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| What better illustration to head up this post than Antoine Roux's depiction of a French 40-gun frigate. |
This post follows on from a series I've been posting here on JJ's looking at new additions to my collection, of specific 1:700 scale 3D-Prints from Turner Miniatures to allow me to field very specific vessels for my Camperdown Project and my Small Ship/Small Squadron Scenarios; and if you are interested in adding these scale models into your own collection you might be interested in the links below to my previous posts.
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| JJ's Wargames - Camperdown Project, Dutch Corvette Minerva JJ's Wargames - Speedy and El Gamo JJs Wargames - US 36-gun Frigate Constellation and French 40-gun Frigate La Virginie |
In this post I am showcasing two more additions, starting here with the 40-gun French frigate La Coquille, the lead ship of her class of five sister ships that included, Sirène, Franchise, Dédaigneuse and Themis.
Coquille
Coquille (Seashell in English) was built at Bayonne as Patriote by Raymond-Antoine Haran, but was renamed Coquille on the 30th May 1795, and was a 40-gun frigate and lead ship of her class, launched in 1794.
Her general characteristics were:
Tons burthen 1180 tons (bm)
Length of gundeck 137 feet, 6 inches
Beam 34 feet, 9 inches
Depth of hold 17 feet, 7 inches
Her armament consisted of:
Gundeck: 28 x 12-pounder long guns
Quarterdeck & Forecastle: 12 x 6-pounders with up to 2 or 4 of these 6-pounders substituted by 36-pounder carronades (obusiers).
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| Captain Sir John Borlase Warren - RMG |
The British 'crack-raiding' squadron was under the command of Captain Sir John Borlase Warren, on this occasion consisting of his pennant ship the 24-pounder Pomone 44, the 24-pounder razee Anson 38, Captain Charles Philip Durham, the 18-pounder Galatea 32, Captain Richard Goodwin Keats, the 18-pounder Artois 38, Captain Sir Edmund Nagle and the lugger Valiant. which engaged the French squadron escorting the convoy near the Bec du Raz capturing four brigs from the convoy.
The British then engaged the French warships escorting the convoy but were not able to bring them to a full battle before having to give up the chase due to the onset of dark and the dangerous location; that saw Galatea the only vessel in the British squadron to suffer casualties losing two men killed and six wounded and the store-ship Etoile, under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Mathurin-Théodore Berthelin and armed with thirty 12-pounder guns and had a crew of 160 men, struck, whilst the four French frigates (Coquille among them), a corvette, a brig, and the rest of the convoy escaped.
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| Attack on the French Squadron under Monsr. Bompart Chef d'Escadre, upon the Coast of Ireland, by a Detachment of His Majesty's Ships under the Command of Sir J. B. Warren, Oct. 12th 1798 - Nicholas Pocock 1799. La Coquille can be seen third from left. |
On 12 October 1798, Coquille armed with 40 guns, and had a crew of 580 men, under the command of Captain Léonore Depéronne took part in the Battle of Tory Island, where she was captured by the British losing 18 men killed and 31 wounded in the battle.
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| Battle of Tory Island |
The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Coquille, but an accidental fire destroyed her in December 1798.
The other Coquille class frigates:
Sirène
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| Combat de la frégate française La Sirène contre une division anglaise -Pierre-Julien Gilbert On the 22nd March 1808, at 20:30, off Groix, and the Port of Lorient, Sirène was pursued by the British 74-gun Impetueux and the 36-gun frigate Aigle which managed to close with her and she was taken in a cross-fire of Aigle, which sailed between her and the shore, and Impetueux on the other side. The gunnery exchange lasted one hour and a quarter, after which the British withdrew. |
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| My take on the Expédition d'Irlande in which the frigate La Sirène participated, with my Battle of Bantry Bay 1796 Scenario here played at the DWG. Devon Wargames Group - Bantry Bay 1796, Kiss Me Hardy |
La Sirène proved a useful raider and taker of merchantmen in her career and also taking part in Admiral Villeneuve's 1805 campaign seeing action at the Battle of Cape Finisterre on the 22nd July 1805, before being part of the French force ordered to attack the British whaling fleet off Greenland in 1806.
Franchise
Launched in Bayonne in 1798 Franchise joined a squadron of three frigates, Concorde under Commodore Jean-François Landolphe, Médée under Captain Jean-Daniel Coudin, and Franchise under Captain Pierre Jurien, with Landolphe as the overall commander, leaving Rochefort on the 6th March 1799._RMG_J5679.jpg) |
| Lines and profile of the French Coquille-class frigate Franchise - RMG |
The squadron evaded the British Rochefort patrol and began an extended commerce raiding operation, inflicting severe damage on the West African trade for the rest of the year, before wear on all the ships forced them to refit in the Spanish port of Montevideo, not able to set sail until the early summer of 1800.
The force began a raiding spree in the South Atlantic off Brazil, against American merchants, now at war with France in the Quasi War, and British trade, until Concorde was taken in an action on the 4th August 1800, off Rio de Janeiro by HMS Belliqueux 64-guns, leaving Franchise to make her way back to France safely evading the British blockade.
On the 28th May 1803 HMS Minotaur, in company with Thunderer, and later joined by Albion, all of 74-guns captured Franchise, which was 33 days out of Port-au-Prince; of the sixteen 9-pounders on her quarterdeck and forecastle, ten were in her hold. She had a crew of 187 men under the command of Captain Jurien.
Taken into the Royal Navy as HMS Franchise, she was a successful escort taking many enemy privateers in her duties, whilst also serving at the Second Battle of Copenhagen in August-September 1807, before being broken up in 1815.
Dédaigneuse
Taken into the Royal Navy as HMS Franchise, she was a successful escort taking many enemy privateers in her duties, whilst also serving at the Second Battle of Copenhagen in August-September 1807, before being broken up in 1815.
Dédaigneuse
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Lines and profile of the French Coquille-class frigate Dedaigneuse- RMG 'Dedaigneuse' (1801) arrived at Plymouth Dockyard on 20 February 1801, was docked on 29 July 1801 and her copper was replaced. She was undocked on 24 August, and sailed on 9 November 1801 having been fitted. |
Dédaigneuse was launched in 1797 and on Monday, 26th January 1801, at 8.00 a.m., at 45°N 12°W, Oiseau 32-guns, under Captain Samuel Hood Linzee, fell in with and chased Dédaigneuse, which was bound from Cayenne to Rochefort with despatches.
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| The pursuit of the Dédaigneuse, Monday, 26th January 1801, at 8.00 a.m., at 45°N 12°W |
By noon the following day, with Cape Finisterre in sight, Captain Linzee signalled Sirius and Amethyst, both of 36-guns, who were in sight to join the pursuit; however Dédaigneuse maintained her advantage until 2.00 a.m. on the 28th when Oiseau and Sirius were within musket-shot of Dédaigneuse.
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| Actually this is HM Clyde chasing the French frigate Vestale, by Derek Garedner, but captures the chase of Dédaigneuse by HM frigate Oiseau 32-guns equally well. 'In a desperate attempt to shake her pursuers she opened fire from her stern-chasers, which fire the two British ships immediately returned.' |
In a desperate attempt to shake her pursuers she opened fire from her stern-chasers, which fire the two British ships immediately returned, and after a running fight of 45 minutes, Dédaigneuse was two miles off shore near Cape Bellem with her running rigging and sails cut to pieces, mainly due to the steady and well-directed fire from Sirius.
Aboard Dédaigneuse casualties were heavy with several men killed, including her captain and fifth lieutenant, and 17 wounded; she was therefore forced to strike her colours, and although Sirius was the only British ship damaged (rigging, sails, main-yard and bowsprit) in the encounter, there were no fatalities on the British side with Captain Linzee declaring the encounter a long and anxious chase of 42 hours and acknowledged a gallant resistance on the part of Dédaigneuse; describing her as "a perfect new Frigate, Copper fastened and sails well...".
He sent her into Plymouth with a prize crew under the command of his first lieutenant, H. Lloyd and Dédaigneuse was afterwards added to Royal Navy under the same name HMS Dedaigneuse.
Themis
Unlike her sisters that were launched at Bayonne, Themis was launched at Rochefort in 1799 and commissioned in 1801, taking part in the Battle of Cape Finisterre (22 July 1805) and in the Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805).
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| Admiral Sir Robert Calder's Action off Cape_Finisterre, 23rd July 1805 - William Anderson (RMG) |
During Trafalgar she was commanded by Captain Nicolas Joseph Pierre Jugan, and after the battle she towed the Spanish ships of the line Principe de Asturias and Santa Ana to safety in Cádiz.
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| I got to run a re-fight of the Battle of Cape Finisterre (22 July 1805), in which the Themis participated, at the Devon Wargames Group back in January 2022 Devon Wargames Group - An Opportunity Mist! (Battle of Cape Ferrol or 'Calder's Action' - 22nd July 1805) |
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“Back home” - Carlos Parrilla Penegos The ship Santa Ana being towed by the French frigate Thémis on its way to Cádiz after the Battle of Trafalgar on 21st October 1805. |
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| A more contemporary take on Themis (left) depicted here towing Santa Ana - Antoine Roux |
Following the escape from Cádiz, the remaining four ships of the squadron sailed southwards, reaching the French African trading post of Senegal in March and then crossing the Atlantic to Cayenne, French Guiana arriving on the 27th March to take on fresh supplies, and then sailing on the 7th April to operate with limited success against British merchant shipping in the Caribbean, including fifteen days cruising off Barbados.
Retiring to the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico, Lamellerie resupplied his ships again in preparation for the journey back to France, and on the 18th May the squadron sailed for home.
During the six months expedition the squadron did not cause significant disruption to British trade and
on the 27th July, as they neared Rochefort, the squadron were spotted by HMS Mars 74-guns, which chased the French squadron through the night and into the next morning, by which time the Rhin had fallen behind the others and was captured by Mars. The other ships became separated and Thémis was the only one to reach the intended destination of Rochefort (the other two frigates ended up in Bordeaux).
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| There is a wonderful level of detail on these prints by Henry Turner with the wheel, quarterdeck guns, ports and railings on this Coquille-class frigate nicely captured, and I can see myself adding other models of this class to add to my Trafalgar collection. |
In January 1808 Thémis was sailing in the Atlantic before returning to the Mediterranean, and after passing by Gibraltar on the 17th March, she raided commerce with the French frigate Pénélope 44-guns and sailed to Toulon. From there, she was tasked to ferry supplies to Corfu, along with the Pauline 44-guns. She was trapped there and eventually seized by the British when they captured the island.
HMS Glatton 56-guns
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| HMS 'Glatton' (1795) after defeating the French squadron on the night of the 15th July 1796 |
Her general characteristics were:
Tons burthen 1256 21/94 tons (bm)
Length of gundeck 163 feet, 111/4 inches
Beam 42 feet, 1 inch
Depth of hold 17 feet
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| Plan showing the inboard profile plan Glatton (1795), a converted East India Company ship, a 54-gun, Forth Rate, two-decker, as fitted at Chatham Dockyard as a convict transport. The plan shows large gun ports on the upper deck to accommodate an all carronade armament. Signed David Polhill (Master Shipwright, 1801-1803) Annotated on the reverse: "Glatton 54 Guns as fitted at Chatham in 1802 for carrying Convicts to Botany Bay." (RMG) |
Her armament consisted of:
Gundeck: 28 x 68-pounder carronades
Upper Deck: 28 x 42-pounder carronades
Later rearmed with 18-pounder long guns on her gundeck
Glatton was unusual in that for a time she was the only ship-of-the-line that the Royal Navy had armed exclusively with carronades at the instigation of her commissioning commander, Captain Henry Trollope. (Eventually she returned to a more conventional armament of guns and carronades.)
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| Captain Sir Henry Trollope |
Trollope entered the navy in April 1771 aboard the 64-gun Captain, and would see service during the American War of Independence on the American station, assuming his first command in 1778 of the 12-gun cutter Kite, based in the Nore under Admiralty orders and in which he achieved notable success earning a staggering £30,000 in prize money for the capture of just two ships carrying seasoned ship timber.
His undoubted skills were also demonstrated on the 30th March 1779 when fighting the Kite in the defence of a 30-ship convoy from a much larger French privateer, exchanging broadsides with her adversary and driving her off to find easier pickings, then later the next day, whilst making repairs, driving off another privateer brig of 18-guns, badly damaging and knocking down her mainmast whilst inflicting forty-five casualties for the loss of just nine men wounded, although the damage received prevented him from attempting to board his adversary.
Promoted to Commander in 16th April 1779 he continued to command the Kite until his growing reputation saw him promoted Post Captain in 1781 before appointed to command the Rainbow 44-guns in March 1782 an experimental vessel whose original 18 and 9-pounder main armament had been changed in favour of 20 x 68-pounder carronades on her gundeck, and 22 x 42-pounder carronades on her upper deck, with a further 6 x 32-pounder carronades on her forecastle and quarterdeck.
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| 'The smasher' or 'The devil's gun' |
In the early morning of 4th September 1782 the Rainbow came upon the new French frigate Hebe 38-guns, off the Isle de Bas and rather surprisingly her astonished commander, Chevalier Pierre Joseph de Vigny, surrendered after the first massive shot from the Rainbow destroyed his wheel, surmising that if the British ship s forecastle guns alone could inflict so much damage then the rest could undoubtedly do much more. This feeble defence by the French captain ultimately led to his being cashiered and sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment.
Denied any further opportunity to properly test his experimental command, Trollope paid the Rainbow off following the peace in March 1783, thus it was likely little surprise that Trollope, given the liberty for arranging Glatton's armament when he took command of her in 1794, should choose to replicate the fitout of his previous command in 1782, looking to demonstrate its full capability as soon as the opportunity presented.
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| HMS "Amelia" Chasing the French Frigate "Aréthuse" 1813 - John Christian Schetky Amelia was the former French frigate Proserpine, sister ship to Hebe engaged and captured by Trollope's Rainbow. |
*Various sources I have suggest, Brutus 44/46-gun razee, Incorruptible 38/40-gun frigate, Magicienne 32/36-gun frigate, and possible Republicaine 28-gun corvette plus two 22-gun corvettes, and a brig or just two 24-gun corvettes.
Frankly when I get around to fighting this scenario, I may well have either of these two options to field, perhaps with a random selection to keep things interesting.
William James gives the following account of the action that followed;
At about 9 h. 45 m. p.m. the Glatton, having hoisted the St.-George's ensign, arrived abreast of the three smaller and rearmost ships, but reserved her fire for the next ship, the latter from her superior size appearing to be the commodore; and which ship was now the second in the line, the ship next ahead of her having fallen to leeward. At a few minutes before 10 p.m., as the Glatton ranged up close alongside of the supposed commodore, Captain Trollope, hailing the ship, desired her commander to surrender to a British man-of-war. In an instant French colours and a broad pendant were displayed, and the commodore, and immediately afterwards all the other ships commenced firing at the Glatton.
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| An aquatint engraving by Robert Dodd, dated 19th December 1796, entitled, 'To the Right Honourable Earl Spencer . . . This plate representing His Majesty's Ship Glatton . . . attacking a French Squadron consisting of six frigates, a brig and a cutter, on the night of the 15th July 1796.' Glatton's stern gallery can be seen amid the smoke of battle, surrounded by the enemy. |
The Glatton was not slow in returning the compliment, and poured into the French commodore, at the distance of not more than 20 yards, a broadside such as perhaps no single-decked ship ever before received. While the Glatton and the French commodore were continuing to go ahead and mutually engaging, the French van-ship tacked, in the expectation of being followed by her squadron, and thereby driving the Glatton upon the Brill shoal, which was close to leeward. The French van-ship soon arrived within hail on the Glatton's weather beam, and received a fire from her larboard guns, the effects of which were heard in the cries and groans of the wounded, and partially seen in the shattered state of the ship's side. This quickly elicited the cheers of the British crew, and the discomfited enemy passed on to the southward; leaving the Glatton still engaged with the French commodore upon her lee bow, another large frigate (the latter's second ahead when the action commenced) upon her lee quarter.
The action had now lasted about 20 minutes; when the Glatton's pilot called out, that the ship, if she did not tack in five minutes, would be on the shoal. Captain Trollope replied "When the French commodore strikes the ground, do you put the helm a-lee." Almost immediately afterwards the French commodore tacked to avoid the shoal, and, while in stays, received a heavy raking fire that much disabled him. The other French ships had previously gone about; and the Glatton, as well to continue the action, as to escape running on the shoal, prepared to do the same, but, owing to the damaged state of her sails and rigging, experienced a great difficulty in getting her head round.
The combatants were now all on the starboard tack; and, although the three large and hitherto principally engaged frigates had fallen to leeward, the three smaller ones still kept up a harassing long-shot fire; to which the Glatton, on account of the distance, could not make a very effectual return.
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| My surmise on a likely position for the encounter between Glatton and the French squadron close to the Dutch naval base of Helevoetsluis, and the shoal off Briel, referred to as 'Brill' in James' account, and showing the proximity to Flushing, where the French withdrew to, post action. |
The wounded state of the topmasts and the increasing power of the wind rendering it necessary to take a reef in the topsails of the Glatton, her men unhesitatingly flew upon the yards, which were also wounded by shot, and performed their task in the face of a smart cannonade from the nearest of the three ships to leeward left in a state to continue the action; and which ship, mistaking the cause of the cessation of the Glatton's fire, was seemingly advancing to reap the fruits of her prowess.
The British crew, however, were soon at their guns again, and the fall of a topsail yard belonging to one of the French ships, coupled with some other damage, convinced the Frenchmen on board that the victory was not yet to them, and very soon induced these three ships to follow the example of their three more powerful companions, and withdraw themselves from the combat.
The six French ships, thus beaten, were not; however, the only opponents that had been assailing the Glatton. Towards the close of the action the brig and cutter, the first mounting 16, and the other eight or ten guns, had stationed themselves under her stern, and opened a smart fire; a fire which the Glatton; from the defects in her equipment already noticed, could only answer by musketry. After receiving a few well-directed volleys, the brig and cutter made sail after their companions; and at 11 p.m. all firing ceased between the Glatton and her many opponents.
The dismantled state of the Glatton rendered pursuit on her part out of the question. Every brace, and every stay except the mizen, had been cut away or rendered useless; and so had all the running and the greater part of the standing rigging. The principal part of the enemy's fire had passed between her tops and gunwale, so that the lower sails of the Glatton were cut nearly from the yards: the jib and mainsail, indeed, were in ribands. The mainmast, and the fore and main yards, were also badly wounded, and ready to fall.
Scarcely half a dozen shot had struck the hull; and, in consequence, no men were killed, and, except a few bruises and scratches, two only wounded. One of the latter was Captain Henry Ludlow Strangeways of the marines; the other, a corporal of the same corps. The first-named gallant officer, although badly wounded by a musket-ball in the thigh, and compelled in consequence, to have a tourniquet applied, insisted on returning to his quarters; where he remained until, being faint with loss of blood, he was carried off the deck: he died shortly afterwards.
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| Captain Henry Trollope with the mortally wounded Marine Captain Henry Ludlow Strangeways on the deck of HMS Glatton |
The Glatton, during the night, used every exertion to put herself in a state to renew the action by morning, with the assistance, it was hoped, of one or two ships of Captain Savage's squadron.
On the 16th, at daybreak, the French squadron, drawn up in a close head and stern line, was still in sight, with the advantage, by a shift of wind during the night to south-west, of the weathergage. At 8 a.m., having knotted and spliced her rigging, bent new sails, and otherwise refitted herself, the Glatton offered battle to her opponents; but these, having felt too sensibly the effects of her 68lb. shot, declined a renewal of the engagement, and about noon bore away for Flushing, followed by the Glatton.
Having thus compelled a whole squadron of French ships to take shelter in port, the Glatton turned her head to the northward, and, standing in need of great repairs, steered for Yarmouth roads; where, on the 21st, she came to an anchor.
The Glatton's affair, like many other drawn battles, is imperfect in its details, for the want of any correct information as to the names, force, damage, and loss, of the ships which she had engaged. One French frigate was known to be the Brutus, a 74-gun ship cut down, mounting from 46 to 50 guns; 24-pounders on the first or main deck, and 12-pounders, with 36-pounder carronades, on the quarterdeck and forecastle. A second ship is stated to have been the 38-gun frigate Incorruptible; and a third, the 36-gun frigate Magicienne.
A Flushing paper, of July 5, 1796, states that the French frigate, Incorruptible, with another frigate, a 36, not named, the 28-gun frigate Républicaine, two ship-corvettes of 22 guns each, and an armed brig or snow, were lying in the road waiting an opportunity to get to France. These then, with the Brutus, were probably the squadron which the Glatton had engaged.
That the French ships sustained considerable damage in their hulls may reasonably be inferred, from the size of the Glatton's shot, the closeness of the action, and the shyness which they ultimately evinced. Moreover, on the morning succeeding the action, the Glatton's people plainly saw men, on stages, over the sides of the French ships, stopping shot-holes. In further corroboration, several of the Flushing fishermen afterwards reported, that considerable damage had been sustained by three or four of the frigates, so much so, indeed, that one of them had sunk in the harbour; that either that or one of the others had lost 70 men in killed and wounded, and that the French were astonished at finding the decks of their ships so ripped up by the Glatton's shot.
Viewed in every light, the action between the Glatton and this French frigate-squadron was highly honourable to the officers and crew of the former. The prompt decision of Captain Trollope to become the assailant, when one of the six opponent ships, admitting her to have been the Brutus, was 300 or 490 tons larger than the Glatton, coupled with the latter's conduct throughout the engagement, well entitled her commander to the honour of knighthood subsequently conferred upon him by his sovereign. The merchants of London, too, with their usual liberality, presented Captain Trollope with an elegant piece of plate. The three lieutenants of the Glatton on this memorable occasion were Robert Williams, Alexander Wilmot Schomberg, and William Pringle.
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| The Turner Miniatures model of Glatton, completed with Warlord masts, anchors figurehead and boats, shows off her top deck carronades. |
The crew of the Glatton not being sufficiently numerous to man her guns on both sides, the following expedient was resorted to: The allotment of men for each gun upon either broadside was divided into two gangs; one of which, having loaded and run out the gun, left it to be pointed and fired by the other, composed of picked hands, and then ran across and did the same to the gun on the opposite side. And how well the British crew plied their guns has already been shown in the result of the engagement.'
Glatton continued to serve in the North Sea and the Baltic, and as a transport for convicts to Australia. She then returned to naval service in the Mediterranean. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars the Admiralty converted her to a water depot at Sheerness, and later in 1830 the Admiralty converted Glatton to a breakwater and sank her at Harwich.
I have to say that I am enjoying the detail on these models and I hope my efforts have helped to illustrate it ,with the individuality of the prints nicely adding another level of detail to my collection overall.
They really work well alongside the Warlord range of models as amply illustrated with the ability to add parts from the plastics, such as boats, anchors, masts and figureheads.
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More of these models to come, with a new addition to the Trafalgar collection and then the last few models to complete the fleets for Camperdown before a fleet review of the collection as a whole.
More anon
JJ
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