HMS Madagascar (1811)


Néréide as the Action of 20 May 1811 (rightmost ship)
Career (France)
Name: Néréide
Namesake: Nereid
Ordered: 28 December 1805
Builder: Saint Malo
Laid down: March 1805
Launched: 1808
Captured: 26 May 1811
Career (UK)
Name: HMS Madaagascar
Acquired: 26 May 1811
Struck: 1819
General characteristics
Displacement: 600 tonnes
Draught: 1114 tons
Propulsion: Sail
Armament: 38 guns
Armour: Timber

The Néréide was a 38-gun frigate of the French Navy designed by Sané.

In 1810, she sailed to Guadeloupe but was repelled by the blockade off Basse-Terre, and returned to Brest after a fight with HMS Rainbow and HMS Avon.

She was captured during the action of 20 May 1811, and brought into British service as HMS Madagascar.

She took part in the Peninsular War against France and the War of 1812 with the United States of America. In June 1814, the ship in a flotilla under the command of Admiral Lord Cochrane carried General William Miller and his troops from Bordeaux to the Chesapeake Bay to reinforce General Ross in the War of 1812.1

Notes and references