Model of Protée, sister-ship of Fantasque
History
France
NameFantasque
BuilderJoseph Véronique-Charles Chapelle, Toulon Dockyard
Laid downJuly 1757
Launched10 May 1758
In serviceMay 1759
FateHulked 1784
General characteristics
Class and typeLion class [1]
Tons burthen1,100 (displacement 2,084)
Length151 French feet[Note 1]
Beam40½ French feet
Draught21½ French feet
Depth of hold19½ French feet
Complement480 in war, +9/12 officers
Armament
  • 64 guns:
  • lower deck 26 x 24-pounders[Note 2]
  • upper deck 28 x 12-pounders
  • quarterdeck 6 x 6-pounders
  • forecastle 4 x 6-pounders

The Fantasque was a Lion-class[1] 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. She is famous for being captained by the French commander Pierre-André de Suffren during the American Revolutionary War.

Career

Fantasque was launched in May 1758 at Toulon.[2] She was commissioned under Captain de Catillon in May 1759.[1]

Fantasque was a member of Admiral Jean-François de La Clue-Sabran's fleet as it sailed from Toulon on 5 August 1759. Admiral La Clue and his captains were given orders only to be opened having passed through the Strait of Gibraltar. Once through the Strait, Admiral Edward Boscawen, ordered the British Mediterranean Fleet to sail in pursuit. Fantasque was the lead ship of the weaker column of La Clue's fleet and her captain chose to lead the column to the safety of the port at Cadiz, avoiding the closing British and the subsequent engagement, the Battle of Lagos.[3]

In 1760 and 1761, she cruised in the Eastern Mediterranean in a squadron under Rochemore. The next year, she sailed with a squadron under Bompart.[1]

In 1778, Fantasque was part of the squadron under Admiral d'Estaing supporting the rebels in the War of American Independence, under Captain Suffren.[4] Suffren was leading a division, with his flag on Fantasque, which he personally captained,[5] along with the frigates Aimable, Chimère and Engageante. [6] The mission of his force was to support Franco-American efforts in the Battle of Rhode Island by striking a 5-frigate British squadron anchored in Narragansett Bay, off Newport,[7] comprising HMS Juno, Flora, Lark, Orpheus and Cerebus. On 5 August 1778, Suffren entered the Bay and anchored next to the British, who cut their cables and scuttled their ships by fire to avoid capture.[6][8] The Royal Navy ended up having to destroy ten of their own vessels in all,[9] including five frigates.[5][Note 3]

The French fleet sailed to Martinique, where Suffren's division joined up with it, and from there to Grenada, leading to the Battle of Grenada on 6 July 1779. Fantasque was at the front of the vanguard, under Suffren,[10][11] preceding the 74-gun Zélé.[5] When the two fleets came in contact, she came under fire from the 74-gun Royal Oak and the 70-gun Boyne, sustaining 62 men killed or wounded.[12][13]

In September 1779, Saint-Antonin was given command of Fantasque. He captained her at the Siege of Savannah.[14]

Fantasque was converted into a hospital ship in May 1780 for the movement of Rochambeau's troops from Brest to America, and was then converted into a transport. Now under Captain de Vaudoré, she was part of Des Touches's squadron engaged in action off the Chesapeake on 16 March 1781. She lasted in service until early 1784, when she was condemned at Lorient, but was then sent to Martinique where she became a hulk in November 1784


Notes

  1. ↑ The French (pre-metric) foot - or pied - was about 6.575% longer than the British/American foot.
  2. ↑ The French (pre-metric) pound - or livre - was about 7.916% heavier than the British/American pound.
  3. ↑ The remains of the Cerberus are now part of a site listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the "Wreck Sites of HMS Cerberus and HMS Lark."

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 Roche (2005), p. 192.
  2. ↑ Dull (2005), p. 112.
  3. ↑ Dull (2005), p. 137.
  4. ↑ Lacour-Gayet (1905), p. 630.
  5. 1 2 3 Monaque (2017), p. 87.
  6. 1 2 Cunat (1852), p. 37.
  7. ↑ Hennequin (1835), p. 291.
  8. ↑ Hennequin (1835), p. 292.
  9. ↑ Hepper (1994), p. 52.
  10. ↑ Troude (1867), p. 39.
  11. ↑ Lacour-Gayet (1905), p. 629.
  12. ↑ Cunat (1852), p. 38.
  13. ↑ Chisholm 1911.
  14. ↑ Contenson (1934), p. 145.

References

  • This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Suffren Saint Tropez, Pierre André de". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  • Contenson, Ludovic (1934). La Société des Cincinnati de France et la guerre d'Amérique (1778-1783). Paris: éditions Auguste Picard. OCLC 7842336.
  • Cunat, Charles (1852). Histoire du Bailli de Suffren. Rennes: A. Marteville et Lefas. p. 447.
  • 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.
  • Dull, Jonathan R. (2005). The French Navy and the Seven Years' War. UNP - Nebraska. ISBN 0803217315.
  • Hennequin, Joseph François Gabriel (1835). Biographie maritime ou notices historiques sur la vie et les campagnes des marins célèbres français et étrangers (in French). Vol. 2. Paris: Regnault éditeur. pp. 289–332.
  • Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650–1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot. ISBN 0-948864-30-3.
  • Lacour-Gayet, Georges (1905). La marine militaire de la France sous le règne de Louis XVI. Paris: Honoré Champion. OCLC 763372623.
  • Monaque, Rémi (2017). "Le Bailli Pierre-André de Suffren: A Precursor of Nelson". Naval Leadership in the Atlantic World: The Age of Reform and Revolution, 1700–1850. University of Westminster Press. pp. 85–92. ISBN 9781911534082. JSTOR j.ctv5vddxt.12., CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0
  • Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671 - 1870. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
  • Troude, Onésime-Joachim (1867). Batailles navales de la France (in French). Vol. 2. Challamel ainé. OCLC 836362484.
  • Winfield, Rif; Roberts, Stephen S (2017). French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786 - 1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4738-9351-1.
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