Général Ernouf
Privateer Schooner · France · Lost 1809 · The Lesser Antilles
One of four French privateers named for Guadeloupe's governor, this schooner was destroyed under her own shore battery rather than let two Royal Navy sloops take her as a prize.
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The Vessel and Her Loss
Général Ernouf was one of at least four Napoleonic-era French privateers from Guadeloupe to carry the name, honoring colonial governor Jean Augustin Ernouf. This particular schooner was cornered on 16 October 1809 by HMS Hazard and HMS Pelorus while moored under the protection of a shore battery at St. Marie, on Guadeloupe's southern coast. French accounts state her crew scuttled her to deny the British a prize; Hazard's captain instead reported sending a boarding party that put her to the torch. Either way, the privateer never sailed again.
Vessel
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- Wood
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- Sail, schooner rig
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Loss
- October 16, 1809
- Intentional sinking
- Under the battery of St. Marie, east coast of southern Guadeloupe
- Caribbean Sea
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The Wreck Today
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Position
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- Position not established
- Sainte-Marie, Guadeloupe
General area (St. Marie battery, east coast of Guadeloupe) is named in British after-action accounts but no surveyed position is known.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Partially documented (55/100)
The precise wreck position, and whether she was scuttled by her crew or burned by a British boarding party, are not settled in the sources reviewed.
Wikipedia, citing Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail
Identity, date and circumstances of loss, ships involved.
