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French ship Hippopotame (1749)

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Hippopotame was a 50-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, designed by François Coulomb the Younger. She served during the Seven Years' War. In 1777, Pierre Beaumarchais purchased her as part of a commercial entreprise to provide weapons of the American independentist insurgents. She was part of the French line of battle at the Battle of Grenada on 6 July 1779, and served as a hospital during the Siege of Savannah.

History
France
NameHippopotame
NamesakeHippopotamus
Ordered18 December 1747[1]
BuilderToulon[1]
Laid downFebruary 1748[1]
Launched5 July 1749[1]
DecommissionedApril 1777[1]
In service1750[1]
Merchant Flag of France Pre-1790France
NameFier Rodrigue
France
NameFier Rodrigue
FateBroken up 1784
Merchant Flag of France Pre-1790France
NameFier Rodrigue
General characteristics
Tons burthen1030 tonnes
Length46.0 metres
Beam12.5 metres
Draught6.3 metres
PropulsionSail
Complement450 men
Armament
ArmourTimber

Career

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Seven Years' War

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Hippopotame entered service in 1750.[1] From 1760, she was under Hippolyte de Sade de Vaudronne. [1][3][4] In 1763, she conducted a mission to Algiers, under Captain de Fabry.[5]

Interwar period

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In 1769, Hippopotame was at Saint Domingue and Martinique under Vaudreuil, along with Solitaire,[6] ferrying troops to the French colonies in the Caribbeans.[7]

She was part of the 1772 Escadre d'évolution under Captain Bougainvilliers de Croy.[1]

War of American Independence

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In April 1777, the Navy sold her to Roderigue Hortalez and Company,[2] a company founded by Pierre Beaumarchais. He renamed her Fier Rodrigue and from 1778,[8] he used her to ferry weapons to the American insurgents.[1] She departed Rochefort in January 1778, sailed to Saint-Domingue and America, and was back in Rochefort on 1 October. [9]

In early 1779, she departed Rochefort to sail to Brest and Ile d'Aix. She departed Ile d'Aix around April, and sail to America.[9]

In July 1779, Fier Rodrigue was escorting a 10-ship convoy near Grenada. On 6, she encountered the fleet under d'Estaing, preparing for battle. the French Navy requisitioned her and she took part in the ensuing Battle of Grenada. Her captain, Montault, was killed,[1][10] and 22-year old auxiliary officer Ganteaume[11][12][13][14]

The requisition of Fier Rodrigue caused several ships of Beaumarchais' convoy to be captured. Beaumarchais protested and sought compensation from the French Crown. [15]

Around August 1779, Fier Rodrigue was used as a hospital ship in Charlestown,[2] to support the Siege of Savannah.[9] Two month later, the Navy returned her to Beaumarchais. [2]

Fier Rodrigue called the Chesapeake and Yorktown, from where she departed on 14 August 1780, bound for Rochefort.[9] On 1 August 1780, Fier Rodrigue arrived at Île de Ré, escorting a 15-ship convoy from New England, as well as two prizes captured from the British.[16]

Fate

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Fier Rodrigue was condemned in March 1782,[9] and was broken up in Rochefort in 1784.[1] [9]

Citations

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Roche (2005), p. 245.
  2. ^ a b c d Demerliac (2004), p. 22, n°58.
  3. ^ Archives nationales (2011), p. 154.
  4. ^ Archives nationales (2011), p. 163.
  5. ^ Archives nationales (2011), p. 168.
  6. ^ Archives nationales (2011), p. 181.
  7. ^ Taillemite (2002), p. 523.
  8. ^ Aman (1976), p. 56.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Demerliac (2004), p. 208, n°2105.
  10. ^ Troude (1867), p. 41.
  11. ^ Michaud & Michaud (1838), p. 98.
  12. ^ Humble (2019), p. 72.
  13. ^ Balch (1972), p. 49.
  14. ^ Taillemite (2002), p. 201.
  15. ^ Schaeper (1995), p. 312.
  16. ^ Desmarais (2019), p. 128.

References

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  • Aman, Jacques (1976). "Les Officiers bleus dans la marine française au XVIIIe siècle". Hautes études Médiévales et Modernes (25). Gene: Droz. ISBN 9782600033756. OCLC 489259403.
  • Balch, Thomas (1972). The French in America During the War of Independence of the United States, 1777-1783. Vol. 1. Oxford: Ardent Media. ISBN 9781330881637. OCLC 982878912.
  • Desmarais, Norman (2019). America's First Ally: France in the Revolutionary War. Oxford: Philadelphia Casemate. ISBN 9781612007014. OCLC 1121487606.
  • 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.
  • Humble, Richard (2019). Napoleon's Admirals: Flag Officers of the Arc de Triomphe, 1789-1815. Oxford: Philadelphia Casemate. ISBN 9781612008080. OCLC 1146049972.
  • Lacour-Gayet, Georges (1905). La marine militaire de la France sous le règne de Louis XVI. Paris: Honoré Champion. OCLC 763372623.
  • Michaud, Joseph François; Michaud, Louis Gabriel (1838). "Ganteaume". Biographie universelle, ancienne et moderne (in French). Vol. 65. Paris: Michaud. p. 98. OCLC 7840944.
  • 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.
  • Schaeper, Thomas J. (1995). France and America in the Revolutionary Era: The Life of Jacques-Donatien Leray de Chaumont, 1725-1803. Berghahn Books. ISBN 9781571810502. OCLC 470608984.
  • Taillemite, Étienne (2002). Dictionnaire des Marins français. Tallandier. ISBN 2-84734-008-4. OCLC 606770323.
  • Troude, Onésime-Joachim (1867). Batailles navales de la France (in French). Vol. 2. Challamel ainé. OCLC 836362484.
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