''Hortense'' was a 40-gun and
lead vessel of her
class
Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to:
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of the
French Navy
The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...
.
In January 1805, under the command of Captain
Delamarre de Lamellerie, she and were sent to observe British movements off
Toulon
Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department.
The Commune of Toulon h ...
. On 4 February they attacked a convoy, destroying seven ships. Three days later, they encountered another convoy escorted by the 20-gun
sloop and the 8-gun
bomb vessel
A bomb vessel, bomb ship, bomb ketch, or simply bomb was a type of wooden sailing naval ship. Its primary armament was not cannons (Naval long gun, long guns or carronades) – although bomb vessels carried a few cannons for self-defence – but ...
; the French frigates destroyed the two Royal Navy vessels and captured and burnt and two other merchant vessels of the convoy.
Then on 12 May 1805, ''Hortense'' and captured the 18-gun
ship-sloop
During the 18th and 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship of the Royal Navy with a single gun deck that carried up to 18 guns. The rating system of the Royal Navy covered all vessels with 20 or more guns; thus, the term encompassed all u ...
. ''Cyane'' was cruising between
Barbados
Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...
and
Martinique
Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...
when she encountered a French fleet under Admiral
Villeneuve. ''Hortense'' and ''Hermione'' so out-gunned ''Cyane'' that her captain, Commander
George Cadogan
General Sir George Cadogan (2 December 1814 – 27 January 1880) was a general in the British Army.
Life
The fifth son of George Cadogan, 3rd Earl Cadogan and Honoria Louisa Blake (and thus the younger brother of the 4th earl). He joined th ...
, had no choice but to
strike his colours
Striking the colors—meaning lowering the flag (the "colors") that signifies a ship's or garrison's allegiance—is a universally recognized indication of surrender, particularly for ships at sea. For a ship, surrender is dated from the time t ...
.
[Hepper (1994), p. 111.]
''Hortense'' took part in the
Battle of Cape Finisterre, in the
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval engagement that took place on 21 October 1805 between the Royal Navy and a combined fleet of the French Navy, French and Spanish Navy, Spanish navies during the War of the Third Coalition. As part of Na ...
and in
Lamellerie's expedition.
In 1814, she was renamed to ''Flore''.
Citations
References
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External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hortense (1803)
Age of Sail frigates of France
Hortense-class frigates
1803 ships