French 6-pdr Corvette 'La Perdrix' 1784 (with Plans)

[LeBoiteux]

La Perdrix

(translation : The Partridge)

(Sister ships : La Fauvette, La Favorite, L'Alouette, 1783-1785)

French 6-pdr Corvette

1784

20 guns

Lower-deck plan

Upper-deck plan

 

Built by the baron Bombelle in Rochefort.

Armament : 20 x 6-pdr

Dimensions : 

• Length from rabbet of stern to rabbet of sternpost at the load waterline : 112'
• Breadth overall to outside of frame : 28'
• Depth in hold from top of the keel to the line of the deck at the middle line : 14.3'

Sources :

Boudriot, Historique de la Corvette, p. 30.

http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/83408.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_corvette_Perdrix_(1784)

https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=15289

 

Thx to @Malachi

Edited October 25, 2017 by LeBoiteux

[LeBoiteux]

Proposal for a similar and contemporary French Corvette 

by baron Bombelle

1782

20 x 6-pdr

Dimensions (pieds du Roi) : 

• Length from rabbet of stern to rabbet of sternpost at the load waterline : 112'
• Breadth overall to outside of frame : 28'
• Depth in hold from top of the keel to the line of the deck at the middle line : 14' 3"

 

Source : Boudriot, Historique de la Corvette, p. 24-25

Edited October 25, 2017 by LeBoiteux

[Captain Armstrong]

Thanks for posting! Bombelle seems to have had a knack for getting ships built to the dimensions and tonnage to carry much heavier armaments than they were officially intended for! The 24pdr armed Pomone was originally launched as a 12pdr frigate, and the Perdrix was ever so slightly larger (4 inches wider and 2 tons heavier)  than the later successful design of 9pdr corvette, the Bonne Citoyenne:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonne_Citoyenne-class_corvette 

[LeBoiteux]

6 hours ago, Captain Armstrong said:

Bombelle seems to have had a knack for getting ships built to the dimensions and tonnage to carry much heavier armaments than they were officially intended for! The 24pdr armed Pomone was originally launched as a 12pdr frigate, and the Perdrix was ever so slightly larger (4 inches wider and 2 tons heavier)  than the later successful design of 9pdr corvette, the Bonne Citoyenne:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonne_Citoyenne-class_corvette 

If I ain't mistaken, dimensions in pieds du Roi :

• 6-pdr light frigate La Panthère (1744, 20 guns) : 108'0" x 28'6" x 14'2"
• 6-pdr light frigate La Subtile (1777, 20 guns) : 110' x 28' x 14'6"
• 6-pdr corvette Perdrix (1784, 20 guns) by Bombelle : 112' x 28' x 14.3'
• 6-pdr (or 8-pdr ?) corvette La Babet (1793, 20 guns) by Coulomb : 112' x 28,6' x 14,4' 
• 8-pdr corvette Le Berceau (1794, 22 guns) by Sané : 113' x 28' x 14,2'
• 8-pdr corvette L'Unité (1794, 24 guns) by Forfait : 117,9' x 29,2' x 14,4'
• 8-pdr corvette La Victorieuse (1794, 20 guns) by Sané : 120' x 30' x 15,5'

Length :

• from rabbet of stern to rabbet of sternpost at the load waterline for Bombelle's ships
• between perpendiculars for the others

Edited October 26, 2017 by LeBoiteux

[Captain Armstrong]

You're taking the dimensions of the 1782 plan as those of the Perdrix? The as captured dimensions in imperial feet were 118'5.5" x 31"4.5"(31'9.5" moulded) x 9'. the dimensions of the 1782 proposal convert to the following imperial feet: 119.364' x 29.841' x 15.187'. I think the Brits likely measured depth in hold, whereas the French measurement is draught.  The length is as close as some sister ships, but the width I think was slightly increased for the final design- otherwise there would need to be nearly 1.5 feet of planking outside of the frames on each side.

 

Source: https://books.google.com/books?id=Ge8kCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT364&lpg=PT364&dq=corvette+perdrix+french+winfield&source=bl&ots=fLghLtHgdY&sig=9lrRtVIlD40fCFVQTcnxo3j31uo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiz7P2dvpTXAhWGxIMKHT2YCqIQ6AEISTAI#v=onepage&q=corvette perdrix french winfield&f=false

[LeBoiteux]

11 hours ago, Captain Armstrong said:

You're taking the dimensions of the 1782 plan as those of the Perdrix?

Nope. I take the dimensions of La Perdrix given by J. Boudriot (in pieds du Roi) that are actually identical to those the 1782 proposal.

The dimensions I posted allow comparaison between those ships (that's what I thought matters to you ) as :

• they have been taken by the same man, J. Boudriot
• in the same unit (French XVIII-th century feet) 
• following the same methods  (length from rabbet to rabbet, between perpendiculars),
• these methods allow comparaison. I don't know about the dimensions you take, but I've noticed that threedecks.org, for example, use "length of gundeck". Not a perfect measure for length comparaison. For example, two sister ships with the same length between perpendiculars might have different length of gundeck if they don't carry the same number of guns.  

NB : dimensions are taken from the plans that are available (French or British).

11 hours ago, Captain Armstrong said:

I think the Brits likely measured depth in hold, whereas the French measurement is draught. 

I don't know. Dimensions above don't come from the French Archives but from Boudriot who usually uses "depth in hold from top of the keel to the line of the deck at the middle line".

Edited October 29, 2017 by LeBoiteux

[Malachi]

That deck is the upper deck, though, not the gundeck the British used for depth in hold. The French measured dih from the upper surface of the keel (including the rabbet line) to the lower surface of the deck beams at the maitre couples.  

And there are a lot of ways to define the perpendiculars, LeBoiteux already described the most common (outside of stern post to outside of stem post). But I've seen quite a few French drawings which used the intersection of the LWL and the rabbet lines (without plank thickness).  

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard]

Nice name for a ship

[Malachi]

17 hours ago, Captain Armstrong said:

You're taking the dimensions of the 1782 plan as those of the Perdrix? The as captured dimensions in imperial feet were 118'5.5" x 31"4.5"(31'9.5" moulded) x 9'. the dimensions of the 1782 proposal convert to the following imperial feet: 119.364' x 29.841' x 15.187'. I think the Brits likely measured depth in hold, whereas the French measurement is draught.  The length is as close as some sister ships, but the width I think was slightly increased for the final design- otherwise there would need to be nearly 1.5 feet of planking outside of the frames on each side.

 

Source: https://books.google.com/books?id=Ge8kCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT364&lpg=PT364&dq=corvette+perdrix+french+winfield&source=bl&ots=fLghLtHgdY&sig=9lrRtVIlD40fCFVQTcnxo3j31uo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiz7P2dvpTXAhWGxIMKHT2YCqIQ6AEISTAI#v=onepage&q=corvette perdrix french winfield&f=false

 

I think there´s a typo in British Warships, the breadth moulded can´t be greater than breadth extreme. 30' 9,5'' would make more sense,  3,5 '' of plank thickness sounds about right.