Name Officieuse Completed March 1778 Displacement ~700 tonnes Launched August 1776 Draft 3.81 m | Laid down December 1775 Fate wrecked November 1781 Construction started December 1775 Length 34 m | |
Builder Le Havre by Jean-Joseph Ginoux | ||
Officieuse was a storeship launched on 3 August 1776. The French Royal Navy lent her to the Compagnie de Guyane in September. She completed four voyages for the Compagnie, before wrecking on the fifth.
During this last voyage she captured the British merchant vessel Arlequin (probably Harlequin), off Cayenne. However, in 1781 the British recaptured her. The captor was possibly HMS Belisarius, which captured the brig Harlequin on 7 December 1781.
In June 1781, Officeuse left Bordeux for Senegal. In November she wrecked while crossing the bar at Casamance to escape HMS Leander, under Captain Thomas Shirley. Shirley reported that Officeuse was supposed to be worth £30,000.
References
Officeuse (1776 ship) Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA