French frigate Caroline
Caroline was a 40-gun of the French Navy, launched in 1806. She captured several small British vessels in 1807, including a 14-gun privateer. She was ordered to the Indian Ocean in 1808 for commerce raiding, arriving in 1809. During the subsequent Mauritius campaign, "Caroline" captured two East Indiamen and their valuable cargoes of trade goods in the action of 31 May 1809. The British captured "Caroline" at Île Bourbon during the Raid on Saint Paul in September 1809, renaming her HMS "Bourbonaise" as they already had a ship named "Caroline" in service. "Bourbonaise" sailed back  to Plymouth where she was held in ordinary until 1816, when she was sold for breaking up. Service history. Actions in 1807. On 30 November 1807 "Caroline" captured "Charlotte", which "Caroline" set afire and sank. A week later, on 6 December, "Caroline" captured the privateer "Caesar", which she also set on fire and sank. "Caesar" was a brig of 217 tons (bm), armed with fourteen 6-pounders and two 18-pounder carronades. Her master, Robert Harrison, had received his letter of marque on 1 January 1807. Indian Ocean mission and capture. On 12 November 1808, the French authorities sent four  new 40-gun frigates to the Indian Ocean, one of them "Caroline", under the command of Captain Jean-Baptiste Billard. "Caroline" sailed from Vlissingen in the Netherlands. " Caroline" initially patrolled with , Captain Breton, and "Iéna", under "capitaine de vaisseau" Billard. "Manche" was another of the four; she had sailed from Cherbourg. "Caroline" captured several ships, notably two East Indiamen and "Europa" on 31 May 1809, before returning to Saint-Paul. A third East Indiaman, , escaped. Prize crews took "Streatham" and "Europa" to Réunion, where the British recaptured them on 21 September. While Billard was suffering from very serious illness, "Caroline  was under the command of his first mate lieutenant de vaisseau" Feretier. He was "Caroline"s commander on 21 September when and captured her during the British Raid on Saint-Paul. HMS "Bourbonaise". She was taken into British service as HMS "Bourbonaise", there already being an in service. "Bourbonnaise" was commissioned under Captain Robert Corbett shortly after her capture. He sailed her to Plymouth, where she arrived 16 February 1810. The Admiralty paid her off and laid her up in ordinary. She never went to sea again. Fate. The Admiralty attempted to auction "Bourbonaise" at Plymouth on 18 September 1816 at  £2500, but bidding stopped at £2000. She was broken up in April 1817.