French frigate Franchise (1797)

Franchise
History
France
Name	Franchise ("truthfulness")
Builder	Bayonne
Laid down	August 1794
Launched	17 October 1797
In service	May 1798
Captured	28 May 1803
United Kingdom
Name	Franchise
Acquired	28 May 1803 by capture
Fate	Broken up November 1815
General characteristics
Class and type	Coquille-class frigate
Tons burthen	89816⁄94 (bm)
Length	143 ft 8 in (43.8 m) (gundeck); 119 ft 8+1⁄4 in (36.5 m) (keel)
Beam	37 ft 6+3⁄4 in (11.4 m)
Draught	5.3 m (17 ft)
Depth of hold	11 ft 8 in (3.6 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	British service:264 (later 215)
Armament	French service: Upper deck: 28 × 12-pounder long guns QD & Fc:16 × 8-pounder long guns British service: Upperdeck:26 × 12-pounder guns QD:2 × 12- pounder guns + 10 × 24-pounder carronades Fc:2 × 12-pounder guns + 4 × 18-pounder carronades

Franchise was launched in 1798 as a 40-gun Coquille-class frigate of the French Navy. The British captured her in 1803 and took her into the Royal Navy under her existing name. In the war on commerce during the Napoleonic Wars she was more protector than prize-taker, capturing many small privateers but few commercial prizes. She was also at the battle of Copenhagen. She was broken up in 1815.