The French schooner ''Découverte'' was a

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 ...

vessel launched in 1800. The British captured her at

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

in 1803 and took her into service as HMS ''Decouverte''. She was decommissioned in January 1806 and sold in 1808.

French career

Between March and November 1800, ''Découverte'' was under the command of ''lieutenant de vaisseau'' Passart, carrying despatches between Brest and Ferrol. Still under Passart's command, she was at Ferrol between end-January and end-February 1802.

Capture

''Découverte'' was present at Saint Domingue (Haiti) in November 1803 during the revolt of slaves against the French, while the British

blockade of Saint-Domingue The Blockade of Saint-Domingue was a naval campaign fought during the first months of the Napoleonic Wars in which a series of British Royal Navy squadrons blockaded the French-held ports of Cap Français and Môle-Saint-Nicolas on the northern ...

trapped the French army and naval forces at Cap-François. The British observed a schooner in the Caracol Passage and Commodore John Loring, having received information that General Rochambeau, his staff and entourage might try to escape via her, decided to cut the schooner out. The boats of and went in during the night of 22 November and captured the schooner, which turned out to be the ''Decouvert'', of six 6-pounder guns, six brass swivel guns, and a crew of 52 men under the command of ''ensign de vaisseau'' Froyant. The launches met with some resistance, but the British suffered no casualties; ''Découverte'' had two men wounded. Rochambeau surrendered on 30 November.

British service

The Royal Navy commissioned HMS ''Decouverte'' in May 1804 at Jamaica under the command of Lieutenant E. Whyte. She spent the rest of her career 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 ...

Fate

''Decouverte'' was decommissioned in January 1806 and sold in 1808.

Citations

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Decouverte (1800) 1800 ships Schooners of the French Navy Captured ships Schooners of the Royal Navy