page_title: HMS Belle Poule (1806)
section_title: French Navy service
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Belle Poule (1806) / French Navy service
caption_attribution_description: English: The frigate HMS Amazon (1799) pursuing an unnamed French ship, possibly the Belle Poule.
context_page_description: HMS Belle Poule was a Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate, formerly Belle Poule, a Virginie-class frigate of the French Navy, which was built by the Crucy family's shipyard at Basse-Indre to a design by Jacques-Noël Sané. She was launched on 17 April 1802, and saw active service in the East, but in 1806 a British squadron under Sir John Borlase Warren captured her off La Palma in the Canary Islands. The Admiralty commissioned her into the Royal Navy as HMS Belle Poule. She was sold in 1816.
context_section_description: In March 1803, she joined the fleet of Rear-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois, whose mission was to re-take the colonies of the Indian Ocean, given to English at the peace of Amiens. The fleet included the 74-gun ship of the line Marengo, the frigates Atalante, Belle Poule and Sémillante, troop ships and cargoes with food and ammunition.
  On 15 June 1803 Belle Poule landed troops at Pondichéry in India. However, the French fleet left the next day and the troops surrendered in September.
  At the beginning of November, the division set sail for Batavia to protect the Dutch colonies. En route, Linois destroyed the English counters in Bencoolen, capturing five ships, and sailed for the South China Sea, where the China Fleet of the British East India Company was expected. The fleets met in the Battle of Pulo Aura, but the greater numbers and aggressive action of the British East Indiamen, some of whom flew Royal Navy flags, drove the French away. Linois returned to Batavia. He dispatched Atalante and Belle Poule to the Gulf of Bengal, where Belle Poule captured a few ships before returning to Ile de France. Among the ships was Althea, which Atalante and Belle Poule captured on 17 April 1804.
  In 1805 and 1806, Belle Poule and some other ships of the division cruised the African coast between the Red Sea and the Cape of Good Hope, capturing some ships. At the Action of 13 March 1806, Linois met with the division of Vice-Admiral Sir John Warren, with seven ships of the line (including the 108-gun London, the 82-gun Ramillies and Repulse, and the 80-gun Foudroyant), two frigates (including the 48-gun Amazon) and one corvette. After a fierce duel with London, Marengo struck her colours; Belle Poule battled against Amazon and later against Ramillies, and had to surrender as well.
  At the time of her capture Belle Poule was armed with forty 18-pounder guns, had a crew of 320 men, and was under the command of Captain Brouillac. Marengo and Belle Poule had lost 65 men killed and 80 wounded. The British on London and Amazon had 13 officers and men killed and 26 officers and men wounded.
caption: HMS Amazon pursuing unnamed French vessel, possibly Belle Poule, by Nicholas Pocock
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