Blanche, The

DESCRIPTION: The British frigate Blanche encounters the French frigate Le Picque. Although their Captain Faulknor is killed they repel a boarding party and capture the French frigate.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1820 (broadside, Bodleian Curzon b.17(98))
KEYWORDS: battle death sea ship England France
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Jan 4-5, 1795 - The British frigate Blanche captures the French frigate Pique (source: "HMS Pique (1795)" at Wikipedia site, accessed Sep 11, 2012).
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Dixon-AncientPoemsBalladsSongsOfThePeasantryOfEngland, Song #39, pp. 237-239, "The Tars of the Blanche" (1 text)
Pakmer-Sea 73, "The Tars of the Blanche" (1 text)
Roud #4583
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Curzon b.17(98), "The Blanch" ("You Frenchmen don't boast of your fighting "), J. Pitts (London), 1802-1819; also Harding B 25(208), Harding B 17(27b), Firth c.13(49), Harding B 16(26a), Harding B 11(314), Harding B 16(26b), Firth c.13(50), "The Blanch"; Harding B 11(1515), Johnson Ballads 283 [many words illegible], Harding B 25(1885), Harding B 11(3739), Harding B 11(3740), Firth c.13(48), "The Tars of the Blanch"; 2806 c.18(28)[some words illegible], Harding B 11(315) [lacking a few verses], "[The] Blanch Frigate"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bold Adventures of Captain Ross" (tune)
NOTES [157 words]: I faintly suspect a relationship (thematic rather than textual) between this and "The Flash Frigate," which Shay thinks is about La Pique. But I have no evidence.
If it seems odd to see so many ships with French names in the British navy, the British would generally keep a French ship's name after capturing it. The British fleet had a lot of French-sounding ships in the Napoleonic era.
There is a fairly famous print of this that has some details about the fight: "The situation of His Mtys. Ship Blanche, of 32 Guns & 180 Men, & the French Frigate La Pique, of 40 Guns & 400 Men, at a quarter past 5 o'Clock in the Morning, about a quarter of an hour before the Pique surrendered, having been towed in that way near 3 hours and a half, and having made frequent attempts to board the Blanche without success." It is said to have been "Published by Js. Bretherton, 1 January 1797. Hand-coloured aquatint by C. Rosenberg after Orde." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.4
File: DixP039

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