HMS Nymphe v. Cléopâtre - Roy Cross RSMA

An Historic Encounter

It is the 18th of June 1793, and the 32-gun frigate Nymphe captained by Edward Pellew had left Falmouth on the 17th in an attempt to encounter the French frigate known to be in the vicinity.  Early next morning a sail was sighted and proved to be the Frenchman Cléopâtre, which accommodatingly waited for Nymphe to come up.

A hot action followed during which part of Cléopâtre's mizzen mast and her wheel were shot away.  After the assault from a boarding party from Nymphe, the Frenchman's colours were hauled down and she was escorted into Plymouth as a prize.  She was bought into the Royal Navy as the Oiseau (36 guns).  HMS Nymphe was herself the captured French La Nymphe built at Brest in 17877 and taken by HMS Flora in 1780.