Grenadiers Francs

The 107e ci-devant Régiment de Pondichéry didn't cease to exist with the fall of Pondichéry in 1793, it had its 1st Battalion in India with Sepoys Battalions completing the garrison while the other 2nd Battalion was in garrison in Ile-de-France that is why both 107e and 108e Régiment still appear together after 1793 in the Mascareignes and why, so far from France, in the colonies, excluded from the first "amalgame" in metropolitan France the Half-Brigades numbered "189e" and "190e" who should be raised each with 1st and 2nd Battalion of the 107e never saw the light and remained vacants numbers for numbering the half-brigades of 1793 and the same for both following vacants half-brigades "191e" and "192e" (planned flag below) with the 108e...

It remained some old not amalgamated battalions having escaped to the mix with the "blue" volunteers battalions since 1793 like these ones Overseas, so there were the 2nd Battalion of the 107e Régiment (former of Pondichéry) and 108e Régiment d'Infanterie at the same time that the 107e Demi-Brigade (1st amalgame 1793 from 1st Battalion of 54e Régiment Royal Roussillon) and 108e Demi-Brigade (from 2nd battalion) not to be mixed with the 107e and 108e Demi-Brigade of 2nd amalgame 1796-1798

What sources are you relying on? Some of your information seems to be quite incorrect. The problem concerning the fictitious frigate "La Lune" has now been settled, but this is not so when it comes to the frigate ("armée en flûte") "La Seine" under Bigot who had received the order to repatriate - as you say - "grenadiers from the 107th and 108th Line" to France who are said to have fought later in Ireland and on Saint-Domingue.

According to French information, the then lieutenant de vaisseau Bigot was commissioned to bring 400 mutinous soldiers back to France. Some of them may have been former members of the 107e régiment d'infanterie, ex-"Pondicherry". However, the 107e had been forced to surrender to the British at Pondicherry already in 1793, the consequence of which was that the regiment ceased to exist. The survivors were taken prisoner by the British, for which reason it seem highly unlikely that (m)any members of that now inexistent India-based unit were to be found on the Île de France (Mauritius) in 1798.

However, as I understand it, in his article on "Le 108e Régiment d'Infanterie de Ligne" 1796-1815", Frédéric Berjaud appears to imply that members of the 107e and 108e regiments constituted a joint garrison on Île de France even after 1793: "... les soldats du 108e unis à ceux du 107e, qui tient avec lui garnison dans l'Ile de France...". What's the source of this statement? I'd be happy if, on occasion, Mr Berjaud could speak out more precisely on this.

Perhaps the majority of the mutinous soldiers who had to be repatriated by Bigot belonged to the former 108e régiment d'infanterie, ex-"Île de France".

Bigot's "La Seine" was attacked on June 29, 1798, off the French coast by the British, and disabled. According to French information, all her boats, too. There were hundreds of dead and wounded. I have never read about a possible evacuation of soldiers or crewmen. Bigot himself was taken prisoner, but was released on September 29, 1798, already, as part of a prisoner exchange. The ship was taken and the surviving crews and soldiers must also have been taken prisoner, but it is hard to imagine that the British released them as well. I've never heard of such a thing, and, in any case, it wouldn't have been in line with the British prisoner-of-war policy at the time.

Frédéric Berjaud seems to share the view that those soldiers were members of the 108e but he also talks about soldiers that had succeeded in escaping as he remarks (regarding the soldiers on board of "La Seine"): "Quelques hommes du Régiment, les plus grièvement blessés, sont faits prisonniers, les autres peuvent gagner le rivage et échapper aux Anglais." It is not clear to me, where he knows from that part of the soldiers had been able to escape. Did I miss the reference to his source? He further says that the remains - meaning those who had escaped? - of the 108e were incorporated into the 6e demi-brigade de ligne. Surely, the 108e can no longer have been in existence in 1798.

The two 107e demi-brigades formed in 1793 or so and in December 1798 were not direct successors of the 107e régiment de ligne and, to my knowledge, they did not fight in Ireland. The 2nd battalion of the 2nd formation (1798) fought on Saint-Domingue in 1802, but - as mentioned - there seems to be no evidence for any relation with the mutinous soldiers Bigot had to repatriate to France in early summer 1798.

Equally, the two 108e demi-brigades formed in 1795 and 1796 were not direct successors of the 108e régiment d'infanterie and, to my knowledge, did not fight either in Ireland or on Saint-Domingue. In this connection, another remark by Frédéric Berjaud stuns me: "Depuis cette époque [1795?] jusqu'en 1798, il existe donc une 108e Demi-brigade et un 108e Régiment dit colonial." Really? Again, I must have missed the source on which this statement is based. Thanks for any more infos.

Here a link to one of several French articles dealing with "Le Combat du navire la Seine", with a view of the ship and a portrait of Bigot (source? pity it's so dark, I can't actually recognize what uniform he is wearing), as well as a French depiction of the battle of "La Seine" with the British:

https://autrefois-la-tranche.blog4ever.com/le-combat-du-navire-la-seine

OK, so I found out a bit more. They were grenadiers from the 107th and 108th Line who had just come back from Mauritius. They were onboard the frigate La Seine (Captain Bigot, great name) when it was driven onto the French coast in June 1798. The grenadiers were detached and hurried into the expedition for Ireland, the fusiliers went off to Saint Domingue.