Vanneau (1782 ship)

Denys and Baron de Brave built her at Dunkirk and launched her on 25 July 1782. She was copper sheathed during construction. Initially she was armed with four 3-pounder guns, but by the time she was captured she carried six 4-pounders.

In 1787 she came briefly under the command of Julien Marie Cosmao-Kerjulien. Later that year the French navy sent Vanneau to reconnoitre the Isle of Wight. On her return, her commander, Sous-lieutenant de vaisseau Camelin, filed a false report, having also falsified his vessel's log. He was found out, dis-ranked, expelled from the navy, and was sentenced to a year in prison.[3]

Between July and November 1790, Vanneau was under the command of Sous-lieutenant de vaisseau Motard, patrolling the southern coasts of the United Kingdom from Cherbourg.[4] In February 1792 she was patrolling between Cape La Hève and Saint-Malo, while under the command of acting Enseigne de vaisseau non entretenu Guérin de l'Épinay.[5]

On 6 June 1793 Vanneau was in the Bay of Biscay when she encountered Colossus. The Royal Navy took Vanneau into service under her existing name.[6]

After her capture, the British commissioned Vanneau in May under the command of Lieutenant L.J. Woolstoncraft;[7] she then served to carry dispatches to the Mediterranean. On 8 November 1794, Admiral Hotham placed Lieutenant John Gourly (or Gourlay) in command of Vanneau.[8] On 15 January 1795 a major storm hit Corsica, and especially Bastia, wrecking a number of vessels and damaging Vanneau[9]

That spring, while Gourly and Vanneau were at Bastia, ten English captains and a boy, all former prisoners of the French, arrived there in a cartel, utterly destitute. Gourly met them and took them to dinner. They informed him that as they were unknown locally, no one would accept their bills drawn on their bankers in England, and that they needed £55 in total for their immediate support. Gourly immediately went to the British commissary-general, the Honourable John Erskine, and asked Erskine to cash his bill for that amount. Erskine refused, saying that he would simply lend Gourly the money, but asked what it was for. On being told the story, Erskine immediately stated that as he could better afford the loss than Gourly, should the captains fail to repay, he would lend them the money directly. A few days later Vanneau took the men to Leghorn, where they were able to write bills and remit to Erskine the entire amount they owed.[10]

A midshipman and two sailors from Vanneau died at Leghorn in 1795 and are buried in the British cemetery there.[11]

In June 1796, Napoleon and his forces captured Leghorn. Gourly and Vanneau rescued the British factory (trading post) and much valuable property.[10] Vanneau then escorted the British army troops that participated in the capture of Portoferraio, in Elba, on 10 July.[12]

Vanneau and Gourly were particularly instrumental in the capture of island of Capraja. Gilbert Elliot, the British viceroy of the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom, decided that it was necessary to clear out Capraja, which belonged to the Genoese and which served as a base for privateers. He sent Lord Nelson in Captain, together with the transport Gorgon, Vanneau, the cutter Rose, and troops of the 51st Regiment of Foot to accomplish this task in September. On their way, Minerva joined them. Nelson put 250 soldiers aboard Vanneau and Rose, who landed them on the north side of the island. The troops captured a 2-gun battery on the heights above the town there. While Rose carried the news of this success around to Nelson, who was having difficulty landing troops on the south side, Vanneau blockaded the port on the north side, where three privateers were anchored. Minerva joined him, and on 18 September, so did Nelson and the rest of the troops. They landed on 18 September. The crews of the privateers destroyed their vessels and the island surrendered without any further resistance.[10]

On 21 October 1796 Vanneau was wrecked at Porto-Ferrajo, Elba.[2] She was sailing out of the harbour on a secret mission when she twice missed her stays. When the anchors she put out did not hold she was swept onto on a sunken rock.[13]

Admiral Waldegrave presided over the court martial. Unusually, Lord Nelson made a point of asserting his precedence on the board, after Waldegrave but ahead of the senior captain of the fleet, on the basis of his position as Commodore. He may have done this to exert a greater sway in the proceedings as Gourly had been a lieutenant under him on Agamemnon.[14] Whether Nelson's intervention was necessary or not, the court martial acquitted Gourly of the loss of Vanneau.

Citations

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• Demerliac, Alain (1996) La Marine De Louis XVI: Nomenclature Des Navires Français De 1774 À 1792. (Nice: Éditions OMEGA). ISBN 2-906381-23-3
• Elliot, Gilbert, Earl of Minto (1892) Correspondance de Sir Gilbert Elliot: vice-roi de Corse, avec le gouvernement anglais ... (Ollagnier).
• Fonds Marine. Campagnes (opérations ; divisions et stations navales ; missions diverses). Inventaire de la sous-série Marine BB4. Tome premier : BB4 1 à 209 (1790-1804)
• Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot. ISBN 0-948864-30-3.
• Lacour-Gayet, Georges (1905) La marine militaire de la France sous le règne de Louis XVI. (H. Champion).
• Marshall, John (1823-1835) Royal naval biography, or, Memoirs of the services of all the flag-officers, superannuated rear-admirals, retired-captains, post-captains, and commanders, whose names appeared on the Admiralty list of sea officers at the commencement of the present year 1823, or who have since been promoted ... (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown).
• Sugden, John (2005) Nelson: A Dream of Glory, 1758-1797. (Macmillan). ISBN 9780805077575
• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461.

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