French brig Palinure (1804)
Palinure was a Curieux class 16-gun brig of the French Navy. She was built by Caudan at Lorient and launched in 1804.[1] In French service she captured HMS Carnation before HMS Circe captured her in turn. Taken into the Royal Navy as HMS Snap, she participated in two campaigns that qualified for the Naval General Service Medal. She was broken up in 1811.
French service
Palinure was commissioned on 20 May under Capitaine de frègate Jance.[1] She then took part in Allemand's expedition of 1805.[1]
On the morning of 22 April 1808 in Grande Bourg Bay at Marie Galante Palinure and Pilade encountered Goree. In the resulting engagement Goree lost one man killed and four wounded; the French lost eight killed and 21 wounded. After about an hour Palinure and Pilade made off when they saw the schooner Superieur coming to Goree's assistance, followed a little while later by the frigate Circe and Wolverine. Superieure exchanged some shots with the French brigs, but the other two British vessels arrived too late actually to engage.[2]
On 3 October 1808, she captured the 18-gun Cruizer class brig-sloop Carnation.[1] Carnation's capture was due in part to the cowardice of a large part of her crew after the loss of her captain and heavy casualties.
On 31 October, Palinure was herself taken by HMS Circe at Diamond Rock off Fort de France.[1]
British service
On 13 November she was commissioned as HMS Snap under Cmdr. James Pattison Stewart. In British service she carried 14 24-pounder carronades and two 6-pounder guns.[3]
She took part in the reduction of the French and Dutch West Indies, including the capture of Martinique in February 1809.[3] In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with the clasp "MARTINIQUE" to all remaining survivors of that campaign.
In August 1809, Cmdr. Thomas Barclay took command of Snap, after having briefly commanded Epervier. In 1810 she was also attached to the force under Brigadier Harcourt that took the Dutch colony of Sint Maarten in 1810. This would qualify her crew for the Naval General Service Medal with the clasp "GUADALOUPE".
Fate
Snap arrived in Portsmouth on 20 Jan 1811 and was paid off on 15 February. She was broken up in June at Sheerness.[3]
References
- James, William (1837). The Naval History of Great Britain, from the Declaration of War by France in 1793, to the Accession of George IV.. 5. R. Bentley.
- Roche, Jean-Michel (2005) Dictionnaire des Bâtiments de la Flotte de Guerre Française de Colbert à nos Jours. (Group Retozel-Maury Millau).
- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461.
