HMS Eclair (1801)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Eclair and HMS Pickle.

History
France
NameÉclair
BuilderLouis, Antoine, & Mathurin Crucy, Nantes, to a design by Pierre Ozanne
Laid downMay 1799
Launched23 September 1799
FateCaptured, 17 January 1801
United Kingdom
NameHMS Eclair (1801-1809)
Acquiredby capture, 17 January 1801
Commissioned1801
Decommissioned1816
RenamedHMS Pickle (1809-1818)
FateSold, 11 June 1818
General characteristics [1][2]
TypeTélégraphe-class
Displacement107 tons (French), or 70[3]
Tons burthen145 (bm)
Length
  • 25 m (82 ft) (overall),
  • 24 m (79 ft) (keel)
Sail planSchooner
Complement55 (in French service)
Armament
  • Originally:18 x swivel guns
  • August 1800: 2 × long 4-pounder guns & 14 × 1-pounder brass swivels[4]
  • At capture: 4 × long 4-pounder guns & 20 × 1½-pounder brass swivels
  • British service:12 × 12-pounder carronades

HMS Eclair was a French Navy schooner launched in 1799 and captured in 1801. The British took her into service under her French name and armed her with twelve 12-pounder carronades. In 1804 she engaged in a noteworthy, albeit indecisive single ship action with the 22-gun French privateer Grande Decide. In 1809 she was renamed Pickle. In December 1812 she and three other small British vessels engaged the French 40-gun frigate Gloire in another noteworthy and indecisive action. She was sold in 1818.

  1. ^ Winfield (2008), p. 356.
  2. ^ Winfield & Roberts (2015), p. 243.
  3. ^ Roche (2005), p. 165.
  4. ^ Demerliac (1999), p. 108, n° 689.