French ship Sceptre (1780)

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Sceptre and French ship Marengo.

Sceptre was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. Built under the Ancien Régime, she took part in the naval operations in the American Revolutionary War. At the Revolution, she took part in the main actions of the French Revolutionary Wars, notably the so-called Glorious First of June and in Bruix' expedition of 1799. Showing her age by the rise of the First French Empire, she was hulked and eventually broken up.

History
France
Name	Sceptre
Namesake	Sceptre National Convention Battle of Marengo
Builder	Brest
Laid down	25 May 1780
Launched	21 September 1780
Commissioned	October 1780
Decommissioned	1802
Renamed	Convention, 29 September 1792 Marengo, August 1800
Fate	Hulked, 1802. Broken up, 1811.
General characteristics [1]
Type	Vaisseau de 2e rang ("Ship of the 2nd Rate")
Tonnage	1,630 tonnes
Length	55.55 metres (182.3 ft) (171 pied)
Beam	14.3 metres (47 ft) (44 pied)
Depth	7 metres (23 ft) (21.6 pied)
Propulsion	Sail
Complement	750 men
Armament	74 guns: 28 × 36-pounder long guns 30 × 18-pounder long guns 16 × 8-pounder long guns
Armour	Timber

Career

In 1781 and 1782, she took part in the naval operations in the American Revolutionary War, under Admiral de Grasse. She fought at the Battle of the Chesapeake and faced HMS Formidable on 12 April 1782 at the Battle of the Saintes^[2] under Louis de Rigaud de Vaudreuil.^[3][4][5]

In August, Sceptre, Astrée and Engageante, under La Pérouse, raided several English fur trading posts during the Hudson Bay Expedition, including Fort Prince of Wales. In 1783, she was decommissioned in Brest. ^[6]

On 29 September 1792, she was renamed Convention. She took part in the battle of the Glorious First of June in 1794, engaging HMS Caesar and Bellerophon. She later took part in the Croisière du Grand Hiver winter campaign of 1794–1795, the Expédition d'Irlande of December 1796, and the Bruix' expedition of 1799.^[6]

On 18 February 1800, Captain Louis-Marie Le Gouardun took command, until 11 March of the same year.^[7] In August, she was renamed Marengo, and was condemned in 1802. She was used as a prison hulk in Brest before being broken up in 1811.^[6]

Citations

1. Deschênes, Ronald (2013). "Répertoire de vaisseau de ligne français de 1781 à 1815". Association de Généalogie d'Haïti (in French). Retrieved 5 April 2013.
2. Famous Fighters of the Fleet, Edward Fraser, 1904, p.119
3. Lacour-Gayet (1910), p. 649.
4. Troude (1867), p. 140.
5. Lacour-Gayet (1910), p. 648.
6. Roche (2005), p. 407.
7. Quintin & Quintin (2003), p. 221.

References

• Demerliac, Alain (2004). La Marine de Louis XVI: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1774 à 1792 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 2-906381-23-3.
• Lacour-Gayet, Georges (1910). La marine militaire de la France sous le règne de Louis XVI. Paris: Honoré Champion.
• Quintin, Danielle; Quintin, Bernard (2003). Dictionnaire des capitaines de Vaisseau de Napoléon (in French). S.P.M. ISBN 2-901952-42-9. OCLC 165892922.
• Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours. Vol. 1. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922. (1671-1870)
• Troude, Onésime-Joachim (1867). Batailles navales de la France (in French). Vol. 2. Challamel ainé.