Vanneau ( 1782 ) Vanneau was a lugger aviso or cutter of the French Royal Navy , launched in 1782 . The British captured her in 1793 and brought her into the Royal Navy . She served briefly in the Mediterranean before being wrecked in 1796 . French service and capture . Denys and Baron de Brave built her at Dunkirk and launched her on 25 July 1782 . She was copper sheathed during construction . Initially she was armed with four 3 - pounder guns , but by the time she was captured she carried six 4 - pounders . In 1787 she came briefly under the command of Julien Marie Cosmao - Kerjulien . Later that year the French navy sent " Vanneau " to reconnoitre the Isle of Wight . On her return , her commander , " Sous - lieutenant de vaisseau " Camelin , filed a false report , having also falsified his vessel ' s log . He was found out , dis - ranked , expelled from the navy , and was sentenced to a year in prison . Between July and November 1790 , " Vanneau " was under the command of " Sous - lieutenant de vaisseau " Motard , patrolling the southern coasts of the United Kingdom from Cherbourg . In February 1792 she was patrolling between Cape La Hève and Saint - Malo , while under the command of acting " Enseigne de vaisseau non entretenu " Guérin de l ' Épinay . On 6 June 1793 " Vanneau " was in the Bay of Biscay when she encountered . The Royal Navy took " Vanneau " into service under her existing name . British service . After her capture , the British commissioned " Vanneau " in May under the command of Lieutenant L . J . Woolstoncraft ; she then served to carry dispatches to the Mediterranean . On 8 November 1794 , Admiral Hotham placed Lieutenant John Gourly in command of " Vanneau " . On 15 January 1795 a major storm hit Corsica , and especially Bastia , wrecking a number of vessels and damaging " Vanneau " . That spring , while Gourly and " Vanneau " were at Bastia , ten English captains and a boy , all former prisoners of the French , arrived there in a cartel , utterly destitute . Gourly met them and took them to dinner . They informed him that as they were unknown locally , no one would accept their bills drawn on their bankers in England , and that they needed £55 in total for their immediate support . Gourly immediately went to the British commissary - general , the Honourable John Erskine , and asked Erskine to cash his bill for that amount . Erskine refused , saying that he would simply lend Gourly the money , but asked what it was for . On being told the story , Erskine immediately stated that as he could better afford the loss than Gourly , should the captains fail to repay , he would lend them the money directly . A few days later " Vanneau " took the men to Leghorn , where they were able to write bills and remit to Erskine the entire amount they owed . A midshipman and two sailors from " Vanneau " died at Leghorn in 1795 and are buried in the British cemetery there . In June 1796 , Napoleon and his forces captured Leghorn . Gourly and " Vanneau " rescued the British factory ( trading post ) and much valuable property . " Vanneau " then escorted the British army troops that participated in the capture of Portoferraio , in Elba , on 10 July . " Vanneau " and Gourly were particularly instrumental in the capture of island of Capraja . Gilbert Elliot , the British viceroy of the Anglo - Corsican Kingdom , decided that it was necessary to clear out Capraja , which belonged to the Genoese and which served as a base for privateers . He sent Lord Nelson in , together with the transport , " Vanneau " , the cutter " Rose " , and troops of the 51st Regiment of Foot to accomplish this task in September . On their way , joined them . Nelson put 250 soldiers aboard " Vanneau " and " Rose " , who landed them on the north side of the island . The troops captured a 2 - gun battery on the heights above the town there . While " Rose " carried the news of this success around to Nelson , who was having difficulty landing troops on the south side , " Vanneau " blockaded the port on the north side , where three privateers were anchored . " Minerva " joined him , and on 18 September , so did Nelson and the rest of the troops . They landed on 18 September . The crews of the privateers destroyed their vessels and the island surrendered without any further resistance . Fate . On 21 October 1796 " Vanneau " was wrecked at Porto - Ferrajo , Elba . She was sailing out of the harbour on a secret mission when she twice missed her stays . When the anchors she put out did not hold she was swept onto on a sunken rock . Admiral Waldegrave presided over the court martial . Unusually , Lord Nelson made a point of asserting his precedence on the board , after Waldegrave but ahead of the senior captain of the fleet , on the basis of his position as Commodore . He may have done this to exert a greater sway in the proceedings as Gourly had been a lieutenant under him on . Whether Nelson ' s intervention was necessary or not , the court martial acquitted Gourly of the loss of " Vanneau " .