''Président'' was a 40-gun

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 in 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 ...

, built to an 1802 design by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait. She served with the French Navy from her completion in 1804 until late 1806 when the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

captured her. Thereafter, she served as HMS ''President''. In 1815 the Navy renamed her ''Piemontaise'', but then broke her up in December.

French service

Originally ordered under the name ''Minerve'', the

was renamed as ''Président'' on 24 December 1803. She took part in L'Hermite's expedition, which led to her capture. Before she was captured, on 6 January 1806 she helped capture the 16-gun sloop .

Capture

In June 1806, Captain Thomas George Shortland took command of . She was the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

for a squadron under

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

Sir

Thomas Louis Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Louis, 1st Baronet (''bap.'' 11 May 1758 – 17 May 1807) was a Royal Navy officer who served in the American Revolutionary War and French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He was one of Horatio Nelson's " Band of Broth ...

. On 27 September, they fell in with ''Président'', Capt. Gallier Labrosse, south of 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 ...

, near

Belle Île Belle-Île (), Belle-Île-en-Mer (), or Belle Isle (, ; ) is a French island off the coast of Brittany in the ''département in France, département'' of Morbihan, and the largest of Brittany's islands. It is from the Quiberon peninsula. Admini ...

. ''Président'' had been sailing with the

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactics in the Age of Sail, naval tactic known as the line of battl ...

, frigate and

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 sloo ...

, but had separated from them on 20 August. Louis's squadron had sailed to the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay ( ) is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc'h to the Spanish border, and along the northern coast of Spain, extending westward ...

to await the return of Admiral Willaumez from the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

. On spotting ''Président'', the squadron gave chase but the ships of the line were not fast enough to catch her. However, an 18-gun attached to the squadron, , Captain Edward Hawkins, was able to get within firing range. ''Dispatch'' proceeded to harry ''Président'' with her forward guns, forcing ''Président'' to turn towards the nearest British frigate, HMS ''Blanche'', under Captain Sir Thomas Lavie. Seeing ''Président'' turn, Louis ordered ''Canopus'' to fire, even though the range was extreme. Realizing that the rest of the British squadron would arrive shortly, Labrosse struck his colours to ''Dispatch''. ''Président'' had suffered only minor damage and there were no casualties on either side in the action.James (1837) Vol. 4, pp. 265–6. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS ''President'' (dropping the accent over the 'e' in her name). The frigate's design was much admired and she served as the model for a number of later frigates, notably the in the Royal Navy.

Cruising

In December 1807, she was commissioned under the command of Captain Adam Mackenzie, sailing for South America on 7 May 1808 after completion conversion for British service at

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

. Mackenzie commanded her until 1810, apart from a brief period in 1809, when Captain Charles Schomberg temporarily commanded her off

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

while Mackenzie temporarily commanded . In 1810 Captain Samuel Warren took command and on 31 December sailed her for the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

and thence to the

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies) is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The ''Indies'' broadly referred to various lands in Eastern world, the East or the Eastern Hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainl ...

. In the East Indies she took part in the operations in

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

and the rest of the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

. In 1811, ''President'' was attached to the squadron of Admiral Robert Stopford that captured Java. On 31 August the frigates , ''President'', , and were detached to take the seaport of Cheribon. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Java" to all remaining survivors of the campaign. Returning to the UK in late 1812 or early 1813, ''President'' then served from May 1813 in the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

, first under Captain Francis Mason, then from April 1814 under Captain Archibald Duff. On 21 March 1814, ''President'' was in company with the brig-sloop and the gun-brig off Finisterre as they escorted a fleet from Cork to Portugal.''Lloyd's List''. Accessed 13 December 2016.
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Fate

In August 1815, the Royal Navy renamed her HMS ''Piedmontaise'' but broke her up in December of that same year.

Post script

''President'' was the model for three later British 44-gun frigates: * * *

Citations

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:President Age of Sail frigates of France 1804 ships Frigates of the French Navy Gloire-class frigates Ships built in France