Émilie (1793 ship)
French corvette-built privateer
Émilie a French corvette-built privateer based in Île de France (now Mauritius). She is mostly known as one of the ships captained by Robert Surcouf.
In early 1795 she was renamed to Émilie. She was then under command of young Robert Surcouf and was armed with only four 6-pounders cruising from August 1795; in January 1796, after she had captured Cartier, Surcouf transferred to his prize, leaving Émilie in command of Jean Croizet. (more details at Robert Surcouf#Cruise of Émilie and capture of Triton). She returned to Mauritius in March 1796 and was renamed Modeste again. In August 1796, armed with 20 guns, she cruised under Claude Deschiens, who died in battle on 10 September 1796; command passed to Jean-Marie Dutertre and she returned to Isle de France in June 1797. Dutertre went on another cruise from late 1797 or early 1798, and sailed until April 1798 (again with 20 guns). Her fate is murky: in March 1797 the 32-gun HMS Fox captured Émilie near Visakhapatnam, but then in April 1798 the 32-gun HMS Cleopatra also captured an Émilie.
Career
Émilie was originally the merchantman Lafayette, which arrived at Île de France from Bordeaux in July 1792.
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