French ship Jean Bart (1786)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Laurel.

History
France
Name	Jean Bart
Namesake	Jean Bart
Builder	Bayonne
Launched	1786
Acquired	Requisitioned in January 1794 in Nantes
Commissioned	1793 as a privateer
Captured	By Britain on 15 April 1795
Great Britain
Name	HMS Laurel
Acquired	1795 by purchase of a prize
Fate	Sold at Jamaica in 1797
General characteristics [1][2]
Class and type	Corvette
Displacement	550 tons (French)
Tons burthen	42318⁄94 (bm)
Length	107 ft 0 in (32.61 m) (overall) 82 ft 6+1⁄2 in (25.159 m) (keel)
Beam	30 ft 0 in (9.14 m)
Depth of hold	8 ft 7 in (2.62 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	French service: 177 British service: 100
Armament	French service: 5 × 12-pounder guns, 19 × 8-pounder guns 1795: 24 × 8-pounder guns British service=22 × 9-pounder guns

Jean Bart was a merchant vessel built at Bayonne in 1786. Her owners commissioned her at Nantes in 1793 as a privateer. The French Navy requisitioned her in January 1794 and classed her as a corvette and listed her as Jean Bart No. 2 to distinguish her from the French corvette Jean Bart (1793). The Navy intended to rename her Imposant in May 1795, but the Royal Navy captured her first.^[1]

On 15 April 1795, a naval squadron under Sir John Borlase Warren gave chase to Jean Bart, described in the report of the capture as being a ship-corvette of 26 guns and 187 men. The actual captor, off the Île de Ré, was HMS Artois.^[3]

The Royal Navy took Jean Bart into service as the post ship HMS Laurel. Between July and 8 December 1795 the Royal Navy had Laurel fitted a Portsmouth. She had been flush-decked, but received a small forecastle, quarterdeck, and extra platforms. She was commissioned under Captain Robert Rolles. He had been promoted to post captain on 12 August 1785; he had been captain of the hired armed ship Lord Mulgrave.^[4]

Rolles sailed Laurel for the coast of Africa and then the Leeward Islands.^[5] In May 1796 Laurel participated in the capture of Saint Lucia under Rear Admiral Sir Hugh Cloberry Christian and General Ralph Abercrombie,^[4] and shared in the prize money for the capture.^[6]

Laurel was sold in 1797 at Jamaica.^[2]

Citations

1. Winfield & Roberts (2015), p. 177.
2. Winfield (2008), p. 231.
3. "No. 13773". The London Gazette. 25 April 1795. p. 379.
4. Marshall (1823), pp. 676–77.
5. Schomberg (1802), p.
6. "No. 15265". The London Gazette. 7 June 1800. p. 623.

References

• Marshall, John (1823). "Rolles, Robert" . Royal Naval Biography. Vol. 1, part 2. London: Longman and company.
• Schomberg, Isaac (1802) Naval Chronology, Or an Historical Summary of Naval and Maritime Events from the Time of the Romans, to the Treaty of Peace 1802: With an Appendix, Volume 4. (London: T. Egerton).
• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. 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.