The Atalante was a 44-gun Virginie class

Virginie class frigate

The Virginie class was a class of ten 44-gun frigates of the French Navy, designed in 1793 by Jacques-Noël Sané. An eleventh vessel begun in 1794 was never completed.* Virginie...

 frigate

Frigate

A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

 of the French Navy

French Navy

The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...

.

Launched in 1802, she cruised in the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

 under capitaine de frégate Gaudin, in the squadron under the command of Rear Admiral

Rear Admiral

Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...

 Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois

Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois

Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand, Comte de Linois was a French admiral during the time of Napoleon Bonaparte. He won a victory over the British at the Battle of Algeciras in 1801 and was reasonably successful in a campaign against British trade in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea in...

. Atalante cruised with Belle Poule

HMS Belle Poule (1806)

HMS Belle Poule was a 40-gun Royal Navy fifth rate frigate, formerly Belle Poule, a Virginie-class frigate of the French Navy, which was built by the Crucy family's shipyard at Basse-Indre to a design by Jacques-Noël Sané...

, taking numerous prizes between June and 1804 and early 1805, notably the East Indiaman Athias and the Heroism. The ship was also engaged at the Battle of Vizagapatam

Battle of Vizagapatam

The Battle of Vizagapatam was a minor naval engagement fought in the approaches to Vizagapatam harbour in the Coastal Andhra region of British India on the Bay of Bengal on 15 September 1804 during the Napoleonic Wars...

 in September 1804.

On 3 November 1805, as she was moored near the Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...

under Captain Gaudin-Beauchêne, she was washed ashore by a gust of wind and wrecked. She was later refloated, but found irreparable; she was written off as a total loss.