View source for HMS Modeste (1793)

{{short description|Frigate of the Royal Navy}}
{{Other ships|HMS Modeste}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
| Ship image = Capture of Modeste.jpg
| Ship caption = Engraving by Nicolas Ozanne showing the capture of ''Modeste'' in the harbour of Genoa
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header =
| Ship country = France
| Ship flag = [[File:Flag of French-Navy-Revolution.svg|60px|Ensign of the French Navy during the Revolution]]
| Ship name = ''Modeste''
| Ship ordered =
| Ship builder = [[Toulon]]
| Ship laid down = February 1785
| Ship launched = 18 March 1786
| Ship acquired =
| Ship commissioned =
| Ship decommissioned =
| Ship completed = January 1787
| Ship in service =
| Ship out of service =
| Ship captured = By the Royal Navy on 17 October 1793
| Ship struck =
| Ship reinstated =
| Ship honours =
| Ship notes =
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header = title
| Ship country = [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]]
| Ship flag = [[File:Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg|60px|Royal Navy Ensign]]
| Ship name = HMS ''Modeste''
| Ship acquired = 17 October 1793
| Ship completed =
| Ship commissioned =
| Ship decommissioned =
| Ship in service =
| Ship out of service =
| Ship renamed =
| Ship struck =
| Ship reinstated =
| Ship honours = [[Naval General Service Medal (1847)|Naval General Service Medal]] with clasp "Egypt"<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=21077|pages=791–792|date=15 March 1850}}</ref>
| Ship captured =
| Ship fate = Broken up in June 1814
| Ship notes =
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
| Hide header =
| Header caption =
| Ship class = 36-gun [[Magicienne-class frigate]]
| Ship tons burthen = 940 {{small|{{frac|35|94}}}} ([[Builder's Old Measurement|bm]])
| Ship displacement = 1,100 tons (French)
| Ship length = *{{convert|143|ft|8|in|m|1|abbr=on}} (overall)
*{{convert|118|ft|3|in|m|1|abbr=on}} (keel)
| Ship beam = {{convert|38|ft|8|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
| Ship draught =
| Ship hold depth = {{convert|12|ft|1+1/2|in|m|2|abbr=on}}
| Ship sail plan = [[Full-rigged ship]]
| Ship propulsion = Sails
| Ship complement = 270
| Ship armament = *'''French service'''
*Upper deck: 26 × 12-pounder guns
*Spar deck: 6 × 6-pounder guns
*'''British service'''
*Upper deck: 26 × 18-pounder guns
*[[Quarterdeck|QD]]: 14 × 32-pounder [[carronade]]s
*[[Forecastle|Fc]]: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades
| Ship notes =
}}
|}
'''HMS ''Modeste''''' was a 36-gun [[fifth rate]] [[frigate]] of the [[Royal Navy]]. She had previously been a ship of the [[French Navy]] under the name ''Modeste''. Launched in [[France]] in 1786, she served during the first actions of the [[French Revolutionary Wars]] until being captured while in harbour at [[Genoa]], in circumstances disputed by the French and British, and which created a diplomatic incident. Taken into British service she spent the rest of the French Revolutionary and most of the [[Napoleonic Wars]] under the [[white ensign]]. She served with distinction in the [[East Indies]], capturing several privateers and enemy vessels, including the French [[corvette]] [[French corvette Revenant|''Iéna'']]. She also saw service in a variety of roles, as a [[troopship]], a [[receiving ship]], and a [[floating battery]], until finally being broken up in 1814, as the Napoleonic Wars drew to a close.
==French service and capture==
''Modeste'' was a [[Magicienne-class frigate|''Magicienne''-class]] [[frigate]] built at [[Toulon]] between February 1785 and January 1787, having been launched there on 18 March 1786.{{sfnp|Winfield|2008||p=191}} In September 1793 she entered the neutral port of Genoa, where according to British reports, her captain was seized by the French [[French First Republic|Republican]] agent in the port, who suspected the frigate as having come from the Royalist-held Toulon on some secret mission.<ref name="Debrett353">{{cite book |last=Debrett|title=A Collection of State Papers|page=353}}</ref> The British had been dissatisfied with the actions of the neutral Genoa, in allowing the ''Modeste'' and two French [[tartane]]s to 'insult' and 'molest' the frigate [[French frigate Aigle (1782)|''Aigle'']] while she was also in Genoa.<ref name="Rose47">{{cite book |last=Rose|title=Lord Hood and the Defence of Toulon|page=47}}</ref> Furthermore the French were alleged to have seized a ship travelling under an assurance of safe passage from [[Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood|Lord Hood]]. The British envoy in Genoa, [[Francis Drake (diplomat)|Francis Drake]], was instructed to seek reparations from the Genoese, and to put a stop to the shipment of grain to the French Republicans.<ref name="Rose47"/>
{{main|Raid on Genoa}}
Drake was unsuccessful, so Hood sent Rear-Admiral [[John Gell (Royal Navy officer)|John Gell]] to Genoa with orders to capture ''Modeste'', the two tartanes and any other French ships. Drake was to secure assurances from the Genoese that they would comply with Hood's wishes, or failing that, Gell was to blockade the port.<ref name="Rose47"/> Gell was also to travel to [[Livorno|Leghorn]] and capture the French frigate [[HMS Imperieuse (1793)|''Impérieuse'']], and instruct the British envoy to the [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany]], [[John Hervey, Lord Hervey|Lord Hervey]], to demand the expulsion of the French Jacobins.<ref name="Rose47"/> To back up these demands Gell had a squadron consisting of {{HMS|St George|1785|6}}, the 74-gun ships {{HMS|Bedford|1775|6}}, {{HMS|Captain|1787|6}} and the French ''Scipion'', and the smaller vessels {{HMS|Mermaid|1782|6}}, {{HMS|Tartar|1756|6}}, [[French brig Alerte (1787)|HMS ''ALerte'']], {{HMS|Speedy|1782|6}}, {{HMS|Eclair|1793|6}}, {{HMS|Conflagration|1783|6}}, and {{HMS|Vulcan|1783|6}}.<ref name="Rose47"/>
The squadron entered Genoa on 17 October and ''Bedford'' ranged alongside ''Modeste''. Accounts then differ as to what happened next. A later French account stated that the British ship had moored alongside, and her master had civilly requested the French ship remove a boat that was hampering the British manoeuvres. The French readily agreed, but half an hour later the British captain asked the French to hoist the white flag, saying that he did not know what the [[drapeau tricolore|tricolour]] was. Offended, the French refused, whereupon the British suddenly attacked the unprepared French, and captured the frigate.<ref name="Jomini">{{cite book |last=Jomini|title=Life of Napoleon|pages=84–5}}</ref> One British account states that ''Bedford'' came alongside and after warning the French not to resist, captured her after a short struggle, while another stated that while the fort was saluting the arrival of Rear-Admiral Gell, the French on ''Modeste'' came up on deck and behaved with such insolent gestures and language that the British attacked them.<ref name="Rose48">{{cite book |last=Rose|title=Lord Hood and the Defence of Toulon|page=48}}</ref> The British reported that two Frenchmen had been killed during the fighting on the tartanes, while French sources alternately reported five dead, thirty wounded, or between 30 and 40 killed.<ref name="Rose48"/> The attack outraged the Genoese, who were being threatened both by Drake and by representatives of the French republic, and created a diplomatic incident.<ref name="Rose48"/> The Genoes finally bowed to French pressure and ordered the expulsion of all foreigners, with the exception of the French. The Genoese broke all diplomatic ties; in response Gell's squadron began to blockade Genoa, capturing neutral merchants bound for the city.<ref name="Rose48"/>
==British career==
''Modeste'' was taken into service with the Royal Navy, retaining her original name, and was commissioned in November 1793 under Captain [[Thomas Byam Martin]].{{sfnp|Winfield|2008||p=191}} After some service in the Mediterranean Martin sailed her back to Britain, arriving in [[Portsmouth]] on 4 December 1794.{{sfnp|Winfield|2008||p=191}} ''Modeste'' was then laid up, until being converted to a [[receiving ship]] in 1798, and was then fitted out between August and October 1799 to sail to the [[Thames]].{{sfnp|Winfield|2008||p=191}} On arriving at [[Deptford]] in November she was fitted out as a [[troopship]], a process that lasted until June 1800. She was commissioned in June that year under Commander Martin Hinton as a 24-gun troopship.
She spent some time in the Mediterranean under Hinton in 1801. Because ''Modeste'' served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 8 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] authorised in 1850 for all surviving claimants.{{efn|A first-class share of the prize money awarded in April 1823 was worth [[£sd|£]]34 2[[shilling|s]] 4[[pence|d]]; a fifth-class share, that of a seaman, was worth 3s 11½d. The amount was small as the total had to be shared between 79 vessels and the entire army contingent.<ref>{{London Gazette|page=633 |issue=17915|date=3 April 1823}}</ref>}}
Soon she was back in Britain, being fitted out at [[Woolwich]] between September and October 1803 for service with [[Trinity House]].{{sfnp|Winfield|2008|p=191}} The Navy next used her as a [[floating battery]] in 1804.<ref name="Colledge">{{cite book |last=Colledge |title=Ships of the Royal Navy |page=230}}</ref>
''Modeste'' then underwent a middling repair at Woolwich between April and November 1806 and was recommissioned in October that year under Captain the Honourable [[George Elliot (1784–1863)|George Elliot]].{{sfnp|Winfield|2008|p=191}} Elliot departed Britain on 15 February 1807, bound for [[China]] and the [[East Indies]].{{sfnp|Winfield|2008|p=191}}
On 30 July ''Modeste'' arrived at [[Diamond Harbour]], carrying [[Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto|Lord Minto]] who was coming to [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] to assume the position of [[Governor-General of India]].<ref>''The Asiatic Annual Register, Or, A View of the History of Hindustan, and of the Politics, Commerce and Literature of Asia,'' (1811), Volume 10, p. 8.</ref>
''Modeste'' was in the [[Pearl River (China)|Pearl River]], China, in late 1807. {{ship||Albion|1805 ship|2}} was carrying dollars to British merchants at Canton from Canton to Chuenpi when she caught fire and sank. The dollars were salvaged. The reason ''Albion'' was carrying them was that the British merchants in Canton wanted to ship them back to [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] on a warship, but the Chinese authorities would not permit naval vessels to come up the Pearl River past the [[Humen|Bogue]]. The merchants therefore engaged ''Albion'' to use her boats to get the silver from Canton to [[Whampoa Anchorage]], and then herself carry the silver to Chuenpi, near the mouth of the river, just below the Bogue. At the time, commanders of naval vessels were permitted to carry bullion for merchants in return for a fee on the vale of the freight that, unlike prize or head money, the commander did not have to share with his officers and crew. Captain Elliot demanded a 2% freight fee to carry the silver to Calcutta, a demand the committee of merchants thought exorbitant and that they refused to pay. Eventually the dispute reached the Governor-in Council in Calcutta, who imposed a cap of 1% on the fee.{{sfnp|Ride|Ride|Mellor|1995|p=36|loc=fn2}}
On 28 January 1808 ''Modeste'' was back at Calcutta. News had been received of the [[Gunboat War|outbreak of war]] between Great Britain and Denmark. Elliot sent his boats, together with those of {{HMS|Terpsichore|1785|2}} and {{HMS|Dasher|1797|2}}, up the [[Hooghly River]] to [[Serampore]] to seize the Danish merchant vessels there.<ref>Seton-Karr & Sandeman (1868), Vol. 4, p. 196.</ref> One of the captured vessels was ''Maria'', which in November 1808 a prize court awarded to ''Modeste''.<ref>''The Asiatic Annual Register, Or, A View of the History of Hindustan, and of the Politics, Commerce and Literature of Asia,'' (1811), Volume 10, pp.101.</ref>
On 8 October 1808 ''Modeste'' chased down and captured the 18-gun French [[corvette]] [[French corvette Revenant|''Iéna'']] while in the [[Bay of Bengal]]. ''Iéna'', under the command of Captain Maurice, was bound for the [[Persian Gulf]] with despatches, and had captured several ships. She had captured ''Jennet'', of Madras, which she had sunk, and ''Swallow'', of Penang.<ref name=LG16251/> When ''Modeste'' captured ''Iena'' she was carrying 25,000 dollars she had taken from ''Swallow'', and had also captured an Arab vessel named ''Frederick'', which Elliot retook.<ref name=AAR88>{{cite book |last=Campbell |title=The Asiatic Annual Register |page=88}}</ref>{{efn|The builders Aberdeen & Hamilton had built ''Frederick'', of 450 tons (bm), in 1803 at [[Titagarh|Tittaghur]] in 1803. She had then been sold to Arabs.{{sfnp|Phipps|1840|p=100.}}}} ''Iéna'' had mistaken ''Modeste'' for another merchant vessel and had tried to close on her. On discovering her mistake she had tried to escape, but had been caught after a nine-hour chase and an exchange of fire that left four or five Frenchmen dead or wounded, and one man killed and one wounded on ''Modeste''.<ref name=AAR88/> ''Swallow'' had been in company with ''Iena'', but escaped.<ref name=LG16251>{{London Gazette|date=25 April 1809 |issue=16251 |page=585}}</ref>
[[File:Admiralty Sheer Draught Ship Plans RMG F3427.png|thumb|Plan for ''Modeste'']]
''Modeste'' sailed on to [[Macao]], arriving in November. Her arrival helped induce the Chinese government at [[Guangzhou|Canton]] to bring to an end an affair that had begun with a fracas between local Chinese and seamen from the [[East Indiaman]] {{ship||Neptune|1796 EIC ship|2}} in March. ''Modeste'' also detained a brig under Portuguese colours as the brig sailed out of the Typa, Macao's outer harbour. Elliot had information that the brig was actually Spanish. It was not yet settled whether the seizure of the brig would be adjudicated in China or at Bombay.<ref name=AAR33>''The Asiatic Annual Register, Or, A View of the History of Hindustan, and of the Politics, Commerce and Literature of Asia,'' (1811), Volume 10, pp. 33–4.</ref>
On 15 July 1809 boats from ''Modeste'' and {{HMS|Barracouta|1807|6}} cut out the 8-gun ''Tuijneelar'' in the [[Sunda Straits]].{{sfnp|Winfield|2008|p=191}} Elliot then took part in the [[Invasion of Java (1811)|operations to capture Java]] between August and September 1811.{{sfnp|Winfield|2008|p=191}}<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB |chapter=Elliot, Sir George (1784–1863)|chapter-url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8657?docPos=1|title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography | year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/8657| last1=Laughton | first1=J. K. | editor-first1=Andrew | editor-last1=Lambert }}</ref> Elliot left ''Modeste'' in 1812, and was succeeded by Captain [[James Coutts Crawford|James Crawford]], who on 6 February 1813 captured the 14-gun [[privateer]] ''Furet'' off [[Sicily]].{{sfnp|Winfield|2008|p=191}}
==Fate==
''Modeste'' was finally [[reserve fleet|placed in ordinary]] at Woolwich in 1813. After a year in ordinary, she was broken up at Deptford in June 1814.{{sfnp|Winfield|2008|p=191}}<ref name="Colledge"/>
==Notes==
{{Notelist}}
==Citations==
{{Reflist|30em}}
==References==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book |first=Lawrence Dundas|last=Campbell|author2=Samuel, E.|title=The Asiatic annual register, or, A View of the history of Hindustan, and of the politics, commerce and literature of Asia|publisher=J. Debrett|year=1811|volume=10}}
*{{Cite Colledge2006}}
*{{cite book |first=John|last=Debrett|title=A collection of state papers: relative to the war against France now carrying on by Great-Britain and the several other European powers|publisher=J. Debrett|year=1794|volume=1}}
*{{cite book |first=Antoine Henri|last=Jomini|title=Life of Napoleon|publisher=D. Van Nostrand|year=1864|volume=1}}
*{{cite ODNB |first=J. K. |last=Laughton|editor-first1=Andrew |editor-last1=Lambert |author-link=J. K. Laughton|chapter=Elliot, Sir George (1784–1863), rev. Andrew Lambert|chapter-url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/8657?docPos=1|title=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/8657}}
* {{cite book|last1=Phipps|first1=John |year=1840|title=A Collection of Papers Relative to Ship Building in India ...: Also a Register Comprehending All the Ships ... Built in India to the Present Time ...|publisher=Scott}}
* {{cite book|last1=Ride|first1=Lindsay|last2=Ride|first2=May|last3=Mellor|first3=Bernard |year=1995|title=An East India Company Cemetery: Protestant Burials in Macao |publisher=Hong Kong University Press |isbn=9622093841}}
*{{cite book |first=John Holland|last=Rose|title=Lord Hood and the Defence of Toulon|url=https://archive.org/details/lordhooddefenceo00roseuoft|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1922}}
*Seton-Karr, Walter Scott & H.D. Sandeman, eds., (1868) ''Selections from Calcutta gazettes of the years 1784 (-1823) showing the political and social conditions of the English in India'', Volume 4.
* {{cite book |first1=Rif |last1=Winfield |title=British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates |publisher=Seaforth Publishing|year=2008 |isbn=978-1-86176-246-7}}
{{refend}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Modeste (1786)}}
[[Category:Frigates of the French Navy]]
[[Category:Age of Sail frigates of France]]
[[Category:1786 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in France]]
[[Category:Magicienne-class frigates]]
[[Category:Fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy]]
[[Category:Captured ships]]
[[Category:Floating batteries of the Royal Navy]]