''Aréthuse'' was a 46-gun

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

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 ...

. She served during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, taking part in a major single-ship action. Much later the vessel took part in the conquest of Algeria, and ended her days as a coal depot in

Brest, France Brest (; ) is a port city in the Finistère department, Brittany. Located in a sheltered bay not far from the western tip of the peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French mi ...

Construction and career

''Aréthuse'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

, France in 1807 and launched on 15 May 1812.

Cruise off West Africa, 1812–1813

On 25 November 1812 the frigates ''Aréthuse'' (Captain

Pierre Bouvet Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

) and sailed from Nantes to intercept British trade off West Africa. In January, having captured a Portuguese ship, ''La Serra'', they reached

Cap-Vert Cap-Vert, or the Cape Verde Peninsula, is a peninsula in Senegal and the westernmost point of the continent of Africa and of the Afro-Eurasia mainland. Portuguese explorers called it Cabo Verde or "Green Cape". The Cape Verde islands, further ...

. They also captured ''Little Belt'', J. Wilson, master, sailing from

Altea Altea (, ) is a city and municipality located in the Valencian Community, Spain, on the section of Mediterranean coast called the Costa Blanca. At present, the economy of Altea is based on tourism, which started to grow in the 1950s because of i ...

to London, ''Friends'', Houston, master, sailing from Teneriffe to

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, and a Spanish brig sailing from

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

. The French put the masters and crews on ''Delphina'', a Portuguese they had captured and plundered. ''Delphina'' arrived at

Pernambuco Pernambuco () is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,148 km², being the 19 ...

on 31 January.''Lloyd's List''
№4764. Accessed 3 November 2016. On 27 January 1813, ''Aréthuse'' intercepted the brig (Lieutenant Pascoe) off Tamara (one of the

Iles de Los Iles is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Albert Iles (1914–1979), English footballer *Alex Iles, American musician * Bob Iles (born 1955), English footballer *Bradley Iles (born 1983), New Zealand golfer *Brian Iles, American ...

off Guinea). Pascoe ran ''Daring'' aground and set fire to her to avoid her capture. The French managed to take part of her crew prisoner but released them against their parole and put them in a boat. Pascoe and those of his men who had escaped capture sailed to the

Sierra Leone River The Sierra Leone River is a river estuary on the Atlantic Ocean in Western Sierra Leone. It is formed by the Bankasoka River and Rokel River and is between 4 and 10 miles wide (6–16 km) and 25 miles (40 km) long. It holds the major port ...

, where they arrived the next day. There they reported the presence of the French frigates to (Captain Frederick Paul Irby). In the night of 5 February, a storm threw ''Rubis'' ashore, wrecking her. The same storm damaged ''Aréthuse'' rudder. ''Rubis'' was abandoned and set afire, while ''Aréthuse'' effected her repairs. John Christian Schetky, HMS Amelia and the French Frigate Aréthuse in Action 1813 (1852)

John Christian Schetky, HMS Amelia and the French Frigate Aréthuse in Action 1813 (1852)

On 6 February, ''Amelia'', guided and reinforced by sailors from ''Daring'', attacked ''Aréthuse''. A furious, 4-hour night battle followed. ''Aréthuse'' and ''Amelia'' disabled each other by shooting at their sails and rigging. Eventually the ships parted, neither able to gain the upper hand, and both with heavy casualties: ''Amelia'' had 46 killed and 51 wounded; ''Aréthuse'' suffered over 20 killed and 88 wounded, and 30 round shot had struck her hull on the starboard side below the quarter deck.

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

(1837), Vol. 6, pp.183–190. ''Aréthuse'' returned to the wreck of ''Rubis'' to gather her crew, and returned to France. Soon afterwards ''Aréthuse'' captured the British privateer ''Cerberus'', and arrived back in

St Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast. The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the Alli ...

on 19 April having taken 15 prizes.

Later career and disposal

She took part in the

Invasion of Algiers in 1830 The invasion of Algiers in 1830 was a large-scale military operation by which the Kingdom of France, ruled by Charles X, invaded and conquered the Deylik of Algiers. Algiers was annexed by the Ottoman Empire in 1529 after the capture of Algie ...

as a transport. In 1833, she was

razee A razee or razée is a sailing ship that has been cut down (''razeed'') to reduce the number of decks. The word is derived from the French ''vaisseau rasé'', meaning a razed (in the sense of shaved down) ship. Seventeenth century During the ...

d into a

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...

. She was decommissioned in 1861 and used as a coal depot at

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 *Br ...

Notes

Citations

References

* James, William (1837) ''The Naval History of Great Britain from the declaration of war by France in February 1793 to the accession of George IV in January 1820: with an account of the origin and progressive increase of the British Navy (New edition in Six volumes)''.(London): R Bentley. {{DEFAULTSORT:Aréthuse (1812) Age of Sail frigates of France Pallas-class frigates (1808) Maritime incidents in 1813 Ships built in France 1812 ships