1. Robert Surcouf then captained the merchantman Emilie, on which he engaged in commerce raiding despite lacking a letter of marque.
42 Facts About Robert Surcouf
1. 2.
Robert Surcouf preyed on British shipping, capturing several merchantmen including the East Indiaman Triton, before returning to the Isle de France where his prizes were confiscated.
3.
Robert Surcouf then returned to France, where he obtained prize money from the government.
4.
Robert Surcouf captured the East Indiaman Kent on 7 October 1800.
5.
Robert Surcouf briefly returned to the Indian Ocean in 1807 on the corvette Revenant before returning to France.
6.
Robert Surcouf's privateers led campaigns against British trade in the Indian Ocean and the English Channel.
7.
Robert Surcouf died in 1827 and was buried in Saint-Malo.
8.
On his mother's side, Robert Surcouf was a distant relative of Rene Duguay-Trouin.
9.
Robert Surcouf enlisted as a helmsman on the French Royal Navy's 20-gun fluyt Bienvenue, under Lieutenant Haumont, bound for France.
10.
Robert Surcouf then decided to sail to the Mergui Archipelago to load a rice cargo.
11.
Robert Surcouf attacked and captured them, finding the merchantmen to be carrying rice.
12.
Robert Surcouf then sent Emilie, under Lieutenant Croizet, together with his prizes, to Isle de France.
13.
The next day, Cartier met a 26-gun Indiaman, Triton, armed with 12-pounders and a 150-man crew; having decided to attack, and recognising only too late the overwhelming superiority of his opponent, Robert Surcouf, feeling threatened and unable to flee, decided to board her with his 26 men.
14.
In early 1798, after 14 months in Paris, Robert Surcouf took command of Clarisse, a 14-gun privateer brig armed with four 12-pounders, ten 8-pounders, and manned by a 120-strong complement.
15.
In early 1799, Robert Surcouf sailed to the city of Susoh in Aceh, on Sumatra, where he found two 20-gun merchantmen anchored in the harbour, in the process of loading pepper; Clarisse dropped anchor close by and opened fire, after which Robert Surcouf sent his older brother Nicolas to head a 20-man board party on Clarisses boats and board the largest of the ships, while he boarded her with Clarisse from the opposite side; assaulted from two sides, she surrendered after a 30-minute battle.
16.
En route, he met the fellow French privateer Malartic, under Jean Dutertre; soon after, the privateers met a British frigate, 38-gun frigate HMS Sybille, which gave chase and which Robert Surcouf managed to outsail by throwing eight guns overboard, along with various other implements.
17.
Nicolas Robert Surcouf led a 30-man boarding party to seize Louisa, while Mercury escaped.
18.
Nicolas Robert Surcouf took a prize crew and sailed Louisa back to Port Louis.
19.
In May 1800, Robert Surcouf took command of Confiance, a fast 18-gun brig from Bordeaux, with a 150-man complement; the competition with Dutertre for the captainship of Confiance almost degenerated into a duel, and Governor Malartic had to intervene to prevent it, stating that such a confrontation would be "an English victory".
20.
The sailor and painter Ambroise Louis Garneray, future biographer of Robert Surcouf, enlisted at this time.
21.
Robert Surcouf then steered for Ganjam, where he captured three smaller ships.
22.
Kent had rescued the crew of another ship, Queen, destroyed by fire, and therefore had an exceptionally large complement of 437 men, including her passengers; 300 of them were soldiers and sailors; Robert Surcouf managed to board his larger opponent and, after over an hour and a half of battle across the decks of the ship, seize control of the Kent.
23.
The privateers were then granted one hour of free pillaging on Kent before Robert Surcouf restored order; however, the female passengers were strictly protected and sentries were placed in front of their apartments.
24.
The first officer of Confiance, Joachim Drieux, was sent on Kent with a 60-man prize crew, while her passengers were released on a merchantman that Robert Surcouf stopped a few days later.
25.
Robert Surcouf eventually arrived at La Rochelle on 13 April 1801.
26.
Hennequin states that Bonaparte himself offered him the rank of Captain and the command of two frigates, which Robert Surcouf declined for fear of losing his freedom of action, and awarded him a Sabre of honour.
27.
Robert Surcouf was awarded the Legion of Honour at the founding of the Order, on 19 May 1802.
28.
Around 1805, Robert Surcouf started to arm privateers in Saint-Malo in partnership with his father-in-law Louis Blaize de Maisonneuve, notably Caroline which captured four ships in the Indian Ocean under Nicolas Robert Surcouf; Marsouin; and Confiance, which took two prizes under Joseph Potier.
29.
On 9 March 1807, while en route, off Madeira, Revenant captured the British slave ship Aun, of sixteen 12-pounders, recently departed from Liverpool, which Robert Surcouf let go for a ransom, after throwing her guns overboard, wetting her gunpowder and destroying some of her sails.
30.
Robert Surcouf sent these with prize crews to Isle de France, and then returned himself on 31 January 1808.
31.
Robert Surcouf then gave command of Revenant to his first officer, Joseph Potier.
32.
Robert Surcouf was renamed Iena, and commissioned under Lieutenant Morice, with Lieutenant de vaisseau Albin Roussin as second officer.
33.
Robert Surcouf had an altercation with Decaen but had to renounce his ship.
34.
From 1809, Robert Surcouf went into business as ship-owner, and over the years, he equipped a number of privateers: Auguste, under Pelletier; Dorade; Biscayenne; Edouard; Espadon; Ville-de-Caen; Adolphe and his last, Renard, under Leroux.
35.
Robert Surcouf dispatched Fantome to Isle de France in the Indian Ocean on her first voyage where the brig took three prizes but was captured by the British in 1810 and commissioned into British service as HMS Fantome.
36.
In January 1814, Robert Surcouf was made a colonel in the National Guard of Saint-Malo.
37.
Robert Surcouf resigned after the Battle of Waterloo and became a merchant, arming 19 merchantmen and establishing business with Newfoundland.
38.
Between 1814 and 1827, Robert Surcouf organised over 116 commercial expeditions.
39.
In 1815, Robert Surcouf engaged in the slave trade, commissioning the ship Africain to transport enslaved Africans from Gabon.
40.
Robert Surcouf died on 8 July 1827, and was buried in Saint-Malo graveyard with military honours.
41.
Robert Surcouf is in the tomb forever asleep Seamen are deprived of their father.
42.
The fourth Robert Surcouf was a large fleet escort destroyer, which was severely damaged in a collision with a Soviet ship, and the fifth is a modern stealth frigate, one of the first stealth combat ships.