French Corvette Vénus (1794)

''Vénus'' was a corvette of the French Navy that the British captured in 1800. Renamed HMS ''Scout'', she served briefly in the Channel before being wrecked in 1801, a few days after taking a major prize.

French service

''Vénus'' was begun in Bordeaux in 1793 as a privateer but the French Navy bought her while she was still on the stocks. She was launched in January 1794 as ''Vengeance'' and completed for service in the following April. The French commissioned her as a corvette and initially armed her with 26 guns: twenty-two 8-pounders on her upper deck and four 4-pounders on her galliards, i.e. her quarterdeck and forecastle.

Between 24 March 1794 and 14 September she was under the command of ''lieutenant de vaisseau'' Pimare. While under his command she sailed from Bordeaux to Brest and Dunkirk.

''Vengeance'' was renamed ''Vénus'' in May 1795. She was at Brest in 1795 under the command of ''lieutenant de vaisseau'' Desagenaux. At some point she carried dispatches to Saint-Domingue.

By 1796 she had had 4 ''obusiers'' added on her gaillards. Desagneaux, promoted to ''capitaine de frégate'' commanded ''Vénus'' from 28 April 1796 to 14 June. ''lieutenants de vaisseau'' Pinsan and Landolphe succeeded him. During this time she sailed back from Saint-Domingue to Bordeaux, and then on to Rochefort. She carried troops and funds to Cayenne and Guadeloupe.

''Vénus'' took part in the Expédition d'Irlande in 1796.

By July 1798 the ''obusiers'' had been removed and she carried ten 4-pounder guns on her galliards.

Under the command of ''capitaine de frégate'' Louis-André Senez, ''Vénus'' was in Commodore Savary's squadron at the Battle of Tory Island. She sailed from La Rochelle to Killala Bay, and then by 7 November had returned to Île-d'Aix Roads.

From 21 May 1800 ''Vénus'' was under the command of capitaine de frégate Bourrand. At some point she left Rochefort on a mission to Sénégal. She was off the Iberian Peninsula when the Royal Navy captured her.

Capture

On 22 October 1800 captured ''Vénus'' off the Portuguese coast. ''Indefatigable'' had been chasing ''Venus'' from the morning when in the afternoon came in sight and forced ''Vénus'' to turn. Both British vessels arrived at ''Vénus'' at about 7pm. ''Vénus'' was armed with 32 guns and had a crew of 200 men. She was sailing from Rochefort to Senegal. Later, ''Indefatigable'' and ''Fisgard'' shared the prize money with , , , and the .

Fitting for British service

''Vénus'' was too small and too weak for the Royal Navy (RN) to take her in as a sixth-rate frigate or even a post-ship. She was designed for short-range privateering in the Channel and the Bay of Biscay, rather than the longer-range escort or patrol work of a British sloop. Accordingly, she couldn't stow as much in the way of stores as the Admiralty needed; reducing her armament, relative to her French establishment, would have permitted her to carry the larger weight of stores she had to carry in RN service.

HMS ''Scout''

The Royal Navy commissioned ''Vénus'' as ''Scout'' in November 1800 under Commander George Ormsby. She was fitted out at Plymouth until March 1801. However Ormsby died in January 1801. Ormsby's successor was Commander Henry Duncan.

In March 1801, ''Scout'' was in company with the hired armed vessels ''Sheerness'' and the ''Lady Charlotte'' when they captured a large Dutch East Indiaman off St Alban's Head. She was the ''Crown Prince'', of 1,400 tons and 28 guns, and had been sailing from China to Copenhagen with a cargo of tea.

Fate

''Scout'' was wrecked on the Shingles, Isle of Wight, on 25 March 1801. The crew attempted to lighten her but all efforts had failed by late afternoon on 27 March. Due to the efforts of and the master attendant of the dockyard all the crew were saved.

On 1 April a court martial was held at Portsmouth on for Commander Duncan, his officers, and crew for the loss of ''Scout''. The court acquitted Duncan, the pilot, the officers, and the crew of all blame, ruling that the sinking was due to a strong tide catching ''Scout'' when she was vulnerable.''Naval Chronicle'' (Jan-Jun 1801), Vol. 5, pp.275-6.

Postscript

Duncan received command of ''Premier Consul'', which had captured on 5 March 1801, and which the Admiralty renamed ''Scout''. ''Scout'' foundered with the loss of all hands in 1801 or 1802. Naval opinion was that she went down off Newfoundland.

See also

*List of ships captured in the 19th century

Notes

Citations

References

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External links

Naval Database


Phillips, Michael - ''Ships of the Old Navy - Scout (1800)''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Venus (1794)
Shipwrecks in the English Channel
1794 ships
Corvettes of the French Navy
Maritime incidents in 1801
Ships built in France
Captured ships
Maritime incidents in 1800