French frigate Cléopâtre
| Career (France) |    |
|---|---|
| Name: | Cléopâtre |
| Namesake: | Cleopatra |
| Builder: | Saint Malo |
| Laid down: | 1780 |
| Launched: | 19 August 1781 |
| Commissioned: | December 1781 |
| Decommissioned: | 19 June 1793 |
| Fate: | Captured by the Royal Navy |
| Career (United Kingdom) |  |
| Name: | HMS Oiseau |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Vénus class frigate |
| Displacement: | 600 tonnes |
| Length: | 44.5 metres |
| Beam: | 11.2 metres |
| Draught: | 5 metres |
| Armament: |
32 guns: |
| Armour: | Timber |
The Cléopâtre was a 32-gun Vénus class frigate of the French Navy. She was designed by Jacques-Noël Sané, and had a coppered hull.
She took part in the taking of Cuddalore in 1782.
On 19 June 1793, as she sailed off Guernsey under Lieutenant de vaisseau Mullon, she encountered HMS Nymphe, led by Captain Edward Pellew. After a short but very sharp action, the Cléopâtre's mizenmast and wheel were shot away, and the ship, being unmanageable, fell foul of the Nymphe, and was boarded and captured in a fierce rush. Mullon was mortally wounded, and died in trying to swallow his commission, which, in his dying agony, he had mistaken for the code of secret signals. The code thus fell intact into Pellew's hands, and was sent to the admiralty. The Cléopâtre was the first frigate taken in the war.
She was recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Oiseau.
In 1798, she served in the Indian Ocean, where she captured the French Réunion on 1 September.
On 28 January, along with HMS Sirius, she captured 3 French frigates off Ferrol.
From 1810, she was used as a prison hulk. She was sold for scrap in September 1816.
External links
- HMS Oiseau Naval Database
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