French ship Eure (1886)

Eure was a Meurthe-class aviso of the French Navy. She was launched in 1886. She is notable as having claimed territories of the Southern Indian Ocean for France, including the Kerguelen Islands in 1893. She continued to serve in the Pacific until 1901.

Career
Construction of Eure began in 1886 at the Ateliers et chantiers du Havre. She was part of a 1885 order comprising six other avisos of the same class (Meurthe, Drôme, Aube, Durance, Rance and Manche), designed as mixed sail and steam ships. Eure was launched on 5 April 1886, and commissioned on 14 August 1890 at Rochefort, where she was based.

President Sadi Carnot sent Eure on a mission to claim the French Southern and Antarctic Lands for France. On 1 January 1893, Eure entered Baie de l'Oiseau, North of Kerguelen Islands. Commander Lieutard, the commanding officer, held a ceremony at Port-Christmas the next day, where a copper plaque inscribed « EURE - 1893 » was set. He repeated this in various locations of the archipelago in the following 15 days. Eure continued her claims at île Saint-Paul on 22 January 1893, and at île Amsterdam on 24 January, before returning to Réunion and Madagascar.

In 1897, under Alphonse Lecuve, Eure toured New Guinea and Brisbane, finally arriving at Nouméa in New Caledonia. From then on, she was attached to the French Pacific Fleet.

Eure was decommissioned on 8 March 1901.

Commanding officers

 * 1891-1897 : Commander Lieutard
 * 1897-1898 : Commander Lecuve
 * August to October 1899 (interim): Captain Docteur
 * 1899-1901 : Commander Vallée

Use as a coal hulk
In 1911 Eure was stripped at Nouméa to become a hulk and sent to Sydney, where she was sold to the Northern Steamship Company in 1912. On 26 January 1913 she arrived at Auckland, towed by the steamer Ihumata. The hulk held up to 2,000 tons of coal. In 1939 she was towed to nearby Sulphur Beach and sold for breaking up, which was done by 1942. Masts from the ship still lay on the beach in the 1960s.