Talk:French frigate Piémontaise

Unusual armament

In Naval history of Great Britain, ch.1806, by James and Chamier, p.240 the armament of the ship is given as:

This was the French 40-gun frigate Piemontaise, Captain Jacques Epron. As this ship was armed somewhat differently from her class, we will here state her force. Her maindeck guns were the customary 28 long 18-pounders; and on the quarterdeck and forecastle she mounted 10 iron, and two brass, 36-pounder carronades, two long French 8-pounders, and four long English 9-pounders. These had belonged to the British frigate Jason, having been thrown overboard by her when she grounded off Pointe de la Trenche at the capture of the Seine in June, 1798. Exclusive of her 46 carriage-guns, the Piemontaise carried swivels and musketoons in her tops and along her gunwales. In other respects, also, this French frigate was equipped in an extraordinary manner. On each fore and main yard-arm was fixed a tripod, calculated to contain a shell weighing 5 cwt. In the event of the ships getting close alongside each other, the shell, having been previously placed on the tripod, was to have its fuse lighted by a man lying out on the yard with a match in his hand : it was then to be thrown from the tripod, and, falling upon the other ship's deck, would, from its weight, pass through to the deck below. Here its explosion would scatter destruction all around ; and, in the midst of the confusion, the Frenchmen were to rush on board. These, again, were armed more like assassins than men-of-war's men; each having, besides the usual boarding weapons, a poniard stuck through the button-holes of his jacket.

114.78.78.180 (talk) 23:45, 1 November 2011 (UTC)