French Frigate Clorinde (1808)

''Clorinde'' was a 40-gun of the French Navy, designed by Sané. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1814 and renamed her HMS ''Aurora''. After serving 19 years as a coal hulk she was eventually broken up in 1851.

French frigate

From June 1809, she was stationed with the 16-gun and the 38-gun . In September, she sailed with ''Renommée'', ''Loire'', and ''Seine'' to Guadeloupe.

On 13 December, she and ''Renommée'' captured .

On 15 December 1809, ''Clorinde'' ran aground, and freed herself by dropping guns and ammunition overboard.

She took part in the action of 20 May 1811, fought off Madagascar, and returned to Brest. Captain Jacques Saint-Cricq was found guilty of failing to properly support his commodore. Saint-Cricq was demoted of rank, expelled from the Legion of Honour, and sentenced to three years in prison.

On 6 December 1813, ''Clorinde'' captured the British merchant vessel in the Atlantic Ocean (). ''Lusitania'', Johnston, master, had been sailing from London to Suriname. ''Clorinde'' then put the crews of four other vessels that she had captured aboard ''Lusitania'' and sent her into Plymouth. The other four were:
* , of 473 tons ( bm), Barr, master, which had been sailing from London to Bermuda;
* , of 426 tons (bm), P. Inglis, master, which had been sailing from London to Martinique;
* ''Aurora'', Scheidt, master, which had been sailing to Amelia Island; and,
* ''Superb'', R. Roberts, of 130 tons (bm), which had been sailing from Gibraltar to England.
''Clorinde'' abandoned ''Blenden Hall'' at sea, where the Falmouth packet ''Eliza'', homeward bound from Malta, found her floating. brought ''Blenden Hall'' into Plymouth. They arrived on 19 December, on the same day as ''Lusitania''.

On 18 February 1814 ''Clorinde'' captured the Post Office Packet Service packet , Captain James Cock, at . Although Captain Denis Lagarde, flew Portuguese colours in an attempt to trick Cock, Cock surmised that the frigate was French, not Portuguese, and threw his mails overboard before the Frenchmen boarded ''Townshend''. ''Clorinde'' sank ''Townshend''.

On 25 February 1814, at , the 38-gun chased ''Clorinde''. A violent fight ensued for two hours and 20 minutes that left both ships dismasted, ''Eurotas'' suffering 20 killed and 30 wounded (including Captain John Phillimore), and ''Clorinde'', 40 killed and 80 wounded. During the night, the ships built jury rigs and resumed the pursuit the next day, when and intervened. The helpless ''Clorinde'' struck after the first cannon shot from ''Dryad'', which towed ''Clorinde'' into Portsmouth.

British frigate

''Clorinde'' was brought into British service as HMS ''Aurora''. She served off South America during the years 1821–25, and in the Caribbean, 1826–28.

Fate

From January 1832, she was used as a coal hulk in Falmouth. She was eventually broken up in May 1851.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Clorinde (1808)
Age of Sail frigates of France
Pallas-class frigates (1808)
Ships built in France
1808 ships
Coal hulks
Ships in art