All at Sea - HM Cutter Entreprenante, 3-D Print from Turner Miniatures & Only Games.

The Royal Navy armed cutter Entreprenante shadowing the remnants of the Franco-Spanish fleet as it runs into Cadiz after the disastrous defeat at Trafalgar - Thomas Butterworth.

It was back in April 2021 when I was concluding work on building the opposing fleets for Trafalgar using the Warlord range of 1:700 models, that I focused on completing the small ships for the opposing sides and Entreprenante was of course included, see link below.

JJ's Wargames - All at Sea, Small Ships at Trafalgar

With work going on to complete my Camperdown collection in a similar way, I recently constructed the four hired cutters for the British fleet and used the three unbuilt models I had in stock together with the one seen above, used to represent Entreprenante in her first incarnation.

Entreprenante mark-one brings up the rear of the Inshore Squadron at Trafalgar 2023 played with the DWG and Penarth club.
JJ's Wargames - Trafalgar 2023

Thus I was in need of another model to complete my British Trafalgar collection, for the next time it takes to the table, likely next year in time for the two-hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of the battle and thus I turned to a more exact recreation of this famous little ship, the smallest to participate at Trafalgar and beautifully replicated by Henry Turner, and so I have put this specific showcase together to look at the model and the history in a bit more detail than in my original post.

His Majesty's Armed Cutter Entreprenante is listed as being captured from the French in 1798 and may have been a privateer from Socoa, or possibly nearby Saint-Jean-de-Luz, on the Franco-Spanish Pyrenean border, and under the command of Ensign Dominique Délouart, of Bayonne, although there are no records indicating where or by whom she was taken.

My brand-spanking new, more accurate representation of HMAC Entreprenant, courtesy of Turner Miniatures and Only Games.

In design she probably differed little from the standard British cutters of the period, and her general characteristics were:

Tons burthen 126 59/94 tons (bm)

Length of gundeck 67 feet

Beam 21 feet, 6 inches

Draught 11 feet

Scale 1:32. A full hull model of a 10-gun cutter (circa 1800 - RMG).

Her armament consisted of:

Gundeck: Originally 10 x 4-pounder long guns, from December 1803: 10 × 12-pounder carronades

Map illustrating Genoa where Entreprenante together with a British naval squadron that consisted of HMS Minotaur, Phoenix, and Mondovi (an ex Venetian/French brig 14-guns) operated in support of the Austrian siege 19th April - 4th June 1800

Purchased for the Navy in November 1798 and registered in the 10th January 1799 Entreprenante was commissioned in February 1799 under Lieutenant Charles Claridge and by April 1800 was under the command of Lieutenant William Swiney in the Mediterranean, part of Admiral Lord Keith's fleet, supporting the Austrian siege of Genoa, and having previously shared in the capture of the Madona del Grazie, sent into Leghorn on the 3rd of March 1800, while in company with the Phaeton 38-guns and Minotaur 74-guns.

Bombardment of the city of Genoa by the English on the night of 20 May 1800
by Giuseppe Pietro Bagetti.

She continued a profitable period of cruising off the city, capturing a Genoese vessel from Capraia bound for Genoa with a cargo of corn on the 29th March, shared in the proceeds of the capture of the St. Rosalia on the 14th April, in company with Pheaton and the ship-sloop Peterel 16-guns, and again shared in the proceeds from the capture of the Proteus off Genoa on the 28th April.

In 1801, Entreprenante was deployed with the rest of the fleet off Egypt, bringing dispatches to Jaffa on the 21st January and then participating in the the landing of troops in Aboukir Bay protecting the left flank during assisted by the schooner Malta, the gun-vessel Negresse, the schooner Cruelle the cutter Janissary and the gun-vessel Dangereuse; with the crews involved eligible for the clasp 'Egypt' to their Naval General Service medals.

The landing of British troops at Aboukir, 8th March 1801 - Philip James de Loutherbourg 1802.

In 1802, Entreprenante was recalled home, arriving at Portsmouth on the 28th November and was paid off, refitting and having her copper replaced, undocking on the 29th October 1803 and recommissioning under her new commander Lieutenant James Brown, organising his crew around setting up rigging and taking in stores.

On the 7th January 1803 Entreprenante finally sailed from Portsmouth and moored off Spithead awaiting orders, returning to Portsmouth on the 29th January to perform remedies on some minor defects discovered after her refit, sailing again on the 2nd February, and on 12th April 1804, Lieutenant Robert Benjamin Young took command and under who she would serve during the Trafalgar Campaign the following year.

On the 7th November 1804, Entreprenante was back at Portsmouth to have her copper repaired and sailed thirteen days later. 

On the 7th September 1805 Lieutenant Young received orders to join Nelson's fleet off Cadiz and sailed on the 11th, reaching her destination on the 2nd October, with Young recording in his log observing the Cadiz light lying 10 miles off and joining the fleet on Friday 4th October to be immediately deployed with the schooner Pickle and frigates of Sir Henry Blackwood's inshore squadron watching Cadiz .

A British Cutter off Cadiz with the Spanish Fleet in the Harbour, 1797 - Thomas Buttersworth.
Eight years later in October 1805, Entreprenante was performing the same level of observation on Villeneuve's Combined Fleet, part of Sir Henry Blackwood's inshore squadron.

Monday 21st October 1805 - Battle of Trafalgar

In Entreprenante's log, Lieutenant Young records

'Squally with rain 

Refit the mainsail, shifted Jibs and closed reeft the Bowsprit per signal with the fleet

AM Moderate and cloudy at Daylight 

Observed the Enemy consisting of 35 sail to the Eastw'd

Observed the fleet wear and stood towards them under all sail 

At noon light breezes and cloudy 

The Body of the Enemy's fleet ESE 3 miles'

Being such a small vessel, Entreprenante did not play a part in the action off Cape Trafalgar but instead cruised near the fleet, acting in support where required. Her most significant part came towards the end of the action at about 5.45pm, when she with the Schooner Pickle and boats from Prince 90-guns and Swiftsure 74-guns, rescued people abandoning the French Achille 74-guns which had caught fire.

Survivors from the French 74-gun Achille which blew up at the end of the battle being rescued by British boats.

Despite the danger, Entreprenante and the forenamed ships saved 200 people from the raging inferno Achille had become before she blew up; and following the storm that developed at the close of the battle and once the weather had abated, Entreprenante was sent to Faro, Portugal with copies of Admiral Collingwood's dispatches and later returned to England.

The year 1806 saw the little cutter dry-docked in Plymouth on 13th January to have her copper replaced, spending the rest of the year patrolling the English Channel and French coast, and on the 28th June she was unsuccessful in aiding the 4-gun schooner Capelin, which had run onto the Parquette Rock while reconnoitring the harbour at Brest, returning to Plymouth in the November for repairs to her copper, suggesting a poor job done back in January.

Her Channel Fleet duties would continue through to 1809, operating from Plymouth and the appointment of Lieutenant Peter Williams as her new commander on the 4th December 1808 who would lead the recapturing of the schooner Cora on the 27th December 1808.

Entreprenante sailed for Portugal on 24th May 1809, and in January 1810 she was at Pera, Ottoman-Turkey, taking on presents from the Sublime Porte intended for George III, returning to Plymouth in March 1810 and then to make preparations for returning back to the Mediterranean, to arrive back on station on the 31st October 1810.

Entreprenante found herself becalmed off the Spanish coast near Castle Ferro, between Málaga and Cape De Gatt on the morning of 12 December 1810. Whilst she was lying there, four French lateen-rigged privateers came out to attack her. 

Action off Málaga, 12th December 1810.

One of the French vessels had eight guns, including two long 18-pounder guns, and 75 men. The second had five guns and a crew of 45 men. The last two each had two guns and crews of 25 men. Entreprenante was short-handed, having on board only 33 men.

Two of the privateers passed under Entreprenante's stern while the other two stood off her starboard bow and quarter. The ensuing battle lasted for four hours until the French retreated, having suffered heavy damage. During the action Entreprenante had lost her topmast and had two starboard guns disabled. She had also repulsed three attempts at boarding during which she had one man killed and ten wounded.

William James gives the following more fulsome account of the action;

'On the 12th of December, at 8 a.m., the British cutter Entreprenante, mounting eight 4-pounders, with 33 men and boys, Lieutenant Peter Williams, while lying becalmed off the coast of Spain, about midway between Malaga and Almeria bay, observed four vessels at anchor under the castle of Faro. At 9 a.m., they vessels, which were French latteen-rigged privateers, one of six guns, including two long 18-pounders, and 75 men, another of five guns and 45 men, and the remaining two of two guns and 25 men each, weighed and swept out towards the cutter. 

At 10 h. 30 m. a.m. the privateers hoisted their colours, and opened their fire. At 11 a.m., which was as early as her lighter guns would reach, the Entreprenante commenced firing at the privateers; one of the two largest of which lay on her starboard bow, the other on her starboard quarter, and the two smaller once right astern. The action was now maintained with spirit on both sides, at a pistol-shot distance, each party firing with round and grape shot, and the cutter with musketry also. At noon the Entreprenante had her topmast, peek-halliards and blocks, fore jeers, fore halliards, and jib-tie shot away; also two of her starboard guns disabled, by the stock of one and the carriage of the other being broken.

The Entreprenante with eight 4-pounders and thirty-three men and boys, commanded by Lieutenant Peter Williams (active 1801-14), had been becalmed off the Spanish coast near Castle Ferro when she was attacked by four French privateers, together manned by 170 men and fifteen guns. After a battle lasting about four hours, the French retreated, heavily damaged, while the Entreprenante lost her topmast and had two guns disabled. 
This view shows the Entreprenante, at about 11.00 am, firing at one of the largest of the privateers on her starboard bow (right side; to the left of this view).

Seeing the cutter in this disabled state, the nearest of the two large privateers attempted to board; but her men were driven back by the British crew, who, with the two foremost guns and musketry, kept up an incessant fire. A second attempt was made to board, and a second time it was defeated, but with a loss to the cutter of one man killed and four wounded. The Entreprenante now manned her starboard sweeps, and, getting round, brought her larboard guns to bear. With two broadsides from these, she compelled three of her antagonists to sheer off.

All the cutter's canister-shot and musket-balls were now expended; but at this moment two well-directed broadsides, doubled-shotted, carried away the foremast and bowsprit of the most formidable of the privateers. Grown desperate by a resistance so unexpected, the Frenchmen made a third attempt to board the British vessel, but met with no better success than before; although in their effort to repulse them, the Entreprenante had two of her larboard guns dismounted, and experienced some additional loss. 

The fire of the privateers now beginning to slacken, the cutter's people gave three cheers, and, with two guns double-shotted, poured a destructive raking fire into the vessel that was dismasted. This decided the business; and, at 2 h. 30 m. p.m., the two greatest sufferers by the contest were towed to the shore by boats. The Entreprenante continued sending her shot after her flying foes until 3 p.m., when they got beyond her reach. The castle of Faro at this time fired a few ineffectual shots at the British cutter.

A view of the end of the action between HM cutter Entreprenante and four French privateers of Castle Ferro, 12 December 1810. This view shows the Entreprenante, sometime after midday, having had her topmast, peek-halliards and blocks, fore jeers, fore halliards and jib-tie shot away.

Notwithstanding the length and severity of this action, and the more than double force opposed to the Entreprenante, the latter escaped with no greater loss than one man killed and 10 wounded. The loss on the part of her opponents could only be gathered from rumour, and that made it as many as 81 in killed and wounded; not an improbable amount, considering how numerously the privateers were manned, and how well the cutter plied her cannon and musketry. 

On his return to Gibraltar, Lieutenant Williams, and the officers and crew of the Entreprenante, received the public acknowledgment (sic) of the commanding officer on the station, Commodore Charles Vinicombe Penrose. Some other marks of favour were conferred upon the lieutenant; but the reward the most coveted, and, considering that a particle less of energy and perseverance might have lost the king's cutter, no one can say, a reward not fully merited, promotion, appears to have been withheld. We judge so, because, according to the admiralty navy-list, Lieutenant Williams was not made a commander until the 27th of August, 1814.'

Entreprenante remained off the Spanish coast into 1811, and on the 22nd April she captured the American merchant ship Hannah and her cargo.

A beautiful larger scale rendition of Entreprenante provided further inspiration for my own interpretation.

Entreprenante next saw action on the 25th April, this following her arriving into Málaga Bay under a flag of truce to deliver a letter to the Governor, General Sabastini, and whilst on this duty, the British spotted two French privateers coming into the harbour, escorting a prize. (The privateers were two of the vessels that Entreprenante had repulsed in December 1810.) 

Lieutenant Williams collected a reply from the Governor for Lieutenant-General Colin Campbell at Gibraltar, and Entreprenante made her way out of the harbour. One privateer had already anchored off the mole, but the other and the prize were still under way, and Williams closed on the privateer, armed as it later proved, with six guns and had a crew of 50 men and brought her to battle, which after a sharp engagement lasting fifteen minutes, Entreprenante drove her on shore, severely hulled. 

By now, the water under Entreprenante's keel was less than three fathoms (18-feet) and Williams was obliged to tack, turning his attention to the prize, and after firing a few shots, boarded her and took possession. She was the Spanish brig St. Joseph (San Jose), out of Cadiz and Gibraltar, and had been captured whilst sailing to Tarragona. Williams took her in tow and sailed her out of the harbour; this while hundreds of spectators on the mole head at Málaga watched the action, accomplished without taking any casualties. 

This was to be Entreprenante's last action, as she was recalled home, arriving at Plymouth on the 22nd March 1812 with dispatches from the Mediterranean, Gibraltar, and Cadiz, following which she was paid off in April 1812, and was broken up in June, after more than a decade of distinguished service.

The Model

This model cutter is much smaller than the Warlord generic offering and really captures the diminutive size of this 67 foot vessel perfectly with just five small guns protruding from each broadside. the mainmast and jib are scratch built but utilises sails and spanker booms and gaff from the Warlord brig, together with ratlines and colours.

With more Mediterranean style, lateen rigged offerings available now, I'm looking forward to pitting this remarkable little ship in some of her actions against the French privateers, where skilfully fighting such a small unit can be put to the test, plus it will be nice to see her on the table with the Trafalgar fleets next year.