French brig Lodi (1797)
Lodi (or "Lody") was the Venetian Navy brig "Giasone", launched in 1795. The French captured her at Corfu in 1797. She took part in a sanguinary and inconclusive single-ship action with a British privateer shortly after her capture. She continued to serve in the Mediterranean carrying dispatches between France and Alexandria and then moved to the West Indies where she supported the French attempt to defeat the Haitian Revolution in Saint Domingue. captured her on 11 July 1803; her subsequent fate is unknown. Career. "Giasone" was a Venetian vessel, possibly originally a cutter but completed  as a brig. The French captured her at Corfu on 23 July 1797. The French initially named her "Jason", but after the Battle of Lodi they renamed her "Lodi" on 11 November 1797. "Jason" arrived at Toulon on 7 February 1798. On 12 May she was in Carthage roads, while under the command of "Enseigne de vaisseau" Sennequier. She was on a cruise between Almeria and North Africa. On 4 July 1798, "Lodi", was sailing down the Piombino Channel from Leghorn with dispatches for Napoleon Bonaparte, then at Alexandria. She encountered a British brig that attacked her and the two  vessels exchanged fire. The crew of the brig twice attempted to board "Lodi" and twice the French repelled them. The French then attempted to board the brig, and the British repelled them. The two vessels separated and continued to exchange fire, with the French succeeding in bringing down the brig's masts. Even so, the French did not capture the brig, which used sweeps to reach the neutral coast of Tuscany, where it took refuge by a fort. "Lodi", although she had retained her masts, was sufficiently damaged that she had to stop at Civita Vecchia to effect repairs. "Lodi  then continued on to Alexandria. Lodi" had lost two men killed and more than 25 sailors and soldiers wounded, including Sennequier. "Lodi" reported that she had engaged the British sloop of war "Aigle", of a "force much superior to her own". Various accounts give "Lodi"s armament as 12 guns. Sennequier was immediately promoted to the rank of "Capitaine de frégate". There was no "Aigle" or "Eagle" in the Royal Navy at the time, nor any mention of the encounter in the logbooks of any British navy vessels matching her description. A Paris newspaper later reported that on 28 July, the  British privateer brig "Acquila", under the command of Captain Colonna, of 14 guns and 57 men, had arrived at Leghorn in great distress, having engaged a French vessel on 4 July. This may have been the ship "Eagle", Captain Colin Campbell, of twelve 6-pounder guns and 317 tons (bm), which had received her letter of marque on 13 June 1797. On the night of 1 March, or the next morning, "Lodi" arrived at Alexandria. With the failure of Ganteaume's expeditions, she was one of the few French ships to penetrate the British blockade. In mid-May "Lodi" sailed  for France, taking with her General Reynier, dispatched by General Menou, the French commander in Egypt. "Lodi" reached Toulon on 12 June, bringing with her a captured British vessel with 3-4,000 quintals of wheat. In June 1799, "Lodi" sailed from Toulon, in company with "Frippone", arriving at Carthage on 24 June. There they joined Vice-Admiral Bruix's squadron, engaged in what became known as the fruitless cruise of Bruix. On 10 April 1800 was under the command of "lieutenant de vaisseau" Gastaud. She was on a round trip carrying dispatches between Toulon and Damietta. On 28 June 1801  she was under the command of "lieutenant de vaisseau" Guien. She was engaged in transporting General Reynier and dispatches from Alexandria to Nice. West Indies. Still under Guien's command, between 19 June and 13 September 1802, she sailed from Livorno to Cap-François, in the West Indies, via Malaga and Cadiz. She was escorting 13 vessels that were carrying 2,270 men of the Polish Legions. Although Napoleon wanted to put down the Haitian Revolution, he had no wish to deplete his main French army any more than he had to. On 3 November 1802 "Lodi" was under the command  of "Lieutenant de vaisseau" Lafosse. General Willaumez sent a letter to General Pierre Quantin, who was besieged at Saint-Marc, apologizing that he, Willaumez, could not spare any other vessels. At the same time, Willaumez instructed Lafosse to gather all the schooners that the captain of port Léogâne could assemble and escort them to Saint-Marc. There he was to put them at Quantin's disposal for the evacuation of the French in the town. Once the schooners were loaded, he was to escort them to Port-au-Prince. "Lodi" returned to on 13 December. At some point "Lieutenant de  vaisseau" M. Pierre Isaac Taupier replaced Lafosse. Willaumez then sent her to take up a station below Fort Bizoton. Next, he had "Lodi" take 100 men to Léogâne, to clear the rebels from the shore front. "Lodi" arrived too late to do anything immediately, but with the arrival of further reinforcements, the rebels were dispersed. General Rochambeau, the French commander-in-chief in Haiti, wrote a letter on 15 January 1803 requesting a promotion for Taupier, commander of "Lodi", and two other naval commanders, in part for their services at Léogâne. The announcement of Taupier's promotion to "Capitaine de  frégate" appeared on 26 May 1803. On 18 May, "Lodi" succeeded in intercepting three barges and 50 men between Arcahaie and Léogâne. The air was too calm for "Lodi" to be able to capture the barges, but through cannon fire she was able to force them ashore near Grand-Goâve. Capture. On 11 July 1803, "Racoon", under Commander Austin Bissell, was sailing between Guanaba and St. Domingo in the West Indies when she sighted a French naval brig anchored in Léogâne Roads. As "Racoon" sailed towards her, Bissell saw that the French had springs on their cables and were ready  to engage. "Racoon" was flying the French flag, and although he was unaware that the war had broken out again between France and Britain, the French captain was wary, rightly so as things turned out. At 2:45 p.m. "Racoon" anchored, also with springs, 30 yards from the brig. She then exchanged her French ensign for the British, and opened fire. The two vessels exchanged fire for half an hour before the French vessel cut his cables and tried to sail away. "Racoon" followed and after about another 10 minutes of fire from "Racoon", the French brig surrendered. The Frenchman was  Lodi, pierced for 20 guns but with only 10 mounted. The French had lost one man killed and 13 or 14 men wounded; "Racoon" had only one man wounded. One French account gives "Lodi"s armament as six 6-pounder guns. Whether the number was six, 10, or 12 guns, "Racoon", with 18 cannon, of which 16 were 32-pounder carronades, heavily outgunned "Lodi". Also, "Lodi"s crew numbered only 40 men, many of them ill. In all, she was not in a position to put up a strong defence. "Lodi" was among a number of British prizes that arrived at Jamaica  between 2 and 16 July.