Pandour (1780)

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Career (France)
Name: Pandour
Builder: Jacques and Daniel Denys, Dunkirk
Launched: 16 June 1780
Captured: 1 June 1795
Career (UK)
Name: HMS Pandora
Acquired: December 1795 by capture
Commissioned: September 1796
Fate: Foundered June 1797
General characteristics [1]
Class & type: Mutin-class
Type: Cutter, converted to brig
Tons burthen: 231 27⁄94 (bm)
Length: 78 ft 0 in (23.8 m) (overall);
60 ft 0 1⁄4 in (18.3 m) (keel)
Beam: 26 ft 11 in (8.2 m)
Depth of hold: 10 ft 6 in (3.2 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Brig
Complement: 75
Armament: 14 x 6-pounder guns (British service)
For other ships of the same name, see HMS Pandour and HMS Pandora.

Pandour was a French a 14-gun gun-brig launched in 1780 as a cutter, which the Royal Navy captured in December 1795. She was taken into the Navy as Pandora (or Pandour), but foundered in June 1797.[Note 1]

French service and capture

Pandour was built as a cutter by Jacques and Daniel Denys at Dunkirk in 1780 and launched on 16 June. In 1782 she was re-rigged as a brig at Brest.[2] In 1792 she was under the command of Lieutenant Bertrand de Keranguen.[Note 2] His successor in 1793 as commander was enseigne de veaisseau non-entretenu Hardouin, later lieutenant de vaisseaux. Pandour was based out of Dunkirk and cruised in the North Sea, going as far as Bergen.[3]

Caroline captured Pandour on 1 December 1795. Caroline was part of Admiral Lord Duncan's squadron in the North Sea and when two strange vessels were spotted, Duncan signaled to Caroline to pursue. After about four and half hours and some pro forma exchange of fire, Caroline captured one vessel, the French Navy brig Pandour of fourteen 6-pounder guns and 108 men. She was three days out of Dunkirk. The other French vessel escaped while Caroline was securing her prisoners. The second vessel was the Septnie, of twelve 4-pounder guns.[4] When prize money was awarded, Caroline shared it with the other ships of the squadron.[5]

British service and loss

The Royal Navy had Pandora fitted and coppered at Deptford between January 1796 and 6 May. Lieutenant Samuel Mason commissioned Pandora in September.[1] She disappeared in the North Sea in June 1797, and was presumed to have foundered with the loss of all hands.[6]

Footnotes

Notes
  1. ↑ The Royal Navy captured three of her sister ships - Tapageur, Mutin, and Pilot - and took them into service as well.[1]
  2. ↑ Because of the chaos that followed the outbreak of the French Revolution, two years later he was captain of the 74-gun third rate Éole at the Glorious First of June, during which battle he was killed.
Citations
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Winfield (2008), p.284.
  2. ↑ Demerliac (1996), p. 87, #577.
  3. ↑ Fonds Marine, pp. 38-9, 70, 102, # 114.
  4. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 13843. pp. 1407–1408. 10 December 1795.
  5. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 13884. p. 355. 16 April 1796.
  6. ↑ Hepper (1994), p.84.

References

  • Demerliac, Alain (1996) La Marine De Louis XVI: Nomenclature Des Navires Français De 1774 À 1792. (Nice: Éditions OMEGA). ISBN 2-906381-23-3
  • Fonds Marine. Campagnes (opérations ; divisions et stations navales ; missions diverses). Inventaire de la sous-série Marine BB4. Tome premier : BB4 1 à 482 (1790-1826)
  • Hepper, David J. (1994) British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. (Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot). ISBN 0-948864-30-3
  • Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1-86176-246-1. 
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