The Gracieuse was a 32-gun Charmante class frigate 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...

. Renamed to Unité, she took part in the French Revolutionary Wars

French Revolutionary Wars

The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...

. She was captured by the Royal Navy in 1796 and brought into British service as HMS Unite.

French service

Re-commissioned in Rochefort in April 1793 under Captain Chevillard, Gracieuse took part in the War in the Vendée, capturing the British privateer Ellis

HMS Esperance (1795)

Built as the British privateer Ellis, she was captured by the French, then the Spanish. After returning to French ownership, she became the French corvette Esperance. The Royal Navy captured her in 1795 and took her into service as HMS Esperance. In her brief military career, Esperance changed...

 on 22 July 1795.

In September 1795 Gracieuse was renamed Unité.

In April 1796, she was again renamed, this time to Variante. She then undertook a crossing from Port Louis to Rochefort under commander Durand. On 13 April 1796 , under the command of Captain Sir Edward Pellew

Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth

Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, GCB was a British naval officer. He fought during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary, and the Napoleonic Wars...

 was in pursuit of a French frigate. Pellew signaled to his squadron mate to sail to cut the frigate off from the shore. Revolutionnaire then captured Unite after having fired two broadsides into her. Unite had nine men killed and 11 wounded; Revolutionnaire had no casualties. The Royal Navy took the frigate into service as HMS Unite.

British service

She was then captained by Ralph Willett Miller

Ralph Willett Miller

Ralph Willett Miller was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the American Revolutionary and the French Revolutionary Wars, eventually rising to the rank of Captain...

 and Sir Charles Rowley

Sir Charles Rowley, 1st Baronet

Admiral Sir Charles Rowley GCB GCH was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth.-Naval career:...

.

On 16 June 1812 boats from Unite, and captured three vessels of from eighty to one hundred tons in the small port of Badisea, near Otranto.

On 9 November 1812 Unite was in sight when captured Nebrophonus.

Sources and references

Citations

Bibliography

• Jean-Michel Roche, Dictionnaire de la flotte française de 1671 à nos jours, Tome 1, p. 229