HMS Argonaut (1782)

HMS Argonaut was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line, in Royal Navy service during the French Revolutionary Wars and the American Revolution. Launched in 1779 as the French ship Jason, she was captured by the British in 1782 and commissioned by them in the same year. After active service against the French, she was converted to a hospital ship in 1804 and permanently moored off Chatham Dockyard. Argonaut was removed from navy service in 1828 and broken up in 1831.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Argonaut and French ship Jason.

History
French Royal Navy EnsignFrance
NameJason
Launched13 February 1779
Captured19 April 1782, by Royal Navy
Royal Navy EnsignGreat Britain
NameHMS Argonaut
Acquired19 April 1782
FateBroken up, 1831
General characteristics [1]
Class and type64-gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen145177⁄94 (bm)
Length166 ft 4 in (50.70 m) (gundeck)
Beam44 ft 8+1⁄2 in (13.6 m)
Depth of hold19 ft 1 in (5.82 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament64 guns of various weights of shot

Career

French career

On 2 May 1780,[2] she departed Brest with the 7-ship and 3-frigate Expédition Particulière under Admiral Ternay, escorting 36 transports carrying troops to support the Continental Army in the War of American Independence. The squadron comprised the 80-gun Duc de Bourgogne, under Ternay d'Arsac (admiral) and Médine (flag captain); the 74-gun Neptune, under Sochet Des Touches, and Conquérant, under La Grandière; and the 64-gun Provence under Lombard, Ardent under Bernard de Marigny, Jason under La Clocheterie and Éveillé under Le Gardeur de Tilly, and the frigates Surveillante under Villeneuve Cillart, Amazone under La Pérouse, and Bellone.[3] Amazone, which constituted the vanguard of the fleet, arrived at Boston on 11 June 1780.[4]

The taking of the Cato and Jason by HMS Valiant on 19 April 1782, in the Mona Passage, near the west end of Porto Rico

British career

On 8 January 1795, while under the command of Captain Alexander John Ball she captured the French Republican warship Esperance on the North America Station.[5] Esperance was armed with 22 guns (4 and 6-pounders), and had a crew of 130 men. She was under the command of Lieutenant de Vaisseau De St. Laurent and had been out 56 days from Rochfort, bound for the Chesapeake. Argonaut shared the prize money with Captain Robert Murray's HMS Oiseaux.[6]

The French ambassador to the United States registered a complaint with the President of the United States that Argonaut, by entering Lynnhaven bay, either before she captured Esperance or shortly thereafter, had violated a treaty between France and the United States.[7] The French also accused the British of having brought Esperance into Lynnhaven for refitting for a cruise. The President passed the complaint to the Secretary of State, who forwarded the complaint to the Governor of Virginia. The Governor inquired into the matter of the British Consul at Virginia.[7] The British Consul replied that the capture had taken place some 10 leagues off shore. The weather had forced Argonaut and her prize to shelter within the Chesapeake for some days, but that they had left as soon as practicable. Furthermore, Argonaut had paroled her French prisoners when she came into Lynnhaven and if had entered American territorial waters solely to parole her French prisoners no one would have thought that objectionable.[8] The authorities in Virginia took a number of depositions but ultimately nothing further came from the matter.

Because she was captured in good order and sailed well, Rear Admiral George Murray, the British commander in chief of the North American station, put a British crew aboard and sent Esperance out on patrol with Lynx on 31 January.[5]

On 3 August 1795, Argonaut captured the ship Anna.[9]

Fate

Argonaut was placed on harbour service in 1797, and eventually broken up in 1831.

Citations
  1. Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 182.
  2. Roche (2005), p. 159.
  3. Lacour-Gayet (1910), p. 645.
  4. Monaque (2000), p. 38.
  5. "No. 13799". The London Gazette. 25 July 1795. p. 780.
  6. "No. 15086". The London Gazette. 4 December 1798. p. 1173.
  7. President (1815), pp.38-9.
  8. Pitt et al., (1875-93), p.445.
  9. "No. 15131". The London Gazette. 7 May 1799. p. 441.

References
  • 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.
  • Lacour-Gayet, Georges (1910). La marine militaire de la France sous le règne de Louis XVI. Paris: Honoré Champion.
  • Monaque, Rémi (2000). Les aventures de Louis-René de Latouche-Tréville, compagnon de La Fayette et commandant de l'Hermione (in French). Paris: SPM.
  • Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours, 1671 - 1870. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. pp. 325–6. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
  • Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
  • Palmer, William Pitt; Sherwin McRae; Raleigh Edward Colston; Henry W Flournoy; Virginia (1875–1893) "Calendar of Virginia State papers and other manuscripts : ... preserved in the Capitol at Richmond". (Richmond : R.F. Walker).
  • United States. President.; United States. Dept. of State (1815) "State papers and publick documents of the United States from the accession of George Washington to the presidency, exhibiting a complete view of our foreign relations since that time ... ". (Boston, Printed and published by T.B. Wait & Sons).
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