French ship Espérance (1781)

The Recherche and Espérance, by François Roux
History
France
Name	Espérance
Namesake	Hope
Builder	Toulon
Laid down	June 1780
Launched	14 August 1781
Christened	Durance
Commissioned	30 October 1781
Out of service	28 October 1794
Reclassified	Frigate in 1791
Fate	Sold for scrap
General characteristics
Class and type	Rhône-class scow
Displacement	c. 350 tonnes
Length	37 m (121 ft 5 in)
Beam	8.3 m (27 ft 3 in)
Draught	4.2 m (13 ft 9 in)
Propulsion	Sail
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	200
Armament	6 × 8-pounders + two carronades
Armour	Timber

The Espérance was a Rhône-class scow of the French Navy, launched in 1781 and later reclassified as a frigate. She earned fame as one of the ships of Bruni d'Entrecasteaux's expedition. The Australian town of Esperance and Esperance Bay in Western Australia were named after her. She was sold for breaking up in 1794.

Espérance was built as Durance and served in de Grasse's squadron as a troopship. On 18 December 1782, she departed Toulon with the frigates Précieuse and Prosélyte, and the corvette Poulette, in a convoy bound for the Caribbean, that also included the fluyts Gracieuse and Rhône.^[1]

A decade later, on 29 September 1791, Espérance under Captain Huon de Kermadec, and Recherche sailed from Brest to New Caledonia. They were on a mission under the command of Admiral d'Entrecasteaux in search of the explorer Lapérouse. The mission was unsuccessful: it was not until 1826 that the mystery of Laperouse's disappearance was solved.

On 28 October 1793, Espérance was captured by the Dutch at Surabaya, only to be returned to France in February 1794. She was sold to Holland in September and sold for scrap two months later.

• European and American voyages of scientific exploration