HMS Victoire (1797)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Victoire.

HMS Victoire (or HMS Victor) was the French privateer schooner Victoire that the Royal Navy captured in 1797 and took into service as a fireship. The Navy sold her at the end of 1801.

History
France
Name	Victoire
Launched	1793, Ostend, Antwerp, or some other port in the region[1]
Captured	28 December 1797
Great Britain
Name	HMS Victoire
Acquired	December 1797 by capture
Fate	Sold 16 December 1801
General characteristics [2]
Tons burthen	70, or 7260⁄94, or 73 (bm)
Length	Overall:62 ft 10 in (19.2 m) Keel:50 ft 8 in (15.4 m)
Beam	16 ft 5 in (5.0 m)
Depth of hold	7 ft 6 in (2.3 m)
Complement	Privateer:74 Royal Navy:20
Armament	Privateer:14 guns Royal Navy: Originally:14 guns[3][4] Later:2 × 4-pounder guns

French service and capture

Victoire was launched in 1793.

On 28 December 1797 Termagant was four leagues off Spurn Head when she sighted and gave chase to a French privateer. After four hours Termagant succeeded in capturing the schooner Victoire, of 14 guns and 74 men. She had been out ten days during which time she had captured two colliers; she had been in pursuit of a British merchantman when Termagant first sighted her.^[5] The Royal Navy took Victoire into service as HMS Victoire.

Royal Navy

Between March and June 1798 Victoire was at Sheerness, undergoing fitting as a temporary fireship.

In 1801 Lieutenant James Tillard commissioned Victoire for the North Sea.^[2]

Fate

The "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered Victoire, of 73 tons, lying at Woolwich, for sale on 16 December 1801.^[6] She sold there on that day for £240.^[2]

Lieutenant Tillard took command of Monkey.