French frigate Cléopâtre (1838)
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image= |Ship caption=}} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=France |Ship flag=File:Civil and Naval Ensign of France.svg |Ship name=Cléopâtre |Ship namesake=Cleopatra |Ship ordered= |Ship builder= Charles Alexandre (with assistance from Joseph Daviel and Georges Allix from 1835) |Ship laid down= 1 September 1827 |Ship launched=23 April 1838 |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=24 April 1838 |Ship decommissioned=1 July 1838 {{Infobox|child=yes | label1 = Ship recommissioned | data1 = 21 July 1842 | label2 = Ship struck | data2 = 31 December 1864 | label3 = Ship broken up | data3 = 1869 }}}} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class=Artémise-class |Ship displacement=2,300 tonnes |Ship tons burthen= |Ship length={{convert|52.8|m|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|13.72|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draught={{convert|6.70|m|abbr=on}} |Ship propulsion=Sail |Ship speed= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= |Ship complement=441 men |Ship armament=
|Ship armour=Timber |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} |
Cléopâtre was a 50-gun frigate of the Artémise class that served in the French Navy. Launched in 1838 after an almost 11-year period of construction, she was in commission for only three months during her transfer from Saint Servan to Brest. She was recommissioned in 1842. In 1843 the Cléopâtre rescued all 34 people aboard the Regular East Indiaman that had been abandoned during a voyage from London to Bombay. She sailed to Japan in 1846 in an attempt to open up trade with that country and served as a transport during the Crimean War of 1853–1856. She was used as a storage hulk after 1864 and broken up in 1869.
Construction
The Artémise class of (largely) 52-gun frigates were design by Jean-Baptiste Hubert with the first vessel, Artémise launched in 1828 and the last Flore in 1869. The first vessels were sail-powered with later vessels steam-driven. The sail-powered Cléopâtre was constructed at Saint Servan by Charles Alexandre (with assistance from Joseph Daviel and Georges Allix from 1835). The keel was laid on 1 September 1827 and she was launched on 23 April 1838.{{cite book|last1=Winfield|first1=Rif|last2=Roberts|first2=Stephen S.|title=French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786 – 1861: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates|date=2015|publisher=Seaforth Publishing|isbn=9781848323537|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YZQTDgAAQBAJ|accessdate=11 January 2018|language=en}}
The Cléopâtre was commissioned on 24 April and completed in June. She sailed to Brest under tow from the steam corvette Tonnerre and was decommissioned on 1 July. The Cléopâtre recommissioned on 21 July 1842 at which point she was armed with 28 30-pounder long guns on her upper deck and 18 30-pounder carronades and 4 16cm shell-firing guns on her lower deck.
Rescue of the ''Regular''
On 12 July 1843 Cléopâtre rescued all 34 people from the Regular, a full-rigged East Indiaman that was forced to be abandoned whilst travelling between London and Bombay.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Ship News |date=6 September 1843 |page=7 |issue=18394 |column=B-C }}{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Dreadful Shipwrecks |date=14 September 1843 |page=7 |issue=18401 |column=E }}{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Loss of the Regular, East Indiaman – Captain Carter's Narrative |date=15 September 1843 |page=6 |issue=18402 |column=F }} The Regular had recently been lengthened by 14 feet and this alteration affected her structure, leading to her taking on large quantities of water in rough seas on her first voyage.{{cite book|title=Shipwrecks and Adventures at Sea|date=1860|publisher=Christian Knowledge Society|page=203|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uFdiAAAAcAAJ|accessdate=12 January 2018|language=en}} She was caught in a storm on 7 July and hit by a freak wave the next day that tore off her starboard bulwarks.{{cite book|title=Shipwrecks and Adventures at Sea|date=1860|publisher=Christian Knowledge Society|page=204|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uFdiAAAAcAAJ|accessdate=12 January 2018|language=en}} Despite constant manning of the pumps, water began filling the ship.{{cite book|title=Shipwrecks and Adventures at Sea|date=1860|publisher=Christian Knowledge Society|page=205|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uFdiAAAAcAAJ|accessdate=12 January 2018|language=en}} The cargo was jettisoned but it proved impossible to save the vessel and those aboard abandoned ship into its pinnace, captain's gig and launch.{{cite book|title=Shipwrecks and Adventures at Sea|date=1860|publisher=Christian Knowledge Society|page=209|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uFdiAAAAcAAJ|accessdate=12 January 2018|language=en}} A resurgence of bad weather washed almost all of the supplies out of the boats, the gig had to be abandoned, and the two remaining boats lost sight of each other.{{cite book|title=Shipwrecks and Adventures at Sea|date=1860|publisher=Christian Knowledge Society|page=210|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uFdiAAAAcAAJ|accessdate=12 January 2018|language=en}} On 14 July a sail was sighted from the launch and a lady's shawl was hoisted as a signal of distress. The ship proved to be the Cléopâtre, travelling in company with the 20-gun Alcmène. The Cléopâtre responded to the distress signal and rescued those aboard the launch through her gunports, by hoisting them individually up her side and by hoisting the entire boat aboard.{{cite book|title=Shipwrecks and Adventures at Sea|date=1860|publisher=Christian Knowledge Society|page=211|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uFdiAAAAcAAJ|accessdate=12 January 2018|language=en}} Commodore Roy, commanding on Cléopâtre directed the Alcmène to search for the missing pinnace, which she found and rescued all aboard.{{cite book|title=Shipwrecks and Adventures at Sea|date=1860|publisher=Christian Knowledge Society|page=212|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uFdiAAAAcAAJ|accessdate=12 January 2018|language=en}} Commodore Roy provided clothing and food to the Regular{{'}}s crew and passengers and diverted to Mauritius from his intended destination of the Isle of Bourbon (now Réunion) to allow them to be landed on British territory.{{cite book|title=Shipwrecks and Adventures at Sea|date=1860|publisher=Christian Knowledge Society|page=214|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uFdiAAAAcAAJ|accessdate=12 January 2018|language=en}}
Later career
She sailed to the Ryukyu Islands with two corvettes under Admiral Cécille in June 1846 and thence to Nagasaki where she arrived on 29 July as part of an attempt to open up trade relations with Japan.{{cite book|last1=Schlichtmann|first1=Klaus|title=Japan in the World: Shidehara Kijuro, Pacifism, and the Abolition of War|date=2009|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=9780739132692|page=80|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oBTPQPrFXMYC|accessdate=11 January 2018|language=en}} During the Crimean War (1853-56) Cléopâtre was temporarily reduced to 2 guns when configured en flûte for use as a transport vessel. She was struck from the navy list on 31 December 1864 and thereafter used as a storage hulk in Cherbourg. The vessel was broken up in 1869.
References
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Category:Armide-class frigates
Category:Age of Sail frigates of France