History
France
NameFortune
BuilderRochefort[1]
Laid down1755[1]
Launched2 February 1757[1]
In serviceFebruary 1758[1]
Out of serviceJune 1774[1]
FateWrecked June 1774
General characteristics [1]
Tons burthen600 tonnes
Length45.5 metres
Beam8.7 metres
PropulsionSail
Armament20 to 24 guns
ArmourTimber

Fortune was an armed storeship of the French Navy. She is notable for taking part in the First voyage of Kerguelen.

Career

In the 1760s, Fortune was in service between France and America, sailing from Rochefort, Bordeaux and Brest, bound for Louisiane, Saint-Domingue and Cayenne. [1]

On 20 August 1771, Berryer arrived at the island, under Lieutenant Kerguelen, tasked with a mission of exploration to seek new territories South of Isle de France. Kerguelen abandoned Berryer and requisitioned Fortune and the 16-gun Gros Ventre to continue his mission.[2] Fortune and Gros Ventre started by surveying a new route to the Coromandel Coast discovered in 1767 by then-Ensign Grenier, of the corvette Heure du Berger.[3] Then, on 16 January 1772, Gros Ventre and Fortune departed for the First voyage of Kerguelen.[4]

Gros Ventre and Fortune sailed South, the crew suffering considerably from the cold, for which they were neither prepared nor equipped. On 13 February, they sighted land, and Ensign Boisguehenneuc managed to land, and claim the new shore for France.[2] From 14, the ships surveyed the coast, but the poor state of the crew prevented anchoring. On 16, Gros Ventre and Fortune lost sight one from another in the fog and a heavy sea. On 18, both stopped searching for the other and, Fortune returned to Isle de France under Kerguelen, while Gros Ventre went on to continue her mission of the shores of Australia.[5]

Fate

Fortune was wrecked at Fort Dauphin, in Madagascar, in June 1774 [1]

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Roche (2005), p. 209.
  2. 1 2 Taillemite (1999), p. 315.
  3. ↑ Guérin (1857), p. 405—406.
  4. ↑ Western Australian Museum.
  5. ↑ Taillemite (1999), p. 318.

References

  • Demerliac, Alain (2004). La Marine de Louis XVI: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1774 à 1792 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 2-906381-23-3.
  • Guérin, Léon (1857). Histoire maritime de France (in French). Vol. 4. Dufour et Mulat. OCLC 419344391.
  • Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours. Vol. 1. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
  • Taillemite, Étienne (1999). Marins français à la découverte du monde : de Jacques Cartier à Dumont d'Urville. France: Fayard. ISBN 2-213-60114-3. OCLC 937819780.
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