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>Hi, > >I have come across confusing information, and was >hoping that someone could help me, or at least point >me in the right direction. > >First of all, the real America. The only American 74 >of the Revolution. The official draught is well >published, but it appears that Hackett either changed >the design or provided his own. Chappelle provides as >built dimensions, but does not completely trust them. >However, the ship was given to the French, and served >in the French Navy for a couple of years. Did the >French record her dimensions? Record her lines? Any >other reports on her? > >Now for the confusion. The Continental Navy built a >32 gun frigate at Newburyport, the Hancock. She was >captured by the British, renamed the Iris, had her >dimensions and lines recorded by the British. She was >captured by the French in 1781. She was either 1) >taken into the navy, eventually becoming a powder hulk >at Toulon, and blown up when the British abandoned >Toulon in 1793; or 2) taken into the navy, sold out in >1783, required in 1792 to be converted into a mortar >vessel and burned at Toulon when the British left in >1793. Alternative 1 is almost anyone who compiles a >history of the Hancock, while 2 is per Rif Winfield >(British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1714 -1792). > >However, Boudriot in his History of the French >Frigate, 1650 - 1850 lists an Iris, built at Toulon in >1781 and burned at Toulon in 1793. She was designed >by Coulomb as one of a class of 15 (Boudriot, though >he only lists 10 by name) or 12 (Winfield) frigates. >Winfield (in his British Warships in the Age of Sail, >1793 - 1817) in his class notes for the Magicienne >class of captured French frigates mentions the Iris as >part of the class, and as being burned at Toulon in >1793. Boudriot also gives a body plan of the class, >which has no relation whatsoever to the Hancock, and >dimensions which also differ. > >So was the ex Hancock Iris taken into the French Navy? > Was her name changed yet again? Were there two >Iris’s in the French Navy from 1781 to 1786, and again >from 1792 to 1793 (or from 1781 to 1793)? Are the two >ships being confused, or were both destroyed at Toulon? > >Any help would be very much appreciated, > >Carl

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