HMS Brilliant (1779)
_beating_off_two_French_frigates.jpg) His Majesty's Ship Brilliant, of 28 guns: Engaging and Beating off Two Republican Frigates | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain
| |
| Name: | HMS Brilliant |
| Ordered: | 9 October 1776 |
| Builder: | Henry Adams, Bucklers Hard |
| Laid down: | February 1777 |
| Launched: | 15 July 1779 |
| Completed: | 4 September 1779 (at Portsmouth Dockyard) |
| Commissioned: | July 1779 |
| Fate: | Broken up November 1811 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate |
| Tons burthen: | 59982⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: |
|
| Beam: | 33 ft 8 in (10.3 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 11 ft 0 in (3.35 m) |
| Sail plan: | Full-rigged ship |
| Complement: | 200 officers and men |
| Armament: |
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HMS Brilliant was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Brilliant was first commissioned in July 1779 under the command of Captain John Ford.
French Revolutionary Wars
Between July 1796 and October 1798 Brilliant's captain was Henry Blackwood. On 27 July, at Tenerife, Brilliant observed the frigates Vertu and Régénérée preparing to sail for Rochefort.[1] At 6, the French frigates sailed and started firing on Brilliant; Régénérée was closing in on her opponent when Vertu, which had sailed large, touched the wind; Régénérée imitated her manoeuver, but lost her mizzen and bowsprit, allowing Brilliant to flee. Vertu gave chase, but could not overhaul her opponent and returned to Tenerife. There, Régénérée replaced her rigging, and both frigates eventually arrived in Rochefort on 5 September.[1]
On 8 September 1800 Brilliant sent the prize Dragon into Plymouth. She was a packet of 14 guns, bound for L'Orient from Guadeloupe and carrying a cargo of cocoa, coffee, indigo and cotton.[2]
Napoleonic Wars
On 8 October 1807 Brilliant and Boreas captured the Danish ships St Hans and Montreal.[3][4]
On 20 October 1808 Brilliant was in company with Pheasant and the hired armed lugger Sandwich, when they discovered the Revenue cutter Active chasing a French privateer. The British were able to capture their quarry, which turned out to be the lugger Pointe du Jour, of Roscow. She was armed with three guns and carried a crew of 30 men. Captain Thomas Smyth reported that she "has cruized successfully against our Trade."[5]
Fate
Brilliant was broken up at Portsmouth in November 1811.[6]
Citations
- 1 2 Troude, vol.3, p.130
- ↑ "HMS Brilliant at Ships of the Old Navy website". Retrieved 15 October 2011.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 16292. p. 1372. 26 August 1809.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 16294. p. 1424. 2 September 1809.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 16198. p. 1506. 5 November 1808.
- ↑ Winfield (2007)
References
- Robert Gardiner, The First Frigates, Conway Maritime Press, London 1992. ISBN 0-85177-601-9.
- David Lyon, The Sailing Navy List, Conway Maritime Press, London 1993. ISBN 0-85177-617-5.
- Troude, Onésime-Joachim (1867). Batailles navales de la France (in French) 3. Challamel ainé.
- Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1714 to 1792, Seaforth Publishing, London 2007. ISBN 978-1-84415-700-6.
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