''Néréide'' was a , 32-gun, copper-hulled
frigate
A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied.
The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...
of the
French Navy
The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...
. On 22 December 1797 captured her and she was taken into British service as HMS ''Nereide''. The French recaptured her at the
Battle of Grand Port
The Battle of Grand Port was a naval battle fought on 20–27 August 1810 between squadrons of frigates from the French Navy and the British Royal Navy over possession of the harbour of Grand Port on Île de France (now Mauritius), as part of ...
, only to lose her again when the British took
Isle de France (now
Mauritius
Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...
), in 1810. After the Battle of Grand Port she was in such a poor condition that she was laid up and sold for breaking up in 1816.
French service
On 6 June 1780, along with (74 guns), ''Néréide'' captured a British privateer, the 10-gun cutter ''Prince of Wales'' off
Madeira
Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...
.
''Néréide'' was part of the fleet of
Lamotte-Picquet that sailed from
Brest and on 2 May 1781 captured 18 ships in a convoy from
Sint Eustatius
Sint Eustatius, known locally as Statia, is an island in the Caribbean. It is a Caribbean Netherlands, special municipality (officially "Public body (Netherlands), public body") of the Netherlands.
The island is in the northern Leeward Islands ...
. In 1782, she served in the Caribbean under
Vaudreuil.
From 1788, ''Néréide'' served off Africa. She then underwent a refit in Rochefort in October 1794.
On 20 December 1797, she was sailing off the
Isles of Scilly
The Isles of Scilly ( ; ) are a small archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly, St Agnes, is over farther south than the most southerly point of the Great Britain, British mainla ...
under the command of Lieutenant de Vaisseau Chassériau when she encountered ''Phoebe''. After exchanging broadsides with ''Phoebe'' for about an hour and a half, ''Néréide''
struck Struck is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Adolf Struck
Adolf Hermann Struck (1877–1911) was a German sightseer and writer. He is known for his Travel literature, travelogue ''Makedonische Fahrten'' and for surveying the ...
. She had suffered 20 killed and 55 wounded; ''Phoebe'' had suffered three men killed and 10 wounded. Although the French vessel had a larger crew, she had a substantially lighter broadside (12-pdrs versus 18-pdrs) and this proved decisive. She entered into British service as HMS ''Nereide''.
British service
In the morning of 1 March 1800, ''Nereide'' saw five sail and made towards them. They were five well-armed French privateers, but they scattered as she approached. ''Nereide'' lost sight of them until the next morning when she re-encountered one. After a pursuit of 12 hours and 123 miles, ''Nereide'' captured the French privateer ''Vengeance'', pierced for 18 guns but carrying sixteen 12-pounders and 174 men. ''Vengeance'' had left Bordeaux on 26 February and then had joined ''Bellona'' (twenty-four 12-pounder guns, six 36-pounder carronades, and 420 men), ''Favorite'' (sixteen 8-pounder guns and 120 men), ''Huron'' (sixteen 6-pounder guns and 187 men), and the schooner ''Terrailluse'' (fourteen 6-pounder guns and 80 men).
[
The next day (3 March), ''Nereide'' recaptured the American ship , of Baltimore, which was carrying a cargo valued at £30,000.] Then on 17 March ''Nereide'' recaptured ''Lord Nelson''.
''Nereide'', , and shared in the proceeds of the capture, on 5 June of the ''Eagle''.
On 11 September Watkins sailed to Curaçao
Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela.
Curaçao includ ...
to forestall the French from taking it. However, the French had already invaded Curaçao in July. Great Britain and the United States had come to a unofficial naval alliance against the French during the War of the Second Coalition
The War of the Second Coalition () (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on periodisation) was the second war targeting French Revolution, revolutionary French First Republic, France by many European monarchies, led by Kingdom of Great Britain, Britai ...
, and a nearby American naval force that had received word of the invasion from American merchants on the island were able to put ashore Marines and, with the help of naval gunnery from American frigates, to push the French out of the forts, and off the island. This solidified the capitulation of the island from the Dutch to the British, thereby denying it to the French.
On 13 October she captured American armed brig "Sukey" and sent her in to Curacao.
On 25 November 1806, ''Nereide'' was under the command of Captain Robert Corbet when she captured ''Brilliante'', a Spanish privateer lugger of four guns with a crew of 50. She was two days out of Vigo and provisioned for a cruise of four months. Corbet was particularly pleased at the capture as she had not yet captured anything, but there were several sail in sight when ''Nereide'' commenced her pursuit.
On 15 July 1808, ''Nereide'', ''Otter'', and ''Charwell'' shared in the capture of the French brig ''Lucie'', and her cargo of slaves. In December ''Nereide'' captured the French brig ''Gobe Mouche'' after a chase on the morning of the 18th. She was pierced for 12 guns but had thrown most overboard during the chase. She was under the command of ''Enseigne de vaisseau provisoir'' Sugor, and was sailing from the Seychelles to Port Louis with dispatches. She threw them overboard, but ''Nereide''s boat crew was able to retrieve a considerable part of them. ''Gobe Mouche'' had a complement of 80 men, but had only 30 on board when captured as she had had to man a number of prizes on her previous cruise.
On 20 October 1808, ''Nereide'' recaptured , a 78-ton schooner of the British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
's naval arm, the Bombay Marine. Joasmi ('' l Qasimi') Arabs had just captured ''Sylph'' and slaughtered almost the entire crew. ''Nereide''s arrived just in time to save the remaining crew, who had hidden themselves below deck.
In 1809, ''Nereide'' served as convoy escort. In September, still under the command of Corbet, she played a critical part in the Raid on Saint Paul at ÃŽle Bourbon
Ile or ILE may refer to:
Ile
* Ile, a Puerto Rican singer
* Ile District (disambiguation), multiple places
* Ilé-Ifẹ̀, an ancient Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria
* Interlingue (ISO 639:ile), a planned language
* Isoleucine, an amino aci ...
(now Réunion). There ''Nereide'' and the landing party captured the frigate , and recovered the East Indiamen
East Indiamen were merchant ships that operated under charter or licence for European Trading company, trading companies which traded with the East Indies between the 17th and 19th centuries. The term was commonly used to refer to vessels belon ...
''Streatham'' and ''Europa'', and the 14-gun Bombay Marine
The Royal Indian Navy (RIN) was the naval force of British India and the Dominion of India. Along with the Presidency armies, later the Indian Army, and from 1932 the Royal Indian Air Force, it was one of the Armed Forces of British India.
Fr ...
brig . The British also captured some merchant vessels and destroyed several forts and batteries.
In 1810, ''Nereide'' came under the command of Captain William Gordon, and then Captain Nesbit Willoughby.
In March 1810, ''Nereide'' joined , and off Isle de France. On 1 May ''Nereide'' sent in her boats, under Willoughby's personal command, into the bay at Jacotet (or Jacotel). They captured the 4-gun packet schooner ''Estafette'', spiked the guns of two forts, and two field pieces, captured several prisoners, and destroyed some buildings. On board ''Estafette'' the British also found 600 pieces of mail that provided an insight into the state of the French colony. ''Nereide'' had one man killed and seven wounded. In 1847 the Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "1 May Boat Service 1810" to all surviving claimants from the action.
Then on 2 June, ''Nereide'' intercepted and captured near the Cape the 1-gun schooner-aviso ''Mouche No. 23'', which had come out from France. On 30 August, ''Astrée'' recaptured ''Mouche No.23''.
Next, Willoughby and ''Nereide'' were at the invasion of ÃŽle Bonaparte
The invasion of Isle Bonaparte was an amphibious operation in 1810 that formed an important part of the British campaign to blockade and capture the French Indian Ocean colonies of Isle Bonaparte and Isle de France during the Napoleonic Wars. ...
, which took place between 7 and 9 July. Willoughby led the amphibious assault in ''Estafette'' to secure the beach and organise the landing forces. However, as ''Estafette'' approached the beach the wind strengthened and built up a powerful surf, which smashed the schooner ashore with enough force to break her and the accompanying boats apart: four of the 150-strong landing party were drowned.
Recapture
''Nereide'' was under the command of Captain Willoughby when she took part in the Battle of Grand Port
The Battle of Grand Port was a naval battle fought on 20–27 August 1810 between squadrons of frigates from the French Navy and the British Royal Navy over possession of the harbour of Grand Port on Île de France (now Mauritius), as part of ...
on 28 August 1810. There she was severely battered and eventually captured.
The French took ''Nereide'' into service but it is not clear that she had any officers or crew. The British captured her in December 1810 after their successful invasion of Isle de France
The invasion of Isle de France was a complicated but successful British amphibious operation in the Indian Ocean, launched in November 1810 during the Napoleonic Wars. During the operation, a substantial military force was landed by the Royal ...
on 4 December 1810. All her former British officers and crew were in prison ships at Grand Port and qualified for the prize money that followed the capture of the island.
Fate
''Nereide'' was in such a bad shape that she was laid up. She was sold at Port Louis on 1 March 1816 for breaking up.
See also
* List of French sail frigates
This article is a list of French naval frigates during the Age of Sail, from the middle of the 17th century (when the type emerged) until the close of the sailing era in the middle of the 19th century. The tables excludes privateer frigates (i ...
* List of ships captured in the 18th century
Notes
Citations
References
* Fonds Marine. Campagnes (opérations; divisions et stations navales; missions diverses). Inventaire de la sous-série Marine BB4. Tome premier : BB4 210 à 482 (1805-1826
*
*
*
*
*
HMS ''Nereide''
, Naval database
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nereide (1779)
Age of Sail frigates of France
Ships built in France
Sibylle-class frigates
1779 ships
Captured ships