Qualla: HMS Blanche (1800) https://qualla.com/hms-blanche-1800 en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:13 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/e/9/1/hms-blanche-1800-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: HMS Blanche (1800) https://qualla.com/hms-blanche-1800 HMS Blanche (1800): Introduction https://qualla.com/hms-blanche-1800/ Photo credit Louis-Philippe Crépin, Public domain. On the morning of 19 July 1805, Captain Zachary Mudge mistook four French warships for a friendly British convoy and sailed toward them. By the time he realized his error, it was too late to run. HMS Blanche had lost almost all her copper sheathing over nine months of hard Caribbean service, and her fouled hull could not outpace the French frigate Topaze bearing down on her. Within forty-five minutes the battle was over, eight of Blanche's crew were dead, and the ship herself was sinking. The French set her ablaze that evening rather than try to save her. A week later, the American schooner Sally found Blanche's mainmast floating on the open ocean, a battle ensign still visible beneath the waves -- a small, defiant flag marking the grave of a ship whose five-year career had taken her from the frozen waters off Copenhagen to the sun-bleached Caribbean.

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Image: Louis-Philippe Crépin | Public domain

]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/e/9/1/hms-blanche-1800-wp/de91-hms-blanche-1800-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full HMS Blanche (1800): Baptism at Copenhagen https://qualla.com/hms-blanche-1800/ Photo credit Louis-Philippe Crépin, Public domain. Blanche was built at Deptford Dockyard, launched on 2 October 1800, and commissioned under Captain Graham Hamond that November. She was an Apollo-class frigate, 145 feet along the upper deck, carrying thirty-six guns and a crew of 264. Her class was prized for speed and balance -...

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Image: Louis-Philippe Crépin | Public domain

]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/e/9/1/hms-blanche-1800-wp/de91-hms-blanche-1800-baptism-at-copenhagen.mp3 0:06 2 full HMS Blanche (1800): A Midshipman, a Stomach Wound, and Thirty Seasick Soldiers https://qualla.com/hms-blanche-1800/ Photo credit Louis-Philippe Crépin, Public domain. In late 1803, under Captain Mudge, Blanche sailed to the West Indies to join the Blockade of Saint-Domingue. The Caribbean service produced episodes that read like fiction. Off Monte Christi on the night of 3-4 November, Marine Lieutenant Edward Nicolls was sent with just thirtee...

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Image: Louis-Philippe Crépin | Public domain

]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/e/9/1/hms-blanche-1800-wp/de91-hms-blanche-1800-a-midshipman-a-stomach-wound-and-thirty-seasick-so.mp3 0:06 3 full HMS Blanche (1800): The Privateer Hunter https://qualla.com/hms-blanche-1800/ Photo credit Louis-Philippe Crépin, Public domain. Blanche's Caribbean service was not all confusion and comedy. In a single month off San Domingo, Mudge captured or destroyed twenty-four vessels, effectively severing communications between the blockaded islands. An attempted invasion of Curacao in early 1804 ended badly -- sickn...

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Image: Louis-Philippe Crépin | Public domain

]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/e/9/1/hms-blanche-1800-wp/de91-hms-blanche-1800-the-privateer-hunter.mp3 0:06 4 full HMS Blanche (1800): Forty-Five Minutes North of Puerto Rico https://qualla.com/hms-blanche-1800/ Photo credit Louis-Philippe Crépin, Public domain. Blanche was carrying dispatches from Jamaica to Barbados for Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson when the French found her at daybreak on 19 July 1805, a hundred miles north of Puerto Rico. Captain Francois-Andre Baudin commanded the 40-gun frigate Topaze, the 22-gun sloop Departement des L...

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Image: Louis-Philippe Crépin | Public domain

]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/e/9/1/hms-blanche-1800-wp/de91-hms-blanche-1800-forty-five-minutes-north-of-puerto-rico.mp3 0:06 5 full HMS Blanche (1800): A Contested Legacy https://qualla.com/hms-blanche-1800/ Photo credit Louis-Philippe Crépin, Public domain. Mudge was court-martialed at Plymouth that October and honourably acquitted, with Rear-Admiral John Sutton praising the defense of the outnumbered ship. But naval historian William James told a different story. He noted that Mudge had greatly exaggerated the strength of his oppon...

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Image: Louis-Philippe Crépin | Public domain

]]> Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/e/9/1/hms-blanche-1800-wp/de91-hms-blanche-1800-a-contested-legacy.mp3 0:06 6 full