HMS ''Surprise'' was the name the
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 ...
gave to 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 ...
's
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 ...
''Unité'' after ''Unité''s capture in 1796. ''Unité'' was launched on 16 February 1794. ''Surprise'' gained fame in 1799 for the recapture of . In 1802 ''Surprise'' was sold out of the service.
Historical fiction
Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...
author
Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian, Order of the British Empire, CBE (12 December 1914 – 2 January 2000), born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of sea novels set in the Royal Navy during t ...
set many of his
Aubrey–Maturin series
The Aubrey–Maturin series is a sequence of nautical historical novels—20 completed and one unfinished—by English author Patrick O'Brian, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centring on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the Roy ...
aboard HMS ''Surprise'', including the 2003
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
.
Construction
Pierre-Alexandre Forfait
Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait (21 April 1752, Rouen – 8 November 1807, Rouen) was a French engineer, hydrographer and politician, and Minister of the Navy.
Career
Born to a family of rich merchants, Forfait studied at a Jesuit college in Ro ...
designed ''Unité'', the
name ship
The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels.
Large ships are very complex and may ...
for a class of corvette. Although the French initially rated ''Unité'' as a corvette, the ships of her class bridged a gap between smaller warships and frigates, and at various times were rated as frigates.
French service
On 20 March 1794,
lieutenant de vaisseau Jean le Drézénec, who was 41 years old and had entered the naval service soon after the
revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
from a career in the merchant service, arrived to take command of ''Unité''. He supervised the fitting out of the ship, and found the long guns were too large to be easily reloaded, and the lower sails were also too large. He notified the authorities, who urged him to finish fitting out the ship because a major naval operation was imminent. Soon afterwards, ''Unité'' took part in the battle of the
Glorious First of June
The Glorious First of June (1 June 1794), also known as the Fourth Battle of Ushant, (known in France as the or ) was the first and largest fleet action of the naval conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the First French Republic ...
by escorting the dismasted
''Révolutionnaire'' as she was towed by the
''Audacieux''.
In June 1794 ''Unité'' completed repairs in
Saint-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 ...
and
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
*Brest, ...
to damage she had sustained in the battle. In the following months she escorted merchant vessels along the coasts of France. On 28 September, with the corvette ''Bergere'' and under the command of Lieutenant de Vaisseau Gouley, the two ships left Brest to sail northwest in between
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
and the islands of the
Hebrides
The Hebrides (; gd, Innse Gall, ; non, Suðreyjar, "southern isles") are an archipelago off the west coast of the Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner and Outer Hebrid ...
and
St Kilda to intercept enemy merchant ships. On 17 October, the ships captured a 200-ton merchant ship ''Dianne''. The next day the weather turned foul and the two ships were separated. Unwilling or unable to continue the mission alone, ''Unité'' searched for ''Bergere'' fruitlessly for sixteen days before finally returning to Brest on 1 November.
Capture by the Royal Navy
After repairs, ''Unité'' was ordered to join the Mediterranean fleet at
Toulon
Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...
, and arrived there in March 1795. She spent the remainder of the year either blockaded in port or serving as a courier. In April 1796, she was ordered on one such courier mission to North Africa to deliver personnel and messages to the port of
Bône
Annaba ( ar, عنّابة, "Place of the Jujubes"; ber, Aânavaen), formerly known as Bon, Bona and Bône, is a seaport city in the northeastern corner of Algeria, close to the border with Tunisia. Annaba is near the small Seybouse River ...
. At the time, Le Drézénec, who had been recently promoted to
''capitaine de frégate'', was suffering from
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
and was incapacitated. Consequently, her first lieutenant, Lieutenant Le Breton, commanded ''Unité''.
Captain
Thomas Fremantle in command of the frigate
HMS ''Inconstant'' had heard there was a French frigate in
Bône
Annaba ( ar, عنّابة, "Place of the Jujubes"; ber, Aânavaen), formerly known as Bon, Bona and Bône, is a seaport city in the northeastern corner of Algeria, close to the border with Tunisia. Annaba is near the small Seybouse River ...
, and sailed to intercept her. When ''Unité'' arrived in the afternoon of 20 April 1796, the watch aboard ''Unité'' identified ''Inconstant'' as a neutral vessel and Le Breton did not clear the ship for action. About an hour later, ''Inconstant'' sailed alongside, boarded and captured ''Unité'' intact.
Royal Navy
Commander
Edward Hamilton, commissioned ''Surprise'' in June 1796. He sailed for Jamaica on 29 July. He was promoted to
post captain
Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of Captain (Royal Navy), captain in the Royal Navy.
The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from:
* Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) ...
in July 1797. She returned to England and underwent refitting at Plymouth between January and May 1798.
She returned to the Caribbean and sailed on the
Jamaica station
Jamaica station is a major train station of the Long Island Rail Road located in Jamaica, Queens, New York City. With weekday ridership exceeding 200,000 passengers, it is the largest transit hub on Long Island, the fourth-busiest rail station ...
.
In November, ''Surprise'' and
''Amaranthe'' captured the French 4-gun privateer ''Petite Française''. On 19 March 1799 ''Surprise'' captured ''Betsey'' and the 5-gun ''Lionne''.
Then on 17 April ''Surprise'' captured ''Chien de Chasse''.
On 10 October 1799 in the harbour of
Aruba
Aruba ( , , ), officially the Country of Aruba ( nl, Land Aruba; pap, Pais Aruba) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands physically located in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about north of the Venezuela peninsula of ...
she used her boats to cut out a privateer of ten guns and two sloops. One of her officers, an acting lieutenant, was killed in the action. She then sailed onto Venezuela.
Recapture of HMS ''Hermione''
![British Sailors Boarding a Man of War RMG PU5628 seamen boarding man of war 1815](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/British_Sailors_Boarding_a_Man_of_War_RMG_PU5628_seamen_boarding_man_of_war_1815.jpg)
''Surprise'' gained fame for the cutting-out expedition on 25 October 1799 of . ''Hermione''s crew had mutinied, and had sailed her into the
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
possession of
Puerto Cabello
Puerto Cabello () is a city on the north coast of Venezuela. It is located in Carabobo State, about 210 km west of Caracas. As of 2011, the city had a population of around 182,400. The city is home to the largest and busiest port in the coun ...
. Captain Edward Hamilton of ''Surprise'' led a boarding party to retake ''Hermione'' and, after an exceptionally bloody action, sailed her out under Spanish gunfire. The Spanish casualties included 119 dead; 231 were taken prisoner, while another 15 jumped or fell overboard. Hamilton had 11 injured, four seriously, but none killed.
In January 1801 Captain Christopher Laroche assumed command of ''Surprise''. Captain James Oswald replaced Laroche in August.
Fate
After the
Treaty of Amiens
The Treaty of Amiens (french: la paix d'Amiens, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition
The War of the Second Coalition (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on perio ...
, the Royal Navy sold ''Surprise'' out of the service at
Deptford
Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...
in February 1802 and she was broken up.
''Surprise'' in fiction
![HMS Rose - 2000 51737778 b6724f1e5d](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/HMS_Rose_-_2000_51737778_b6724f1e5d.jpg)
HMS ''Surprise'' was the ship chosen by author
Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian, Order of the British Empire, CBE (12 December 1914 – 2 January 2000), born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of sea novels set in the Royal Navy during t ...
to restore Captain
"Lucky" Jack Aubrey of the
Aubrey–Maturin series
The Aubrey–Maturin series is a sequence of nautical historical novels—20 completed and one unfinished—by English author Patrick O'Brian, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centring on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the Roy ...
to his place as a
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
, and eventually see him raise his flag as an
admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
of the
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 ...
. ''Surprise'' is an important element of the series, both because of her importance to the running plotline, and because of the emotional attachment she has earned among the characters in the book and real life fans of the series.
In the late 1990s, publisher W. W. Norton & Company rented the
replica of HMS ''Rose'' in New York for a pier-side party to celebrate the publication of Patrick O’Brian's latest novel. O’Brian himself was present, and he casually mentioned to the frigate's captain, Richard Bailey, that if the ''Rose'' were painted in an 1805 colour scheme she would be a "dead ringer" for the frigate ''Surprise'' that appeared in his books. Bailey quickly ordered his crew to get out the paint and make the changes. O’Brian was so impressed that he changed his mind about his prohibition of having any of his books converted into film, and Norton immediately started looking for a Hollywood production company. For the 2003 film ''
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World'', the role of ''Surprise'' was filled by the same replica of HMS ''Rose'', which was purchased by the film studio and extensively modified at
Baja Studios
Baja Studios, formerly Fox Baja, is an American-owned film studio near the resort community of Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico. It comprises the world's largest stages and water tanks designed for filming. As well as major film work the facil ...
to resemble the original Surprise for the role.
The book ''
HMS Surprise
HMS ''Surprise'' or ''Surprize'' is the name of several ships. These include:
British Royal Navy
Thirteen ships of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS ''Surprise'' or HMS ''Surprize'', including:
* , a 20-gun sixth rate launched in 1746 ...
'' by O'Brian also mentions Aubrey being a midshipman aboard ''Surprise''
The series has the ''Surprise'' in service until O'Brian's extended fictional year of 1812, using the latitude of fiction in ''
The Reverse of the Medal
''The Reverse of the Medal'' is the eleventh historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1986. The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.
Returning from the far side of the world, ...
''. In that era, the Royal Navy commissioned a 38-gun frigate by this name in September 1812.
The fictional ''Surprise'' is sold out of the service in ''
The Reverse of the Medal
''The Reverse of the Medal'' is the eleventh historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1986. The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.
Returning from the far side of the world, ...
'', being purchased by Stephen Maturin and employed first as a
letter of marque and later as His Majesty's
hired ship ''Surprise'' under Aubrey's command. Maturin agrees to sell the ''Surprise'' to Aubrey in ''
The Nutmeg of Consolation
''The Nutmeg of Consolation'' is the fourteenth historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by British author Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1991. The story is set during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812.
Building a schooner on ...
'', though later novels suggest that never transpired and Maturin continued to own the ship. ''Surprise''s ultimate fictional fate is unknown although she was still at sea in 1817 when Aubrey receives news of his promotion to
Rear-Admiral of the Blue
The Rear-Admiral of the Blue was a senior rank of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, immediately outranked by the rank Rear-Admiral of the White. Royal Navy officers currently holding the ranks of commodore, rear admiral, vice admiral and adm ...
in her great cabin at the end of ''
Blue at the Mizzen
The novel ''Blue at the Mizzen'' is the twentieth and last completed historical novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1999. It is set after the Napoleonic wars, in the fight for Chilean independence from Sp ...
'', the last completed novel in the series.
The Surprise public house in Chelsea London, established in 1853, is named after the ship with the pub sign containing an image of the ship.
Notes
Citations
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
HMS ''Surprise'' at the San Diego Maritime Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Surprise (1794)
Frigates of the Royal Navy
Unite
Unite may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums
* ''Unite'' (A Friend in London album), 2013 album by Danish band A Friend in London
* ''Unite'' (Kool & the Gang album), 1993
* ''Unite'' (The O.C. Supertones album), 2005
Songs ...
1794 ships
Ships built in France
Captured ships