HMS Abeille (1796)

History
France
Name: Bonnet Rouge
Namesake: Honey bee
Ordered: 18 May 1793[1]
Builder: Saint Malo
Laid down: June 1793
Launched: October 1793
Commissioned: 12 November 1793
Renamed: Abeille (1795)
Captured: May 1796
Name: HMS Abeille
Acquired: 2 May 1796 by capture
Fate: Broken up 1798[2]
General characteristics [3]
Displacement: 135 tons (French)
Tons burthen: 80 (French; "of load")
Length:
  • 19.49 m (63.9 ft) (overall)
  • 17.21 m (56.5 ft) (keel)
Beam: 6.50 m (21.3 ft)
Complement: 65 (70 at capture)
Armament: 10 × 4-pounder guns

HMS Abeille was a French Navy 14-gun cutter launched in 1793 under the name Bonnet Rouge that HMS Dryad captured in 1796. She was taken into the Royal Navy as HMS Abeille, but apparently never served and was broken up in 1798.

French service and capture

Abeille was a Montagne-class cutter built to a design by Daniel Denÿs and launched in October 1793 at Saint-Malo as Bonnet Rouge.

Between March and July 1795, while under the command of ensigne de vaiseau Denis, she cruised between Brest and Loctudy, and return. She then cruised in the Gulf of Gascony with the division under the command of Contre-Admiral Vence.[1] She was at the First Battle of Groix in June 1795, but like all the smaller vessels, did not participate in the action.[4]

She was officially renamed Abeille on 30 May 1795. Later, under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Denis-Lagarde, she was stationed at the Île de Batz.[1]

On 2 May 1796, Dryad, under Acting-Commander John Pullin, captured Abeille some 16 or 17 leagues off The Lizard.[5] At the time, Abeille was three days out of Brest and had not taken anything. The Royal Navy took her into service under her existing name.

Fate

There is no record that HMS Abeille ever actually served in the Royal Navy. She was broken up in 1798.[2]

Citations and references

Citations
  1. 1 2 3 Roche (2005), p.2.
  2. 1 2 Winfield (2008), p.356.
  3. ↑ Winfield and Roberts (2015), p. 241.
  4. ↑ Fonds Marine, p.146.
  5. ↑ "No. 13891". The London Gazette. 10 May 1796. p. 449.
References
  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
  • "Fonds Marine. Campagnes (opérations ; divisions et stations navales ; missions diverses). Inventaire de la sous-série Marine BB4. Tome premier : BB4 1 à 482 (1790–1826)" (PDF). Service historique du Ministère de la Défense. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  • Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des Bâtiments de la Flotte de Guerre Française de Colbert à nos Jours. Group Retozel-Maury Millau.
  • Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1-86176-246-1.
  • Winfield, Rif; Roberts, Stephen S. (2015). French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786–1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-204-2.
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