HMS Eclipse (1804)
HMS "Eclipse" was a French Navy "Vésuve"-class "brick-canonnier" or "chaloupe-canonnière", (gunbrig) launched at Saint-Malo in 1793 as "Volage". She was renamed "Venteux" in 1795 (possibly also "Vérité" on 30 May 1795, although this might have been a second ship of the same name. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1803 and took her into service as HMS "Eagle", but then renamed her HMS "Eclipse" in 1804. She had a completely unremarkable career before the Navy sold her in 1807. French Navy. Between 23 September 1793 and 17 December, "Volage" was under the command  of "lieutenant de vaisseau" Corouge. She was stationed at Paimpol and her role was escorting convoys between Saint-Malo and Brest. Between 12 February 1794 and 11 June she was still under Corouge's command and escorting convoys between Saint-Malo and Brest. She was variously stationed at Saint-Malo Roads, Aber Wrac'h, the Chausey islands, and the Bay of Cancale. Corouge's successor, at least until 23 December 1794, was "enseigne de vaisseau" Le Gonidec. 22 March 1795 and 3 May, "Volage", under the command of now "lieutenant de vaisseau" Le Gonidec, cruised the bay of Saint-Brieuc before  returning to Saint-Malo. In May 1795, she departed Brest to transfer to Guadeloupe. In April 1798, she was based at Saint Malo and used to escort convoys. Capture: On 27 June 1803 boats from HMS "Loire" captured "Venteux" at the Île de Batz, where she was sheltering under the guns of shore batteries. The British boarded her, and though outnumbered, in a fierce 10-minute struggle succeeded in taking her over. British casualties were six men wounded, one seriously and two mortally. French casualties were three men killed, one of them her second captain. "Venteux" also had the captain  ("lieutenant de vaisseau" François-Gilles Montfort), her four remaining officers, and eight seamen wounded. In 1847 the Admiralty recognized the action with the clasp "27 June Boat Service 1803" to the Naval General Service Medal, awarded to all surviving claimants from the action. Royal Navy. The Royal Navy took "Venteux" in as HMS "Eagle". She underwent fitting between June 1803 and March 1804 at Plymouth. She was commissioned under Lieutenant George Samuel Harris in September 1803. In February 1804 the Navy launched a new 74-gun ship that it named . As the Navy preferred not to have two vessels with  the same name, it renamed the brig "Eclipse". In August Lieutenant George Norton recommissioned "Eclipse". In 1805 she may have been under the command of George Price. When HMS "Pigmy" was wrecked at Saint Aubin, Jersey, on 9 August 1805, "Eclipse" was one of the Royal Navy vessels whose boats took off "Pigmy"s crew. "Eclipse" went into Ordinary at Portsmouth in 1807. Fate. The "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered "His Majesty's Gun-Brig Eclipse, lying at Portsmouth" for sale on 2 April 1807. She sold there in April. Notes, citations, and references. Notes Citations  References