French corvette Robuste (1793)

The French corvette Robuste was a vessel built at Nantes as a slaver and launched in 1793. The French navy purchased her and she served as a22-gun corvette in the Channel. The British captured her in 1796 and took her into the Royal Navy as HMS Scourge. She captured a number of French privateers, primarily in the West Indies, before the navy sold her in 1802.

French service and capture
On 30 May 1795 Robuste was under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Gautreau. She was operating between Lorient and Mindin. She had been escorting convoys between Verdon and the mouth of the Loire, and then returning to Lorient. Then between 11 May 1795 and 7 July, while under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Arnous, she was escorting a convoy from Lorient to the Raz de Sein. In March 1796 while in the Bay of Audierne she encountered HMS Pomone.

On 15 March 1796, Pomone captured Robuste, which had a crew of 145 men. Robuste was sailing from Brest to L'Orient. The Royal Navy took her into service as Scourge.

Royal Navy career
The Royal Navy commissioned Scourge in August 1796 under Commander Henry Richard Glynn.

On 12 February 1797 HMS Phoenix (1782) was in company with HMS Triton (1796) and Scourge off the Irish coast. Together they captured the French privateer Difficile. She was armed with 18 guns and had a crew of 206 men. She was three days out of Brest; Phoenix put a prize crew aboard and sent her into Portsmouth. The same three ships also captured the Jeune Emilie and the Recovery, though they shared the capture of the ''Recovery with HMS Unite (1796), and HMS Stag (1794).

Scourge's next capture occurred a few days later, on 21 February. Scourge chased a French privateer for three hours before catching up with her five or six leagues off the coast. The privateer was the Furet, pierced for 14 guns. She had 10 mounted; the other four were in her hold. She also had a crew of 50 men, as well as 22 English prisoners, seven of whom were wounded. Under the command of Benoish Giron she was 20 days out of Lorient. Glynn described Furet as being coppered and a fast sailer.

Commander Samuel Warren replaced Glynn and sailed Scourge to the Leeward Islands on 7 June.

On 28 September Scourge captured the French privateer schooner Sarazine off Marie-Galante. Sarazine, of Guadaloupe, was armed with six guns and had a crew of 58 men; Warren sent them into Port Royal, Martinique. Sarazine had been out 10 days but had not captured anything.

Next, Scourge detained on 4 December the schooner Amazon, of 90 tons (bm), which had been sailing with provisions from Baltimore to Surinam. The capture took place too windward of Dominique and Scourge sent Amazon into Saint Pierre, Martinique. Amazon had been a prize to the French privateer Hannibal.

On 23 January 1798, Scourge captured the Neustra Segniora de la Providentia; the vessel and cargo were condemned at Tortola. Two weeks later, on 8 February, Scourge and Roebuck captured the schooner Betsey, which too was condemned at Tortola.

Scourge and Aimable captured the French privateer Triomphe (Triumph) on 6 April. Two days later they captured the French privateer Chasseur. Both captures took place off Porto Rico. Triomphe was a brig of 14 guns and 88 men; Chasseur was a schooner of two guns and 18 men.

On 1 May Scourge chased a French 14-gun privateer brig on shore at St. Martin's. The privateer's crew escaped after setting fire to the brig, which blew up before boats from Scourge could reach it.

On 20 January 1799, Scourge captured a Spanish brig from Cadiz bound to La Guira with a cargo of wine, brandy, and merchandise. Scourge brought the prize she brought into Trinidad.

In early to mid-July July 1800  Scourge, which had been out in the West Indies since 13 April 1997, returned to Great Britain as part of the escort of the about 91 sail of the West India fleet. On 20 August, she passed up the Bristol Channel with 11 vessels out of a convoy of 41 vessels that HMS Invincible (1765) was taking to the Thames, the rest of the vessels being destined for Liverpool and Glasgow. Scourge arrived at Portsmouth two days later.

On 14 September Scourge was paid off, and her crew turned over to HMS Ganges (1782).

Fate
The Commissioners of the Navy offered Scourge for sale at Portsmouth on 11 August 1802. She sold that month.

Citations, and references

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