History
French Navy EnsignFrance
NameJean Bart
NamesakeJean Bart
BuilderBayonne
Launched1786
AcquiredRequisitioned in January 1794 in Nantes
Commissioned1793 as a privateer
CapturedBy Britain on 15 April 1795
Great Britain
NameHMS Laurel
Acquired1795 by purchase of a prize
FateSold at Jamaica in 1797
General characteristics [1][2]
Class and typeCorvette
Displacement550 tons (French)
Tons burthen42318⁄94 (bm)
Length
  • 107 ft 0 in (32.61 m) (overall)
  • 82 ft 6+1⁄2 in (25.159 m) (keel)
Beam30 ft 0 in (9.14 m)
Depth of hold8 ft 7 in (2.62 m)
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Complement
  • French service:177
  • British service:100
Armament
  • French service: 5 x 12-pounder guns, 19 x 8-pounder guns
  • 1795: 24 x 8-pounder guns
  • British service=22 x 9-pounder guns

Jean Bart was a merchant vessel built at Bayonne in 1786. Her owners commissioned her at Nantes in 1793 as a privateer. The French Navy requisitioned her in January 1794 and classed her as a corvette and listed her as Jean Bart No. 2 to distinguish her from the French corvette Jean Bart (1793). The Navy intended to rename her Imposant in May 1795, but the Royal Navy captured her first.[1]

On 15 April 1795, a naval squadron under Sir John Borlase Warren gave chase to Jean Bart, described in the report of the capture as being a ship-corvette of 26 guns and 187 men. The actual captor, off the Île de Ré, was HMS Artois.[3]

The Royal Navy took Jean Bart into service as the post ship HMS Laurel. Between July and 8 December 1795 the Royal Navy had Laurel fitted a Portsmouth. She had been flush-decked, but received a small forecastle, quarterdeck, and extra platforms. She was commissioned under Captain Robert Rolles. He had been promoted to post captain on 12 August 1785; he had been captain of the hired armed ship Lord Mulgrave.[4]

Rolles sailed Laurel for the coast of Africa and then the Leeward Islands.[5] In May 1796 Laurel participated in the capture of Saint Lucia under Rear Admiral Sir Hugh Cloberry Christian and General Ralph Abercrombie,[4] and shared in the prize money for the capture.[6]

Laurel was sold in 1797 at Jamaica.[2]

Citations

  1. 1 2 Winfield & Roberts (2015), p. 177.
  2. 1 2 Winfield (2008), p. 231.
  3. ↑ "No. 13773". The London Gazette. 25 April 1795. p. 379.
  4. 1 2 Marshall (1823), pp. 676–77.
  5. ↑ Schomberg (1802), p.
  6. ↑ "No. 15265". The London Gazette. 7 June 1800. p. 623.

References

  • Marshall, John (1823). "Rolles, Robert" . Royal Naval Biography. Vol. 1, part 2. London: Longman and company.
  • Schomberg, Isaac (1802) Naval Chronology, Or an Historical Summary of Naval and Maritime Events from the Time of the Romans, to the Treaty of Peace 1802: With an Appendix, Volume 4. (London: T. Egerton).
  • Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.
  • 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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