Embuscade (1789)

''Embuscade'' was a 32-gun frigate of the French Navy. She served in the War of the First Coalition before being captured by the British. Renamed HMS ''Ambuscade'' and later HMS ''Seine'', she participated in the Napoleonic Wars in the Royal Navy. She was broken up in 1813.

French service

''Embuscade'', launched in 1789, was constructed in Rochefort. Her captain was Jean-Baptiste-François Bompart, a former privateer who fought in the American War of Independence. In 1792, she escorted convoys to and from Martinique, and ferried Edmond-Charles Genêt to the United States. During the early years of the war, she raided British shipping along the American east coast.

''Embuscade'' arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, on 8 April 1793. She brought Edmond-Charles Genêt to take up his post as the French ambassador to the United States. Then on 31 July, she fought and severely damaged at the action of 31 July 1793. ''Embuscade'' returned to France a year later and took part in the Croisière du Grand Hiver in 1795 as part of Pierre Jean Van Stabel's squadron.

On 7 March 1795 ''Embuscade'' captured ''Queen'', which was sailing from Tenerife, Canary Islands to London.

Capture and French Revolutionary Wars

In 1798 Captain Bambot was given command of a squadron of ships, including ''Embuscade'', with orders to transport troops to Ireland to fight in the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Along the way, a British fleet learned of the French squadron's position and gave chase. The two forces fought at the Battle of Tory Island, which ended in a decisive French defeat. ''Embuscade'' was captured and added to the Royal Navy as ''Ambuscade''.

She was commissioned in August 1800 under the command of Captain the Honourable J. Colvill. On 26 March 1801 she sailed for Jamaica but by 1802 she was back in the English Channel. In September 1802, while under the command of Captain David Colby she became the flagship for Rear-Admiral Edward Thornbrough in the North Sea.

Napoleonic Wars

On 27 August 1803, while under the command of Captain David Atkins, she captured ''Hendrick and Jan''.

She was renamed HMS ''Seine'' in 1804, as the previous had been retaken and was recommissioned under her old name, and the previous had just been lost. In early 1805, ''Seine'' captured several vessels on the Jamaica station. The first capture, on 29 January, was the Spanish schooner ''San Ignacio'', which was carrying sundries and which was declared a Droit of Admiralty.

Then on 30 April ''Seine'' captured the French privateer schooner ''Perseverante''. ''Perseverante'' was armed with one 12-pounder gun and four 4-pounders, and had a complement of 90 men, of whom 84 were on board at the time of her capture. She was from Guadeloupe and had been out 12 days, during which she had captured the English sloop ''Apollo'', of Bermuda. Capturing ''Perseverante'' required a chase of three hours as she was ''remarkable fast sailing''. She was three years old, newly coppered and fastened with "composition bolts"; the description was perhaps notice to the admiral of the station that the Royal Navy might consider buying her.

On 27 May ''Seine''s barge, under the command of Lieutenant Bland of the Marines, captured the recently constructed Spanish schooner ''Conception'' off Puerto Rico. ''Conception'' was armed with two 6-pounder guns and had a crew of 10 men. She had some nine passengers on board who resisted, but then escaped on shore. She was from Santa Maxta Martha and was carrying a cargo of log wood. Atkins captured nine prisoners whom he quickly landed as they appeared ill and he wished to avoid introducing sickness into ''Seine''.

By coincidence, on 18 June, Bland, in ''Seine''s barge, captured a second ''Conception'', this one a felucca of two long 4-pounder guns and carrying a crew of 14 men. The Spanish resisted for three-quarters of an hour before surrendering. In the action they suffered five men wounded; the British had no casualties. The felucca was carrying cocoa and cochineal from Puerto Rico to Cadiz. On his short with the barge, Bland also destroyed a Spanish sloop.

On 29 June ''Seine'' aided , , and in capturing the French brig ''Pierre Caesar'' off the coast of France. The Admiralty took ''Pierre Caesar'' into service as .

On 26 December 1807, ''Seine'' captured the French privateer lugger ''Sybille'' at . ''Sybille'' had a crew of 43 men and was pierced for 14 guns but had only one long gun on board, as well as some swivel guns and small arms. She was five days out of Morlaix but had taken no prizes.

On 26 October 1809, ''Seine'', Captain Atkins, captured the French privateer brig ''Rodeur'' of sixteen 6-pounder guns (pierced for 20), and 121 men off Bordeaux. ''Rodeur'' was three days out of Bayonne, had not captured anything, but was on her way to cruise off the west coast of Ireland. She arrived at Plymouth on 29 October.

On the night of 12 February 1810, ''Seine'' was in the Basque Roads, when a convoy of ten vessels sailed from the river Charente and three chasse-marées went aground on the reef off the Point de Chatelaillon between La Rochelle and Île d'Aix. Sir Joseph Sydney Yorke, of HMS ''Christian VII'', then sent in three boats each from ''Christian VII'' and HMS ''Armide'', plus two from ''Seine'', to attack them. Nine French gunboats, each carrying a 12-pounder carronade and six swivel guns, and manned with sufficient men for 20 to 30 oars, fled from the British boats. The British, led by Lt. Gardiner Henry Guion, captured one gunboat, killing two of her crew and wounding three, including her commander; two gunboats grounded and could not be retrieved. The British then burnt the three chasse-marees that they had captured.

On 25 July 1810 the West Indiaman , Coulson, master, was returning to London from Martinique and St Lucia when she encountered the French privateer ''Dame Ernouf'', of 18 guns and 130 men, nine days into a cruise from Brest. ''Dame Ernouf'' captured ''Starling'', but three days later, on 28 July, ''Seine'' recaptured ''Starling'' off Brest.''Lloyd's List'' №4481.
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''Seine'' was broken up in 1813.

Notes

Citations

References

*Bowling, K. R., & Kennon, D. R. (2000).'' Neither separate nor equal: Congress in the 1790s.'' (Athens: Ohio University Press).
*Clowes, W. L. (1997). ''The Royal Navy: a history from the earliest times to the present.'' Vol. 4. (London: Chatham).
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External links

Age of Nelson Website – HMS ''Ambuscade''Age of Nelson Website – HMS ''Seine''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Embuscade (1790)
1789 ships
Frigates of the French Navy
Frigates of the Royal Navy
Captured ships