French frigate Psyché (1804)
| Career (France) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | Psyché |
| Namesake: | Psyche |
| Builder: | Basse-Indre yard, near Nantes |
| Laid down: | February 1798 |
| Launched: | 1798 |
| In service: | February 1804 |
| Captured: | 14 February 1805 |
| Career (Great Britain) |  |
| Name: | HMS Psyché[1] |
| Acquired: | 6 April 1809 |
| Fate: | Broken up in 1812 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 846.2 tons |
| Length: | 138 ft 6 in (gundeck); 117 ft 0in (keel) |
| Beam: | 36 ft 10.125 in |
| Propulsion: | Sail |
| Complement: | 339 (French service) |
| Armament: |
In British service: |
| Armour: | Timber |
The Psyché was a 36-gun frigate of the French Navy, but after only eight months in French naval service she was captured by the British, in whose service she then lasted another seven years.
Originally built in 1798-99 as a privateer, before being purchased into service by Decaen in June 1804 at Réunion.
On 10 January 1805, under captain Jacques Bergeret, she captured the Elisa. On 14 February 1805, she captured Pigeon and Thetis. Pigeon, of 10 guns, was renamed Équivoque as a privateer.
On 14 February, the three ships encountered HMS San Fiorenzo off the Malabar Coast of India. After a fierce battle, Psyché sent a boat to announce that she had struck her colours; she had 67 killed and 68 wounded[2].
She was brought into British service as HMS Psyché, being commissioned under Commander William Woolridge in about August 1805. She was to serve in the Indian Ocean until 1812, when she returned to Europe and was sold at Ferrol to be broken up.
Sources and references
- Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. 2nd edition, Seaforth Publishing, 2008. ISBN 978-1-84415-717-4.
- 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.[page needed][self-published source?]
