French frigate Minerve (1809)

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Minerve.
Minerve (centre) at the Battle of Grand Port.
History
Portugal
NameNossa Senhora da Vitória, a Minerva;[2] Minerva[1]
NamesakeMinerva
BuilderLisbon[1]
Laid down1787[1]
Launched19 July 1788[1]
Captured23 November 1809
France
NameMinerve
Acquired22 November 1809
Captured3 December 1810 by the Royal Navy
FateBroken up
General characteristics
Tons burthen1400 tons [1]
Length156 feet 9 inches (47.78 m).[3][4][1]
Beam58 feet (18 m),[3] or 38 feet (12 m).[4][1]
Complement349 men [1]
Armament48 guns, 18-pounder main battery [1]

The French frigate Minerve was originally launched in 1788 for the Portuguese Navy, where she served under the dual names of Nossa Senhora da Vitória and Minerva. The French Navy captured and renamed her in November 1809, after which she played a notable role in the Indian Ocean campaign of 1809-1811, participating in the defeat of a Royal Navy frigate squadron at the Battle of Grand Port, but at the surrender of Mauritius in December 1810, the ship was handed over to the British, and seems to have been broken up soon afterwards.

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Demerliac, p.100, no 739.
  2. ^ Esparteiro (1976), p.38.
  3. ^ a b História da Marinha Portuguesa. Navios, Marinheiros e arte de Navegar 1669-1823, ed. José Manuel Malháo Pereira (Academia de Marinha, Lisbon 2012), p. 76
  4. ^ a b French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786-1861, ed. R. Winfield and S.S. Roberts (Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley 2015), p. 156