French Frigate Hébé (1782)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Hébé'' was a 38-gun warship 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 ...
, and lead ship of the . The British
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
captured her in 1782 and took her into service as HMS ''Hebe'', before renaming her HMS ''Blonde'' in 1805.


French Navy career

Hébés first commander was Captain Joseph Pierre de Vigny, For her maiden voyage, ''Hébé'' was tasked to escort a convoy from
Saint Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany. The walled city on the English Channel coast had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the All ...
to Brest and protect shipping from the depredations of the Royal Navy in the context of the Anglo-French War. In the
action of 4 September 1782 The action of 4 September 1782 was a small naval engagement fought off the ÃŽle de Batz between a French naval frigate, , and a Royal Naval frigate, . This battle was notable as the first proper use of a carronade, and so effective was this ...
, she was chased by the frigate HMS ''Rainbow'', whose 32-pounder
carronade A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and was used from the last quarter of the 18th century to the mid-19th cen ...
chase gun A chase gun (or chaser), usually distinguished as bow chaser and stern chaser, was a cannon mounted in the bow (aiming forward) or stern (aiming backward) of a sailing ship. They were used to attempt to slow down an enemy ship either chasing (p ...
s shot away her wheel and mortally wounded her second captain, Yves-Gabriel Calloët de Lanidy. The weight of the
ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but sometimes ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used for s ...
made de Vigny (who assumed command) mistake ''Rainbow'' for a disguised
ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactics in the Age of Sail, naval tactic known as the line of battl ...
. Even though the first shots had shown that ''Rainbow''s guns had a shorter range than ''Hébés stern chasers, de Vigny failed to alter his course so that the longer range of his guns could fire a broadside and thus wasted his only chance to turn the tide of battle. The
foremast The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the median line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, giving necessary height to a navigation light ...
of ''Hébé'' was then seriously damaged, reducing her manuverability. An hour and a half later, when ''Rainbow'' was about to come alongside, de Vigny was left with only four working port guns and immediately struck his colours.


British Royal Navy career

As was standard practice with captured warships that were not seriously damaged, the British took ''Hébé'' into service; she was recommissioned as HMS ''Hebe''. In December 1784 ''Hebe'' captured ''Rover'', a
lugger A lugger is a sailing vessel defined by its rig, using the lug sail on all of its one or more masts. Luggers were widely used as working craft, particularly off the coasts of France, England, Ireland and Scotland. Luggers varied extensively ...
engaged in smuggling, off the
Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...
. ''Rover'' had a cargo of 2,000 casks of spirits and a small quantity of tea. She had come from Flushing and ''Hebe'' took her into Portsmouth where her goods were confiscated, and the ship and crew placed in the custody of naval authorities. On 3 July 1795 ''Melampus'' and intercepted a French convoy of 13 vessels off St Malo. ''Melampus'' captured an armed
brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the l ...
and ''Hebe'' captured six merchant vessels: ''Maria Louisa'', ''Abeille''. ''Bon Foi'', ''Patrouille'', ''Eleonore'', and ''Pecheur''. The brig was armed with four 24-pounders and had a crew of 60 men. Later she was identified as the French warship ''Vésuve''. The convoy had been on its way from
Île-de-Bréhat Bréhat (, ; ) is an island and ''commune'' located near Paimpol, a mile off the northern coast of Brittany. Administratively, it is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in northwestern France. Bréhat is actually an archipelago compos ...
to Brest. ''Seaflower'', ''Daphne'', and the
cutter Cutter may refer to: Tools * Bolt cutter * Box cutter * Cigar cutter * Cookie cutter * Cutter (hydraulic rescue tool) * Glass cutter * Meat cutter * Milling cutter * Paper cutter * Pizza cutter * Side cutter People * Cutter (surname) * Cutt ...
shared in the prize and head money after helping escort the captured ships back to England. The Royal Navy took ''Vésuve'' into service as . Because ''Hebe'' served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 2 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal, which the
Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...
issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants from the campaign. On 24 December 1805, the Navy removed all traces of the ship's French origin by changing her name to HMS ''Blonde''. On 15 August 1807, ''Blonde'', under Captain
Volant Vashon Ballard Volant Vashon Ballard CB ( bapt. 4 January 1774 – 12 October 1832) was a Rear-Admiral of the Royal Navy. He served as a midshipman with George Vancouver on his voyage to the north-west coast of America. Early career Christened on 4 January ...
, completed her final major action at sea with the capture of ''Dame Villaret'' after a chase of 13 hours. She was armed with an 18-pounder gun and four 9-pounder carronades and had a crew of 69 men. According to the ship's captured logbook, she had been out twenty days but had taken no prizes.


Fate

The Royal Navy
paid off Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship i ...
''Blonde'' in July 1810 as she was considered too old for any further use. She was eventually broken up at Deptford in June 1811.


Notes


Citations


References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hebe (1782) Age of Sail frigates of France Hébé-class frigates 1782 ships Ships built in France Maritime incidents in 1782 Captured ships Frigates of the Royal Navy