French privateer Bellone (1745)

Bellone, was a French privateer. Bellone was involved in a naval battle in Loch nan Uamh during the Jacobite rising. She was captured in 1747. She was taken into Royal Navy service as HMS Bellona and was sold in 1749.

HMS Bellona (left) captures the Duc de Chartres, 18 April 1747, by Dominic Serres
History
France
Name:	Bellone
Namesake:	Bellona (goddess)
Builder:	Nantes
Laid down:	1744
Launched:	January 1745
Fate:	Captured in 1747
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Bellona
Acquired:	1747
Commissioned:	1747
Fate:	Sold in 1749
General characteristics
Propulsion:	Sail
Sail plan:	ship-rigged

French service

Following the Jacobite defeat at the Battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746, Bellone and Mars anchored at Loch nan Uamh on 30 April 1746.[1]

Upon the approach of the Royal Navy vessels HMS Greyhound, HMS Baltimore, and HMS Terror, Captain Lorry of Bellone set sail; Captain Rouillee of Mars decided to stay at anchor.[1] After Greyhound attacked Mars, Bellone engaged Greyhound and Bellone suffered a broken mast after a broadside.[1] Greyhound attempted to board Bellone, however after firing two broadsides into Greyhound, Bellone then disabled Terror with a volley.[1] Bellone led Mars out to a bay at the head of Loch nan Uamh, where Mars started her repairs, and Bellone engaged the British ships.[1] Baltimore, Greyhound, and Terror tried to board the French ships, but were again repelled, Baltimore's captain sustaining a head wound. Bellone had her rigging shattered and lost an anchor and two of her masts.[1] The damaged Baltimore then headed for The Minch to get help while Bellone again engaged Greyhound, causing damage to her main mast and set fire to her hand grenades.[1]

Three Royal Navy ships - HMS Nottingham, Eagle, and Warspite – captured Bellone on 2 February 1747.[2]

English service

Bellona was commissioned in May 1747, under the command of Captain Samuel Barrington, who took the Duke de Chartres an outbound Indiaman that same year on 17 August 1747.[3][4]

She was sold in 1749 at Deptford for £611.

References

1. McKerracher, Mairead. (2012). Jacobite Dictionary. (no page numbers). Neil Wilson Publishing.
2. Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714-1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. p. 224. ISBN 9781783469253.
3. "VII. The Venus: Letters." The Barrington Papers, Vol. 77. Ed. D Bonner-Smith. London: Navy Record Society, 1937. 391-411. British History Online Retrieved 21 June 2019.
4. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6ojSAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA4&lpg The Chronological Historian, Or, A Record of Public Events ..., Volume 2, By William Toone, Vol. 2. published 1826

Further reading

• Duffy, Christopher (2017). The '45: Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Untold Story of the Jacobite Rising. Phoenix. ISBN 9780753822623.
• Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84415-700-6.