French frigate Créole (1797)

Créole was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, a one-off design by Jacques-Augustin Lamothe. The French Navy loaned her to a privateer in 1797. Later, she served in the Brest squadron, took part in Ganteaume's expeditions of 1801 to Egypt, and was involved in the French acquisition of Santo Domingo and briefly detained Toussaint Louverture before he was brought to France. She was captured off Santo Domingo by the 74-guns HMS Vanguard and Cumberland on 30 June 1803 and brought into Royal Navy service. She foundered soon afterwards during an attempt to cross to Britain, but her crew was rescued.

Early career
After her launch, Créole was fitted for four months before being lent 19 October 1797 to a privateer from Nantes. She was commissioned in the Navy on 29 April 1798 and started patrolling off Brest in February 1799.

On 12 April, capitaine de vaisseau Pierre-Paulin Gourrège took command. On 26 April 1799, Créole departed Brest with the oceanic fleet and took part in Bruix' expedition of 1799 into the Mediterranean. She was detached to Oneglia, along with Romaine and Vautour, to support the French invasion of Italy.

In 1800, Créole was part of a division under contre-amiral Lacrosse, tasked to cruise off Morbihan and cut off the royalists from their British support. In order to avoid the British blockade, the squadron anchored to Camaret, but attracted the attention of the British and sailed back to harbour to avoid engagement. The division was retasked to ferry 4600 troops to Santo Domingo, but again ran into the British blockade, turned back and adjourned its mission. During the cruise, Créole sustained some damage in a collision with Fidèle.

Ganteaume's expeditions of 1801
On 27 January 1801, Créole departed Brest with a division under contre-amiral Ganteaume, tasked to ferry ammunitions and reinforcements to the Armée d'Égypte, taking part in Ganteaume's expeditions of 1801. After several false starts due to unfavourable weather or to the British blockade, Ganteaume eventually set sail on 23 February on a heavy sea which soon dispersed his squadron. The next day, Créole rejoined Indivisible, and the two ships sailed together until they finally made contact with their division.

Ganteaume reached Toulon on 18 February; Gourrège left Créole to take command of the flagship Indivisible on 9 March. The squadron set sail on 25 April. His crew much weakened by an epidemic, Ganteaume managed to establish a blockade of Elba on 1 May and bombard Portoferraio on 6 May, supporting the Siege of Porto Ferrajo, but he had to detach Formidable, Indomptable, Dessaix and Créole to ferry the sick to Livorno and return to Toulon.

Créole took an incidental part in the Action of 24 June 1801, where the lone British 74-gun HMS Swiftsure met the French squadron and was captured after a running battle.

Santo Domingo
On 9 January 1802, Créole departed Toulon with a division under contre-amiral Ganteaume, ferrying troops to Santo Domingo to consolidate the French acquisition of Santo Domingo. After Toussaint Louverture surrendered, he was embarked on Créole before being transferred on Héros and ferried to France, where he died in prison. Boarding the frigate, Louverture stated: In overthrowing me you have cut down in Saint-Domingue only the trunk of the tree of liberty; it will spring up again from the roots, for they are many and they are deep.

In 1803, Créole ferried troops to Port-au-Prince under Commander Jean-Marie-Pierre Lebastard, travelling to Jean-Rabel from Cap-Français with 530 soldiers under General Morgan. Her crew suffered from the yellow fever that was endemic to the campaign, so that only 150 men were fit and the frigate was 177 short of her usual complement. In the morning of 30 June, Créole met five British ships of the line, who closed in to investigate and gave chase. Unable to race effectively against the ships of the line, Créole was quickly rejoined and flanked on both sides by the 74-guns Vanguard and Cumberland. Vanguard opened fire, and after a single token gunshot, Créole struck to her overwhelming opponents.

Fate
A prize crew subsequently conveyed Créole to Port Royal in Jamaica for repair. There the Royal Navy commissioned her as HMS Creole under Captain Austin Bissell.

In late 1803 Créole sailed for Britain with a prize crew and numerous French prisoners. Créole was in a poor state, and on 26 December she sprang a leak. The crew and prisoners manned her pumps but were unable to prevent the accumulation of water such that by 30 December the water was rising by two feet per hour. Two leaks became evident, one forward and one aft of the hold. The crew threw her guns, shot, iron ballast and some stores overboard, and slung a sail under the hull. Still, by 2 January the pumps were again unable to prevent the accumulation of water. The crew and the prisoners were exhausted and so Bissell decided to abandon ship. Cumberland came up to take everyone off Créole. The last men left on 3 January, at which time she sank beneath the waves at 40.7°N, -51.4°W.