French schooner Découverte (1800)

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Découverte and HMS Decouverte.

Découverte

History
France
Name	Découverte
Builder	Brest Dockyard[1]
Laid down	1799
Launched	22 August 1800[1]
Captured	c. 23 November 1803
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Decouverte
Acquired	1803 by capture
Decommissioned	1806
Fate	Sold 1808
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Découverte-class schooner
Displacement	110 tons (French)
Tons burthen	165 (bm)[2]
Length	25 m (82 ft) (overall) 21 m (69 ft) (keel)
Beam	6.4 m (21 ft)
Sail plan	Schooner
Complement	French service:52 at capture British service:
Armament	French service: Originally: 8 × 4-pounder guns At capture: 6 × 6-pounder guns + 6 brass swivel guns British service: 8 × 12-pounder carronades[2]

The French schooner Découverte was a French Navy vessel launched in 1800. The British captured her at Santo Domingo in 1803 and took her into service as HMS Decouverte. She was decommissioned in January 1806 and sold in 1808.

French career

Between March and November 1800, Découverte was under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Passart, carrying despatches between Brest and Ferrol. Still under Passart's command, she was at Ferrol between end-January and end-February 1802.

Capture

Découverte was present at Saint Domingue (Haiti) in November 1803 during the revolt of slaves against the French, while the British blockade of Saint-Domingue trapped the French army and naval forces at Cap-François. The British observed a schooner in the Caracol Passage and Commodore John Loring, having received information that General Rochambeau, his staff and entourage might try to escape via her, decided to cut the schooner out. The boats of HMS Bellerophon and HMS Elephant went in during the night of 22 November and captured the schooner, which turned out to be the Decouvert, of six 6-pounder guns, six brass swivel guns, and a crew of 52 men under the command of ensign de vaisseau Froyant. The launches met with some resistance, but the British suffered no casualties; Découverte had two men wounded.^[3] Rochambeau surrendered on 30 November.

British service

The Royal Navy commissioned HMS Decouverte in May 1804 at Jamaica under the command of Lieutenant E. Whyte.^[4] She spent the rest of her career on the Jamaica station.

Fate

Decouverte was decommissioned in January 1806 and sold in 1808.^[2]

Citations

1. Winfield & Roberts (2015), p. 243.
2. Colledge & Warlow (2006), p. 105.
3. "No. 15672". The London Gazette. 4 February 1804. pp. 164–165.
4. "NMM, vessel ID 383281" (PDF). Warship Histories, vol v. National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original on 2 August 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2011.

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.
• Winfield, Rif; Roberts, Stephen S. (2015). French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786–1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-204-2.

This article includes data released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported UK: England & Wales Licence, by the National Maritime Museum, as part of the Warship Histories project.