Idea #733 – Sailing on Le Renard ship in Saint Malo
Le Renard is a sailboat of the topsail cutter type, the last ship armed for the race by the Saint-Malo privateer Robert Surcouf. The ship was launched on May 15, 1813. This 70 ton cutter had a rather modest firepower, composed of four cannons of 4 and ten carronades of 8, armed with a crew of 46 men, who were of multiple nationalities. In fact, the French were joined by the Portuguese but also the Americans and the Swedes.
In September of the same year, under the orders of Captain E.Leroux-Desrochettes, he fought a victorious fight against the English schooner the “Alphea”, however much superior in firepower as in men. Despite their inferiority – 1 against 3 – the French returned from the start of the fight cannon shots for cannon shots. When the ships managed to cling, captain and crew of the Renard, pushing the daring, even took the initiative of the boarding. Two will be successively attempted but each time rejected by the English. The two sides fighting each other with the same rage, the machine-guns and cannonades continuing, quickly dead and seriously wounded men no longer counted. The sea, particularly rough that day, eventually separated the ships. The incident, far from stopping the fight, made the cannonades redoubled. The fight was there when two French cannonballs detonated the English schooner which sank body and goods in a few minutes. During this particularly violent confrontation, the captain of Le Renard himself loses an arm and dies shortly after. It was only with thirteen men that Jean Herbert, the victorious second in command, succeeded in returning the ship to the port of Diélette, in Normandy.
Back in Saint-Malo, the damage suffered by the Renard will require its reconstruction. In January 1814, the ship was finally able to resume service when, in April, Napoleon abdicated. The ship’s officers then decided to put an end to the expedition, considering that their letter of marque signed by the emperor no longer had any legitimacy. The ship will never have the slightest catch to her credit, but her heroism will leave such a memory in the memory of Saint-Malo that, almost two centuries later, enthusiasts of the Corsair Cotre association in the city of Saint-Malo will not hesitate. to reconstruct it, for memory and panache.
In 1989, the keel was laid, the replica built in the quai Vauban shipyard in Saint-Malo. The ship is 30 m long for 464 m² of sails maximum downwind, with staysail and mainsail (8 sails). It was built identically on the original plans, even if the masts and sails are somewhat reduced compared to the “extreme surfaces worn by the corsairs, smugglers or customs cutters of the time.
Some Pictures
Where is it ?
Saint Malo, Brittany, France