As the Union, built in Le Havre in 1794, she is a light cruiser equipped with 24 8-pounder long-range artillery. She was captured by the British frigate (three-masted fast ship) Inconstant in the Mediterranean (April 1796, in the neutral country of Bona, present-day Annaba, Algeria), and was renamed Surprise (because there was already a Union ship). NS). (The British Royal Navy’s tradition is to capture enemy ships and never change their names in order to show off their achievements and humiliate the enemy, except in special circumstances such as the Marvel.) Her cable was removed and re-armed as a battleship with 28 artillery. Integrate and classify. In fact, the Marvel’s main deck is equipped with 24 32-pounder cannons, eight 32-pounder cannons on the rear deck, and four 6-pounder long-range cannons on the front deck. This made her difficult to classify. She was considered a Tier 5 warship until 1798 when she was reclassified as Tier 6 warship.
Under the command of Captain Edward Hamilton, she sailed to Jamaica in July 1796. The glorious moment in her life was when she dared to kill the frigate Hermione on October 24, 1799. All the sailors of the Hermione mutiny, killing their commander Captain Pict and their officers. This warship surrendered to France's ally Spain. She docked in the harbor of Puerto Cabello (in present-day Venezuela) protected by a coastal battery equipped with about 200 artillery. Under the leadership of Captain Hamilton, the small boat of the Marvel, risking being detected and bombarded by patrol gunboats, boarded the fully guarded Hermione, cleared the resistance on the deck, and drove her away. come out. Their loss was 12 injuries. Spain suffered 119 people killed and 97 injured. Captain Hamilton was awarded a knight, and the Hermione returned to the naval array.
In February 1802, Surprise returned to England and was sold in Deptford.
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