HMS Blanche (1786)

HMS ''Blanche'' was a 32-gun ''Hermione''-class fifth rate of the Royal Navy. She was ordered towards the end of the American War of Independence, but only briefly saw service before the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793. She enjoyed a number of successful cruises against privateers in the West Indies, before coming under the command of Captain Robert Faulknor. He took the ''Blanche'' into battle against a superior opponent and after a hard-fought battle, forced the surrender of the French frigate ''Pique''.

Faulknor was among those killed on the ''Blanche''. She subsequently served in the Mediterranean, where she had the misfortune of forcing a large Spanish frigate to surrender, but was unable to secure the prize, which then escaped. Returning to British waters she was converted to a storeship and then a troopship, but did not serve for long before being wrecked off the Texel in 1799.

Construction and commissioning

''Blanche'' was ordered from the yards of Thomas Calhoun and John Nowlan, of Bursledon on 9 August 1782 and laid down there in July the following year. She was launched on 10 July 1786 and proceeded to Portsmouth where she was coppered in August. She was then laid up for some time, before commissioning in January 1789. Work to fit her for sea had been completed by 25 April that year.

Career

''Blanche''s first period of service took her to the Leeward Islands in May 1789, under the command of Captain Robert Murray, but she had returned to Britain by June 1792, when she was paid off. A brief period of refitting at Deptford lasted from July to October, before she returned to the Leeward Islands under the command of Captain Christopher Parker. Parker undertook several successful cruises while in the West Indies in 1793, capturing the 12-gun ''Vengeur'' on 1 October, the 20-gun ''Revolutionnaire'' on 8 October and the 22-gun ''Sans Culotte'' on 30 December. Command of the ''Blanche'' passed to Captain Robert Faulknor in 1794, who continued Parker's work by capturing a large schooner at La Désirade on 30 December 1794, with the loss of two killed and four wounded.

Battling the ''Pique''

Faulknor then proceeded to patrol off Pointe à Pitre, Guadeloupe, where the 36-gun French frigate ''Pique'' was known to be refitting. The French ship came out of the harbour on 4 January 1795, and the two frigates spent several hours manoeuvring and circling each other, trying to gain an advantage. The battle started early on the morning of 5 January, with the two ships closing and exchanging broadsides, before ''Pique'' turned and ran afoul of ''Blanche'', with her bowsprit caught across her port quarter. While the French made several attempts to board, which were repulsed, the crew of ''Blanche'' attempted to lash the bowsprit to their capstan, but during the attempt Captain Faulknor was killed by a musket ball to the heart. ''Pique'' then broke away from ''Blanche'' and came round her stern, this time colliding on the starboard quarter. ''Blanche''s men quickly lashed the bowsprit to the stump of their mainmast, which held her fast. Heavy volleys of musket fire were now exchanged between the two ships, while the men of ''Blanche'' attempted to manoeuvre their guns into a position to fire on the trapped Frenchman. They eventually had to blow away part of ''Blanche''s woodwork to achieve this. They now raked the ''Pique'' until she was forced to surrender, over five hours since the battle had begun. Casualties for the British were eight killed, including Captain Faulknor, and 21 wounded. ''Pique'' had lost 76 killed and 110 wounded. The two ships were joined later that morning by the 64-gun , which helped exchange and secure the prisoners and tow the ships to port. ''Pique'' was taken into the Royal Navy, as HMS ''Pique''. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the award of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Blanche 4 Jany. 1795" to all surviving claimants from the action.

Later career

Captain Charles Sawyer took command of ''Blanche'' in January 1795. She captured a small privateer off Saint Lucia on 17 April. ''Blanche'' returned to Portsmouth for a refit in late 1795, before sailing to the Mediterranean in December.

In 1796 a court martial dismissed Sawyer from his vessel and from the service. Sawyer had lost control of ''Blanche'' and the respect of his crew due to his increasingly blatant homosexual relations with two young midshipmen, his coxswain, and another seaman. ''Blanche''s first lieutenant, Archibald Cowan, eventually wrote to Captain George Cockburn, senior captain of the fleet. The charges were "odious misconduct, and for not taking public notice of mutinous expressions muttered against him"; the court martial dismissed Sawyer from His Majesty's service on 17 October 1796, ruling that he was "incapable of ever serving in any military capacity whatever."

Even before the court martial verdict, Admiral John Jervis in June placed ''Blanche'' under the command of Captain D’Arcy Preston. On 19 December ''Blanche'' was involved in an action with HMS ''Minerve'' against the Spanish frigates ''Santa Sabina'' and ''Ceres''. The ''Minerve'' captured ''Santa Sabina'', but though the ''Blanche'' forced ''Ceres'' to surrender, she was unable to secure her prize, which subsequently escaped.

Command passed to Captain Henry Hotham in 1797. On 5 February, 1797 she and HMS Inconstant captured American merchantman "Fortune" 4 leagues off Marseilles while bound for Genoa. She was seized for suspected trading with France and suspicious papers. She captured the 14-gun privateer ''Coureur'' on the Lisbon station on 20 November, followed by the 6-gun privateer ''Bayonnais'' on 27 December that year.

Fate

''Blanche'' was paid off in August 1798 and fitted out as a storeship the following year. She was further converted to a troopship and commissioned under Commander John Ayscough. While under his command she grounded in the entrance to the Texel on 28 September 1799 and was declared a constructive total loss.

Citations

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanche (1786)
Frigates of the Royal Navy
Shipwrecks in the North Sea
1786 ships
Ships built on the River Hamble
Maritime incidents in 1799