled and smoke restricting visibility, ''Impérial'' engaged and threatened to overwhelm Duckworth′s flagship, the 74-gun third rate , which was leading the British line, but Cochrane placed ''Northumberland'' in between ''Impérial'' and ''Superb'' in an effort to protect ''Superb.'' ''Impérial'' inflicted severe damage on ''Northumberland'', with some of her shots passing through ''Northumberland'' and striking ''Superb''. As the battle continued, ''Impérial'' became increasingly isolated.Clowes, p. 191. The 98-gun second-rate ship of the line steered toward ''Impérial'', fired two broadsides into her, and then raked her. ''Atlas''′s tiller then jammed and she was engaged by ''Diomède'' and the damaged ''Northumberland'' drifted out of the action, but the rest of the British squadron concentrated its fire on ''Impérial''. ''Impérial''′s mainmast and mizzenmast collapsed, most of her guns had been silenced, and she was losing her ability to maneuver, and Leissègues ordered her to turn toward shore. Pursued by the 84-gun third-rate ship of the line , ''Impérial'' ran hard aground parallel to the beach on a coral reef off the coast of Hispaniola between Nizao and Point Catalan, suffering severe hull damage and losing all of her masts.Clowes, p. 192.James, Vol. IV, p. 193. The similarly damaged ''Diomède'' ran aground nearby. As the British ships moved out of gunnery range, the crews of ''Impérial'' and ''Diomède'' assembled on deck to abandon ship. ''Impérial'' had suffered about 500 casualties.James, Vol. IV, pp. 196–197.

Leissègues ordered ''Diomède'' and ''Impérial'' burned as soon as their crews had completed their abandonment of the ships, but before that order could be carried out, boat crews from the fifth-rate frigates and HMS ''Magicienne'' boarded them on 8 February 1806 and captured them without meeting any resistance.James, Vol. IV, p. 197. The British boarding party took six prisoners aboard ''Impérial'' and then burned her wreck.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Vengeur (1803)
Ships of the line of the French Navy
Océan-class ships of the line
1803 ships
Shipwrecks in the Caribbean Sea
Maritime incidents in 1806