French schooner Vigie (1799)

History
France
Name	Vigie
Builder	Louis Mathurin and Antoine Crucy, Nantes
Cost	Fr.50,000
Laid down	May 1799
Launched	July 1799
Fate	Wrecked 30 December 1810
General characteristics [1][2]
Class and type	Telegraph-class schooner
Tons burthen	70 (French; "of load") (bm)
Length	Overall:25.01 m (82 ft 1 in) Waterline:24.04 m (78 ft 10 in)
Beam	6.17 m (20 ft 3 in)
Draught	2.46 m (8 ft 1 in)
Sail plan	Schooner
Complement	3 officers + 42–55 men
Armament	Originally: 14 swivel guns At Gorée: 2 × 3-pounder guns + 14 swivels 1804: 6 × 4-pounder guns + 6 swivels

The French Navy's Telegraph-class schooner Vigie was launched at Nantes in July 1799 by Mathurin, Louis, and Antoine Crucy, building to plans by Pierre Ozanne. She was wrecked in December 1810.

Career

On 14 July 1802 Vigie sailed from Lorient to Saint Pierre and Miquelon and back, in company with Surveillante.[3] (The Treaty of Amiens of 1802 had returned the islands to France; Britain reoccupied them when hostilities recommenced the next year.)

In 1803 Vigie underwent refitting in Lorient.[1]

In 1803 Vigie, under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Jean-Michel Mahé, sailed from Cayenne at the head of a squadron consisting of herself and three privateer schooners. They were carrying troops to West Africa. They stopped at Dakar where more troops and two more vessels joined them, and then on 17 January 1804 recaptured Gorée.[4] (The British recaptured Gorée some months later.)

Main article: French capture of Gorée (1804)

Vigie again underwent refitting in Lorient in August 1804.[1]

Fate

Vigie foundered on 30 December 1810 after running on an uncharted rock off Pointe des Pilours, Sables d'Olonne, near Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie; six 4-pounder bronze guns were recovered.[2] She had been under the command of enseigne de vaisseau Bourrand.[5]

Citations

1. Demerliac (1999), p. 37, n°197.
2. Winfield & Roberts (2015), p. 243.
3. Roche (2005), pp. 464–465.
4. "No. 15695". The London Gazette. 21 April 1804. pp. 497–498.
5. Service historique de la Défense (2010), p. 4230.

References

• Demerliac, Alain (1999). La Marine de la Révolution: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1792 à 1799 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 9782906381247. OCLC 492783890.
• Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours. Vol. 1. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
• Service historique de la Défense (2010). 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) (PDF). Vincennes. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2014.
• Winfield, Rif; Roberts, Stephen S. (2015). French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786–1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-204-2.