French Revolutionary Wars On 19 December 1796,
Minerve, under the command of Captain
George Cockburn, was involved in an action with against the Spanish frigates
Santa Sabina and
Ceres.
Minerve captured the
Santa Sabina, which lost 164 men killed and wounded.
Minerve herself lost eight killed, 38 wounded and four missing.
Minerve also suffered extensive damage to her masts and rigging.
Blanche went off in pursuit of
Ceres. Early the next morning a Spanish frigate approached
Minerve, which made ready to engage. However, two Spanish ships of the line and two more frigates approached. Skillful sailing enabled Cockburn to escape with
Minerve but the Spaniards recaptured
Santa Sabina and her prize crew. On the evening of 1 August 1799, at 9 P.M.,
Minerves boats came alongside . Captain
Francis Austen of
Peterel sent these boats and his own to cut out some vessels from the Bay of
Diano, near Genoa. Firing was heard at around midnight and by morning the boats returned, bringing with them a large
settee carrying wine, and the
Virginie, a French warship.
Virginie was a Turkish-built half-
galley that the French had captured at Malta the year before. She had provision for 26 oars and carried six guns. She was under the command of a
lieutenant de vaisseau and had a crew of 36 men, 20 of whom had jumped overboard when the British approached, and 16 of whom the British captured. She had brought General
Joubert from Toulon and was going on the next day to Genoa where Joubert was to replace General
Moreau in command of the
French army in Italy.
Minerve and
Peterel shared the proceeds of the capture of
Virginie with and . Then on 8 November,
Minerve and the
hired armed brig captured
Mouche. On 15 May 1800,
Minerve and the schooner captured the French privateer cutter
Vengeance.
Vengeance was armed with 15 guns and had a crew of 132 men. In September 1801
Minerve was in the Mediterranean protecting Elba. Early on 2 September
Minerve alerted , which was anchored off Piombino, to the presence of two French frigates nearby.
Phoenix and
Minerve set out in pursuit and soon came up and joined them.
Pomone re-captured , a former British 32-gun
fifth-rate frigate now under the command of Monsieur Britel. (The French had captured
Success in February, off Toulon.)
Minerve also ran onshore the 46-gun French frigate , which had a crew of 283 men under the command of Monsieur Dordelin.
Bravoure lost her masts and was totally wrecked; she
struck without a shot being fired.
Minerve took off a number of prisoners, including Dordelin and his officers, in her boats. With enemy fire from the shore and with night coming on, Captain Cockburn of
Minerve decided to halt the evacuation of prisoners; he therefore was unwilling to set
Bravoure on fire because some of her crew remained on board.
Napoleonic Wars Shortly after war with France had resumed
Minerve was in the
Channel and under the command of Captain
Jahleel Brenton. On 26 May 1803, she detained the French Navy corvette and brought her into
Portsmouth. The British soon released
Naturaliste, which arrived at
Le Havre on 6 June. In the evening of 2 July, during a fog,
Minerve ran aground near
Cherbourg. She had been pursuing some merchant vessels when she hit. The guns of Île Pelée and the gunboats (Captain Lécolier) and Captain Pétrée immediately engaged her.
Minerves crew attempted to refloat her, but the fire forced Brenton to surrender at 5:30 in the morning, after she had lost 12 men killed and about 15 men wounded. Brenton attributed his defeat to fire from Fort Liberté at Île Pelée, although the artillery of the fort comprised only three pieces (its other guns had been moved to the fort on the
Îles Saint-Marcouf), fired at extreme range, and had ceased fire during the night; on the other hand, the gunboats fired continuously at half-range. The French took
Minerve back into their service under the name
Canonnière. ==French service as
Canonnière==