HMS Bellona (1806)
{{Short description|French privateer frigate}}
{{other ships|French ship Bellone|HMS Bellona|HMS Blanche}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2018}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=File:Auguste Mayer Abordage du Nelson par la Bellone 1846.jpg |Ship caption=Capture of Lord Nelson on 14 August 1803. }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=France |Ship flag=File:Civil and Naval Ensign of France.svg |Ship name=Bellone{{sfnp|Demerliac|2003|loc=n°2237|p=282}} |Ship ordered= |Ship builder=Bordeaux |Ship laid down= |Ship launched=1797 |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned=November 1799 |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship honours= |Ship captured=On 9 July 1806 by the Royal Navy |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|UKGBI|naval}} |Ship name=HMS Bellona |Ship acquired=Captured on 9 July 1806 |Ship commissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed=HMS Blanche in February 1808 |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship honours= |Ship captured= |Ship fate=Broken up in 1814 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class=28-gun sixth rate frigate |Ship tons burthen=642{{small|{{frac|85|94}}}} bm |Ship length=*{{convert|132|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} (gundeck)
|Ship beam={{convert|33|ft|7|in|m|1|abbr=on}} |Ship draught= |Ship hold depth={{convert|11|ft|4|in|m|1|abbr=on}} |Ship sail plan=Full-rigged ship |Ship complement=*1799:220
|Ship armament=*1799:24 × 8-pounder guns + 6 × 36-pounder obusiers de vaisseau{{sfnp|Demerliac|2003|loc=n°2237|p=282}}
|Ship notes= }} |
Bellone was a French privateer frigate that cruised under Jacques François Perroud and achieved fame with the capture of large East Indiaman Lord Nelson on 14 August 1803. {{HMS |Powerful |1783|6}} captured her during the action of 9 July 1806. The British Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Bellona. Later, the Navy renamed her HMS Blanche. She was broken up in 1814.
Career
= French privateer =
Bellone was designed as a powerful privateer and was launched at Bordeaux in 1797. She was commissioned (or recommissioned) in November 1797 and under the command of one Pierre or Michel Destebetcho.{{sfnp|Demerliac|2003|loc=n°2237|p=282}}
==Atlantic==
On 24 October Bellone encountered the American merchantman Washington at {{coord|48|30|N|8|50|W}}. Bellone attacked although Washington hoisted American colours. (This may have been a consequence of the Quasi-War.) The vessels exchanged fire over a four-hour period, including more than two hours of intense combat, with the result that both vessels sustained extensive damage to masts, sails, and rigging. Washington lost one man killed and had two men wounded. She went into Lisbon for repairs. There she found out that on the 27th or the 28th, Bellone had come into A Coruña for repairs after having unsuccessfully attacked an American ship. Bellone had suffered 37 dead and 28 wounded. The casualty disparity is surprising as Washington never was able to deploy more than 23 guns and had only 62 crew, whereas Bellona had twenty-six brass 12-pounder guns and four 32-pounder carronades, and 240 men.[http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/GrtkArt1.htm Leslie (1860), pp.2-14.] Two of Washington{{'}}s 6-pounder guns were unavailable (one was stowed and one was foul), and in an initial exchange of broadsides, recoil dismounted five or six carronades; these the crew were able to remount during a lull in the engagement.Naval Documents... (1936), pp.315-8. However, throughout the engagement Bellona fired at Washington{{'}}s rigging, while Washington fired at Bellona{{'}}s hull.
As the merchant ship {{ship||Monarch|1800 ship|2}}, Davidson, master, was sailing to England from Quebec with a cargo of wood, on 16 September 1800 she encountered Bellone, which captured her. However, four days later, HMS Immortalite recaptured Monarch, of 645 tons (bm), and sent her into Plymouth.{{cite news |title=The Marine List |work=Lloyd's List |issue=4080 |date=26 September 1800 |hdl=2027/hvd.32044105233092?urlappend=%3Bseq=415 }}{{London Gazette|date=4 November 1800 |issue=15308 |page=1255}}
==Indian Ocean==
Bellone operated from Ile de France from 1801.
In April 1801 she sailed on a cruize under the command of Jacques François Perroud. On his cruise he captured Amboina, Porcher, Tay, Saleh, John, Traveed, Farquhar, Mage, Pedro, and Farquhar.{{sfnp|Piat|2007|p=99}} On 3 April 1802 she returned to Port Louis. Farquhar had arrived the day before. Farquhar had a cargo of saltpetre, rice, cotton, sugar, indigo, Madeira wine, and muslin.{{sfnp|Piat|2007|p=95}}
On 9 August 1803, Bellone captured Diamond as Diamond was returning to England after having delivered slaves to Havana. However, {{HMS|Goliath|1781|6}} recaptured Diamond on 12 August and sent her into The Downs.[http://www.1812privateers.org/LLOYDS/1803/08-23-1803.jpg Lloyd's List №4378.]
On 14 August Bellone met the large East Indiaman Lord Nelson and managed to capture her by boarding.
In June 1805 Bellone captured the whaler {{ship||Coldstream|1788 ship|2}}, Dunn, master, in a fight off Saint Helena. Coldstream{{'}}s crew were landed there.[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.c2735022?urlappend=%3Bseq=139 Lloyd's List №4245.]
Bellone captured the whaler {{ship||Young William|1794 ship|2}} near the Cape of Good Hope later in 1805, but gave her up.[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.c2735022?urlappend=%3Bseq=155 Lloyd's List №4253.]
On 28 November 1805 Bellone attacked the East Indiaman {{ship||Admiral Gardner|1797 EIC ship|2}}, Captain George Saltwell. Saltwell dressed some of his seamen as soldiers, and rigged anti-boarding nets. In the ensuing single-ship action the French vessel was able to damage Admiral Gardner{{'}}s rigging and inflict casualties: Admiral Gardner had 10 men wounded, three severely. However, Bellone did not press the attack and by the next day she had disappeared. Bellone{{'}}s captain later told another EIC captain that he had veered off because he did not wish to risk his vessel being crippled. Bellone had 36 guns and 200 men to Admiral Gardner{{'}}s 26 guns and 120 men.Biden (1830), p.214.
In the action of 9 July 1806, the 74-gun ship of the line {{HMS|Powerful|1783|6}} attacked Bellone. Bellone attempted to flee for almost two hours, trading shots with the much more potent opponent, before striking her colours. British casualties were two men killed and three wounded; French casualties were one man killed and six or seven men wounded.{{London Gazette|date=24 March 1807|issue=16013|page=378}} Perroud was commended for his spirited defence against overwhelming odds; William James, notably, described Perroud's actions as "extraordinary".James, p. 246
= Royal Navy ship =
After her capture, Bellone was incorporated in the Royal Navy as HMS Bellona, armed as a sixth-rate frigate of 28 guns.{{Cite web |url=http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/18-1900/B/00583.html |title=Naval Database |access-date=11 April 2013 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304095736/http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/18-1900/B/00583.html |url-status=dead }}
Bellona was renamed HMS Blanche in 1809.
On 26 July 1810, Blanche, Lieutenant Richard Barton in temporary command, captured the French privateer Confiance at {{coord|5|20|N|98|12|E}}. She was armed with two long 6-pounder guns and some small arms, and had a crew of 30, She had left Île de France in May and had made two or three captures.{{London Gazette|date=16 February 1811|issue=16456|page=316}}
Fate
Citations
{{Reflist}}
References
- {{cite book|title=La Marine du Consulat et du Premier Empire: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1800 A 1815|last=Demerliac|first=Alain|year=2003|publisher=Éditions Ancre|isbn=2-903179-30-1|language=French}}
- {{cite book
| last = James
| first = William
| author-link = William James (naval historian)
| year = 2002 |orig-year=1827
| chapter =
| title = The Naval History of Great Britain, Volume 4, 1805–1807
| publisher = Conway Maritime Press
| location =
| isbn = 0-85177-908-5
}}
- [https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.a0013875398?urlappend=%3Bseq=353] Naval Documents related to the Quasi-War between the United States and France. (1936) Volume IV, Part 2 of 3. "Naval Operations from August to December 1799". (Washington: United States Government Printing Office).
- Leslie, Charles R. (1860) Autobiographical Recollections... Chap. 1. (Boston: Ticknor & Fields)
- {{cite book|title=Pirates and Corsairs in Mauritius |first=Denis|last=Piat |translator-last1=North-Coombes |translator-first1=Mervyn | publisher=Christian le Comte | location= |year=2007|url= |isbn=978-99949-905-3-5 }}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellona (1806)}}
Category:Frigates of the Royal Navy
Category:Ships built in France