French ship Vengeur du Peuple The Vengeur du Peuple ( " Avenger of the People " ) was a 74 - gun ship of the line of the French Navy . Funded by a " don des vaisseaux " donation from the chamber of commerce of Marseille , she was launched in 1762 as " Marseillois " . She took part in the naval operations in the American Revolutionary War in Admiral d ' Estaing ' s squadron , duelling " Preston " in a single - ship action on 11 August 1778 , taking part in the Battle of the Chesapeake where she duelled HMS " Intrepid " , and supporting the flagship " Ville de Paris " at the Battle of the Saintes . She also took part in the Battle of Saint Kitts . After the French Revolution , she was renamed " Vengeur du Peuple " and took part in the Glorious First of June . There , she was disabled after a furious duel with HMS " Brunswick " and surrendered after losing hope of being rescued by a French ship . After a few hours , as British ships were beginning rescue operations , she listed and foundered , taking almost half her crew with her . The sinking of " Vengeur du Peuple " was used as propaganda by the National Convention and Bertrand Barère , who gave birth to the legend that the crew had gone down with the ship fighting , rather than surrender . The Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle repeated the tale in his " " , yielding a rebuttal by Rear - Admiral John Griffiths , who had witnessed the events . Although discredited in naval history circles , the legend lived on as a folk tale , spurting numerous representations and a fictional account by Jules Verne in " Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea " . Career . The French Navy had lost 29 ships during the Seven Years ' War , casualties being particularly high at the Battle of Lagos and the Battle of Quiberon Bay . To replace these losses , in 1761 the Duke of Choiseul launched subscriptions , called " don des vaisseaux " , whereby French individuals and organisations could donate to the Crown the funds necessary to build and equip a warship . 13 million livres were raised and 18 ships , including two three - deckers , were built and named after their patrons . The " Marseillois " was funded by the chamber of commerce of Marseille , for 500 , 000 livres . " Marseillois " was ordered on 16 January 1762 , to be built in Toulon on a design by the engineer Coulomb , and named the same day by Louis XV , following the request of her patrons . The chamber of commerce of Marseille further requested that the ship be built in Marseille , but Coulomb determined that the harbour there was too shallow for the launch of a 74 - gun ship , and the order for " Marseillois " was eventually confirmed at Toulon . There , lack of timber in the shipyards , that were already busy building " Languedoc " , " Zélé " and " Bourgogne " , delayed the construction of " Marseillois " until 1764 . Her building was directed by the engineer Chapelle . She was launched on 16 July 1766 , and completed quickly , decorated by sculptures carved by Pierre Audibert . After her completion , she was put in reserve , where she would remain for 11 years . On 1 February 1778 , " Marseillois " was hove down for maintenance and repairs of her hull , which was found to be in " very good shape " , although her keel had hogged by ; maintenance completed two days later , and she was commissioned under Captain Louis - Armand de La Poype de Vertrieu . American Revolutionary War . The outbreak of the American War of Independence had caused relations between France and Great Britain to deteriorate , and diplomatic ties were broken on 16 March 1778 . Admiral d ' Estaing took command of a squadron of thirteen ships of the line and four frigates in Toulon . " Marseillois " was assigned to this fleet , the first active service she would see . The fleet set sail on 18 April 1778 , crossed Gibralatar on 16 May , and arrived at the mouth of the Delaware river on 8 July . Campaign of 1778 – 1780 , La Poype de Vertrieu . The French squadron arrived unopposed off New York on 8 July . British forces there amounted to a squadron of nine smaller ships of the line and two frigates under Admiral Lord Howe ; in order to avoid battle with the more numerous and powerful French ships , Howe retreated under the protection of the strong defences of New York . D ' Estaing wished to press the attack , but his pilots advised that the harbour was too shallow for his ships , so the squadron spent two weeks at anchor blockading Howe , resupplying and conferring with the American government . On 22 July , he departed for Newport to join the American Revolutionaries , where he arrived on 28 July and anchored his fleet outside the harbour to better coordinate his attack with that of the Revolutionary land forces . " Marseillois " anchored in front of the main channel with most of the fleet , while " Fantasque " , " Sagittaire " and the frigates blockaded the Sakonnet River , and " Protecteur " and " Provence " blocked the Connecticut River . On 8 August , the French squadron sailed into Newport harbour , " Marseillois " coming sixth in the line . They had begun to disembark troops the following day when Howe ' s squadron arrived from New York . D ' Estaing found his anchored ships were now vulnerable to attacks from land batteries , warships and fireship s , and cancelled the landing , putting to sea to challenge Howe in battle . Howe ' s force moved off , pursued by the French . On 11 August the French closed in and the two fleets manoeuvred in preparation for a battle , but around 16 : 00 , a Nor ' easter storm broke out , scattering both fleets . " Marseillois " sustained damage to her rigging , losing her mizzen and her bowsprit , and was cut off from the bulk of the French squadron . The next day , around 20 : 00 , having only just erected jury rigging , she was attacked by the 50 - gun HMS " Preston " , under William Hotham . The two ships duelled indecisively for one hour before parting . " Marseillois " rejoined the French fleet on 14 August . " Marseillois " took part in the Battle of St . Lucia in September , coming third in the French line of battle , and was present at other encounters with the British fleets in the Caribbean theatre of the American Revolutionary War . The next year , on 6 July 1779 , " Marseillois " took part in the Battle of Grenada , sailing in the rear of the French fleet . Later in the year , she took part in the Siege of Savannah , where she was eighth in the line of battle . The French fleet sustained damage at the Siege of Savannah and eventually returned to Europe . " Marseillois " returned to Toulon with " Zélé " , " Sagittaire " , " Protecteur " , and " Experiment " . During the campaign , 46 members of her crew had died ; of these , only three had been killed in combat . La Poype de Vertrieu wrote his report and recommendations for the refitting of " Marseillois " on 24 December 1779 ; he found her a passable ship , but her high poop hindered her sailing when running , and he recommended improvements to the gun port s of the castles , which were obstructed and allowed only two guns on the quarterdeck and one on the forecastle to be used . Furthermore , substantial repairs on the rigging were needed , and she needed her hull heated to kill worms . La Poype de Vertrieu wrote " it appears that " Marseillois " shall never be an exceptional sailor , but I am convinced that she will give satisfaction " . Campaign of 1780 , Albert de Rions . After the repairs had been completed , Captain d ' Albert de Rions was given command of " Marseillois " . She was appointed to a two - ship squadron under Suffren , who had his flag on " Zélé " . They set sail on 19 May 1780 to patrol off Portugal , and joined up with a division under Beausset in Cadiz on 17 June . On 6 November , " Marseillois " departed Cadiz with a joint Franco - Spanish fleet under Admiral d ' Estaing , bound for Brest , where she arrived on 3 January 1781 . Campaign of 1781 – 1782 , Castellane Majastre . In Brest , command of " Marseillois " passed to Captain Henri - César de Castellane Majastre , and she became part of a squadron under Admiral François Joseph Paul de Grasse . A young Pierre - Charles Villeneuve served aboard as an ensign . On 22 March 1781 , the fleet sailed for America to reinforce D ' Estaing ' s forces there , arriving off Martinique on 29 April . There , the fleet met the British forces under Admiral Hood , and the Battle of Fort Royal broke out , an inconclusive long - ranged artillery duel that lasted until the British retreated the next day due to the damage sustained by HMS " Intrepid " , " Centaur " and " Russell " . De Grasse put to sail on 5 July , bound for Saint - Domingue where he arrived on 16 July . At Cap - Français , the fleet joined with the frigate " Concorde " , under Captain de Tanouarn , which brought news of the status and plans of the Continental Army . Letters from Washington and Rochambeau requested that de Grasse set sail either to New York , or into Chesapeake Bay . Reinforcing his fleet with the squadron under Admiral de Monteil and with 3 , 300 soldiers taken from the garrisons of the island , De Grasse decided to sail for the Chesapeake . On 5 September 1781 , the French and British squadrons met in the Battle of the Chesapeake . " Marseillois " was in the van of the French squadron , and exchanged the first shots of the day with the 64 - gun HMS " Intrepid " , under Captain Anthony Molloy . In early April , " Marseillois " took part in the four - day Battle of the Saintes . She was sailing at the rear of the fleet , and the French and British ships were already trading shots for ten minutes when she took her position in the line of battle . Later in the afternoon , she maintained a position in the line ahead of the flagship " Ville de Paris " , and supported her until she struck her colours , at which point Admiral de Vaudreuil ordered the fleet to regroup and follow him to Saint - Domingue . The fleet reached Cap - Français in several waves , the main corps arriving on 25 April ; " Marseillois " , along with " Hercule " , " Pluton " and " Éveillé " , arrived on 11 May . On 25 and 26 January 1782 , " Marseillois " took part in the Battle of Saint Kitts , where she held the 5th position in the line of battle . " Marseillois " returned to France at some point in 1782 , where she was listed on 1 September to be decommissioned . Campaign of 1782 – 1783 , Lombard . In October 1782 , she was hove down and coppered . She was then recommissioned in December 1782 in Brest under chevalier de Lombard , and was part of a two - ship squadron along with " Protecteur " . Negotiations for peace with England started in January 1783 , and " Marseillois " was decommissioned in Rochefort on 13 February 1783 . She remained in this state until 1794 , with some repairs being conducted in 1785 and 1788 . French Revolutionary War . By February 1794 the still decommissioned , " Marseillois " had been renamed " Vengeur du Peuple " , probably a response to the participation of the city of Marseille in the Federalist revolts of 1793 . She was recommissioned in Rochefort , and on 24 March 1794 , Captain Jean François Renaudin took command . On 1 April 1794 , she sailed to Île - d ' Aix , where she joined up with " Pelletier " , and on 11 April , the squadron sailed on again , reaching Brest on 18 April having being joined en route by " Jemmapes " . Upon their arrival the ships were assigned to the squadron under Admiral Villaret de Joyeuse . Glorious First of June . On 16 May 1794 , the fleet departed from Brest with the mission of protecting a convoy of ships carrying food to France , beginning the Atlantic campaign of May 1794 . On 1 June , the French squadron encountered the British fleet , in an engagement known as the Glorious First of June . " Vengeur " was third in the French line of battle , after the flagship " Montagne " and between " Achille " and " Northumberland " . The British fleet approached the French line in an oblique manner , leading to individual engagements as the British ships attempted to break through at several points . Around 9 : 30 , the British flagship HMS " Queen Charlotte " cut the French line aft of " Montagne " , firing a devastating raking broadside that killed " Montagne " s commander , Captain Bazire . The ship astern of " Montagne " , " Jacobin " , attempted to prevent " Queen Charlotte " breaking through by accelerating to close the gap between herself and her flagship ; this left a gap behind her , between " Jacobin " and " Achille " , that HMS " Brunswick " , under Captain John Harvey , attempted to exploit to cut the line and assist " Queen Charlotte " . " Achille " accelerated and closed the gap , and " Brunswick " turned her fire against " Vengeur " , while " Achille " engaged HMS " Ramillies " and " Valiant " . Prevented from cutting the French line ahead of " Achille " , HMS " Brunswick " turned and tried to cross aft of her , between " Achille " and " Vengeur " . Seeing the manoeuvre , Renaudin also accelerated to close this new gap , and " Brunswick " and " Vengeur " collided , the anchor of " Brunswick " becoming entangled in the rigging of " Vengeur " . " Vengeur " fired an entire broadside at point - blank range , but was then unable to fire her main batteries again , the ships being so close as to prevent French gunners from ramming ammunition into their guns ; in contrast , British gunners used rammers with semi - rigid rope handles instead of wooden handles , and were able to reload and maintain a sustained fire , riddling " Vengeur " with holes . The fight went on for four hours , until " Brunswick " , after shattering the rudder of " Vengeur " to prevent her from manoeuvring , separated at 12 : 45 . Her fire also opened a large hole in the hull of " Vengeur " . During the duel between " Vengeur " and " Brunswick " , the undamaged HMS " Ramillies " had approached and put herself in a favourable position to rake " Vengeur " , and was waiting for " Brunswick " to separate to open fire . When she did so , " Ramillies " fired two broadsides , leaving " Vengeur " with only her foremast standing , which fell half an hour later . " Ramillies " sustained some damage herself . Soon afterwards , seawater inundated the powder room of " Vengeur " , denying her all means of defence , and 250 of her crew were out of action . The " Trente - et - un Mai " closed in around 3 : 30 , attempting to provide assistance , but the proximity of several British sails endangered her so that she eventually sailed away . Renaudin , seeing the hapless condition of his ship , ordered his flags hoisted half - mast in surrender and distress around 14 : 00 , but after her surrender no British ship managed to get men aboard to take possession . This left " Vengeur " ' s few remaining unwounded crew to attempt to salvage what they could . Ultimately the ship ' s pumps became unmanageable , and " Vengeur " began to sink . Only the timely arrival of boats from the undamaged HMS " Alfred " and " Culloden " , as well as the services of the cutter " Rattler " , saved any of the " Vengeur ' s " crew from drowning , these ships taking off nearly 500 sailors between them . Lieutenant John Winne of " Rattler " was especially commended for this hazardous work . By 18 : 15 , " Vengeur " was clearly beyond salvage and only the very worst of the wounded and the dead remained aboard , though some possibly stayed aboard in the hope of being rescued by a French ship rather than a British and avoid captivity . " Alfred " rescued about 100 men ; " Rattler " , about 40 ; and " Culloden " , 127 , including Captain Renaudin , who abandoned his ship and left in the very first British boat . He was taken to " Culloden " and served a meal in the officers ' mess ; as he dined with his son and other French and British officers , a commotion was heard ; racing to the gallery of " Culloden " , the party witnessed " Vengeur " sink with the remaining wounded aboard . Figures of the casualties on " Vengeur " are not precisely known , but amount to approximately 250 killed during the battle , 106 drowned in the sinking , and 367 rescued by the British . Legacy . The sinking of " Vengeur du Peuple " was exploited for political purposes in France , as several sailors were said to have cried " " Vive la Nation , vive la République ! " " ( " Long live the nation , long live the republic " ) from the bow of the ship as she foundered ; this was bloated out of proportion by French politicians , who added that the sailors had waved the tricolour , sung " La Marseillaise " in defiance , and even continued firing guns until water reached them while the ship foundered , to eventually sink with her rather than surrender . They also extrapolated that the entire crew had disappeared with the " Vengeur " , a claim disproved by the return of captured crewmembers as they were quickly released from British captivity . The origin of the legend is a speech made by Bertrand Barère at the National Convention on 21 messidor ( 9 July ) , " Rapport sur l ' héroïsme des Républicains montant le vaisseau " le Vengeur , where he claimed that " Vengeur " had refused to surrender , nailing her flag , and that all the sailors had died with the ship , giving a last shout of " long live the Republic " and waving all sorts of flags and pennants while the ship disappeared . Lord Howe denies the account entirely , claiming that it never occurred , a position followed by many British sources . Thomas Carlyle originally included the legend in his " " , prompting Rear - admiral John Griffiths – who , as a lieutenant on HMS " Culloden " at the time , had been an eyewitness to the sinking – to publicly challenge Carlyle ' s tale . Carlyle set out to get to the bottom of the story , eventually unearthing the official report of " Vengeur ' s " captain , Renaudin . Carlyle concluded that Barère had concocted a " cunningly devised fable " , and changed his account of the sinking of the " Vengeur " in subsequent editions . The three most serious reports of the events are the report of Jean François Renaudin , captain of " Vengeur " , written in captivity on 1 Messidor an II ( 19 June 1794 ) , signed by Renaudin , Jean Hugine , Louis Rousseau , Pelet , Trouvée , Lussot and others , then in British custody in Tavistock ; the report of Cyprien Renaudin , first officer of " Vengeur " ( and cousin to Jean François Renaudin ) , which was found around 1929 in family archives ; and later accounts written in 1838 by Rear - admiral John Griffiths , who had witnessed the event 44 years earlier . In French drawings , " Vengeur " is often depicted as flying the Tricolour , which had been recently ordered by the Convention to be flown as battle ensign ; however , due to a lack of bunting in Brest , Villaret had not been able to distribute this flag to all his ships , and thus " Vengeur " probably still flew the white flag with a canton of three equal columns of red , white , and blue . The notion that the ship would have nailed her flag and never surrendered , as Barère claimed , is never accounted in any of the reports . Though Jean François Renaudin never explicitly states that he surrendered , he does mention that he had his flag flown half - mast in distress when he was surrounded by British ships , indicating that he was requesting assistance from the enemy . Griffiths observes that " Vengeur " was dismasted to the point that there would have been nothing on which to nail a flag anyway , and James makes mentions of " Vengeur " hoisting the Union Jack in submission . The exact cause of the sinking was also the subject of dispute . Barère ' s account describes " Vengeur " as sinking from the shots that would have holed her hull ; actually , Cyprien Renaudin mentions only two such holes in the lower hull of " Vengeur " and a noise " like a strong waterfall " at the poop , which he could not identify ; this is consistent with James ' account of " " the " Brunswick " , by a few well - directed shot , split the Vengeur ' s rudder , and shattered her stern - post ; besides making a large hole in her counter , through which the water rushed in great quantity . " " In any case , the superstructures were very much battered , prompting Lieutenant Rotheram , of " Culloden " , to report that he " could not place a two - feet rule in any direction , he thought , that would not touch two shot - holes " . Claude Farrère attributes the sinking to ineptitude of the crew who had failed to close damaged lower gunports . The later study conducted by Captain Diaz de Soria in the 1950s suggests that water did enter from the gun ports of the lower battery , ripped off in the collision with " Culloden " and shattered by artillery fire , and that the crew failed to obstruct them with temporary contrivances . The panicking crew would have aggravated the situation by failing to man the pumps , explaining why it took four hours for " Vengeur " to sink between her surrender around 14 : 00 until her sinking between 18 : 00 and 18 : 30 . The most debated point is the patriotic shouts , sometimes claimed to have been accompanied by singing of the " Marseillaise " . These shouts are denied entirely by Griffiths , but are mentioned in French accounts . Renaudin ' s report does claim that sailors shouted " " Vive la République " " , but that it was in desperation for being unable to reach the British craft ; it does not mention any particular defiance in the intent , though , nor does it mention flags or " La Marseillaise " ; this position is followed by Troude and Farrère . Guérin proposes a variation , that knowing themselves doomed , the sailors remaining on " Vengeur " made a lats display of patriotic and political fervour before dying . William James provides an alternative theory when he suggests that any person who behaved in such a manner on the stricken ship was acting under the influence of alcohol ; Troude , otherwise very critical of Barère ' s account , vehemently dismissed this idea . Captain Renaudin was said in a naval registry to have swum to safety . He had in fact abandoned his ship with the first British boat , leaving his men behind in disregard for military customs and the 1765 standing order that Captains had to be last to abandon ship , and though his account insinuates that he was on a boat close to " Vengeur " when she foundered , he was actually dining in the mess of " Culloden " at the moment of the sinking . In 1795 , Loutherbourg depicted the rescue of " Vengeur " s crew by British ships in his large canvas of the battle , " Lord Howe ' s action , or the Glorious First of June " . Contemporary reactions in France . The speech of 9 July by Barère at the National Convention inflamed the nation , and as it specifically encouraged artists to exalt the story , poets like Ponce - Denis Écouchard - Lebrun and Marie - Joseph Chenier composed eulogies to commemorate the event , wrote new words for existing songs , and even produced a three - act opera . Barère had the following decree passed at the National Convention on 21 June 1794 : The reappearance of the purportedly sunk crew , and the Thermidorian reaction , prevented the completion of this programme . Captain Renaudin was posthumously promoted to contre - amiral on 29 August 1794 ; he was later exchanged for the captain of HMS " Thames " , Captain James Cotes . On 10 September 1794 , Jean - Jacques Bréard declared before the Convention : In spite of these facts , the myth lived on : in his " Histoire de la révolution française " , Adolphe Thiers wrote an account repeating Barère ' s version , where " Vengeur " refused to surrender . In 1847 Alphonse de Lamartine even invented the story that Renaudin had been killed heroically , cut in half by a cannon shot like Dupetit - Thouars . Some reports however indicate that the legend was not seriously accepted : Carlyle suggests that the prevalent attitude in French knowledgeable circles was " not to a recantation of an impudent amazing falsehood , but to some vague faint murmur or whimper of admission that it is probably false " . Captain Diaz de Soria relates the story , probably apocryphal , that in 1840 , the Prince of Joinville , while decorating the purported last survivor of " Vengeur " , would have told him " we do this for the legend , my good man : nations , after all , live only of legends " . In 1857 , Guérin wrote " one wonders how , after that , history could remain so credulous " . Jules Verne ' s depiction . In " Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea " , published in 1870 , Jules Verne reported the incident with its revolutionary slant : Models . At least two models of " Vengeur du Peuple " are known . One , a scrimshaw model crafted by a prisoner of war , is on display at Vancouver Maritime Museum . The other is a 1 / 55th arsenal model realised by master Boubénec between 1951 and 1952 , under the direction of Captain Diaz de Soria . It was built from the plans of the hull and rafter of the ship , though sculptures were undocumented and had to be reconstituted from drawings . It is currently on display at the Musée de la Marine et de l ' Économie de Marseille .