French brig Entreprenant (1808)

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Entreprenant.
History
France
Name: Entreprenant
Namesake: "Entreprising"
Builder: Grisard, Port-Napoléon (Port-Louis), Île de France
Laid down: May 1808
Launched: August 1808
Acquired: 1808 by capture
Captured: 2 December 1810
Fate: Broken up
General characteristics [1]
Displacement: 300 tons (French)
Length:
  • 26.63 metres (87.4 ft) (overall)
  • 22.98 metres (75.4 ft) (keel)
Beam: 8.12 metres (26.6 ft) (overall)
Complement: 88-110
Armament: 12 x 12-pounder guns
Armour: Timber

Entreprenant was the third of a sequence of vessels under the same name and with the same captain. (The data in the shipbox refers to the third Entreprenant.) She served in the East Indies until the British captured her in 1810 and then had her broken up as unfit for further service.

Origins

In 1806, Lieutenant de vaisseau Pierre Bouvet was a prisoner in Bombay,[2] where he observed the indigenous ships of the patamar type. Back in Isle de France (now Mauritius), Bouvet suggested the use of armed patamars to General Decaen, Governor General of the French possessions in the East Indies, to conduct reconnaissance and raids on the British. At this point, the defence of Isle de France had already led the authorities to purchased civilian ships into service, such as Robert Surcouf's 18-gun privateer Revenant.

Decaen agreed to construct a ship to test Bouvet's ideas. In October 1807, after a six-week construction period, the patamar or felucca was ready. This vessel had two masts sharply raked forward at an angle of 23 degrees from the vertical, and 15 pairs of oars.[3] She was armed with an 8-pounder gun[2] and had a crew of 40 men. She was named and commissioned on 30 November 1807.[3]

She served at Île de Bourbon and cruised the north-west coast of India[4] from 7 December 1807.[2] During these cruises Entreprenant took a number of prizes. One of these was the English merchant brig Marguerite,[4] which he captured on 8 February 1808. Marguerite, under the command of Captain Wilson, was of 270 tons burthen, and carried ten 12-pounder carronades.[5] When he switched his vessels, Bouvet transferred the name Entreprenant as well.[4]

Later that year the French constructed a "brig gourable",[Note 1][Note 2] This vessel received the name Entreprenant, and was commissioned under Bouvet's command.

Career

Bouvet sailed Entreprenant on 4 October 1808 for Ormuz with despatches. She then cruised off the Malabar coast, taking 19 prizes, with Bouvet having to suppress a mutiny. He returned to Île de France on 16 March 1809.[1]

In May 1809, Bouvet was sent to Manila to investigate the fate of Mouche n° 6,[2] under Lieutenant Ducrest de Villeneuve,[7][8] which had been sent there a few months before and had not returned. On 28 August, Entreprenant reached Manila and learned that Borneo had sided for the Allies and interned the crew of Mouche n° 6. Furthermore, the 14-gun HMS Antelope was anchored at Cavite. Anchoring his ship offshore under a flag of truce, Bouvet sent a delegation to demand the release of the crew of Mouche n° 6, with orders to return to Entreprenant as soon as the message was delivered. However, the delegation had still not returned the next morning.[9]

In order to obtain a clear casus belli, Bouvet anchored his ship at the entrance of Manila Bay, but stayed ready to set sail. Soon, Antelope and shore batteries opened up on Entreprenant, which promptly retreated. Bouvet sailed to Corregidor Island and endeavored to blockade all shipping bound for Manila. After collecting enough prisoners in this way, on 3 September, he released them on parole under promise not to navigate at sea before Mouche n° 6 would be released. Bouvet had them convey his ultimatum that if his conditions were not met the next day, he would attack the coasts of the island. The French crew detained in Manila was promptly released and returned to Entreprenant.[9]

On 20 October, Entreprenant encountered a British convoy and detected an isolated sail, which she intercepted by 23:00. The ship was the 18-gun Ovidor, of the Dutch East India Company. She surrendered after the first broadside and was brought to Isle de France with a valuable cargo of Chinese goods, and 200,000 Piastres. Ovidor, a 550-tonne ship built in Portugal, was brought into French service as the fluyt Loire.[10]

In the wake of the Battle of Grand Port, at midnight on 21 August 1810, Entreprenant was sent, along with Jacques Hamelin's squadron comprising the frigates Vénus, Manche and Astrée, to support the squadron under Guy-Victor Duperré. Entreprenant arrived first at the entrance of the harbour, where she encountered Iphigenia, under Captain Henry Lambert, which was limping out of the port; the three frigates sailing behind crushed all hopes for Lambert to escape, and he surrendered. Entreprenant was sent to search for HMS Staunch but did not find her; Entreprenant did recapture Mouche n°23, taken by the British in June.[11][Note 3]

Fate

Entreprenant was at the island during the British invasion of Isle de France in November 1810. She was among the spoils of the campaign but rather than take her into the Royal Navy the British broke her up as unfit for further service.

Footnotes

Notes
  1. ↑ Roche (op. cit.).
  2. ↑ A gourable was an Indian-Ocean design, having a massive, high stern and a pointed, low bow, the widest point being at the beam, and being rigged similarly to a ketch.[6]
  3. ↑ Mouche n°23, under the command of Enseigne de vaisseau Gautier, had been sent out from Bayonne on 18 September 1809 to carry dispatches to Isle de France.[12] Other French records attribute the recapture to Astree.
Citations
  1. 1 2 Winfield and Roberts (2015 forthcoming), Chap. 7.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Quintin, p.84
  3. 1 2 Winfield and Roberts (2015 forthcoming), Chap. 10.
  4. 1 2 3 Fonds Marine, Vol. 1, p.377.
  5. ↑ Austen (1935), p.128.
  6. ↑ Jal (1848), p.795
  7. ↑ Ducrest de Villeneuve, Journal du voyage de "la Mouche n°6", sous le commandement du lieutenant de vaisseau Ducrest de Villeneuve, expédiée pour l'Ile de France et Manille, en 1808.
  8. ↑ Fonds Marine, p. 377
  9. 1 2 Troude, op. cit., p. 72
  10. ↑ Troude, op. cit., p. 73.
  11. ↑ Troude, op. cit., p. 97
  12. ↑ Fonds Marine, Vol. 1, p.406.

References

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