HMS Tapageur (1779)

History
France
Name:	Tapageur
Builder:	Dunkirk or Saint-Malo
Launched:	1778 or 1779
Captured:	March 1779
UK
Name:	HMS Tapageur
Namesake:	Blusterer
Acquired:	March 1779 by capture
Commissioned:	May 1779
Fate:	Wrecked March 1780
General characteristics [1]
Class & type:	Mutin-class
Type:	Cutter
Tons burthen:	224 ^64⁄94 (bm)
Length:	73 ft 6 in (22.40 m) (overall); 54 ft 10 ^1⁄2 in (16.726 m) (keel)
Beam:	27 ft 9 in (8.46 m)
Depth of hold:	10 ft 10 in (3.30 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Armament:	14 x 4-pounder guns + 10 swivel guns

HMS Tapageur was the privateer cutter Tapageur, launched in 1778 or 1779, possibly at Dunkirk,.^[2] The British captured her in 1779, and she wrecked a year later.

Career

The British warships Apollo, Porcupine, and Milford captured on 15 March 1779.^{[3][Note 1]} A report in the Mercure has Tapaguer, of Saint-Malo, succumbing to the arrival of three British warships after having held off a British privateer of 20 guns for four-and-a-half hours.^[4]

Tapageur was commissioned into the Royal Navy in May under the command of Lieutenant Lord Charles FitzGerald. She then spent the summer in Admiral Hardy's fleet in the Channel.^[5] In late 1779 she was at Portsmouth, attached to Admiral Rodney's fleet, which was preparing to take troops to Gibraltar, Minorca, and the West Indies. The fleet sailed on Christmas Day from St Helens, Isle of Wight. On 4 January 1780, Rodney detached Captain Hyde Parker, Jr. at 46°2'N 13°12'W in the 74-gun Hector, together with Phoenix, Greyhound, and Tapageur to escort the West Indies convoy, which was transporting troops from the 88th Regiment of Foot and the 89th Regiment of Foot.^[6]

Fate

Tapageur was wrecked in March while warping into Carenage Bay at Saint Lucia.^[7] The British had captured Saint Lucia in December, though Tapageur arrived too late to participate.

Questionable information

Although the records are clear that Tapageur was wrecked, there are later accounts of her continued service. First, Rodney lists her as repeating an order to Marlborough at the Battle of Martinique on 17 April.^[8] Second, she appears in order of battle at the Battle of Porto Praya under the command of Lieutenant Philip D'Auvergne.^[9][10] Then she accompanied Jason on a reconnaissance towards the Cape of Good Hope and returned to Porto Praya with the news of the presence at Saldanha Bay of five Dutch East Indiamen.^[11] The British sailed there and captured four (the fifth was destroyed) at the Battle of Saldanha Bay. However, none of these accounts is supported by primary sources.

Footnotes

Notes

1. The Royal Navy captured three of her sister ships and took them all into service as well. These three were Pandora, Mutin, and Pilot.

Citations

1. Winfield (2007).
2. Demerliac (1996), p. 87, #576.
3. The London Gazette: no. 12016 . p. 4. 21 September 1779.
4. Mercure de France, 5 May 1779, p.109.
5. "NMM, vessel ID 377657" (PDF). Warship Histories, vol iv. National Maritime Museum. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
6. Syrett (1998), p.85.
7. Hepper (1994), p.58.
8. Mundy (1830), Vol. 2, p.399.
9. Schomberg (1802), Vol. 4, pp.368 & 385.
10. Clowes et al. (1897–1903), Vol. 3, p.546.
11. Duncan (1805), Vol. 3, p.56.

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 Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
• Clowes, W. Laird, et al. (1897–1903) The royal navy: a history from the earliest times to the present. (Boston: Little, Brown and Co.; London : S. Low, Marston and Co.).
• Demerliac, Alain (1996) La Marine De Louis XVI: Nomenclature Des Navires Français De 1774 À 1792. (Nice: Éditions OMEGA). ISBN 2-906381-23-3
• Duncan, Archibald (1805) The British trident: or, Register of naval actions; including authentic accounts of all the most remarkable engagements at sea, in which the British flag has been eminently distinguished; from the period of the memorable defeat of the Spanish armada, to the present time; chronologically arranged. (J. Cundee).
• Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650–1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot. ISBN 0-948864-30-3.
• Marshall, John (1823–1835) Royal naval biography, or, Memoirs of the services of all the flag-officers, superannuated rear-admirals, retired-captains, post-captains, and commanders, whose names appeared on the Admiralty list of sea officers at the commencement of the present year 1823, or who have since been promoted ... (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown).
• Mundy, Godrey Basil (1830) The life and correspondence of the late Admiral Lord Rodney. (J. Murray).
• Schomberg, Isaac (1802) Naval chronology: or, An historical summary of naval & maritime events, from the time of the Romans, to the Treaty of Peace, 1802. (Printed for T. Egerton by C. Roworth).
• Syrett, David (1998) The Royal Navy in European Waters During the American Revolutionary War. (Univ. of South Carolina Press). ISBN 978-1-57003-238-7
• Winfield, Rif (2007) British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. (Seaforth). ISBN 978-1-84415-700-6.

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