HMS Madagascar (1811)

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Néréide and HMS Madagascar.

HMS Madagascar was a 38-gun Piémontaise-class frigate originally of the French Navy. Her French name had been Néréide, and she had been built to a design by François Pestel.

HMS Madagascar

Néréide at the Battle of Tamatave
History
France
Name	Néréide
Namesake	Nereid
Ordered	28 December 1805
Builder	Saint Malo
Laid down	March 1806
Launched	18 April 1809
Captured	26 May 1811
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Madagascar
Acquired	26 May 1811
Fate	Broken up 1819
General characteristics
Displacement	1,400 tons (French)
Tons burthen	1,113 90⁄94 (bm)
Propulsion	Sail
Complement	330–340
Armament	French service UD: 28 × 18-pounder guns Spardeck: 8 × 8-pounder guns + 8 × 36-pounder carronades
Armour	Timber

In 1810 as Néréide, she sailed to Guadeloupe but was repelled by the blockade off Basse-Terre, and returned to Brest after a fight with HMS Rainbow and HMS Avon.

The British captured Néréide during the action of 20 May 1811, and commissioned her into the Royal Navy as HMS Madagascar.

She took part in the Peninsular War against France, and the War of 1812 with the United States.

Madagascar, Vengeur, and Lightning were in company on 6 March 1814 at the recapture of Diamond.^{[Note 1]} Shortly thereafter, Captain Bentinck Cavendish Doyle of Lightning transferred to take command of Madagascar.

In June 1814, Madagascar served in a flotilla under the command of Admiral Lord Cochrane, and carried General William Miller and his troops from Bordeaux to the Chesapeake Bay to reinforce General Ross in the War of 1812.¹

Notes

1. A first-class share for Diamond was worth £59 3s 3+1⁄2d; a sixth-class share was worth 10s 3+3⁄4d.^[1]