French Corvette Revenant

''Revenant'' was a 20-gun privateer corvette, launched in 1807, and designed by Robert Surcouf for commerce raiding. The French Navy later requisitioned her and renamed her ''Iéna'', after Napoleon's then-recent victory at the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt. The British captured her in 1808 and she served in the Royal Navy as HMS ''Victor''. The French Navy recaptured her in 1809, taking her back into service under the new name. The British again captured her when they took Isle de France (now Mauritius) in December 1810. They did not restore her to service, and she was subsequently broken up.

Career

Her coppered hull allowed her to sail at up to 12 knots. Her cost was 277,761 francs-or. One of her owners was the banker Jacques Récamier.

Indian ocean cruises (1807 - 1808)

In February 1807, Surcouf enlisted Potier as first officer on his new privateer ''Revenant''.Cunat, p.412 ''Revenant'' then departed from Saint-Malo on 2 March, and sailed for Isle de France. ''Revenant'' arrived there on 10 June, along with several prizes she had taken during her journey. She cruised the Bay of Bengal from September to 31 January 1808 under Surcouf,Cunat, p.399 capturing the rice ships ''Trafalgar'', ''Mangles'', ''Admiral Alpin'', ''Susannah'' ''Hunter'', ''Success'', ''Fortune'', ''New Endeavour'', ''Colonel Macauley'', ''William Burroughs'', ''Oriente'' and ''Jean Labdam''. ''Trafalgar'', of about 800 tons (bm), was a copper-sheathed three-master, carrying 10,000 sacks of rice from Bengal. ''Maingless'' () was also a copper-sheathed three-master, in this case carrying 8,000 sacks of rice from Bengal, but also books, mirrors, and furniture. Lastly, ''Suzanne'', of 400 tons (bm), copper-sheathed three-master, was carrying rice and sailcloth. They had been captured on 11, 18, and 25 November, and arrived at Port-Louis on 2 and 16 December.

After ''Revenant'' returned to Port-Louis from her first campaign Surcouf gave Potier command of the ship on 2 April.Cunat, p.413

In late April, as ''Revenant'' was completing her preparations and plotting her route, a prize taken by the privateer ''Adèle'' gave news of the new war between France and Portugal; ''Adèle'' also brought intelligence about the ''Conceçáo-de-Santo-Antonio'', a 64-gun ship of the line armed en flûte, which was in Goa preparatory to sailing for Rio de Janeiro and Lisbon. Surcouf sent Portier to intercept, and ''Revenant'' departed Port-Louis on 30 April. She arrived in her patrol zone on 17 May and sighted her prey on the 24th. ''Revenant'' captured ''Conceçáo-de-Santo-Antonio'' after a one-hour battle.Corvette Le Revenant à l'Ile de France en 1808 par Gustave Alaux
/ref>Cunat, p.417 Potier gave ''Conceçáo'' a prize crew under First Lieutenant Fonroc, and returned to Mauritius one month later with his prize.Cunat, p.418

Surcouf then planned to send ''Revenant'' back to France '' en aventurier'' with colonial goods.

French naval service

General Charles Decaen, governor of Isle de France, requisitioned ''Revenant'' on 4 July. The government renamed her ''Iéna'', and gave command of her to Lieutenant Nicolas Morice, with ''Lieutenant de vaisseau'' Albin Roussin as second officer. Surcouf had an altercation with Decaen but had to accept the requisitioning of his ship. Surcouf eventually purchased ''Sémillante'', which he renamed ''Charles'', to return to France with his goods.

Capture by the Royal Navy

''Iéna'' set sail to cruise the Persian Gulf and Bay of Bengal. On 8 October 1808, off the Sandheads near the mouth of the Ganges river, she was chased by the 44-gun HMS ''Modeste'', under Captain George Elliot, which caught the ''Iéna'' after 9 hours. A night battle followed at musket range; after two and a half hours, ''Iéna'' was crippled, dismasted and leaking water, and struck her colours. ''Iéna'' had no casualties, while ''Modeste'' had her master killed and a seaman wounded. The Royal Navy commissioned ''Iéna'' as the 18-gun ship sloop HMS ''Victor'', initially under Commander Thomas Grout and subsequently under Captain Edward Stopford.

On 2 May 1809, under Stopford's command, she departed from the Sandheads with a convoy of five Indiamen and several smaller vessels. On 24 May a storm split the convoy and ''Victor'' and the small ships separately lost touch with the Indiamen. Two of the Indiamen, and , deviated to Penang with ''Earl Spencer'' accompanying ''Monarch'', which had developed a bad leak and needed to reach a port to repair. The three remaining Indiamen, , , and continued on their way while hoping to meet up with ''Victor''. They did not and the French frigate captured ''Streatham'' and ''Europe'' in the action of 31 May 1809; ''Lord Keith'' escaped.

Recapture by the French Navy

On 2 November 1809, ''Victor'', still under Stopford's command, encountered the 44-gun frigate , under Guy-Victor Duperré; ''Victor'' struck after a long chase and a brief but spirited resistance that cost her two men wounded. ''Bellone'' took her to Isle de France, where she was repaired and recommissioned as ''Victor'' in the French Navy, under Lieutenant Nicolas Morice.Troude, ''op- cit.'', p. 87

On 21 February, she sailed for a cruise in the Indian Ocean and the Mozambique Channel in a squadron comprised ''Bellone'' and under Pierre Bouvet. There, she took part in the action of 3 July 1810, contributing to the capture of the East Indiamen ''Windham'' and ''Ceylon''.

Upon their return to Île de France, the French squadron encountered a British frigate squadron attempting to seize the island. In the ensuing Battle of Grand Port, ''Victor'' was used as a support ship, behind the French line of battle, as her armament was weaker than that of the more powerful frigates.

On 17–18 September 1810, along with , she captured the 40-gun HMS ''Ceylon''. ''Vénus'' and ''Ceylon'' were damaged in the battle, and the next day a British squadron composed of , , and the brig captured ''Vénus'' and ''Ceylon''; ''Victor'' managed to escape.

Fate

The British recaptured ''Victor'' when Isle de France fell on 3 December 1810. Most sources state that she was not restored to service but instead was broken up, though one source claims that Royal Navy recommissioned her in October 1811, and she was then paid off at Portsmouth in August 1814.

In art

*Gustave Alaux (1887 - 1965), peintre de la Marine, painted a full portrait of ''Revenant'', set at Isle de France in 1808.
*''Victor'' appears in the background of the ''Combat de Grand Port'', by Pierre Julien Gilbert, on display at the Musée national de la marine. She is barely visible behind a cloud of smoke, between '' Minerve'' and ''Ceylon''.

Citations

References

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* Fonds Marine. Campagnes (opérations; divisions et stations navales; missions diverses). Inventaire de la sous-série Marine BB4. Tome premier : BB4 210 à 482 (1805-1826

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Robert Surcouf
''Les marins de l'Empereur''
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*Piat, Denis (trans: Mervyn North-Coombes) (2007) ''Pirates and Corsairs in Mauritius''. (Christian le Comte).
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Revenant
Age of Sail corvettes of France
1807 ships
Ships built in France
Captured ships
Privateer ships of France
Sloops of the Royal Navy