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The Action of 24 October 1793 was a minor naval engagement during the first year of the French Revolutionary Wars. While cruising in the Northern Bay of Biscay, the British Royal Navy frigate HMS ''Thames'', under Captain James Cotes, encountered the much larger French frigate ''Uranie'', under Captain Jean-François Tartu. The ships engaged, with each suffering severe damage until they separated after nearly four hours of continual combat. Cotes ordered his crew to make hasty repairs, intending to resume the battle, but ''Uranie'' The French brought ''Thames'' into Brest, where sailors from Allemand's squadron looted the frigate. The British officers were imprisoned for the next two years. The frigate was commissioned into the French Navy as ''Tamise'', and ''Uranie'' was renamed ''Tartu'' in honour of her deceased captain. Both vessels then served with the French Atlantic Fleet, ''Tamise'' until 8 June 1796, when the British recaptured her off the Scilly Isles, and ''Tartu'' until 30 December 1796 when the British captured her during the ''Expédition d'Irlande''. ==Background== In February 1793, amid rising political tension, the French Republic declared war on Great Britain, drawing Britain into the French Revolutionary Wars. At sea, the Bay of Biscay, the Western Approaches and the English Channel all became areas of significant naval activity as French privateers sailed on raiding cruises against British merchant shipping. To augment these attacks, the French naval authorities dispatched squadrons of frigates to attack British trade routes. To counter these operations, the Royal Navy sent their own frigates to sea, sometimes in squadrons and sometimes on single patrols.〔Woodman, p. 20〕 A French frigate squadron sent to on a cruise in the Northern Bay of Biscay in the early autumn of 1793 was commanded by Captain Zacharie Allemand and consisted of the frigates ''Carmagnole'', ''Résolue'', ''Sémillante'' and ''Uranie'' with the brig-corvette ''Espiègle''.〔James, p. 109〕 On 22 October, the squadron sighted the 16-gun Spanish brig ''Alcoudia'' and Allemand ordered ''Uranie'' under Captain Jean-François Tartu to separate from the squadron and pursue the Spaniard. ''Uranie'' was easily able to capture ''Alcoudia'', taking the prisoners on board the frigate and establishing a prize crew on the brig. Two days later, ''Uranie'' was sailing southwards in company with the prize with the wind at the southwest, when a sail appeared to the north at 09:30.〔 The new arrival was a British ship sent from the Channel Fleet on a lone patrol: the frigate HMS ''Thames'' under Captain James Cotes. ''Thames'' was an old frigate, built in 1758 and carrying 32 12-pounder guns. The ship was below its standard complement of 215 men, sailing with only 184, which meant that the 6-pounder guns that augmented the main battery could not be manned.〔James, p. 107〕 By comparison, ''Uranie'' was five years old and carried 40 18-pounder guns and weighing almost double the weight of the British ship.〔 Her full complement was of 260 men,〔 but she lacked 60 of her sailors, dispatched in prize crews over three captured ships, and was burdened with over 260 prisoners.〔Report of Lieutenant Wuibert, quoted in Granier, p.82〕 At first unsure of the identity of the ship to the north, Tartu hoisted a blue flag as an identification signal and sent the ''Alcoudia'' away in case the ship should be revealed to be hostile. Cotes did not respond to the signal, and the two ships were soon hidden from one another by a rain squall.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Action of 24 October 1793」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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