HMS Surprise (1796)
Ted_Rufus_Ross.JPG) Replica of the HMS Surprise in the Maritime Museum of San Diego |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Type |
Corvette ( Unité ) frigate (HMS Surprise ) |
| Keel laying | August 1793 |
| Launch | January 16, 1794 |
| 1. Period of service |
|
| Commissioning | April 1794 |
| home port | Le Havre |
| Whereabouts | By HMS on April 20, 1796 Inconstant boarded |
| 2. Period of service |
|
| Commissioning | 1796 |
| Whereabouts | Decommissioned in February 1802 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
578 ts |
| length |
39 m |
| width |
9.65 m |
| Draft |
4.27 m |
| crew |
240 men |
| Armament |
As Unité |
| Rigging |
3-masted frigate ship |
The ship was originally commissioned by the French Navy as the Corvette Unité in 1794 and was the lead ship of her class. The Unité was captured by the Royal Navy in 1796 , renamed HMS Surprise and reclassified as a frigate . It became known as the ship that hijacked the HMS Hermione and its mutinous crew from a Spanish port in 1799 , and served as the model for the frigate of the same name in the novels of Patrick O'Brian .
history
As a French unité
The Unité was built by Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait in Le Havre , launched on January 16, 1794 and was armed with 24 8-pounders and 8 long 4-pounders. She took part in the naval battle on the 13th Prairial and escorted the de-masted Révolutionnaire into the port. On April 20, 1796, the Unité was placed and raised in front of Annaba by the British HMS Inconstant .
As a British HMS Surprise
The Unité was renamed HMS Surprise and put into service as a 28-gun frigate. In 1797 the ship was stationed in Jamaica and returned to the shipyard in Plymouth in January 1798 . There the armament was exchanged into 24 32-pounder carronades , 10 18-pounder carronades and 2 long 4-pounder cannons; the hull was shod with copper. HMS Surprise achieved fame for retaking HMS Hermione . The Hermione's crew mutinied and withdrew with the ship to the Spanish port of Puerto Cabello . The captain of the Surprise led a pirate crew on boats into the harbor and kidnapped the Hermione and the remaining crew under the fire of the Spanish fort in a rather bloody attack .
The HMS Surprise was decommissioned in February 1802.
HMS Surprise in literature and film
Patrick O'Brian used the HMS Surprise as a frigate for Jack Aubrey in several of his books . In the film adaptation of Master & Commander - Until the End of the World from 2003, an "HMS Surprise " is also shown; a replica of the same name , which can now be seen in the San Diego Maritime Museum .