HMS Epervier (1797)

The first HMS ''Epervier'', sometimes spelled HMS ''Epervoir'', was the French ex-naval ''brick''-'' aviso'' and then privateer ''Épervier'', launched in 1788. The British captured her in 1797 and registered her in 1798 as an 18-gun brig-sloop of the Royal Navy. The Navy never commissioned her and she was sold in 1801.

Design

''Epervier'' was an ''Expédition''-class "brick-aviso" (advice brig). Benjamin Dubois built the six members of the class at Saint-Malo Montmarin to a 3 October 1787 design by Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait, and all were launched in 1788. They cost 86,000 Livre tournois each.

The British captured two other members of the class, but never added them to the navy.Winfield (2008), pp. 266 & 286. The two were ''Curieux'' (captured in June 1793), and ''Impatient'' (captured in May 1803), by .

French service

''Épervier'' was originally armed with six 4-pounder guns. In 1792 her armament was increased to ten 4-pounders and four 12-pounder howitzers. The next year she received six more 4-pounder guns.

In September 1794 a French naval squadron comprising the razee under the command of ''lieutenant de vaisseau'' Arnaud, ''Vigilance'', , ''Épervier'', and was cruising the West African coast, destroying British factories and shipping. They captured , which they sent back to France, and another Sierra Leone Company ship, , which they destroyed. These were only two of the many vessels the squadron captured.

''Épervier'' was in dry-dock at Rochefort in 1795. In April 1797 she was condemned at Cayenne, but then became a privateer. Between 1794 and 1797, she carried eighteen 4-pounders and four two-pounder guns.

Capture

''Epervier'' was operating as a French privateer when , under the command of Captain John Drew, captured her. ''Cerberus'' was on the Irish station when on 12 and 14 November 1797 she captured two French privateers, ''Epervier'' and . Both vessels were pierced for 20 guns, were copper-bottomed, quite new, and fast sailers. ''Epervier'' was armed with sixteen 4-pounder guns and had a crew of 145 men. ''Renard'' carried eighteen 6-pounders and had a crew of 189 men. ''Lloyd's List'' reported ''Cerberus''s capture of two privateers, one of 30 guns and one of 18, and the arrival of both at Cork.''Lloyd's List'', no.297

- accessed 31 January 2014.

Between these two captures, ''Cerberus'' recaptured the ''Adelphi'', prize to ''Epervier''. ''Adelphi'', Patterson, master, had been sailing from Quebec to London when ''Epervier'' captured her; she too went into Cork. ''Epervier'' arrived at Plymouth on 12 January 1798, and was registered on 14 February. However, the Navy never commissioned her. The Navy did take ''Renard'' into service, retaining her name; she served until 1807. Although the Navy did not commission ''Epervier/Epervoir'', two legal notices in the ''London Gazette'' give the names of two men, one of whom is described as a master on ''Epervoir'', and one of whom is named as having been a lieutenant on her.

Fate

The Commissioners of the Navy listed ''Epervoir'', of 254 tons burthen, for sale at Plymouth in August 1801. She was sold on 7 September 1801.

Citations and references

Citations

References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Epervier (1797)
Brig-sloops of the Royal Navy
1788 ships
Privateer ships of France
Captured ships