''Eure'' was a ''Meurthe''-class

aviso An ''aviso'' was originally a kind of dispatch boat or "advice boat", carrying orders before the development of effective remote communication. The term, derived from the Portuguese and Spanish word for "advice", "notice" or "warning", an ...

of the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

. She was launched in 1886. She is notable as having claimed territories of the Southern Indian Ocean for France, including the Kerguelen Islands in 1893. She continued to serve in the Pacific until 1901.

Career

Construction of ''Eure'' began in

1886 Events January–March * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5– 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson's novella ''Strange ...

at the

Ateliers et chantiers du Havre An atelier () is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art or v ...

. She was part of a 1885 order comprising six other avisos of the same class (''Meurthe'', ''Drôme'', ''Aube'', ''Durance'', ''Rance'' and ''Manche''), designed as mixed sail and steam ships. ''Eure'' was launched on 5 April 1886, and commissioned on 14 August 1890 at

Rochefort Rochefort () may refer to: Places France * Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, in the Charente-Maritime department ** Arsenal de Rochefort, a former naval base and dockyard * Rochefort, Savoie in the Savoie department * Rochefort-du-Gard, in the Ga ...

, where she was based. President Sadi Carnot sent ''Eure'' on a mission to claim the French Southern and Antarctic Lands for France. On 1 January 1893, ''Eure'' entered Baie de l'Oiseau, North of Kerguelen Islands. Commander Lieutard, the commanding officer, held a ceremony at Port-Christmas the next day, where a copper plaque inscribed « EURE - 1893 » was set. He repeated this in various locations of the archipelago in the following 15 days. ''Eure'' continued her claims at île Saint-Paul on 22 January 1893, and at île Amsterdam on 24 January, before returning to Réunion and

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. In 1897, under Alphonse Lecuve, ''Eure'' toured

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

and

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

, finally arriving at

Nouméa Nouméa () is the capital and largest city of the French special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest francophone city in Oceania. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia's main island, Grande Terre, and ...

in New Caledonia. From then on, she was attached to the French Pacific Fleet. Eure was decommissioned on 8 March 1901.

Commanding officers

* 1891-1897 : Commander Lieutard * 1897-1898 : Commander Lecuve * August to October 1899 (interim): Captain Docteur * 1899-1901 : Commander

Vallée Vallée is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include: * André Vallée (1930–2015), Canadian Roman Catholic bishop * Anne Vallée (born 1958), Canadian biologist * Bernard Vallée (born 1945), French fencer *Brigitte Vallée (born ...

Legacy

A 3.20 franc stamp from the TAAF, depicting ''Eure'' was printed on 1 January 1987. 160,000 copies were made..

Sources and references

Notes References Bibliography * (1870-2006) External links
''Forces maritimes 1718-1920''
Service historique de la Défense, p. 65 {{DEFAULTSORT:Eure Ships built in France 1886 ships