History | |
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Name | HMS Barracouta |
Acquired | June 1782 by purchase |
Fate | Sold 1792 |
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Name | Thought |
Builder | Joshua Stewart, Sandgate[1] |
Acquired | 1792 by purchase |
Captured | 3 September 1793 |
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Name | Pensée |
Acquired | September 1793 by capture |
Renamed | Montagne, then Pensée, then Vedette |
Captured | 10 January 1800 |
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Name | Vidette |
Acquired | 10 January 1800 by capture |
Fate | Sold 1802 |
General characteristics [1] | |
Tons burthen | 190,[3] or 197,[4] or 19714⁄94, or 20210⁄94[2] (bm) |
Length |
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Beam | 25 ft 11+3⁄4 in (7.9 m), or 26 ft 0 in (7.9 m)[2] |
Depth of hold | 10 ft 6 in (3.2 m), or 10 ft 7+1⁄2 in (3.2 m)[2] |
Complement |
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Armament |
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Notes | Clincher-built and coppered[2] |
The Royal Navy purchased HMS Barracouta on the stocks in 1782. After she had served for almost ten years patrolling against smugglers, the Navy sold her in 1792. She became the privateer Thought, which had a successful cruize, capturing several prizes including a French privateer, but then was herself captured in September 1793. She served the French Navy under the names Pensée, Montagne, Pensée, and Vedette, until the British recaptured her in 1800 and renamed her HMS Vidette. The Royal Navy sold her in 1802.
Barracouta became the privateer Thought in 1793. However, she did not appear in Lloyd's Register.
On 13 May Captain Sedgefield Dale acquired a letter of marque. Then on 31 May Captain Harding Shaw acquired a letter of marque.[3]
On 19 July Lloyd's List (LL) reported that the privateer Thought, of London, had brought several vessels into Falmouth. One was the French privateer Passe Partout, of 16 guns and of Bordeaux.[Note 1] Passe Partout had on board some dollars and chests of sugar that she had taken from a Spanish ship.[6] There were two American vessels: Rawlinson which had been sailing from New York to Havre de grace with pork and flour, and Active, Blair, master, which had been sailing from Philadelphia to Nantes with sugar and coffee. Thought captured Active in company with the privateer Weymouth, of Weymouth.[6][Note 2] Thought also recaptured Neptune, which had been sailing from West Indies to Liverpool.[6]
On 3 September a French frigate captured Thought and took her into Lorient.[8]
Thought became the French naval brig Pensée in January 1794. She was at Dunkirk in February. In January 1795 she was renamed Montagne. She became Pensée again in January 1796, and Vedette in July.[9]
In July 1796, she escorted a convoy from Lorient to Audierne under Ensign Gravereau. On 2 February 1797 she was off Croisic, where she captured the British privateer Loterie.[10]
HMS Triton captured Vedette on 10 February 1800.[Note 3] Triton was with a squadron off the Stevenet Rock when she captured Vedette, of 14 guns and 84 men, which was sailing from Brest to Lorient.
French records indicate that Vedette, lieutenant de vaisseau Kerdrain, was escorting a convoy from Lorient to Brest. The capture took place at the mouth of the Iroise Sea.
The prize arrived safely in Falmouth on the 19th. Captain John Gore's report described Vedette as a national (i.e., naval) brig and the former cutter Barracouta.[11] Lloyd's List (LL) reported on 18 February that Videt, of 14 guns and 80 men, a prize to the frigate Triton, had arrived at Falmouth. She had arrived on 12 February. The news item noted that Videt was the former cutter Thought.[12]
Vidette was offered for sale at Plymouth on 9 April 1800, at Plymouth.[2]