French frigate Cléopâtre The Cléopâtre was a 32 - gun " Vénus " class frigate of the French Navy . She was designed by Jacques - Noël Sané , and had a coppered hull . She was launched in 1781 , but the British captured her in 1793 . She then served the Royal Navy as HMS " Oiseau " until she was broken up in 1816 . French career and capture . She took part in the taking of Cuddalore in 1782 . On 19 June 1793 , as she sailed off Guernsey under " Lieutenant de vaisseau " Mullon , she encountered , under Captain Edward Pellew . During the short but sharp action , " Cléopâtre " lost her mizenmast and wheel , and the ship , being unmanageable , fell foul of the " Nymphe " . The British then boarded and captured her in a fierce rush . Mullon , mortally wounded , died while trying to swallow his commission , which , in his dying agony , he had mistaken for the vessel ' s secret signals . Pellew then sent the signals to the Admiralty . In the battle " Nymphe " had 23 men killed and 27 wounded . Pellew estimated the number of French casualties at about 60 . " Cléopâtre " was the first frigate taken in the war . In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp " Nymphe 18 June 1793 " to the four surviving claimants from the action . British career . The Royal Navy commissioned her as HMS " Oiseau " in September 1793 under Captain Robert Murray . On 18 May 1794 he sailed her from Plymouth to Halifax in a squadron commanded by Rear - Admiral George Murray . In June 1794 " Oiseau " and seized fourteen French vessels of a convoy of 25 , all loaded with flour , naval stores , beef , and pork . The vessels were American - owned and sailed from Hampton Roads with two sets of papers , one set showing the cargo going to England and the other giving their destination as France . The British sent the vessels into Halifax . In July , " Argonaut " , " Oiseau " , , and captured the " Potowmac " and the " True Republican " . On 8 January 1795 , " Argonaut " captured the French Republican warship " Esperance " on the North America Station . " Esperance " was armed with 22 guns ( 4 and 6 - pounders ) , and had a crew of 130 men . She was under the command of " Lieutenant de Vaisseau " De St . Laurent and had been out 56 days from Rochfort , bound for the Chesapeake . " Argonaut " shared the prize money with " Oiseaux " . Because she was captured in good order and sailed well , Rear Admiral Murray put a British crew aboard and sent " Esperance " out on patrol with " Lynx " on 31 January . In 1798 , " Oiseau " served in the Indian Ocean , where she captured the French " Réunion " on 1 September . On 21 April 1799 her boats went into Saint Denis on the Íle de Bourbon and cut out two merchant vessels , the " Denree " , which had a cargo of bale goods and coffee , and the " Augustine " , which had a cargo of rum and arrack . " Augustine " was lost in St . Augustine ' s Bay . On Monday , 26 January 1801 , at 8 . 00 a . m . , at , " Oiseux " , under Captain Samuel Hood Linzee fell in with and chased " Dédaigneuse " , which was bound from Cayenne to Rochefort with despatches . By noon the following day , with Cape Finisterre in sight , Captain Linzee signaled to and , which were in sight , to join the pursuit . " Dédaigneuse " maintained her lead until 2 . 00 a . m . on the 28th when came within small arms range . " Dédaigneuse " opened fire from her stern - chasers , and the two British ships returned fire . After a running fight of 45 minutes , two miles off shore near Cape Bellem , fire primarily from " Sirius " had cut " Dédaigneuse " s running rigging and sails ) . She had also suffered casualties with several men having been killed , and 17 wounded , including her Captain and fifth Lieutenant . She then struck her colours . Unfavourable winds kept " Amethyst " , from getting up before " Dédaigneuse " had struck . " Sirius " was the only British ship to sustain any damage ( rigging , sails , main - yard and bowsprit ) in the encounter and there were no fatalities on the English side . Captain Linzee declared the encounter a long and anxious chase of 42 hours and acknowledged a gallant resistance on the part of " Dédaigneuse " . At the time of the encounter she was armed with twenty - eight 12 - pounder guns . Linzee described her as " a perfect new Frigate , Copper fastened and sails well . . . " . He sent her into Plymouth with a prize crew under the command of his first lieutenant , H . Lloyd . The Admiralty took " Dédaigneuse " into the Royal Navy under the same name HMS " Dedaigneuse " . On 28 January , along with HMS " Sirius " , she captured 3 French frigates off Ferrol . On 16 September 1800 , " Oiseau " , and the cutter " Fly " captured the " Neptunus " when she was going into Havre de Grace . The next day " Wolverine " brought " Neptunus " into Portsmouth , together with her cargo of naval stores that Wight had captured Fate . In June 1806 " Oiseau " was commissioned under Lieutenant Walter Kennedy as a prison hulk at Portsmouth . In 1812 Lieutenant William Needham succeeded Kennedy . She was laid up in December , but then lent to the Transport Board . In 1814 she was under the command of Lieutenant John Bayby Harrison . She was then put in ordinary in 1815 . " Oiseau " was advertised for sale on 2 September 1816 , and sold for breaking up to a Mr . Rundle for £1500 on 18 September .