French corvette Revenant

Revenant (French: "ghost") was a 20-gun privateer corvette, launched in 1807, and designed by Robert Surcouf for commerce raiding. Her coppered hull allowed her to sail at up to 12 knots. The French Navy later requisitioned her and renamed her Iéna, after Napoleon's recent victory. The British subsequently captured her and she served in the Royal Navy as HMS Victor. The French Navy recaptured her in 1809, and she served for a year under her original name. The British again captured her when they captured Isle de France (now Mauritius) in December 1810. However, they did not restore her to service and she was subsequently broken up.

Indian ocean cruises (1807 - 1808)
On 2 March 1807, Revenant departed from Saint-Malo and sailed for Isle de France, where she arrived on 10 June 1807, along with several prizes she had taken during her journey. She cruised the Bay of Bengal from September 1807 to 31 January 1808 under Surcouf, capturing the rice ships Trafalgar, Mangles, Admiral Alpin, Susannah Hunter, Success, Fortune, New Endeavour, Colonel Macauley, William Burroughs,  Oriente and Jean Labdam.

In February 1807, Surcouf enlisted Potier as first officer on his new privateer Revenant. After Revenant returned to Port-Louis from her first campaign, on 31 January 1808, Surcouf gave Potier command of the ship on 2 April.

In late April, as Revenant was completing her preparations and plotting her route, a prize taken by the privateer Adèle gave news of the new war between France and Portugal; Adèle also brought intelligence about the Conceçáo-de-Santo-Antonio, a 64-gun ship of the line armed en flûte, which was in Goa preparatory to sailing for Rio de Janeiro and Lisbon. Surcouf sent Portier to intercept, and Revenant departed Port-Louis on 30 April. She arrived in her patrol zone on 17 May and sighted her prey on the 24th. Revenant captured Conceçáo-de-Santo-Antonio after a one-hour battle. Potier gave Conceçáo a prize crew under First Lieutenant Fonroc, and returned to Mauritius one month later with his prize.

Revenant was then sent back to France en aventurier with colonial goods.

French naval service
On 4 July 1808, General Decaen, governor of Isle de France, requisitioned Revenant. The government renamed her Iéna, and gave command of her to Lieutenant Morice, with Lieutenant de vaisseau Albin Roussin as second officer. Surcouf had an altercation with Decaen but had to renounce his ship. Surcouf eventually purchased the Sémillante, which he renamed Charles, to return to France.

Capture by the Royal Navy
Iéna set sail to cruise the Persian Gulf and Bay of Bengal. On 8 October 1808, off the Sandheads near the mouth of the Ganges river, she was chased by the 44-gun HMS Modeste, under Captain George Elliot, which caught the Iéna after 9 hours. A night battle followed at musket range; after two and a half hours, Iéna was crippled, dismasted and leaking water, and struck her colours. Iéna had no casualties, while Modeste had her master killed and a seaman wounded. The Royal Navy commissioned Iéna as the 18-gun ship sloop HMS Victor, initially under Commander Thomas Grout and subsequently under Captain Edward Stopford.

On 2 May 1809, she departed from the Sandheads with a convoy of five Indiamen and several smaller vessels. On 24 May a storm split the convoy and Victor, the small ships and two of the Indiamen continued without Streatham, Europe and Lord Keith. Streatham and Europe were captured on 31 May.

Recapture by the French Navy
On 2 November 1809, HMS Victor, under Edward Stopford, encountered the 44-gun frigate Bellone, under Guy-Victor Duperré; Victor struck after a brief but spirited resistance. She was taken to Isle de France, where she was repaired and recommissioned as Victor in the French Navy, under Lieutenant Nicolas Morice.

On 21 February, she sailed for a cruise in the Indian Ocean and the Mozambique Channel in a squadron under Captain Duperré, on Bellone, which also comprised Minerve under Pierre Bouvet. There, she took part in the Action of 3 July 1810, contributing to the capture of the East Indiamen Windham and Ceylon.

Upon their to Isle de France, the French squadron encountered a British frigate squadron attempting to seize the island. In the ensuing Battle of Grand Port, Revenant was used as a support ship, behind the French line of battle, as her armament was weaker than that of the more powerful frigates.

On 17–18 September 1810, along with Vénus, she captured the 40-gun HMS Ceylon. Vénus and Ceylon were damaged in the battle, and the next day a British squadron composed of HMS Boadicea, HMS Otter and the brig HMS Staunch captured Vénus and Ceylon; Revenant managed to escape.

Fate
The British again captured Revenant when Isle de France fell on 3 December 1810. She was not restored to service but instead was subsequently broken up.

In art

 * Revenant appears in the background of the Combat de Grand Port, by Pierre Julien Gilbert, on display at the Musée national de la marine. She is barely visible behind a cloud of smoke, between Minerve and Ceylon.


 * Gustave Alaux (1887 - 1965), peintre de la Marine, painted a full portrait of Revenant, set at Isle de France in 1808.