French frigate Amphitrite (1808)

For other ships of the same name, see French ship Amphitrite.

Career (France)
Name:	Amphitrite
Namesake:	Amphitrite
Ordered:	6 January 1806
Builder:	Cherbourg
Laid down:	August 1806
Launched:	11 April 1808
In service:	1804
Fate:	Scuttled on 3 February 1809
General characteristics
Class and type:	Armide class
Displacement:	1330 tonnes
Length:	47 metres
Beam:	12 metres
Draught:	5.5 metres
Propulsion:	Sail
Complement:	339
Armament:	24 18-pounder long guns 12 12-pounders
Armour:	Timber

The Amphitrite was a 44-gun Armide class frigate of the French Navy.

Amphitrite, under frigate captain Trobriand, departed Cherbourg for Martinique on 10 November 1808, along with Vénus, Junon, Cygne and Papillon, under contre-amiral Hamelin. The next day, the squadron broke apart.

Amphitrite arrived at Fort de France, only to find it blockaded by the Royal Navy. She managed to slip through and reach the harbour. On 3 February, as the British attacked Martinique, the Amphitrite was scuttled to prevent her capture.

In 1960, construction work of a modern commerce harbour in Fort de France uncovered the bottom of the hull of Amphitrite. Copper sheets of the hull and other fragments were recovered and are now on display at the Service Régional de l'Archéologie.

Sources and references

• Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671 - 1870. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.