HMS Dangereuse (1799)
HMS "Dangereuse" was a tartane named "Duguay-Trouin" that the French Navy requisioned in May 1794 to serve as an aviso. The Navy renamed her "Dangereuse" either in May 1795 or on 2 March 1796. She was one of a flotilla of seven gun-vessels that Commodore Sir Sidney Smith in HMS "Tigre" took at Acre on 18 March 1799, all of which the British took into service. At capture "Dangereuse" carried six guns and had a crew of 23 men. Smith put her under the command of Lieutenant Robert William Tyte (acting). The gun-vessels were  carrying siege artillery and other siege supplies to reinforce Napoleon's troops besieging Acre. Smith immediately put the guns and supplies to use to help the denizens of the city resist the French, and the gun-vessels to harass them. Smith anchored "Tigre" and , one on each side of the town, so their broadsides could assist the defence. The gun-vessels were of shallower draft and so could come in closer. Together, they helped repel repeated French assaults. The French attacked some 40 times between 19 March and 10 May before Napoleon finally gave up. On 21 May he destroyed  his siege train and retreated back to Egypt, having lost 2,200 men dead, 1,000 to the plague. After Napoleon's failure at Acre, Smith sailed with his squadron on 12 June. He proceeded first to Beruta road, and then to Larnica road, Cyprus, in order to refit his little squadron. He and "Tigre" then departed for Constantinople; the gun-vessels remained in the theatre. "Dangereuse" next served in the Egyptian campaign of 1801 where, together with the gunboat "Janissary" and the cutter , she protected the right flank during the landing of troops in Aboukir Bay. "Dangereuse" was sold later that  same year. In 1850 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt" to claimants from the crews of the vessels that had served in the navy's Egyptian campaign between 8 March 1801 and 2 September, including "Dangereuse". Notes, citations, and references. Notes Citations References