HMS Lively (1756) - Capture and Re-capture

Capture and Re-capture

In March 1777 Captain Robert Biggs recommissioned Lively. On 10 July 1778 Lively, having escorted an ordnance sloop to Guernsey, then proceeded to sail to meet Admiral Keppel's fleet off Ushant. In the morning, as the fog lifted, she found herself near the French fleet, under Louis Guillouet, comte d'Orvilliers. The French cutter Curieuse, of 10 guns and under the command of Captain Trolong du Rumain, chased Lively and ordered her to lie to, which order Biggs declined. However, the 32-gun Iphigénie, Captain Kersaint de Coëtnempren, came up and and ordered Biggs to sail Lively to the French admiral. Biggs was still arguing when Iphigénie fired a broadside. The broadside killed 12 British sailors; thereupon, Biggs struck.

The French Navy took Lively into service. In January-February 1779 she was part of a squadron, together with Résolue, under Admiral Vaudreuil that captured Fort St Louis in Senegal from the British. The troops were under the command of the Duc de Lauzun.

Lively then sailed to the Caribbean. In June 1779 she was the lead ship in a small flotilla sent from Martinique to capture British-controlled Saint Vincent.

On 29 July 1781, Captain Skeffington Lutwidge's Perseverance recaptured Lively, which was under the command of Lieutenant de Breignon. Lively put up a short, desperate defense during which she had six men killed and 10 wounded, one whom died later. Lively was on her return from Cayenne, had been at sea for 53 days, and ten days earlier had captured the Rosemount and the Katherine, which had been sailing from Cork. In capturing Lively, Perseverance recaptured the two brigs. Lively had also been in company with the corvette Hirondelle, which however escaped. Thirty-two vessels of the British fleet shared the prize money, which was declared on 17 August 1782.

By September 1781 Lively was off Sandy Hook, with Admiral Robert Digby's squadron. By 14 November Lively, under Captain Manley, had returned to Britain with dispatches from Rear-Admiral Thomas Graves.

On 3 October 1782, Lively captured the sloop Charles, laden with stock and sailing to Turks Island.