French frigate Égyptienne (1799) - later fifth-rate frigate HMS Egyptienne (1801 - 1817) - Forte class

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This is what wikipedia tells us about the ship:

Égyptienne was a French frigate launched at Toulon in 1799. Her first service was in Napoleon's Egyptian campaign of 1801, in which the British captured her at Alexandria. She famously carried the Rosetta Stone to Woolwich, and then the Admiralty commissioned her into the Royal Navy as the 40-gun fifth-rate frigate HMS Egyptienne. She served in a number of single-ship actions before being reduced to harbour service in 1807, and was sold for breaking in 1817.

Legyptienne.jpg
The French 24-pounder frigate Égyptienne.

Design and construction
Égyptienne was part of the two-ship Forte-class of frigates designed by François Caro. She had possibly been ordered on 15 June 1798 as a 74-gun ship-of-the-line of about 1,700 French tons, or 1900 English tons (the evidence is ambiguous). She was begun at Toulon on 26 September 1798 but while building she was modified into a heavy frigate based on the Forte. She was launched 17 July 1799, put into service in November 1799 and armed at Toulon on 23 September 1800. The foremost maindeck port was found too curved in the bow to admit a gun, so Égyptienne received only 48 cannon instead of 50.

Type: 40-gun fifth-rate frigate
Tonnage: 1,434 4⁄94 (bm)
Length:
  • 169 ft 8 in (51.71 m) (overall)
  • 141 ft 4 3⁄4 in (43.1 m) (keel)
Beam: 43 ft 8 in (13.31 m)
Depth of hold: 15 ft 1 in (4.60 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement:
  • French service: 400-450
  • British service: 330
Armament:
  • French service
    • UD: 28 × 24-pounder guns
    • QD: 12 × 8-pounder guns + 2 × 36-pounder brass obusiers
    • Fc: 4 × 8-pounder guns + 2 × 36-pounder brass obusiers
  • British service
    • UD: 28 × 24-pounder guns
    • QD: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 12 × 32-pounder carronades
    • Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 4 × 32-pounder carronades

French service

Name: Égyptienne
Builder: Toulon
Laid down: 26 September 1798
Launched: 17 July 1799
Completed: November 1799
Captured: 2 September 1801, by the Royal Navy

In 1801 Napoleon required reinforcements in Egypt so the frigates Égyptienne and Justice, each carrying troops and munitions, left Toulon. On 3 February the vessels anchored in the old or western port of Alexandria.

The British discovered Causse, Égyptienne, Justice, Régénérée and two ex-Venetian frigates in the harbour of Alexandria at the capitulation on 2 September 1801 after the fall of Alexandria. The British and their Turkish allies agreed to a division of the spoils; the British received Egyptienne, Régénérée and Léoben (ex-Venetian Medusa) (26) while Captain Pacha (sic) received Causse (ex-Venetian Vulcano) (64), Justice (46), Mantoue (ex-Venetian Cerere) (26), and some Turkish corvettes that were in the harbour. Admiral Lord Keith commander of the naval forces, gave the value of Égyptienne for prize money purposes at £23,665 0s 0d.

The British took Égyptienne into service on 27 September and Captain Thomas Stephenson sailed her to Britain; on this voyage she carried Colonel Tomkyns Hilgrove Turner, who was bringing the Rosetta Stone to England. As Égyptienne was coming into the Downs she collided with the East Indiaman Marquise Wellsley. She finally arrived at Woolwich on 13 February 1802.

British service

Name: Egyptienne
Acquired: 2 September 1801
Fate: Sold for breaking up 30 April 1817

The Admiralty added her to the Royal Navy as HMS Egyptienne and she was fitted out at Woolwich between October and December 1802, at a cost of £12,625. During this period she was under the command of Captain Charles Ogle.

She commissioned under Captain Charles Fleeming (or Elphinstone or Fleming) in April 1803 and initially sailed in the English Channel and off the coast of France. Here, on 27 July, she captured the 16-gun French brig-sloop Epervier in the Atlantic Ocean. Epervier had a crew of 90 men and was carrying dispatches from Guadaloupe to Lorient. The Royal Navy took Épervier into service under her existing name.

On 30 August Egyptienne captured the privateer Chiffonette. Chiffonette was armed with 16 guns and a crew of 80 men. She was 26 days out of Bordeaux and had captured a brig from Jersey that Endymion had already recaptured. Chiffonette was in the process of attacking another British brig when Egyptienne approached, an attack that Chiffonette then abandoned. Fleming remarked in his report that she was an extremely fast vessel that had several times eluded British frigates, including Egyptienne herself on one occasion.

Then she sailed to St Helena escorting a convoy of ships. During this time Charles John Napier was a midshipman aboard Egyptienne. (In later years, feeling that Fleeming had treated him badly, Napier challenged Fleeming to a duel; their seconds effected a reconciliation, so eviting the duel.) On 13 February 1805 Egyptienne captured the Dichoso, which was under the command of F. Caselins.

Egyptienne was present at the Battle of Cape Finisterre, but did not participate in the engagement. While reconnoitering in advance of the fleet she captured a Danish merchant brig. After the battle she took the disabled Spanish 74-gun Firme in tow. After the battle, Admiral Robert Calder requested a court-martial to review his decision not to pursue the enemy fleet after the engagement. Fleming was one of the witnesses. The court martial ruled that Calder's failure to pursue was an error of judgment, not a manifestation of cowardice, and severely reprimanded him.

On 2 October Egyptienne captured the French brig-sloop Actéon, under Capitaine de frégate Depoge, off Rochefort. She was armed with sixteen 6-pounder guns and had a crew of 126 men. Actéon had on board a colonel and some recruits, as well as arms and clothing for a regiment in the West Indies. The navy took Actéon into service as Acteon.

1280px-Egyptienne_frigate.jpg
HMS Egyptienne in pursuit of a Spanish schooner in 1806

In November Egyptienne captured several ships: the Paulina, the French lugger Edouard, the Maria Antoinette, under the command of J. Heget, and the French sloop Esperance. Paulina, which Egyptienne captured on 20 November, was a 12-gun Spanish letter of marque, under the command of Don Antonio Acibal. The chase took nine hours, during which the Paulina threw eight of her guns overboard. She was out of Pasaia, Spain on her way to cruise the West Indies.

On 24 December off Rochefort, Egyptienne, under Lieutenant Handfield, his promotion still not confirmed, and Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland's HMS Loire captured the 40-gun Libre, Capitaine de Frégate Deschorches commanding. Libre was armed with twenty-four 18-pounders, six 36-pounder carronades and ten 9-pounder guns. In the fight, which lasted half an hour, the French lost 20 men killed and wounded out of a crew of 280 men. Loire had no casualties but Egyptienne had 8 wounded, one mortally. Libre was badly damaged and had lost her masts so Loire took her in tow and reached Plymouth with her on 4 January 1806. Libre had sailed from Flushing on 14 November in company with a French 48-gun frigate but the two vessels had parted in a gale on 9 November off the coast of Scotland.

Captain Charles Paget replaced Elphinstone in December. Egyptienne's boats cut out the privateer Alcide from Muros on 8 March 1806 and under incessant but ineffective fire from two shore batteries. The boats were under the command of Phillips Crosby Handfield, her First Lieutenant, who stayed with Egyptienne as a volunteer as his promotion to Commander had not been confirmed. Alcide was frigate-built and pierced for 34 guns. She was only two years old and when she had last gone to sea had had a complement of 240 men.

Fate
Egyptienne was paid off at Plymouth and put into ordinary on 5 May 1807. Soon after she was fitted out and served as a receiving ship at Plymouth. She was in ordinary from 1812 to 1815. On 30 April 1817 she was finally sold to John Small Sedger for £2,810 for breaking up.


References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Égyptienne_(1799)


and

The Forte class was a class of two frigates of the French Navy, designed in 1794 by François Caro. They carried 28 24-pounder long guns as their main battery, making them heavy frigates for their time.
Builder: Lorient
Begun: 30 May 1794
Launched: 26 September 1794
Completed: November 1794
Fate: Captured by the British Navy on 1 March 1799, became HMS Forte, wrecked in 1801.
Builder: Toulon
Begun: 26 September 1798
Launched: 17 July 1799
Completed: November 1799
Fate: Captured by the British Navy on 2 September 1801, became HMS Egyptienne, sold for breaking up 30 April 1817

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forte-class_frigate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Forte_(1794)


and:

Frigates of Louis XVI (1774–1792), the Revolutionary era and the First Empire (to 1815)
24-pounder armed frigates


France experimented early with heavy frigates, with a pair being built in 1772 (however the 24-pounder guns of this pair were quickly replaced by 18-pounders in service). Several more were constructed during the French Revolution, but the Romaine class of "frégate-bombardes", to which curious design (incorporating a heavy mortar into the design) at least thirteen vessels were ordered (24 were originally planned), proved over-gunned, and no further 24-pounder armed frigates were begun until after 1815.
  • Résistance class, (design by Pierre Degay, with 30 x 24-pounder guns and 20 x 12-pounder guns).
    • Vengeance, 50 (launched 8 November 1794 at Paimboeuf, Nantes) – captured by British Navy 1800, becoming HMS Vengeance.
    • Résistance, 50 (launched 28 September 1795 at Paimboeuf, Nantes) – captured by British Navy 1797, becoming HMS Fisgard.
  • Forte class, (design by François Caro, with 30 x 24-pounder guns and 20 x 8-pounder guns).
    • Forte, 50 (launched 26 September 1794 at Lorient) – captured by the British Navy 1799, becoming HMS Forte.
    • Egyptienne, 50 (launched 17 July 1799 at Toulon) – captured by British Navy 1801, becoming HMS Egyptienne.
  • Romaine class, (design by Pierre-Alexandre Forfait, initially given 20 x 24-pounder guns and a 12-inch mortar, although all those completed were later armed or re-armed with 18-pounder guns and no mortar).
    • Romaine, (launched 25 September 1794 at Le Havre).
    • Immortalité, (launched 7 January 1795 at Lorient) – captured by the British Navy 1798, becoming HMS Immortalite.
    • Impatiente, (launched 12 March 1795 at Lorient).
    • Incorruptible, (launched 20 May 1795 at Dieppe).
    • Revanche, (launched 31 August 1795 at Dieppe).
    • Libre, (launched 11 February 1796 at Le Havre).
    • Comète, (launched 11 March 1796 at Le Havre).
    • Désirée, (launched 23 April 1796 at Dunkirk) – captured by the British Navy 1800, becoming HMS Desiree.
    • Poursuivante, (launched 24 May 1796 at Dunkirk).
The original programme had provided for a total of twenty-four vessels of this class, of which twenty were actually ordered between October 1793 and April 1794. Apart from the nine vessels listed above, three further vessels begun in 1795/98 were intended to be of this class – Pallas at Saint-Malo, and Furieuse and Guerrière at Cherbourg; but all were completed as 18-pounder armed frigates (see above). Another two vessels to this design – the Fatalité (ordered in 1793 at Saint-Malo) and Nouvelle (ordered in 1794 at Lorient) - were never completed; the remainder of the original programme appear never to have been begun.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_French_sail_frigates
 
wikipedia about her sistership and the lead ship of the class Forte


Forte was a French 42-gun frigate, lead ship of her class.

Plans-de-la-frcegate-la-forte.jpg
Plans of the French 24-pounder frigate Forte - Extrait de l’Atlas du Génie Maritime. Service historique de la Défense.

Type: 42-gun Forte class frigate
Tonnage: 1020 tonnes
Length: 52 m (171 ft)
Beam: 13 m (43 ft)
Draught: 6.2 m (20 ft)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Armament:

Career
French service


Name: Forte
Ordered: 5 July 1794
Builder: Lorient
Laid down: 30 May 1794
Launched: 26 September 1794
Commissioned: November 1794
Captured: 1 March 1799, by the Royal Navy

Launched on 26 September 1794 and commissioned two months later under Commander Beaulieu-Leloup, Forte was part of a large frigate squadron under contre-amiral Sercey, also comprising Prudente, Régénérée, Vertu, Seine, Cybèle and Preneuse. The division sailed to Ile de France to raid commerce in the Indian Ocean.

On 15 May 1796 Forte, Vertu, Seine, and Régénérée were cruising between St Helena and the Cape of Good Hope hoping to capture British East Indiamen when they encountered the British whaler Lord Hawkesbury on her way to Walvis Bay. The French took off her crew, except for two seamen and a boy, and put Forte's fourth officer and 13-man prize crew aboard Lord Hawkesbury with orders to sail to Île de France. On her way there one of the British seamen, who was at the helm, succeeded in running her aground on the east coast of Africa a little north of the Cape, wrecking her. There were no casualties, but the prize crew became British prisoners.

Forte took part in the Action of 8 September 1796, where the frigates drove off two British 74-guns.

In 1797, Forte and Prudente were sent to Batavia to ferry troops. Command of Forte was given to Captain Ravenel. Against the wishes of Sercey, General Malartic restored Beaulieu to command.

While operating in the Bay of Bengal in early 1799, Forte captured a number of vessels. These were (with their master's name in parentheses): Recovery (M'Kinley), Chance (Johnson). Yarmouth (Beck), Endeavour (Eastwick), Earl Mornington (Cook), and Surprize (Moore). Forte also captured two unnamed vessels. She made a cartel of one of her captures and sent her into Madras.

On 24 February 1799, Forte encountered the East Indiaman Osterley. A sharp single-ship action developed, with Osterley losing four men killed and 13 wounded before she struck. Forte spent two days or so transferring some of Osterley's cargo before he let her and her crew proceed. Some accounts state that he released her as a cartel for an exchange of prisoners. Lloyd's List reported that the galley Surprize participated in the engagement but escaped.

Battle against HMS Sybille
Main article: Action of 28 February 1799

Sybille_vs_Forte.jpg
Capture of HMS Sybille capturing the Forte, on 28 February 1799

On 1 March 1799, off Bengal, Forte chased and captured two merchantmen. Around 22:00, as Forte sailed to take possession of her prize, a sail was detected leeward, which Beaulieu-Leloup deemed to be another merchantman in spite of the suspicions of his officers. The crew of Forte went to their sleeping quarters, and it took some time to realise that the strange ship was closing in and to call the crew to Battle Stations. When readied, Forte turned about and recognized the ship to be the 38-gun HMS Sybille, under Captain Edward Cooke.

At 12:15, Forte opened fire with a few shots, which were left unanswered until she came down the side of Sybille, at which point the British frigate delivered a full broadside, turned about and raked Forte with a second broadside. In the confusion of the battle, the gun crews of Forte were not advised that Sybille had circled around to starboard, and they kept firing their port guns at a ship whose silouhette could be seen through the smoke, but which was actually one of the prizes. After some time, the mistake was realised and the starboard battery was manned; however, as part of the crew of Forte had been dispatched to man her prizes, Forte was too short-handed to man her forecastle guns.

At 1:40, a cannonball killed Captain Beaulieu-Leloup and command of Forte passed to Lieutenant Vigoureux. Around the same time, Captain Cooke was mortally wounded on Sybille and relinquished his own command. Vigoureux was killed at 2:00, and Lieutenant Luco took command. By that time, only four guns were still firing. Luco attempted to manoeuver, but the heavily damaged rigging collapsed at 2:25. Sybille inquired whether it was to be understood that Forte had struck her colours, and ceased fire when this was confirmed.

British service

Name: HMS Forte
Acquired: 1 March 1799
Fate: Wrecked 29 January 1801

Forte was taken into British service as HMS Forte. She was under the command of Captain Hardyman when she was wrecked on 29 January 1801 off Jeddah, in the Red Sea. She was entering the port with a pilot, William Briggs, when she struck a rock. Briggs knew of the rock, which was visible the whole time, but failed to issue any orders. Hardyman eventually ordered the helmsman to turn, but it was too late. Forte reached the shore and ran up the beach, where she capsized. The court martial board admonished Briggs to be more circumspect in the future and penalized him one year's seniority as a master.

Still, as her ship's company had served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 8 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal, which the Admiralty authorised in 1850 for all surviving claimants.

Post-script
In 1811 French naval engineers examined the USS Constitution while she was visiting Cherbourg. The engineers compared the design of the American frigate to that of the lost Forte



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Forte_(1794)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_28_February_1799
 
The available drawings at NMM:

Egyptienne (captured 1801)
French 50-gun (carried 44) Fifth Rate Frigate taken at the fall of Alexandria on 2 September 1801.

Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...essel;vesselFacetLetter=E#6Utk9gbYi0bV4Dpg.99

HMS Egyptienne (captured 1801)

large.jpg
Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail and figurehead, and longitudinal half-breadth for Egyptienne (captured 1801), a captured French Frigate, as taken off after fitting for a 38-gun Fifth Rate Frigate. This plan was received by William Rule [Surveyor of the Navy, 1793-1813] on 7 January 1807.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81870.html#hDBXwBGszk7iTGXx.99


large (1).jpg
Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the inboard profile for Egyptienne (captured 1801), a captured French Frigate, as taken off prior to being fitted for a 38-gun Fifth Rate Frigate. Signed by Edward Sison [Master Shipwright, Woolwich Dockyard, 1801-1816].
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81871.html#eScXkySHLbox0VTl.99


large (2).jpg
Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the lower deck with platforms for Egyptienne (captured 1801), a captured French Frigate, as taken off prior to being fitted for a 38-gun Fifth Rate Frigate.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81872.html#E4CqA1mj32032cg2.99


large (3).jpg
Scale: 1:48. Plan showing the upper deck for Egyptienne (captured 1801), a captured French Frigate, as taken off prior to being fitted for a 38-gun Fifth Rate Frigate.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/81873.html#7uHgASxDpeVfAPuv.99


http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...el-309439;browseBy=vessel;vesselFacetLetter=E
 
at NMM no drawings of the Forte are online (existing?) but a better version of the painting

Forte (1794)
French frigate. Captured by the Royal Navy on 1 March 1799, becoming 'Forte'; wrecked in 1801.
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collec...essel;vesselFacetLetter=F#JgS9rym8BGVcTxkW.99



large (4).jpg
Capture of 'La Forte', 28 February 1799 (PAD5620)
Read more at http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/109771.html#FhwoCAZPSOMfZx2F.99


Unbenannt.JPG

http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/109771.html
 
Gerard Delacroix just announced the soon release of his new planset / monographie of this ship

egypti10.jpg

 
Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History
24 December 1805 - HMS Egyptienne (1799 - 40) and HMS Loire (1796 - 40) captured French frigate Libre (1796 - 40) off Rochefort

On 24 December off Rochefort, HMS Egyptienne, under Lieutenant Handfield, his promotion still not confirmed, and Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland's HMS Loire captured the 40-gun Libre, Capitaine de Frégate Deschorches commanding. Libre was armed with twenty-four 18-pounders, six 36-pounder carronades and ten 9-pounder guns. In the fight, which lasted half an hour, the French lost 20 men killed and wounded out of a crew of 280 men. Loire had no casualties but Egyptienne had 8 wounded, one mortally. Libre was badly damaged and had lost her masts so Loire took her in tow and reached Plymouth with her on 4 January 1806. Libre had sailed from Flushing on 14 November in company with a French 48-gun frigate but the two vessels had parted in a gale on 9 November off the coast of Scotland.

Égyptienne was a French frigate launched at Toulon in 1799. Her first service was in Napoleon's Egyptian campaign of 1801, in which the British captured her at Alexandria. She famously carried the Rosetta Stone to Woolwich, and then the Admiralty commissioned her into the Royal Navy as the 40-gun fifth-rate frigate HMS Egyptienne. She served in a number of single-ship actions before being reduced to harbour service in 1807, and was sold for breaking in 1817.

Legyptienne.jpg

The French 24-pounder frigate Égyptienne.

Design and construction
Égyptienne was part of the two-ship Forte-class of frigates designed by François Caro. She had possibly been ordered on 15 June 1798 as a 74-gun ship-of-the-line of about 1,700 French tons, or 1900 English tons (the evidence is ambiguous). She was begun at Toulon on 26 September 1798 but while building she was modified into a heavy frigate based on the Forte. She was launched 17 July 1799, put into service in November 1799 and armed at Toulon on 23 September 1800. The foremost maindeck port was found too curved in the bow to admit a gun, so Égyptienne received only 48 cannon instead of 50.

Loire was a 44-gun frigate of the French Navy. She was captured following the Battle of Tory Island by a Royal Navy frigate squadron and subsequently taken into British service as HMS Loire.

Loire_img_3184.jpg

Capture of Loire

The Libre was a Romaine-class frigate of the French Navy. She was commissioned in 1800 and remained in active service until captured by the Royal Navy in 1805.

1280px-Fight_of_the_Poursuivante_mp3h9427.jpg

Poursuivante, sister-ship of Libre

large (4).jpg

This images shows port stern quarter views of the L'Immortalite (sistership) (on the left) and the Fisgard (on the right) as they both run before the wind, engaging in broadside gun battle. Smoke billows between the vessels and both have holed sails. L'Immortalite flies the French flag at her stern, while the Fisgard flies the red ensign.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Égyptienne_(1799)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Loire_(1796)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_frigate_Libre_(1796)
 
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