Le Du Teillay

Posted by Thierry GUIHENEUF on Tuesday 18th of February 2020 19:15

I believe that the ship known as Du Teillay (a.k.a. "La Doutelle" or "Dutillet") was built in Nantes by ship builder Jean Thomas. The ship was sold in Amsterdam, on its return from Scotland (captain: Claude Durbé), on the 16th of September 1745. The ship's log is available from a book entitled: "Une famille Royaliste et Irlandaise" by Duke Louis de la Trémoille and translated into English in a publication of 1903. This light frigate, used as a corsair as well as a merchant ship, is of great historical significance since she transported Prince Charles Stuart and his companions, a.k.a. the "seven men of Moidart" to Scotland for the start of the Jacobite uprising of 1745. Antoine Walsh was on board but as the ship owner, not the captain of the ship, a task he delegated to the experienced Nantes corsair captain Claude Durbé who later became a ship owner and built his own hotel in Nantes in 1756 still standing today at 86, quai de la Fosse, Nantes (Fr). There is a very realistic model of the ship that can be viewed at visitor's centre in Glenfinnan in Lochaber, Scotland.