French brig Milan (1807)
French brig, later a Royal Navy brig
Milan was a French brig built at Saint Malo, from plans designed by François Pestel that had already served for Curieux in 1800 and for Palinure in 1804. She served in the French Navy for four years before HMS Surveillante and Seine captured her. She became HMS Achates in the Royal Navy and served until after the end of the Napoleonic Wars.
French career
Lieutenant-Commander Jacques de Saint-Cricq commissioned Milan on 20 January 1808 at Saint Servan. She departed Saint Malo on 6 March 1808 with 67 men of the 86th Line Infantry Regiment, bound for Cayenne. On 11 March she captured the British merchantman Neptune, near Cape Ortegal, and scuttled her by fire. She arrived at Cayenne on 12 April, and then proceeded to cruise in the area.
On 3 July Milan had an inconclusive encounter with a British frigate, before the two ships disengaged. Milan returned to Paimboeuf, and then was stationed at Nantes. Saint-Cricq was promoted to Commander on 12 July 1808, but kept command of Milan until 30 April 1809, where he transferred to French frigate Clorinde (1808) in Nantes.
“French brig Milan (1807)” enters the record as french brig, later a Royal Navy brig. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what French, brig and Milan can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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