Action of 13 January 1797
The action of 13 January 1797 was a minor naval battle fought between a French ship of the line and two British frigates off the coast of Brittany during the French Revolutionary Wars. During the action the frigates outmanoeuvred the much larger French vessel and drove it onto shore in heavy seas, resulting in the deaths of between 400 and 1,000 of the 1,300 persons aboard. One of the British frigates was also lost in the engagement with six sailors drowned after running onto a sandbank while failing to escape a lee shore.
Battle between the French warship Droits de l'Homme and the frigates HMS Amazon and Indefatigable, 13 & 14 January 1797, Leopold Le Guen
Sir Edward Pellew by Thomas Lawrence, 1797
Jean-Baptiste Raymond de Lacrosse
View of the wreck of the French ship Le Droits de l'Homme, by John Fairburn
A frigate is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied.
A sailing frigate of 1802. The French Penelope.
Baden-Württemberg, lead ship of her class of frigates of the German Navy, currently the biggest frigates worldwide.
Light frigate, circa 1675–1680
Boudeuse, of Louis Antoine de Bougainville