Marsouin (1788 ship)

History
France
Name: Marsouin
Namesake: Porpoise
Builder: Bayonne
Laid down: 1786 or 1787
Launched: 1787 or 1788
Completed: 1788
Captured: March 1795
UK
Name: HMS Marsouin
Acquired: March 1795 by capture
Commissioned: Never commissioned
General characteristics [1][2]
Displacement: 400 tons (French; unladen)
Tons burthen: 325 (bm)
Length: 36.38 metres (119.4 ft) (overall); 33.95 metres (111.4 ft)
Beam: 9.10 metres (29.9 ft)
Depth of hold: 4.55 metres (14.9 ft)
Propulsion: Sails
Complement: 73-102 (French store ship)
Armament:
  • French store ship: 22 x 8-pounder guns + 4 swivel guns
  • British sloop: 16 guns

Marsouin was a gabarre, the name-ship of her three-vessel class, built to a design by Raymond-Antoine Haran, launched in 1787 or '88 at Bayonne.[3] She carried troops, supplies, invalids, etc., across the Atlantic to the Caribbean or back until the British captured her in 1795. Though the Royal Navy nominally took her into service, she was never actually commissioned, and she disappears from the lists in 1799.

Service

On 6 April 1788 she sailed from Bayonne for Cochinchina while under the command of Major de vaisseau the marquis de Grasse-Briançon. She arrived back at Brest on 1 August 1789.[4] Thereafter she spent her time sailing between France and the West Indies.

In May 1791 she was under the command of sous-lieutenant de vaisseau d'Urvoy de Portzamparc, ferrying troops from Martinique back to Lorient.[5] From 4 February to 14 December 1792, Marsouin was under the command of lieutenant de port Guillaume-Marie Lemarant-Boissauveur. Under his command she transported provisions from Brest to Cap-Français, via Lisbon, and invalids from Saint-Domingue to Lorient. She then returned to Brest.[6] Her commander in January 1793 was lieutenant de vaisseau Laterre. Then between 27 August and 28 September it was lieutenant de vaisseau Bourdé. During the year she transported troops and then escorted a convoy from Brest to the roads of the Île d'Aix.[7]

Capture and fate

In 1795 Marsouin, under the command of enseigne de vaisseau non-entretenu Gois,[8] was at Basse-Terre when she was ordered to sea to attempt to intercept a British privateer that was preying on French commerce.[9] Unfortunately, on 11 March 1795, the day after she left Guadeloupe, Marsouin encountered the British frigate HMS Beaulieu, which was under the command of Captain Lancelot Skynner. Marsouin attempted to evade but Beaulieu fired on her. After Marsouin had suffered numerous dead and wounded and substantial damage to her masts and rigging, Gois, who had himself been wounded, struck. The subsequent court martial acquitted him of the loss of his vessel.[10] Ganges shared in the prize money for the capture.[11]

The British took Marsouin into the Royal Navy as HMS Marsouin, but never commissioned her. She was listed until 1799.[1]

Citations and references

Citations
  1. 1 2 Winfield (2008), p.265.
  2. ↑ Winfield & Roberts (2015), p.385.
  3. ↑ Demerliac (1996), p. 106, #736.
  4. ↑ Faure (1891), p.248.
  5. ↑ Fonds Marine, Vol. 1, p.28.
  6. ↑ Fonds Marine, Vol. 1, p.35.
  7. ↑ Fonds Marine, Vol. 1, p.62.
  8. ↑ Fonds Marine, Vol. 1, p.184.
  9. ↑ Anon. (1845), p.268.
  10. ↑ Onésime-Joachim Troude (1868), p.22.
  11. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 13968. p. 13. 3 January 1797.
References
  • Anon. (1845) The Naval and military sketch book, and history of adventure by flood and field. (London: Hugh Cunningham).
  • Demerliac, Alain (1996) La Marine De Louis XVI: Nomenclature Des Navires Français De 1774 À 1792. (Nice: Éditions OMEGA). ISBN 2-906381-23-3
  • Faure, Alexis (1891) Les Français en Cochinchine au XVIIIe siècle: Mgr. Pigneau de Béhaine évêque d'Adran. (A. Challamel).
  • Fonds Marine. Campagnes (opérations ; divisions et stations navales ; missions diverses). Inventaire de la sous-série Marine BB4. Tome premier : BB4 1 à 209 (1790-1804)
  • Troude, Onésime-Joachim (1867). Batailles navales de la France. 3. Challamel ainé. pp. 160–162. 
  • Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461. 
  • Winfield, Rif & Stephen S Roberts (2015) French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786 - 1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates. (Seaforth Publishing). ISBN 9781848322042
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