Inconstant was built to plans by
Jacques-Noël Sané, with Jean-Baptiste Marestier supervising construction. The contract for her construction was signed with St André in April 1809, but was cancelled on 28 January 1810 when she was only ths complete. The Navy then completed
Inconstants construction.
Early service Between 11 November and 29 December 1811
Inconstant was at
Livorno, under the command of
lieutenant de vaisseau Cornette de Venancourt. then between 27 August and 11 September 1812 she was at
Porto Ercole and
Portoferraio. She was at Portoferraio on 26 September 1813. On 18 January 1814 she was again at Livorno.
Napoleon and the Elban Navy Following the
Treaty of Fontainebleau, the victorious allies exiled Emperor
Napoleon I to Elba after his forced abdication in 1814. He arrived at Portoferraio on 30 May 1814. He was allowed to keep a personal guard of six hundred men and a small navy.
Inconstant left Toulon on 24 April 1814 to carry Napoleon from St Tropez to Elba, but at Napoleon's insistence, that task fell to the frigate . Still,
Inconstant sailed to Elba on 25 May 1814 and three days later she was enrolled in his navy. Her role was to maintain his communications with
Livorno. For most of her time with Napoleon,
Inconstant was under the command of Lieutenant François-Louis Taillade. She transported Napoleon and 40 troops for the re-occupation and fortification of the islands of
Pianosa and
Palmaiola. In addition to transporting passengers and mail between Elba and Italy, with her crew augmented by 50 soldiers, she cruised against Barbary pirates. On 6 January 1815 a gale drove
Inconstant on shore. She was gotten off, with much difficulty five days later, only to have another storm again drive her ashore, this time causing even more damage. Napoleon temporarily relieved Taillade of command, replacing him with a man named Jean François Chautard. Taillade returned to (shared) command in time for Napoleon's departure from Elba. On 26 February 1815, Napoleon used
Inconstant to escape from exile in Elba. Between 26 February and 1 March 1815 she ferried Napoleon and his generals between Elba and Golfe Juan. After Napoleon's defeat in the
Hundred Days, the French navy reintegrated
Inconstant in March 1815.
Dryade escorted her to Toulon on 24 May.
Return to French naval service The French navy rebuilt
Inconstant at Toulon between September 1822 and her relaunching on 14 March 1823. She then took part in the
Spanish expedition in 1823, which restored the monarchy in Spain and put an end to the
Trienio Liberal.
Inconstant notably recaptured the merchantman
Nativité, from Marseilles, on 26 June. Between 7 April 1823 and 26 November,
Inconstant was at Toulon, and then sailed on a mission to Brazil. She was under the command of
lieutenant de vaisseau Abel Aubert du Petit-Thouars.
Inconstant was on the Brazil station from 10 December 1823 to 6 March 1826. In August 1824
Inconstant sailed from Rio de Janeiro to
Sâo Salvador and then to
Pernambuco, where she took up station. By this time Dupetit Thouars had received promotion to
capitaine de frégate. By 2 June 1825
Inconstant was back at Rio de Janeiro. She returned from Brazil and then was at the
École navale (Naval School) from 1827 to 1829. From 1 February 1829 to 9 January 1832
Inconstant was on a cruise that took her from Brest to Newfoundland and Brazil. She then underwent a refit in 1834.
Inconstant left
Saint Louis, Senegal on 6 February 1835 for France, ferrying officers of
Africain. On 8 December 1835
Inconstant departed Brest, bound for Cayenne. She grounded in the
Amazon River on 10 January 1836 but managed to refloat herself.
Inconstant was stationed at
French Guiana from 1838 to 1840. ==Fate==