HMS ''Amfitrite'' was a 38-gun fifth-rate

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

of the

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 ...

. She had previously served with the

Spanish Navy The Spanish Navy, officially the Armada, is the Navy, maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Spanish Navy was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigation ...

before she was captured during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

and commissioned into the Royal Navy. The Admiralty renamed her HMS ''Blanche'' after she had spent just over a year as ''Amfitrite''. She was the only ship in the Navy to bear this specific name, though a number of other ships used the conventional English spelling and were named HMS ''Amphitrite''. Her most notable feat was her capture of ''Guerriere'' in 1806. ''Blanche'' was wrecked in 1807.

Capture

''Amfitrite'' was sailing off the Spanish Atlantic coast in November 1804, when the 74-gun

third rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Rating When the rating system was f ...

HMS ''Donegal'', then watching the port of Cadiz under the command of Captain Richard Strachan, spotted her. ''Donegal'' gave chase and after 46 hours, ''Amfitrite'' lost her mizzen-top-mast, which enabled ''Donegal'' to overhaul her. The engagement lasted only eight minutes, and resulted in a number of deaths, including that of the Spanish captain, who fell to a

musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually dis ...

ball. The ''Amfitrite'' surrendered and after being searched, was found to be laden with stores and carrying dispatches from Cadiz to

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

and

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Robert Corbet. She was renamed HMS ''Blanche'' on 3 December 1805.

HMS ''Blanche''

Capture of La Gueriere by Blanche - July 19th 1806

Captain Thomas Lavie took command of ''Blanche'' in 1806 and patrolled off the English coast, protecting British shipping from French warships and

privateer A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...

s. On 28 March 1806, a French squadron consisting of the French frigates ''Guerrière'', ''Revanche'' and ''Sirène'', and the brig-corvette ''Néarque'', all under the command of Amand Leduc, were dispatched from

Lorient Lorient (; ) is a town (''Communes of France, commune'') and Port, seaport in the Morbihan Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in western France. History Prehistory and classical antiquity Beginn ...

, with orders to attack and destroy British and Russian whalers in the

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, off

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

. ''Guerrière'' became separated from the rest of the squadron, but was able to capture and burn several whaling vessels. By 16 July, news of her activities, including a recent sighting off the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

reached Captain Lavie aboard ''Blanche'', then off the

Shetland Islands Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the Uni ...

. ''Blanche'' quickly sailed to the reported area and on 18 July, sighted ''Guerrière''. By this point ''Guerrière'' was carrying 50 guns, to the ''Blanche''s 46. ''Blanche'' quickly closed the distance, but ''Guerrière'', perhaps mistaking the British frigate for one of her squadron, did not initially take action. ''Blanche'' opened fire at about 15 minutes past midnight, firing two broadsides before the ''Guerrière'' could respond. A fierce fight followed, with ''Guerrière'' eventually surrendering at half past one that morning, having lost her mizzenmast. ''Blanche'' had suffered light damage and four men wounded out of her complement of 265. ''Guerrière'' had suffered considerable damage to her lower masts, as well as to her hull, both above and below the waterline. Out of her complement of 350, 20 of her officers, seamen and marines had been killed, whilst another 30 were wounded, ten of them seriously. Many of the French crew had been ill below decks during the engagement. ''Guerrière'' had been aiming to cripple the ''Blanche'' by firing to bring down her masts, so that the ''Guerrière'' might escape. When this failed, ''Guerrière'' was eventually worn down and forced to strike. ''Blanche'' escorted ''Guerrière'' back to Britain, arriving with her prize on 26 July in Yarmouth

Roads A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. The ...

. ''Guerrière'' was commissioned into the Navy as HMS ''Guerriere'', after a repair and refit that brought her to 48 guns. Lavie was

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

ed and ''Blanche''s

first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a se ...

received a promotion. In 1847 the Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Blanche 19 July 1806" to all surviving members of the crew that claimed it. Captain Lavie continued to serve as commander of ''Blanche'' and was part of a squadron under Captain Richard Keats blockading the port of Rochefort. On 15 January 1807 Lavie and ''Blanche'' intercepted ''George Washington'' off

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

. Lavie found that she was carrying Captain Kargarian (Kergariou), the former commander of the French frigate , and 306 of his officers and men, but no stores from ''Valeureuse''. Lavie took the Frenchmen aboard ''Blanche'' as his prisoners. He then sent ''George Washington'' to England.

Fate

On 4 March 1807, ''Blanche'' was wrecked whilst cruising off

Ushant Ushant (; , ; , ) is a French island at the southwestern end of the English Channel which marks the westernmost point of metropolitan France. It belongs to Brittany and in medieval times, Léon. In lower tiers of government, it is a commune in t ...

. Forty-five of her crew were lost, of whom 20 were

Royal Marines The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...

. All of the officers were saved, as were 180 seamen and 25 marines. The French marched the survivors to Brest, where they were housed in the naval hospital. The crew would remain prisoners for seven years until Napoleon's abdication. The

court martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the mili ...

on 2 June 1814 honourably acquitted Lavie and his officers of the loss of ''Blanche''. The court found that iron stanchions, cranks, and arms under the half-deck had affected her

compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with No ...

es. This in turn had caused her navigation to be faulty.Grocott (1997), pp. 235–6.

Citations

References

* * * Lindridge, James (1846) ''Tales of shipwrecks and adventures at sea ...'' (London: W.M. Clark).
HMS Amfitrite/HMS Blanche's career
*

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Amfitrite (1804) Frigates of the Royal Navy Shipwrecks in the Bay of Biscay Maritime incidents in 1804 Maritime incidents in 1807 Captured ships Ships built in Spain Frigates of the Spanish Navy