''Piémontaise'' was a 40-gun ''Consolante''-class frigate 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 ...

. She served as a

commerce raider Commerce raiding is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt logistics of the enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than engaging its combatants or enforcing a blockade against them. Privateering is a fo ...

in the Indian Ocean until her capture in March 1808. She then served with the British

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in the East Indies until she was broken up in Britain in 1813.

French service

''Piémontaise'' was built by Enterprise Étheart at

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to a design by François Pastel. On 18 December 1805 she sailed from Brest for

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. There she served as a commerce raider under captain Jacques Epron. On 21 June 1806, she captured the

East Indiaman East Indiamen were merchant ships that operated under charter or licence for European trading companies which traded with the East Indies between the 17th and 19th centuries. The term was commonly used to refer to vessels belonging to the Bri ...

. On 6 September, she captured the 14-gun

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, the three-masted country ship ''Atomany'', and the

. Between September and October 1807, ''Piémontaise'' captured ''Caroline'', Eggleton or Eggleson, master, ''Sarah'', Henderson, master, , James, master, ''Udny'', Walteas or Wallis, master, ''Danneberg'' or ''Danesburgh'' or ''Castel Dansborg'', Winter, master, ''Highland Chief'', Mahapice or Makepiece, master, ''Eliza'', Sparkes, master, and ''Calcutta''.''Asiatic Annual Register'', Vol. 10, p.123. ''Calcutta'' was a "native ship". Captain James, of ''Maria'', died aboard ''Piémontaise'' on 29 September. ''Piémontaise'' captured on 9 October 1807. She was carrying

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and 7,500 sacks of rice. The value of the prize was 215,930.24 francs. In early March 1808, ''Piémontaise'' captured three more merchantmen off Southern India.

Capture

On 6 March 1808, ''Piémontaise'' encountered HMS ''St Fiorenzo''. The two ships battled for three days until ''Piémontaise'', out of ammunition and having suffered heavy casualties, had to

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her colours on 8 March. The evening before she struck, Lieutenant de vaisseau Charles Moreau, who had been severely wounded, threw himself into the sea. Captain Hardinge, of ''St Fiorenzo'', was killed in the fighting on the last day. Over the three days the British suffered 13 dead and 25 wounded. The French suffered some 48 dead and 112 wounded. Lieutenant William Dawson took command and brought both vessels back to

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, even though ''Piémontaise's'' three masts fell over her side early in the morning of 9 March. ''Piémontaise'' had on board British Army officers and captains and officers from prizes that she had taken. These men helped organize the

lascar A lascar was a sailor or militiaman from the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, the Arab world, British Somaliland or other lands east of the Cape of Good Hope who was employed on European ships from the 16th century until the mid-20th centur ...

s to jury-rig masts and bring ''Piémontaise'' into port. ''St Fiorenzo'' had too few men, too many casualties, and too many prisoners to guard to provide much assistance. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "San Fiorenzo 8 March 1808" to any surviving claimants from the action.

British service

The British brought ''Piémontaise'' into service as HMS ''Piedmontaise'', commissioning her under Captain Charles Foote. From May to August 1810, she took part in the successful expedition to the

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, along with and . The expedition also included . Foote died in September and Commander Henry D. Dawson replaced him, only to die shortly thereafter. ''Piedmontaise''s next captain was T. Epworth, who was replaced in turn by Captain Henry Edgell.

Fate

''Piémontaise'' was taken out of commission at Woolwich on 12 August 1812. She was broken up in January 1813.

Notes

Citations

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Piemontaise (1804) Age of Sail frigates of France 1804 ships Frigates of the French Navy Frigates of the Royal Navy Consolante-class frigates