French frigate Hébé (1782)
Hébé was a 38-gun of the French Navy, lead ship of the Hébé-class frigate. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1782 and took her into service as HMS Hebe. She was renamed HMS Blonde in 1805.
 Hebe, in 1795 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Kingdom of France | |
| Name | Hébé |
| Namesake | Hebe |
| Builder | Saint Malo[1] |
| Laid down | December 1781 [1] |
| Launched | 25 June 1782 [1] |
| Commissioned | August 1782 [1] |
| Captured | Captured by the Royal Navy in the action of 4 September 1782 |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Great Britain | |
| Name | HMS Hebe |
| Acquired | 1782 by purchase of a prize |
| Renamed | HMS Blonde (1805) |
| Fate | Broken up June 1811 |
| General characteristics [1][2] | |
| Class and type | Hébé-class frigate |
| Displacement | 700 tonnes |
| Tons burthen |
|
| Length | 46.3 m (152 ft) |
| Beam | 11.9 m (39 ft) |
| Draught | 5.5 m (18 ft) |
| Complement | 297 |
| Armament |
|
French Navy career
Soon after her commissioning under Captain de Vigny,[lower-alpha 1] Hébé was tasked to escort a convoy from Saint Malo to Brest and protect shipping from the depredations of the British Royal Navy in the context of the Anglo-French War.[1]
In the action of 4 September 1782, she was chased by the frigate HMS Rainbow, whose 32-pounder carronade chase guns shot away her wheel and mortally wounded her second captain, Yves-Gabriel Calloët de Lanidy. The weight of the ball made de Vigny mistake Rainbow for a disguised ship of the line. Even though the first shots had shown that Rainbow's guns had a shorter range than Hébé's stern chasers, de Vigny never altered his course to take advantage of the longer range of his guns by firing back a full broadside. Later in the morning, the foremast of Hébé was seriously damaged and another man killed. An hour and a half later, when Rainbow was about to come alongside, de Vigny could only fire his four of five most rear port guns and immediately struck his colours.[3]
British Royal Navy career
The Royal Navy took Hébé into service first as HMS Hebe.
In December 1784 Hebe captured Rover, a smuggling lugger, off the Isle of Wight. Rover had a cargo of 2000 casks of spirits and a quantity of tea. She had come from Flushing and Hebe took her into Portsmouth.[4]
On 3 July 1795 Melampus and Hebe intercepted a convoy of 13 vessels off St Malo. Melampus captured an armed brig and Hebe captured six merchant vessels: Maria Louisa, Abeille. Bon Foi, Patrouille, Eleonore, and Pecheur. The brig of war was armed with four 24-pounders and had a crew of 60 men. Later she was identified as the 4-gun Vésuve. The convoy had been on its way from Île-de-Bréhat to Brest.[5] Seaflower, Daphne and the cutter Sprightly shared in the prize and head money.[6] The Royal Navy took Vésuve into service as HMS Vesuve.
Because Hebe served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 2 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal, which the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants from the campaign.[7]
On 24 December 1805, the Navy renamed Hebe HMS Blonde.
On 15 August 1807, Blonde, Captain Volant Vashon Ballard, captured Dame Villaret after a chase of 13 hours. She was armed with an 18-pounder gun and four 9-pounder carronades, and had a crew of 69 men. She had been out twenty days but had taken no prizes.[8]
Fate
The Royal Navy paid off Blonde in July 1810. She was eventually broken up at Deptford in June 1811.[2]
Notes
- Joseph Pierre de Vigny (1742-1812). His elder brother Léon Pierre (1737-1816), chevalier de Vigny, was also on board, as a « volontaire d'honneur » (honour volunteer). Léon Pierre became, in 1797, father of the future poet Alfred de Vigny.
Citations
- Roche, vol.1, p.238
- Winfield (2008), p. 141.
- Jahan, François (2005). La frégate l'Hébé et la Guerre d'Indépendance américaine 1782 deux marins, un mystère (in French). Paris: Guénégaud. ISBN 2-85023-123-1.
- "The Marine List". Lloyd's List. No. 1630. 17 December 1784. hdl:2027/uc1.c3049062. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
- "No. 13794". The London Gazette. 7 July 1795. p. 721.
- "No. 13957". The London Gazette. 3 December 1796. p. 1174.
- "No. 21077". The London Gazette. 15 March 1850. pp. 791–792.
- "No. 16077". The London Gazette. 17 October 1807. p. 1379.
References
- Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671 - 1870. p. 238. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.