Le Séduisant ➡ 1793 Pelletier ➡ 1795 Séduisant

Posted by Jon Miller on Thursday 11th of June 2026 09:47

On Saturday evening, Lieutenant Talbot, of the navy, arrived at te Admiralty from Cork, with the important intelligence, that the French fleet, consisting of eight ships of the line, two armed en flute, three frigates, and four other vessels, in all seventeen, had made their appearance, in Bantry Bay, on the southern coast of Ireland, where they remained three days, (from the 24th to the 27th of December,) and then from boisterous weather, were obliged to work out to sea again. A boat, with a sub-lieutenant and six or seven men, in passing from one ship to another, was driven on shore, and the crew made prisoners. They were conveyed to Dublin and there examined as to the design of the expedition. From these men the accounts collected were, that the ships made part of the fleet which sailed from Brest - that they had lost one ship on comping out of the last port – that they they had suffered a great deal of boisterous weather, by which, and the extensive fogs, the fleet had separated, and they were driven in very great distress, into this bay, which was heightened by the multitudes on board, which, however, was not the place of their destination.
The French ship lost going out of Brest, was the Seduisant, of 74 guns: she went upon a rock called the Bec a Uras, near Brest. The crew of the Seduisant were not saved. Of the 1200 men of whom it consisted, all perished, with the exception of between 55 to 60. Dufossey, captain of the Seduisant, was one of the unfortunate victims of the shipwreck. [Hampshire Chronicle, 7 January 1797]