HMS Iphigenia was a Royal Navy 36-gun Perseverance-class fifth-rate frigate. She was built at Chatham Dockyard by Master Shipwright Robert Seppings.
HMS Iphigenia at the Battle of Grand Port
The Battle of Grand Port; Iphigenia is first from the left. By Pierre Julien Gilbert.
Africaine in French service
Cape Coast Castle
The Battle of Grand Port was a naval battle fought on 20–27 August 1810 between squadrons of frigates from the French Navy and the British Royal Navy over possession of the harbour of Grand Port on Île de France, as part of the Mauritius campaign during the Napoleonic Wars. A British squadron of four frigates sought to blockade the port to prevent its use by the French through the capture of the fortified Île de la Passe at its entrance. This position was seized by a British landing party on 13 August and, when a French squadron under Captain Guy-Victor Duperré approached the bay nine days later, the British commander, Captain Samuel Pym, decided to lure them into coastal waters where his forces could ambush them.
Combat de Grand Port, Pierre-Julien Gilbert
The French squadron at Grand Port. From left to right: Bellone, Minerve, Victor (background), and Ceylon, detail from Combat de Grand Port by Pierre-Julien Gilbert.
Detail from Combat de Grand Port by Pierre-Julien Gilbert. Visible from left to right: HMS Iphigenia (seen striking her colours), HMS Magicienne and HMS Sirius being set on fire by their crews, HMS Nereide surrendering, French frigate Bellone, Minerve, Victor (in the background), and Ceylon. Many of the details shown in the painting did not happen simultaneously, but were spread over several days.
Grand Port in 2007. The memorial to the battle is in the centre.