HMS Eclair explained
Five ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Eclair:
- The first Eclair was a French "barque latine", launched on 5 July 1771, re-classed as a corvette in 1783.[1] Between 22 June and 24 September 1792 she sailed to Malta, Tunis, and the Îles d'Hyères while under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Basterot de La Barrière.[2] She was under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Roubaud when and captured her on 16 June 1793, south of Marseilles.[3] The Royal Navy took her into service as a 22-gun post-ship. She became a powder hulk in April 1797 and was sold in 1806.
- The second was a 3-gun gunvessel captured from the French in 1795. She was converted to a schooner before sailing to the West Indies in 1796. She was renamed Safety in 1802 and hulked. Safety was listed as a guardship in the West Indies in 1808 and as prison ship in 1810. She then reappeared as a receiving hulk at Tortola in 1841. She was finally broken up in 1879.
- The third was a 10-gun schooner. Under the command of enseigne de vaiseau Sougé she sailed to Basse-Terre. Garland, a tender to, captured her in the anchorage at Grande-Anse, les Saintes in 1801.[4] Eclair was renamed Pickle in 1809 and sold in 1818.
- The fourth was an 18-gun launched in 1807 and broken up in 1831.
- The fifth Eclair, was originally the 6-gun sloop . Infernal was renamed Eclair in 1844 but then renamed Rosamund in 1846; Rosamund became a floating factory in 1863 and was finally broken up in 1865.
References
Notes and References
- Demerliac (1996), p.30, #118.
- Fonds, Vol. 1, p.33.
- Fonds, Vol.1, p.52.
- Fonds, Vol. 1, p.259.
