HMS ''Auguste'' was the French 54-gun ''Auguste'' built in
Brest
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in 1704 that the British captured in 1705. In her brief French service she captured two British
men-of-war
The man-of-war (also man-o'-war, or simply man) was a Royal Navy expression for a powerful warship or frigate from the 16th to the 19th century. Although the term never acquired a specific meaning, it was usually reserved for a ship armed w ...
. She was wrecked in 1716.
French service
Étienne Hubac designed ''Auguste'' as a privateer for
René Duguay-Trouin
René Trouin, Sieur du Gué, also known as René Duguay-Trouin, (10 June 1673 – 1736) was a French naval officer, nobleman, slave trader, and privateer best known for his career during the War of the Spanish Succession. He had a brilliant ...
. in whose service she was employed as part of a naval squadron of four vessels. Together with the 54-gun ''Jason'' (1704), she captured in September 1704. Then, on 12 November, 30 miles south of the
Isles of Scilly
The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...
, together with ''Jason'' and the 26-gun frigate ''Valeur'' (1704), she captured the
third rate
In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third ...
. In February 1705 ''Auguste'' and the 44-gun
fourth-rate
In 1603 all English warships with a compliment of fewer than 160 men were known as 'small ships'. In 1625/26 to establish pay rates for officers a six tier naval ship rating system was introduced.Winfield 2009 These small ships were divided i ...
''Thétis'' were escorting ''Gloutonne'', ''Élephant'', and ''Jean et Jacques'' (which were armed ''
en flute
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''), when the convoy ran into a squadron under Admiral
George Byng off
Cape Finisterre. Only ''Auguste'' escaped.
, together with and , captured ''Auguste'' on 8 August 1705 (
Old Style Calendar
Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, this is the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries between 158 ...
) - 19 August (
New Calendar).
British service
''Auguste'' was registered for Royal Navy service from 28 August 1705 and
fitted out for service in the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
. Commissioned for active service by Captain Robert Bokenham, she proved her worth by capturing the French
privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
s ''La Marie-Madeleine'' on 13 September 1706, and ''LHirondelle'' on 30 September 1706.
Bokenham died in 1707 and Captain Thomas Scott replaced him. The next year, ''Auguste'' joined the fleet of Admiral
George Byng, which was in need of reinforcement after the
Scilly naval disaster of 1707
The Scilly naval disaster of 1707 was the loss of four warships of a Royal Navy fleet off the Isles of Scilly in severe weather on 22 October 1707. Between 1,400 and 2,000 sailors lost their lives aboard the wrecked vessels, making the incident ...
. The fleet patrolled the Channel and the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
throughout 1708. In 1709, Lord Duffus replaced Scott. From 1710 to 1713, she was under the command of Captain Robert Thompson in the Dunkirk squadron (1710), the Mediterranean (1711), and the West Indies (1712).
Loss
In 1716, while under the command of Captain Robert Johnson, ''Auguste'' was in the Baltic. She had sailed from
Nore on 18 May with a squadron under Sir
John Norris to join a combined English-Dutch-Danish-Russian fleet in a demonstration to Sweden that Britain and her allies would resist Swedish interference with trade.
[Clowes ''et al''. (1897-1903), Vol. 3, pp.26-27.]
In November she was returning to England from Copenhagen with a convoy. As the weather worsened, the convoy took shelter on the evening of 9 November at
Læsø
Læsø ("Isle of Hlér") is the largest island in the North Sea bay of Kattegat, and is located off the northeast coast of the Jutland Peninsula, the Danish mainland. Læsø is also the name of the municipality ( Danish, '' kommune'') on that ...
island. During the night ''Auguste''s cables broke and she sailed out to sea to avoid being driven on shore. On the night of 10 November a gale drove her ashore on the nearby island of
Anholt. Captain Johnson, his officers, and at least 250 of his men were saved. Another 40 may have landed in Sweden.
In all, most of her people were saved.
[
]
See also
*List of ships captured in the 18th century
During times of war where naval engagements were frequent, many battles were fought that often resulted in the capture of the enemy's ships. The ships were often renamed and used in the service of the capturing country's navy. Merchant ships were ...
*Bibliography of 18th-19th century Royal Naval history
Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...
* List of early warships of the English navy
Notes, citations, and references
Notes
Citations
References
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Auguste (1705)
Ships of the line of the Royal Navy
Ships of the line of France
Maritime incidents in 1716
Captured ships