French ship Recherche (1787)

The Recherche was a 20-gun Marsouin class scow of the French Navy, later reclassified as a 12-gun frigate. She earned fame as one of the ships of Bruni d'Entrecasteaux' expedition, along with Espérance. Recherche Bay was named after her.

Career
The ship was built as Truite and served under this name until July 1791, when she was renamed to Recherche and recommissioned as a 12-gun frigate.

She departed from Brest on 29 September 1791 for an exploration mission in search of Lapérouse, sailing to New Caledonia. Bruni d'Entrecasteaux died aboard on 21 July 1793.

On 28 October 1793, she was captured by the Dutch at Surabaya, only to be restituted to France in February 1794. In September, she was sold to Holland, and two months later she was sold for scrap.

Sources and references

 * Jean-Michel Roche, Dictionnaire de la flotte française de 1671 à nos jours, Tome I, p. 372