French frigate Aurore (1768)

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Aurore.

History
France
NameAurore
NamesakeAurora
Ordered31 March 1766[1]
BuilderRochefort[1]
Laid downSeptember 1766[1]
Launched23 November 1768[1]
In service1769
CapturedSurrendered to the British by Royalist traitors in August 1793[1]
Great Britain
NameHMS Aurora
AcquiredAugust 1793
FateBroken up 1803
General characteristics
Tons burthen600 tons[1]
Length44.2 metres
Beam11.2 metres
Draught5.7 metres
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament

Aurore was a frigate of the French Navy

Career

Aurore was ordered on 31 March 1766 as Envieuse, and renamed to Aurore in February 1767, while still under construction.[1]

Aurore took part in the 1772 edition of the Escadre d'évolution under Captain de La Tullaye.[1][2]

On 16 July 1778, she departed Toulon under Captain Bompar[3] for a mission in the Mediterranean, as part of a squadron under Louis de Fabry de Fabrègues.[1]

On 20 January 1779, Aurore recaptured the storeship Heureux Jérôme, that the British had taken as prize, and brought her to Toulon.[1]

In October 1779, Aurore departed Marseille under Joseph de Flotte, escorting a 26-ship convoy bound for Martinique, ferrying supplies for the French colonies of the Caribbeans and for the division under Chef d'Escadre Lamotte-Picquet.[4] Arriving in Saint Lucia channel, the body of water between the islands of Saint Lucia and Martinique,[5] the convoy met a 13-ship British squadron under Admiral Hyde Parker. The British gave chase, and Lamotte scrambled to cover the escape of the convoy, leading to the Battle of Martinique.[6]

In 1780, she sailed from the Caribbean to Cadiz to take part in the Great Siege of Gibraltar.[1]

In 1793, she was surrendered to the British by Royalist insurgents that had seized control of the city and harbour of Toulon.[1]

The British removed her when they evacuated Toulon and the ship was renamed Aurora. She was hulked as a prison ship in 1799 at Gibraltar and was broken up there in 1803.[7]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Roche (2005), p. 58.
  2. ^ Pusch (2010), p. 20.
  3. ^ Blondy (2014), p. 315.
  4. ^ La Monneraye (1998), p. 144.
  5. ^ La Monneraye (1998), p. 144, Note 4.
  6. ^ La Monneraye (1998), p. 153.
  7. ^ Winfield & Roberts (2017), p. 178.

References

  • Blondy, Alain (2014). Documents consulaires, Lettres reçues par le chargé d'affaires du Roi à Malte au XVIIIème siècle. Vol. 1. ISBN 9781291863017. OCLC 994218731.
  • La Monneraye, Pierre-Bruno-Jean (1998). Bonnichon, Philippe (ed.). Souvenirs de 1760 à 1791. Librairie Droz. ISBN 978-2-7453-0079-9. OCLC 165892922.
  • Demerliac, Alain (1996). La Marine de Louis XVI: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1774 à 1792 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 9782906381230. OCLC 468324725.
  • Pusch, Donald E. (2010). The Logs of the Chariot Royal, 1752-1753. France: Petite Presse du Lac. ISBN 9780578047553. OCLC 759084455.
  • Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671 - 1870. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
  • Winfield, Rif; Roberts, Stephen S. (2017). French warships in the age of sail, 1626-1786: design, construction, careers and fates. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 9781473893511.