Friday, November 4, 2011

HMS Confiance

The HMS Confiance was Captain George Downie's flag ship on September 11, 1814.  It was surrendered to the American forces in the aftermath of the Battle of Plattsburgh.

Configuration of the Confiance:
Type: Fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen: 831 bm
Propulsion: Sail
Armament: • 30 × 24-pounder guns
• 6 × 32-pounder carronades
• 1 × 24-pounder gun (on pivot mount)

For all intents and purposes, the vessel was still unfinished at the time of the battle, with some workmen, including riggers and carpenters, still laboring on her completion right up to the days before.

 From Shipwrecks of lake Champlain...:

...a brief article (1873)... describes the destruction by explosives of a hull identified as Confiance.

A ...sonar survey of the Whitehall area in 1982 did not turn up any large wrecks in the vicinity of the Poultney River's mouth, and a 1995 Lake Champlain Maritime Museum diver survey of the wreck site shown on the 1839 map revealed only a clean lake bottom. Thus, it is likely that Confiance, the largest warship ever built on Lake Champlain, no longer exists.

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