HMS Entreprenante (1801)

Career (France)
Name:	Entreprenante
In service:	1798
Fate:	Captured by the British in 1801
Career (UK)
Name:	HMS Entreprenante
In service:	Captured in 1801
Fate:	Broken up in June 1812
General characteristics
Class and type:	10-gun cutter
Tons burthen:	123 tons
Length:	67 ft (20 m)
Beam:	21.5 ft (6.6 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Armament:	10 guns

HMS Entreprenante was a 10-gun cutter of the Royal Navy, captured by the British from the French in 1801, commissioned into the Royal Navy, and in service during the Napoleonic Wars. She has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name.

The ship is thought to have been built in France in 1798 [1].

Trafalgar

In March 1804, she was placed under the command of Lieutenant Robert Benjamin Young, and was present at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. At ten guns, she was the smallest British warship present at the battle. Entreprenante accompanied the Lee (Blue) Division under Vice-admiral Collingwood, but she took no actual part in the fighting. Towards the end of the battle, though, together with the schooner HMS Pickle and boats from HMS Prince and HMS Swiftsure, she took part in rescuing some 200 men from the French Achille after she exploded. After the battle, she was sent to Faro, Portugal, carrying Collingwood's dispatches announcing the British victory.

Action off Malaga

Still under the command of Young, Entreprenante spent 1806 in the English Channel, watching the French fleet during the blockade of Brest, France.

Young was succeeded in 1808 by Lieutenant Peter Williams, though the Entreprenante continued to remain with the Channel Fleet. Entreprenante was moved to the Mediterranean Fleet in late 1810. She found herself becalmed off the Spanish coast between Malaga and Almeria Bay on the morning of 12 December 1810. Whilst lying here, she was suddenly attacked by four French privateers. Two passed under her stern, with the other two standing off her starboard bow and quarter. The ensuing battle lasted for four hours of close range combat, until the French were forced to bear away, having suffered heavy damage. During the action, the Entreprenante had lost her topmast, had two starboard guns disabled and had been compelled to repulse three attempts at boarding. She had one man killed and ten wounded in the battle.

Capture of the Saint Joseph

Entreprenante remained off the Spanish coast into 1811, and next saw action on 25 April of that year. Williams had taken her into Malaga Bay under a flag of truce to deliver a letter to the Governor, General Sabastini. Whilst on this duty, the British spotted a French privateer coming into the harbour, escorting a prize. Williams collected a reply from the Governor for Governor Campbell at Gibraltar, and Entreprenante made her way out of the harbour. As she did so, she closed on the French ship and brought her to battle. After a sharp engagement lasting 15 minutes, the Frenchman was driven ashore, having been severely hulled. By now, the water under Entreprenante’s keel was less than three fathoms (5 m) and Williams was obliged to tack away. He turned his attention to the prize, and after firing a few shots, boarded her and took possession. She was discovered to be the Spanish brig Saint Joseph, out of Cadiz and Gibraltar, and had been captured whilst sailing to Tarragona. Williams took her in tow and sailed her out of the harbour. The action had not cost the Entreprenante any casualties, and had been watched by hundreds of spectators on the mole head at Malaga two miles away.

This was to be Entreprenante’s last action. She was broken up in June 1812, after eleven years of distinguished service.

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475. 
• HMS Entreprenante's career