French frigate Thétis (1788)

Thétis was a 40-gun Nymphe-class frigate of the French Navy.

Capture of the Thétis by HMS Amethyst on 10 November 1808, by Thomas Whitcombe
History
France
Name	Thétis
Ordered	4 November 1786
Builder	Brest
Laid down	September 1785
Launched	16 June 1788
Captured	10 November 1808
United Kingdom
Name	Brune[1]
Stricken	1838
Fate	Broken up 1838
General characteristics
Class and type	Nymphe-class frigate
Displacement	1,423 tons (French)
Length	46.9 m (154 ft)
Beam	11.9 m (39 ft)
Height	5.8 m (19 ft)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	At capture[2] Gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder (24-pounder English) long guns QD: 12 × 36-pounders (42-pounder English; presumably carronades) Fc: 4 × 8-pounder guns

From 1790, she served in various diplomatic missions in the Indian Ocean, before returning for a refit in Brest in 1793. From 1795, she was shuttled from France to Guadeloupe. She took part in the Invisible Squadron of Zacharie Allemand, before returning to Martinique along with the 16-gun brig Lynx.

On 17 December 1806, Thétis and the brig Sylphe captured HMS Netley. The French sold Netley and she became the privateer Duquesne. Less than nine months later, on 23 September 1807, HMS Blonde captured Dusquesne. (The Chroniques de la Marine Française report that in 1807, Thétis captured an 18-gun brig named Methly.[3] This may be a slightly garbled reference to the capture of Netley, there being no Royal Navy vessel named Methly.)

HMS Amethyst captured Thétis off Lorient in the action of 10 November 1808.[4] British casualties in the engagement were severe, with 19 killed and 51 wounded, but French losses were several times larger, with 135 dead, including her commander, Capitaine de Vaisseau Jacques Pinsum, and 102 wounded.[2] The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Brune.

Brune was broken up in 1838.