„Le Courieur“ – the French corsair lugger from XVIII century

"Le Coureur" was built in 1776 in Dunkirk, just two years before the new war between England and France began in 1775. 13 rebellious American states fought in the Revolutionary War. In 1778, when this war became general in America, a treaty was concluded between the United States and France on February 6. The result was an ultimatum that France, presented to England: withdraw English troops from the United States and recognize its independence from the British crown. The French king and ministers were looking for a pretext to declare war on England, and one was found: in the English Channel on 17.06.1778, the 30-gun French frigate "La Belle Poule" was watching the movement of the British Channel Fleet. The French frigate was accompanied by the frigate "La Licorne", the corvette "l'Hirondelle" and the lugger "Le Coureur". When the captain of "La Belle Poule" refused to give an explanation of his actions, which was demanded by the captain of the encountered British frigate "Arethusa", a skirmish broke out between the frigates and their escorts, the lugger "Le Courier" and the cutter HMS "Alert". The hard and hot battle continued for five hours. Both frigates were so badly damaged, that they withdrew from the battle and sailed to their ports for repairs. "Le Courier" and "Alert" fought side by side and fired at each other non-stop for two hours. Finally, after a failed boarding and heavy casualties, the French captain Chevalier De Rosily was captured along with the ship. For his bravery and manliness, the king awarded him St. Louis cross. "Le Courier" was credited with many hits after the battle, some of which were at waterline level. "Alert", which was better armed (12 6-pounder guns and 12 falconettes), lost only 10 of its crew and suffered minor hull damage. In 1780 "Le Coureur" was recaptured by two US corsairs. Armed with 8 cannons, "Le Coureur" was a typical corsair lugger of the second half of the 18th century. Excellent hull contours and a large sail area allowed them to develop a relatively high speed, there was a lot of space on board, so they often took 50-80 soldiers, who formed boarding teams. Those characteristics made the lugger a formidable weapon against transport and cargo ships.

The model are well designed and detailed, of moderate difficulty, so we recommend it only for intermediate and experienced modelers, but it can be glued by the advanced beginner and novice modeler under the supervision of a more experienced modeller. However, this will not be an easy task.