HMS Esperance (1795)
Encyclopedia
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 hands four times. She was sold in 1798.
), with twenty-two 6-pounder guns and a crew of 100 received a warrant
on 3 June 1793. Her captain was John Levingston.
The French frigate Gracieuse
, under the command of Captain Chevillard, captured Ellis on 22 July 1793. The French took her into service as Elise. Later that summer the Spanish captured her. At some point ownership returned to the French who renamed her Esperance.
On 8 June 1794, Esperance arrived in Jacmel
, Saint-Domingue
(present-day Haiti
), from France with the official proclamation of the abolition of slavery, which Léger-Félicité Sonthonax
, as one of the Civil Commissioners of Saint-Domingue, had already unilaterally declared for the French colony the year before amid a slave rebellion and attacks from British and Spanish forces
. Ironically, Esperance also brought the news to the Civil Commissioners that the National Convention
had impeached them on 16 July 1793 and ordered them to return promptly to France.
, under the command of Captain Alexander John Ball, captured Esperance on the North America Station. Esperence 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 .
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. 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
. 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 she had entered American territorial waters solely to parole her French prisoners no one would have thought that objectionable. The authorities in Virginia took a number of depositions but ultimately nothing further came from the matter.
, the British commander in chief of the North American station, put a British crew aboard and sent Esperance out on patrol with Lynx
, under the command of John Poo Beresford
, on 31 January.
On 1 March the two vessels captured the Cocarde Nationale (or National Cockade), a privateer from Charleston, South Carolina
, of 14 guns, six swivels
and 80 men. Esperance and Lynx recaptured the ship Norfolk, of Belfast
, and the brig George, of Workington
.
On 20 July, Esperance, in company with the frigates and , intercepted the American vessel Cincinnatus, of Wilmington, sailing from Ireland to Wilmington
. They pressed
many men on board, narrowly exempting the Irish revolutionary Wolfe Tone, who was going to Philadelphia.
Esperance was formally commissioned into the Royal Navy in August under Commander Jonas Rose.
On 4 May 1796 Esperance was sailing in company with and when they sighted a suspicious vessel. Spencer set off in chase while shortly thereafter Esperance saw two vessels, a schooner and a sloop, and she and Bonetta set off after them. Spencer sailed south-southeast and the other two British vessels sailed southwest by west, with the result that they lost sight of each other. Spencer captured the French gun-brig Volcan, while Bonetta and Esperance captured the schooner Poisson Volant.
Poisson Volant was sailing from Aux Cayes
to New York and turned out to be the former that two French privateers had captured in June 1795 while she was on her way to Jamaica. At the time of her recapture she had some eight or ten days earlier met with the French ship Concorde. Poisson Volants crew had cut down her gunwales and thrown some of her guns overboard, presumably during the chase. She was under the command of a sub-lieutenant from Concorde and had a crew of 38 men.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
corvette
Corvette
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...
Esperance. The Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
captured her in 1795 and took her into service as HMS Esperance. In her brief military career, Esperance changed hands four times. She was sold in 1798.
Early history
Esperance was originally the British privateer Ellis. A vessel by that name and described as being of 345 tons burthen (bmBuilder's Old Measurement
Builder's Old Measurement is the method of calculating the size or cargo capacity of a ship used in England from approximately 1720 to 1849. It estimated the tonnage of a ship based on length and maximum beam...
), with twenty-two 6-pounder guns and a crew of 100 received a warrant
Letter of marque
In the days of fighting sail, a Letter of Marque and Reprisal was a government licence authorizing a person to attack and capture enemy vessels, and bring them before admiralty courts for condemnation and sale...
on 3 June 1793. Her captain was John Levingston.
The French frigate Gracieuse
French frigate Gracieuse (1788)
The Gracieuse was a 32-gun Charmante class frigate of the French Navy. Renamed to Unité, she took part in the French Revolutionary Wars...
, under the command of Captain Chevillard, captured Ellis on 22 July 1793. The French took her into service as Elise. Later that summer the Spanish captured her. At some point ownership returned to the French who renamed her Esperance.
On 8 June 1794, Esperance arrived in Jacmel
Jacmel
Jacmel, also known by its indigenous Taíno name of Yaquimel, is a town in southern Haiti founded in 1698. It is the capital of the department of Sud-Est and has an estimated population of 40,000, while the municipality of Jacmel had a population of 137,966 at the 2003 Census.The buildings are...
, Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue
The labour for these plantations was provided by an estimated 790,000 African slaves . Between 1764 and 1771, the average annual importation of slaves varied between 10,000-15,000; by 1786 it was about 28,000, and from 1787 onward, the colony received more than 40,000 slaves a year...
(present-day Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
), from France with the official proclamation of the abolition of slavery, which Léger-Félicité Sonthonax
Léger-Félicité Sonthonax
Léger-Félicité Sonthonax was a French Girondist and abolitionist during the French Revolution who controlled 7,000 French troops in Saint-Domingue during part of the Haitian Revolution. His official title was Civil Commissioner. From September 1792 - December 1795 he was the de facto ruler of...
, as one of the Civil Commissioners of Saint-Domingue, had already unilaterally declared for the French colony the year before amid a slave rebellion and attacks from British and Spanish forces
Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution was a period of conflict in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, which culminated in the elimination of slavery there and the founding of the Haitian republic...
. Ironically, Esperance also brought the news to the Civil Commissioners that the National Convention
National Convention
During the French Revolution, the National Convention or Convention, in France, comprised the constitutional and legislative assembly which sat from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 . It held executive power in France during the first years of the French First Republic...
had impeached them on 16 July 1793 and ordered them to return promptly to France.
Capture
On 8 January 1795, ArgonautHMS Argonaut (1782)
The 64-gun Jason was a ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1779.The Royal Navy captured Jason on 19 April 1782 at the Battle of the Mona Passage...
, under the command of Captain Alexander John Ball, captured Esperance on the North America Station. Esperence 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
Rochefort, Charente-Maritime
Rochefort is a commune in southwestern France, a port on the Charente estuary. It is a sub-prefecture of the Charente-Maritime department.-History:...
, bound for the Chesapeake. Argonaut shared the prize money with .
The French ambassador to the United States registered a complaint with the President of the United States that Argonaut, by entering Lynnhaven
Lynnhaven River
The Lynnhaven River is a tidal estuary located in the independent city of Virginia Beach, Virginia, in the United States, and flows into the Chesapeake Bay west of Cape Henry at Lynnhaven Inlet, beyond which is Lynnhaven Roads. It has a small, developed watershed covering , terminating at Lynnhaven...
bay, either before she captured Esperance or shortly thereafter, had violated a treaty between France and the United States. 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
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....
. The British Consul replied that the capture had taken place some 10 leagues
League (unit)
A league is a unit of length . It was long common in Europe and Latin America, but it is no longer an official unit in any nation. The league originally referred to the distance a person or a horse could walk in an hour...
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 she had entered American territorial waters solely to parole her French prisoners no one would have thought that objectionable. The authorities in Virginia took a number of depositions but ultimately nothing further came from the matter.
Royal Navy service
Because she was captured in good order and sailed well, Rear Admiral George MurrayGeorge Murray (MP)
Vice Admiral George Murray was a Royal Navy officer and politician. He was the third son of the Jacobite general Lord George Murray.-Naval career:...
, the British commander in chief of the North American station, put a British crew aboard and sent Esperance out on patrol with Lynx
HMS Lynx (1794)
HMS Lynx was a 16-gun ship-rigged sloop of the Cormorant class in the Royal Navy, launched in 1794 at Gravesend. In 1795 she was the cause of an international incident when she fired on the USRC Eagle...
, under the command of John Poo Beresford
Sir John Beresford, 1st Baronet
Admiral Sir John Poo Beresford, 1st Baronet, GCH was an officer in the Royal Navy who rose to the rank of Second Sea Lord. He was a Tory politician in the United Kingdom.-Naval career:...
, on 31 January.
On 1 March the two vessels captured the Cocarde Nationale (or National Cockade), a privateer from Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, of 14 guns, six swivels
Swivel gun
The term swivel gun usually refers to a small cannon, mounted on a swiveling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Another type of firearm referred to as a swivel gun was an early flintlock combination gun with two barrels that rotated along their axes to allow the shooter to...
and 80 men. Esperance and Lynx recaptured the ship Norfolk, of Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, and the brig George, of Workington
Workington
Workington is a town, civil parish and port on the west coast of Cumbria, England, at the mouth of the River Derwent. Lying within the Borough of Allerdale, Workington is southwest of Carlisle, west of Cockermouth, and southwest of Maryport...
.
On 20 July, Esperance, in company with the frigates and , intercepted the American vessel Cincinnatus, of Wilmington, sailing from Ireland to Wilmington
Wilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
. They pressed
Impressment
Impressment, colloquially, "the Press", was the act of taking men into a navy by force and without notice. It was used by the Royal Navy, beginning in 1664 and during the 18th and early 19th centuries, in wartime, as a means of crewing warships, although legal sanction for the practice goes back to...
many men on board, narrowly exempting the Irish revolutionary Wolfe Tone, who was going to Philadelphia.
Esperance was formally commissioned into the Royal Navy in August under Commander Jonas Rose.
On 4 May 1796 Esperance was sailing in company with and when they sighted a suspicious vessel. Spencer set off in chase while shortly thereafter Esperance saw two vessels, a schooner and a sloop, and she and Bonetta set off after them. Spencer sailed south-southeast and the other two British vessels sailed southwest by west, with the result that they lost sight of each other. Spencer captured the French gun-brig Volcan, while Bonetta and Esperance captured the schooner Poisson Volant.
Poisson Volant was sailing from Aux Cayes
Les Cayes
Les Cayes , is a town and seaport in southwestern Haiti, with a population of approximately 45,904 people . Estimates from 2008 place the population at close to 70,000 people...
to New York and turned out to be the former that two French privateers had captured in June 1795 while she was on her way to Jamaica. At the time of her recapture she had some eight or ten days earlier met with the French ship Concorde. Poisson Volants crew had cut down her gunwales and thrown some of her guns overboard, presumably during the chase. She was under the command of a sub-lieutenant from Concorde and had a crew of 38 men.