HMS Concorde (1783)

Concorde was one of three Concorde-class frigates built for the French Navy to a design by Henri Chevillard.^[a][1] She was built at Rochefort between April 1777 and January 1778, being launched on 3 September 1777.[1] She went out to the West Indies after the French entry to the American War of Independence, and reached Martinique on 17 August 1778.[2] On 28 August 1778, under Captain Le Gardeur de Tilly, she came up on the 32-gun HMS Minerva, under Captain John Stott, and after two and a half hours of fighting, captured her.^[b][2] Minerva was towed to Cap Français on Saint-Domingue, where she was joined shortly afterwards by the captured HMS Active, which a hurricane had dismasted in late August and which the French frigates Charmante and Dédaigneuse had captured on 1 September.^[c][3][4]

Combat de la Concorde contre la Minerve le 22 août 1778, by Auguste-Louis de Rossel de Cercy.

In France, the action was so highly regarded that the Navy Minister commissioned a painting of the battle.[5]

In 1781 Concorde was responsible for vital transfers of personnel, funds, and communications that contributed to the allied victory at Yorktown. In March 1781 she carried despatches to George Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau from France. These despatches included a request from the comte de Grasse, commander of the West Indies fleet, for information on planned allied operations and the delivery of pilots familiar with the American coast. She also carried 6 million livres to support the war effort, and the new commander of the French naval squadron at Newport, Rhode Island, the comte de Barras.[6] Following a conference of allied leaders in May, Concorde was sent to Cap-Français with despatches for de Grasse and the requested pilots.[7] When de Grasse received these despatches, he made the critical decision to sail his fleet to the Chesapeake Bay to assist in land operations against British forces operating under the command of Charles Cornwallis in Virginia. Concorde carried de Grasse's letters for Washington, Rochambeau, and de Barras back to Newport; arrival of this news set in motion Washington's march to Virginia and the eventual entrapment of Cornwallis at Yorktown.[8]

On 7 January 1783, Concorde was in company with Nymphe . They sighted HMS Raven, which initially sailed towards them until she realized that they were not British frigates. An all-day chase ensued until about 9p.m. when one of the French frigates got within pistol-shot and fired a broadside that took away Raven's main topgallant-mast. The chase continued until about 10:30 p.m. when one of the frigates was again in range, with the other coming up rapidly. At this point, Raven, which was under the command of Commander John Wells, struck. The French Navy took Raven into service under the name Cérès, which she had born when under French colours between 1778 and 1782.

Capture

The battle between Concorde and HMS Minerva

On 15 February the 74-gun HMS Magnificent, under Captain Robert Linzee, sighted Concorde.[9] Magnificent had sailed from Gros Islet Bay on 12 February on a cruise in company with the 64-gun ships HMS Prudent and HMS St Albans, and on sighting the strange sail, Magnificent gave chase. She was close enough to identify the mysterious ship as a frigate by 18:00, and by 20:00 as darkness fell Concorde opened fire on her pursuer with her stern guns.[9] Magnificent overhauled the French ship by 21:15, and after fifteen minutes forced her to strike her colours.[9] Magnificent took possession of Concorde, the latter being described as carrying 36 guns and 300 men, and being under the command of M. le Chevalier du Clesmaur. Shortly after surrendering the Concorde's maintopsail caught fire, forcing the crew to cut away the mainmast to extinguish it.[9] Prudent and St Albans came up two hours later and Magnificent towed Concorde to St. John's, Antigua.[9]

Concorde was bought into the navy and commissioned in the West Indies for a return to Britain later in the year, though her commander for this voyage is unknown. She arrived in Britain and was paid off in September at Chatham.[1] With the end of the American War of Independence and the draw-down in the navy, Concorde was not brought into immediate service but remained laid up at Chatham until November 1790, when Wilson, of Frindsbury. began a great repair.[1] The work, which cost a total of £18,259, was completed by April 1793, by which time the French Revolutionary Wars had broken out.[1] Concorde was fitted for service at Chatham between April and May 1793, at a cost of £6,600, and was commissioned in April under Captain Thomas Wells.[1]

In 1794 command of Concorde passed to Captain Sir Richard Strachan, and she joined Commodore John Borlase Warren's squadron off the French coast.[1] The squadron also included Warren's 36-gun HMS Flora, the 38-gun HMS Arethusa under Captain Sir Edward Pellew, and the 36-gun frigates HMS Melampus, under Captain Thomas Wells, and HMS Nymphe, under Captain George Murray.[10]

Concorde and Engageante

Main article: Action of 23 April 1794

Depiction of the action of 23 April 1794 by Thomas Whitcombe

While sailing off the Channel Islands on 23 April the British squadron came across a French squadron under Commodore Desgareaux consisting of the 36-gun French frigate Engageante, the 44-gun Pomone, the 36-gun Résolue, and the 24-gun Babet.[11] Warren chased and engaged them, leading the attack in Flora. When Flora was badly damaged from the combined fire from the French ships, the remaining British ships came up in support, and forced the rear-most French ships, Babet and Pomone, to surrender.[12] Melampus, Nymphe and Concorde gave chase to the fleeing Résolue and Engageante. Strachan in Concorde attempted to damage the rearmost of the French ships, Engageante, before pushing on to chase Résolue, but Résolue dropped back to support Engageante, damaging Concorde's sails and rigging. With Nymphe and Melampus still too far astern, and unable to catch Résolue himself, Strachan engaged Engageante and after 105 minutes of fighting, forced her to surrender, while Résolue made her escape.^[d][12] Concorde lost one man killed and 12 wounded in the fighting.[13]

Captain John Wood succeeded Barton in 1802, and the following year Concorde went out to the Cape of Good Hope.[1] On 7 November 1804, she captured the 24-gun privateer Fortune, under François-Thomas Le Même, after a ten-hour running battle.[21] In the battle Fortune lost two men killed and had four wounded; Concorde had no casualties. Fortune also suffered extensive damage to her rigging. A few days earlier at Qais Island Fortune had captured and scuttled Fly, a 14-gun brig belonging to the Bombay Marine of the British East India Company.[22] Captain Wood received his prisoners "with distinction" and Concorde returned to Bombay. Fortune, reduced to a poor condition, limped in several days later.[21]

Concorde was under Captain John Cramer, probably from February 1806. She was still in the East Indies in 1807, where in July she captured the 2-gun privateer Vigilant.[1]

Concorde returned to England and was paid off in September 1807. She spent several years laid up in Ordinary. The Navy sold her at Deptford on 21 February 1811.[1]

a. ^{^} Concorde's sisters were the Hermione and Courageuse. Hermione was wrecked in 1793, while Courageuse was captured during the siege of Toulon, but was retaken in the fall of the city to the French. She was retaken by the British while sailing in the Mediterranean in 1799 and taken into the navy.[1]

b. ^{^} Stott was badly wounded in the engagement, losing a piece of his ear, and his hearing and eyesight to the resulting swelling. A ball remained lodged in his head, and he died shortly aftwerwards on Hispaniola.[3][23] A young Horatio Nelson was serving in the West Indies at the time, and wrote to his friend and patron William Locker about the captures, noting that William Williams, commander of Active had also died shortly afterwards, apparently of a broken heart.[3] The heavy British losses at the time speeded Nelson's own promotion, and he was made master and commander of the brig HMS Badger on 8 December 1778.[3]

c. ^{^} Minerva was retaken on 4 January 1781 and was renamed HMS Recovery.[24] Active spent the rest of her career with the French Navy, until being condemned and broken up in November 1794.[1]

d. ^{^} This was not Strachan's first encounter with Résolue. While serving in the East Indies in command of the 36-gun HMS Phoenix in November 1791 Strachan received orders to stop and search a French convoy, escorted by Résolue, which was believed to be carrying supplies for the support of Tipu Sultan, whom the British were then fighting in the Third Anglo-Mysore War. Résolue resisted and a brief action took place before the French surrendered. As Britain and France were not at war, Résolue was then restored to the French.[14]