Crew 67 men Weight 152.4 tons | Launched 1744 (?) Armament 18 guns14 swivel guns Displacement 136,100 kg | |
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Name Du Teillay; also erronously referred to as Dentelle or Doutelle Commissioned Commissioned by Antoine Walsh as a privateer in Nantes in 1744 | ||
Du Teillay was a French privateer ship, commissioned as such in Nantes in 1744 by Antoine Walsh (1703-1763), an Irish-born shipowner and slave trader operating in France. She played a central role in the Jacobite rising of 1745, ferrying Charles Edward Stuart to Ardmolich with supplies and funds to support his cause.
Career
She saw action on the 9 July 1745, when she accompanied by the ship ‘Elizabeth’ (L'Elisabeth) she was fired upon by HMS Lion (1709). The Du Teillay at the time was carrying Charles to Scotland. Prince Charles had boarded the French ship on 7 July at Saint-Nazaire bound for Ardmolich, they were joined by a French escort ship the ‘Elizabeth’. Two days later they were intercepted by the ‘Lion’, commanded by Captain Piercy Brett. A close action began at 17.00 between the ‘Lion’ and ‘Elisabeth’, with the ‘Du Teillay’ attacking the ‘Lion’ several times and, at 18.00, the ‘Lion’s’ mizzen topmast came down. By 20.00, The ‘Lion’ with her mizzen top and topmast shot away and hanging over the side was still in close action with the ‘Elisabeth’. The ‘Du Teillay’ shielded by the Elizabeth continued firing at the ‘Lion’ who returned fire with her stern guns. The ‘Lion’ continued firing at the ‘Elisabeth’ until the latter broke free at 22.00 to join the ‘Du Teillay’; by this time the ‘Lion’ was too damaged to follow; with 52 of her men were dead and about 110 wounded. The ‘Elizabeth’ had lost about 57 men with 175 wounded; her commander, Captain Dau, among the dead, obliging her to give up and return to France, leaving the Du Teillay to proceed alone.
On 2 August 1745, the Du Teillay arrived at Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides, before sailing onto Loch nan Uamh where Charles disembarked two days later, the ship then returning to France.