HMS Curieux (1804)
A painting by Francis Sartorius Jr. depicting HMS Curieux capturing Dame Ernouf on 8 February 1805 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| France | |
| Name | Curieux |
| Builder | Enterprise Ethéart, Saint Malo (Constructeur:François-Timothée Pestel) |
| Laid down | October 1799 |
| Launched | 20 September 1800 |
| Captured | 4 February 1804 |
| United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Curieux |
| Acquired | 4 February 1804 |
| Fate | Wrecked, 22 September 1809 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Corvette |
| Displacement | 290 tons (French) |
| Tons burthen | 3295⁄94 (bm) |
| Length | |
| Beam | 28 ft 6 in (8.69 m) |
| Depth of hold | 13 ft 0 in (3.96 m) |
| Complement |
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| Armament |
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HMS Curieux was a French corvette launched in September 1800 at Saint-Malo to a design by François Pestel, and carrying sixteen 6-pounder guns. She was commissioned under Capitaine de frégate Joseph-Marie-Emmanuel Cordier. The British captured her in 1804 in a cutting-out action at Martinique. In her five-year British career Curieux captured several French privateers and engaged in two notable single-ship actions, also against privateers. In the first she captured Dame Ernouf; in the second, she took heavy casualties in an indecisive action with Revanche. In 1809 Curieux hit a rock; all her crew were saved but they had to set fire to her to prevent her recapture.