French brick-aviso Goéland (1787)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Goelan.

French brick-aviso Goéland (1787)
Career (France)
Name:	Goéland
Namesake:	Goéland, the Breton word for seagull
Builder:	Bayonne
Launched:	4 May 1787
Fate:	Captured 1793
Career (United Kingdom)
Name:	HMS Goelan
Acquired:	1793 by capture
Fate:	Sold 1794
General characteristics
Class & type:	Goéland-class brick-aviso
Tons burthen:	248 (bm)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	brig
Armament:	French service: 14 guns British service: 14 x  9-pounder guns

Goéland was the name ship of an eight-vessel class of "brick-avisos" (advice brigs). She was built to a design by Raymond-Antoine Haran and launched in 1787. She served the French Navy for several years carrying dispatches until in 1793 HMS Penelope and HMS Proserpine captured her off Jérémie. The Royal Navy took her into service briefly; she was sold in 1794.

French service

Lieutenant de vaisseau Le Tourneur carried dispatches from Brest to Newfoundland and St Pierre (probably Saint Pierre and Miquelon) on a voyage that lasted from 12 June 1790 until 3 November. The renowned French naval officer, Jean-Marthe-Adrien l'Hermite served on her as a junior officer on one of these voyages when she escorted the fishing fleet from Granville to Newfoundland.

On 12 September 1791 Goéland was at Brest, under the command of sous-lieutenant de vaisseau Le Dall de Kerangalet.

In April 1793 Goéland was sailing from Cap-Français to Jérémie while under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Leissègues de Pennenyum. Early on the 16th Leissègues was seeking to enter the bay while searching for a convoy he was to escort when he observed an enemy frigate at the entrance. The British frigate immediately set out to drive Goéland on shore. At 7a.m. she received her first shots and by 9.a.m. the British frigate was no more than pistol-shot away. Goéland fired back, but resistance was futile. Leissègues was forced to strike to the frigate Penelope. Proserpine shared with Penelope in the prize money, suggesting that she was in company with Penelope, or in sight.

British service

The British took Goéland into service as Goelan. Commander Thomas Wolley was appointed Goelan's captain at Jamaica.

In September 1793, at the request of French Royalists, Commodore John Ford took a squadron and attacked Saint-Domingue and Jérémie in the Caribbean. On 23 September 1793 the British captured four merchant vessels at L'Islet, and on the 29th seven at Flamande Bay. At Môle-Saint-Nicolas, on 23 September, Europa, Goelan, and Flying Fish captured the Convention Nationale, among other vessels.

In December command passed to Lieutenant George Hopewell Stephens (temp), who sailed Goelan to Portsmouth, arriving on 27 August 1794.

Fate

Goelan was offered for sale at Sheerness in 1794. She was sold at Portsmouth on 16 October 1794 for £590. Her buyers renamed her The Brothers and used her in commerce.

Notes, sources and references

References

• Clowes, W. Laird, et al. (1897-1903) The royal navy: a history from the earliest times to the present. (Boston: Little, Brown and Co.; London: S. Low, Marston and Co.).
• Fonds Marine. Campagnes (opérations; divisions et stations navales; missions diverses). Inventaire de la sous-série Marine BB4. Tome premier: BB4 1 à 209 (1790-1804) [1]
• Troude, Onésime-Joachim (1867) (in French). Batailles navales de la France. 2. Challamel ainé. http://books.google.com/?id=rhIR5D5quFYC. 
• Van Hille, Jean-Marc (2011) Dictionnaire des marins francs-maçons, Gens de mer et professions connexes aux XVIIIe, XIXe et XXe siècles: Travaux de la loge maritime de recherche La Pérouse - Kronos N° 56. (Editions L'Harmattan). ISBN 978-2-901952-81-7

• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461.