French brig Entreprenant (1808)

Entreprenant was the third of a sequence of vessels under the same name and with the same captain in the period 1807-1810. She served in the East Indies until the British captured her in 1810 and then had her broken up as unfit for further service.

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Entreprenant.

History
France
Name:	Entreprenant
Namesake:	"Entreprising"
Builder:	Grisard, Port-Napoléon (Port-Louis), Île de France
Laid down:	May 1808
Launched:	August 1808
Captured:	2 December 1810
Fate:	Broken up
General characteristics [1]
Displacement:	160 tons unloaded, 300 tons loaded (French)[2]
Length:	26.63 m (87.4 ft) (overall) 22.98 m (75.4 ft) (keel)
Beam:	8.12 m (26.6 ft)
Draught:	Unloaded: 3.56 m (11.7 ft)[2] Loaded:4.06 m (13.3 ft)[2]
Complement:	88-110
Armament:	12 x 12-pounder guns

Career

Lieutenant de vaisseau Pierre Bouvet had a "brig gourable" constructed at Île de France in 1808.[3][Note 1] This vessel received the name Entreprenant, and was commissioned under Bouvet's command. (Immediately prior, he had commanded Entreprenant and Entreprenant.)

Entrerprenant was fitted out in March-May 1808 and provisioned with supplies for a six month cruise.[2]

Bouvet sailed Entreprenant on 4 October 1808 for Ormuz with despatches. She then cruised off the Malabar coast, taking 19 prizes, with Bouvet having to suppress a mutiny. He returned to Île de France on 16 March 1809.[1]

In May 1809, Bouvet was sent to Manila to investigate the fate of Mouche n° 6,[5] under Lieutenant Ducrest de Villeneuve,[6][7] which had been sent there a few months before and had not returned. On 28 August, Entreprenant reached Manila and learned that Borneo had sided for the Allies and interned the crew of Mouche n° 6. Furthermore, the 14-gun HMS Antelope was anchored at Cavite. Anchoring his ship offshore under a flag of truce, Bouvet sent a delegation to demand the release of the crew of Mouche n° 6, with orders to return to Entreprenant as soon as the message was delivered. However, the delegation had still not returned the next morning.[8]

In order to obtain a clear casus belli, Bouvet anchored his ship at the entrance of Manila Bay, but stayed ready to set sail. Soon, Antelope and shore batteries opened up on Entreprenant, which promptly retreated. Bouvet sailed to Corregidor Island and endeavored to blockade all shipping bound for Manila. After collecting enough prisoners in this way, on 3 September, he released them on parole under promise not to navigate at sea before Mouche n° 6 would be released. Bouvet had them convey his ultimatum that if his conditions were not met the next day, he would attack the coasts of the island. The French crew detained in Manila was promptly released and returned to Entreprenant.[8]

On 20 October, Entreprenant encountered a British convoy and detected an isolated sail, which she intercepted by 23:00. The ship was the 18-gun Portuguese merchant vessel Ovidor. She surrendered after the first broadside and was brought to Isle de France with a valuable cargo of Chinese goods, and 200,000 Piastres. Ovidor, a 550-tonne ship built in Portugal, was brought into French service as Généreux.[9] Oviedo Pereira (or Ovidor, or Ovidor Pereira, or Ovidour), was returning from Macau with $400,000 in silver, the proceeds of last season’s trade.[10] A newspaper report in England states that Ovidor Pereira was captured near the mouth of the straits of Malacca.[11][Note 2]

In the wake of the Battle of Grand Port, at midnight on 21 August 1810, Entreprenant was sent, along with Jacques Hamelin's squadron comprising the frigates Vénus, Manche and Astrée, to support the squadron under Guy-Victor Duperré. Entreprenant arrived first at the entrance of the harbour, where she encountered Iphigenia, under Captain Henry Lambert, which was limping out of the port; the three frigates sailing behind crushed all hopes for Lambert to escape, and he surrendered. Entreprenant was sent to search for HMS Staunch but did not find her; Entreprenant did recapture Mouche n°23, taken by the British in June.[12][Note 3]

Fate

Entreprenant was at the island during the British invasion of Isle de France in November 1810. She was among the spoils of the campaign but rather than take her into the Royal Navy the British broke her up as unfit for further service.

Notes, citations, and references

Notes

1. A gourable was an Indian-Ocean design, having a massive, high stern and a pointed, low bow, the widest point being at the beam, and being rigged similarly to a ketch.[4] See also: Grab.
2. In 1810 Governor Decaen of Île de France had coins struck from the silver captured with Ovidor. These came to be known as Decaen piastres.
3. Mouche n°23, under the command of Enseigne de vaisseau Gautier, had been sent out from Bayonne on 18 September 1809 to carry dispatches to Isle de France.[13] Other French records attribute the recapture to Astree.

Citations

1. Winfield & Roberts (2015), p. 220.
2. Demerliac (2004), p. 116, n°891.
3. Roche (2005), p.176.
4. Jal (1848), p.795
5. Quintin, p.84
6. Ducrest de Villeneuve, Journal du voyage de "la Mouche n°6", sous le commandement du lieutenant de vaisseau Ducrest de Villeneuve, expédiée pour l'Ile de France et Manille, en 1808.
7. Fonds Marine, p. 377
8. Troude, op. cit., p. 72
9. Winfield and Roberts (2015), p.381.
10. Robert Houghton: A Peoples' History 1793 – 1844 from the newspapers: Prize-taking. Accessed 21 April 2018.
11. London Chronicle, 21 September 1810, Vol. 108, №8076.
12. Troude, op. cit., p. 97
13. Fonds Marine, Vol. 1, p.406.

References

• Austen, Harold Cholmley Mansfield (1935) Sea fights and corsairs of the Indian ocean; being the naval history of Mauritius from 1715 to 1810. (Port Louis, Mauritius: R.W. Brooks, government printer).
• Demerliac, Alain (2004). La Marine du Consulat et du Premier Empire: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1800 A 1815 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 2-903179-30-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Fonds Marine. Campagnes (opérations ; divisions et stations navales ; missions diverses). Inventaire de la sous-série Marine BB4. Tome premier : BB4 210 à 482 (1805–1826)
• Jal, August (1848) Glossaire nautique:répertoire polyglotte de termes de marine anciens et modernes. (Firmin-Didot frères).
• Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours, 1671 - 1870. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. p. 249. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
• Quintin, Danielle; Quintin, Bernard (2003). Dictionnaire des capitaines de Vaisseau de Napoléon (in French). S.P.M. ISBN 2-901952-42-9.
• Troude, Onésime-Joachim (1867). Batailles navales de la France (in French). 4. Challamel ainé.
• Quintin, Danielle; Quintin, Bernard (2003). Dictionnaire des capitaines de Vaisseau de Napoléon (in French). S.P.M. ISBN 2-901952-42-9.
• 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.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)