French ship Fougueux (1785)

For other ships of the same name, see French ship Fougueux.
Scale model of the Achille, sister-ship of French ship Fougueux (1785), on display at the Musée de la Marine in Paris.
History
France
Name: Fougueux
Namesake: "Impetuous"
Builder: Lorient shipyard
Laid down: 1784
Launched: 1785
Fate: Sunk after the Battle of Trafalgar, October 1805
General characteristics [1]
Class & type: Téméraire-class ship of the line
Displacement:
  • 2,966 tonnes
  • 5,260 tonnes fully loaded
Length: 55.87 metres (183.3 ft) (172 pied)
Beam: 14.90 metres (48 ft 11 in)
Draught: 7.26 metres (23.8 ft) (22 pied)
Propulsion: Up to 2,485 m2 (26,750 sq ft) of sails
Armament:
Armour: Timber

Fougueux was a Téméraire class 74-gun French ship of the line built at Lorient from 1784 to 1785 by engineer Segondat.

Ship history

In 1796, she took part in the Expédition d'Irlande under Esprit-Tranquille Maistral.

She took part in the Battle of Trafalgar, firing the first shot of the battle upon HMS Royal Sovereign. She later attempted to come to the aid of the Redoutable by engaging HMS Temeraire. After badly damaging the Fougueux with broadsides, Temeraire's first-lieutenant, Thomas Fortescue Kennedy, led a boarding party onto Fougueux, entering the French ship via her main deck ports and chains.[2][3] The French tried to defend the decks port by port, but were steadily overwhelmed. Fougueux's captain, Louis Alexis Baudoin, had suffered a fatal wound earlier in the fighting, leaving Commander François Bazin in charge. On learning that nearly all of the officers were dead or wounded and that most of the guns were out of action, Bazin surrendered the ship to Kennedy.[4][5]

According to the report of Captain Lucas of the Redoutable,

“ the Fougueux, which, having fought against several of the enemy's ships, had been left by them without having lowered her flag. She was dismasted and unrigged, and floating an unmanageable hulk. On fouling the group of ships she was boarded by the Temeraire. The Fougueux was, however, beyond making serious resistance. Her brave captain, Baudouin, though, even then made an effort, but in vain. He was killed at the outset, and his second in command was wounded at the same moment; whereupon some men of the Temeraire sprang on board and took possession. ”

On the day after the battle a severe storm battered the surviving ships. Fougueux was driven ashore near Torre Bermeja on the coast of Spain and was wrecked. Only 25 men aboard, British prize crew and French prisoners, survived.[6]

See also

Citations

  1. ↑ Clouet, Alain (2007). "La marine de Napoléon III : classe Téméraire - caractéristiques". dossiersmarine.free.fr (in French). Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  2. ↑ Willis. The Fighting Temeraire. p. 193.
  3. ↑ Adkin. The Trafalgar Companion. p. 508.
  4. ↑ Willis. The Fighting Temeraire. p. 194.
  5. ↑ Clayton & Craig. Trafalgar. p. 210.
  6. ↑ Clowes (1900), p.163

References

  • Adkin, Mark (2007). The Trafalgar Companion: A Guide to History's Most Famous Sea Battle and the Life of Admiral Lord Nelson. London: Aurum Press. ISBN 1-84513-018-9. 
  • Clayton, Tim; Craig, Phil (2005). Trafalgar: The Men, the Battle, the Storm. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-83028-X. 
  • Clowes, William Laird (1900). The Royal Navy: A History From the Earliest Times to the Present. Vol.V. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company. 
  • Willis, Sam (2010). The Fighting Temeraire: Legend of Trafalgar. Quercus. ISBN 978-1-84916-261-6. 

External links


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