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History
France
Name	Charmante
Builder	Brest
Laid down	April 1777
Launched	30 August 1777
In service	January 1778
Fate	Wrecked on the Chaussée de Sein on 24 March 1780
General characteristics
Class and type	Charmante class frigate
Tons burthen	540 tonnes
Length	44.2 m (145 ft)
Beam	11.2 m (37 ft)
Draught	5.4 m (18 ft)
Armament	32 guns

Charmante was a 32-gun of the French Navy, lead ship of her class.

Career

In 1778, under Lieutenant Henri Pantaléon de Mac Nemara,^{[Note 1]}^[3] Charmante cruised in the Caribbean, arriving at Fort Royal^[4] on 23 June 1778.^[1]

On 1 September, as Charmante was escorting a convoy from Port-au-Prince around Saint-Domingue along with Dédaigneuse, she encountered the British frigate HMS Active, under Captain Williams-Freeman,^[5] and captured her.^[1]

On 16 February 1780, under Baron de la Haye,^[6] she was part of a squadron comprising the 64-gun Ajax and Protée, as well as the fluyt Éléphant. In the action of 24 February 1780, the convoy encountered a British force under George Rodney, and Protée sacrificed herself to cover the retreat of her fellows. While the convoy sailed on to the Indian Ocean with Ajax, Charmante returned to Lorient to bring the news of the battle, arriving there on 3 March.^[1]

Fate

Charmante was wrecked on 24 March 1780 when a gale pushed her on the Chaussée de Sein. 83 men, including Captain Mengaud de la Haye,^[7] managed to escape on the ship's longboat,^[1] while 210 men died.^[7] ^{[Note 2]}

Notes

^ Alternatively spelt "Macnémara", "Macnemara"^[2] or "Macnamara". Henri Pantaléon de Mac Nemara was the nephew of Vice-Admiral Jean-Baptiste Mac Nemara.^[1]
^ According to Lacour-Gayet, Mengaud de la Hage also died in the accident.^[7]

Citations

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Roche, p.111
^ Cunat, p.10
^ "H Henri Pantaléon de MAC NEMARA". Geneanet. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
^ Present-day Fort-de-France
^ Winfield (2007), p.229.
^ Cunat (1852), p. 83.
^ ^a ^b ^c Lacour-Gayet (1905), p. 307.

References

Cunat, Charles (1852). Histoire du Bailli de Suffren. Rennes: A. Marteville et Lefas. p. 447.
Lacour-Gayet, Georges (1905). La marine militaire de la France sous le règne de Louis XVI. Paris: Honoré Champion.
Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours, 1671 - 1870. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. pp. 325–6. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1844157006.