Le Duc de Chartres

Posted by Albert Parker on Monday 5th of July 2021 21:48

A notice in _The London Magazine_, August 1747, p. 343, provides some additional information of unknown accuracy.
"Wednesday, 26 [of July].
"Came Advice, that the Bellona Man of War, commanded by Hon. Capt. Barrington, had taken the 18th and brought into Mount's Bay, a French outward-bound East-India Ship, called the Duke de Chartes, of 30 Guns and 195 Men, after a very smart Engagement of three Hours, the greatest Part of which was Yard-Arm and Yard-Arm; the French had 25 killed and 18 wounded; and the Bellona three Men killed and seven wounded. Both the Ships were so shattered, that Capt. Barrington was obliged to put into the first Port he could make."

In the CdIO records, _Duc de Chartres_ is down as a 32-gun ship, but the British officers had a chance to go on board and count them. 30 is what she would have if the main-deck 12-pounders had been omitted. That would give her a broadside of 108 French pounds = 117 British pounds (53 kg), vs. _Bellona_'s 24 × 9, 4+2 × 4 = 120 pounds (54.5 kg). Such a close balance in firepower did not usually lead to a 4-1 disparity in casualties, but _Bellona_'s captain was an efficient commander, CdIO officers were not oriented toward fighting even if they were good seamen, and _Duc de Chartres_ was only 6 days of out port. Nevertheless, British writers were prone to exaggerate enemy casualties. (Barrington's officers could have counted the wounded and interviewed Captain Joseph Fouquet Du Rumel about the number killed.) The "so shattered ..." comment might also be journalistic hype. CdIO records say a crew of 156, not 195. However, the role d'équipage includes 204 names. A few of those did not make the voyage ("mis en terre"), so 195 is possible; it would take a detailed analysis to confirm that number.

Posted by regis on Monday 5th of July 2021 19:48

my error , corrected

Posted by Albert Parker on Monday 5th of July 2021 19:38

I'm not sure what "(marsh 1747)" means. Notice of the capture was printed in _The London Gazette_, No. 8670 (Aug. 25 to Aug. 29, 1747) and dated "Admiralty Office, August 29." Compagnie des Indes Orientales records at a Web site whose address I can not give here (I tried and was punished with deletion of the entire message!!) but is called "Memoires des hommes" (without the spaces) say that _Duc de Chartres_ departed Lorient on August 23 "pour l'Océan Indien, avec des vivres et des marchandises pour Pondichéry et les Mascareignes et 1480 £ en paistres" ["£" = French livres tournois, ~1/24 of a pound sterling; 1480 = £65+/-] The same site gives the date of capture by the British as Feb. 2, 1748 = Jan. 22, 1747 in the official British calendar. Since the _Gazette_ notice was published when it was September 9 in France, the company should have know about the loss no later than late September, 1747.
If you can find the "Memoires des hommes" Web site, you can follow the following links within the site: Présence française dans le monde > Compagnie des Indes > Armements des navires > Faire une recherche, select "Duc de Chartres" from the menu of ship names, and enter "1747" in the two date fields.