''Président'' was a 40-gun frigate of the in the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in th ...

, built to an 1802 design by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait. She served with the French Navy from her completion in 1804 until late 1806 when the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

captured her. Thereafter, she served as HMS ''President''. In 1815 the Navy renamed her ''Piemontaise'', but then broke her up in December.

French service

Originally ordered under the name ''Minerve'', the frigate was renamed as ''Président'' on 24 December 1803. She took part in

L'Hermite's expedition L'Hermite's expedition was a French naval operation launched in 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars. The operation was intended as both a commerce raiding operation against the British trading posts of West Africa and as a diversion to the Trafalgar c ...

, which led to her capture. Before she was captured, on 6 January 1806 she helped capture the 16-gun

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular ...

Capture

In June 1806, Captain

Thomas George Shortland Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

took command of . She was the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the f ...

for a squadron under

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...

Sir Thomas Louis. On 27 September, they fell in with ''Président'', Capt. Gallier Labrosse, south of the Isles of Scilly, near

Belle Île Belle-Île, Belle-Île-en-Mer, or Belle Isle ( br, Ar Gerveur, ; br, label=Old Breton, Guedel) is a French island off the coast of Brittany in the ''département'' of Morbihan, and the largest of Brittany's islands. It is from the Quiberon peni ...

. ''Président'' had been sailing with the

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 tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

, frigate and corvette , but had separated from them on 20 August. Louis's squadron had sailed to the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

to await the return of Admiral Willaumez from the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

. On spotting ''Président'', the squadron gave chase but the ships of the line were not fast enough to catch her. However, an 18-gun attached to the squadron, , Captain Edward Hawkins, was able to get within firing range. ''Dispatch'' proceeded to harry ''Président'' with her forward guns, forcing ''Président'' to turn towards the nearest British frigate, HMS ''Blanche'', under Captain Sir Thomas Lavie. Seeing ''Président'' turn, Louis ordered ''Canopus'' to fire, even though the range was extreme. Realizing that the rest of the British squadron would arrive shortly, Labrosse struck his colours to ''Dispatch''. ''Président'' had suffered only minor damage and there were no casualties on either side in the action.James (1837) Vol. 4, pp. 265–6. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS ''President'' (dropping the accent over the 'e' in her name). The frigate's design was much admired and she served as the model for a number of later frigates, notably the in the Royal Navy.

Cruising

In December 1807, she was commissioned under the command of Captain Adam Mackenzie, sailing for South America on 7 May 1808 after completion conversion for British service at

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymout ...

. Mackenzie commanded her until 1810, apart from a brief period in 1809, when Captain Charles Schomberg temporarily commanded her off

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

while Mackenzie temporarily commanded . In 1810 Captain Samuel Warren took command and on 31 December sailed her for the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is ...

and thence to the

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and aroun ...

. In the East Indies she took part in the operations in

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

and the rest of the Dutch East Indies. In 1811, ''President'' was attached to the squadron of Admiral Robert Stopford that captured Java. On 31 August the frigates , ''President'', , and were detached to take the seaport of Cheribon. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Java" to all remaining survivors of the campaign. Returning to the UK in late 1812 or early 1813, ''President'' then served from May 1813 in the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...

, first under Captain Francis Mason, then from April 1814 under Captain Archibald Duff. On 21 March 1814, ''President'' was in company with the brig-sloop and the gun-brig off Finisterre as they escorted a fleet from Cork to Portugal.''Lloyd's List''. Accessed 13 December 2016.
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Fate

In August 1815, the Royal Navy renamed her HMS ''Piedmontaise'' but broke her up in December of that same year.

Post script

''President'' was the model for three later British 44-gun frigates: * * *

Citations

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:President Age of Sail frigates of France 1804 ships Frigates of the French Navy Gloire-class frigates Ships built in France