First and Second Rate Ships of the 18th Century

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Commerce de Marseille (1788)



¹⁄₄₈th scale model on display at Marseille maritime museum


Commerce de Marseille was a 118-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of the Océan class. She was funded by a don des vaisseaux donation from the chamber of commerce of Marseille.

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History
France
Name:	Commerce de Marseille
Namesake:	Marseille
Ordered:	1786
Builder:	Arsenal de Toulon
Laid down:	April 1787
Launched:	7 August 1788
Completed:	October 1790
Out of service:	2 August 1850
Struck:	1802
Captured:	Seized as prize by Great Britain on 29 August 1793
Fate:	Broken up in 1856
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Commerce de Marseille
Out of service:	Broken up in 1856
General characteristics
Class and type:	Océan-classship of the line
Displacement:	5,098 tonnes
Tons burthen:	2,746 tonnes
Length:	65.18 m (213 ft 10 in) (196.6 French feet)
Beam:	16.24 m (53 ft 3 in) (50 French feet)
Draught:	8.12 m (26 ft 8 in) (25 French feet)
Propulsion:	sail, 3,265 m2 (35,140 sq ft)
Complement:	1,079
Armament:	Lower deck: lower deck: 32 × 36-pounder guns middle deck: 34 × 24-pounder guns upper deck: 34 × 12-pounder guns Fc: 18 × 8-pounder guns + 6 × 36-pounder carronades
Notes:	Length of gun deck was 208 ft 4 in (63.50 m), the longest of any 3-decker ever built. She was 2,746 tonnes burthen, also a record.

Career.

Built on state-of-the-art plans by Sané, she was dubbed the "finest ship of the century". Her construction was difficult because of a lack of wood, and soon after her completion, she was disarmed, in March 1791.


Commerce de Marseille at Toulon in 1788


Commerce de Marseille came under British control during the Siege of Toulon. When the city fell to the French, she evacuated the harbour for Portsmouth. She was briefly used as a stores ship, but on a journey to the Caribbean Sea, in 1795, she was badly damaged in a storm and had to limp back to Portsmouth. She remained there as a hulk until she was broken up in 1856.

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HMS. Salvador del Mundo. 1787



Salvador del Mundo receiving raking fire from HMS Victory at the Battle of Cape St Vincent




Salvador del Mundo was a 112-gun three-decker ship of the line built at Ferrol for the Spanish Navy in 1787 to plans by Romero Landa.

History
Spain.
Name:	Salvador del Mundo
Builder:	Reales Astilleros de Esteiro, Ferrol
Launched:	2 May 1787
Captured:	Captured by Royal Navy at the Battle of Cape St Vincent
Notes:	·Participated in: ·Battle of Cape St Vincent (1797)
Great Britain.
Name:	HMS Salvador del Mundo
Acquired:	Captured on 14 February 1797
Fate:	Broken up in 1815
General characteristics
Class and type:	Santa Ana-class ship of the line
Tonnage:	2,112 tonnes
Length:	56.14 m
Beam:	15.5 m
Draught:	7.37 m
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Complement:	801
Armament:	·On launch: ·30 × 36-pounder cannon ·32 × 24-pounder cannon ·32 × 12-pounder cannon ·18 × 8-pounder cannon
Armour:	None

One of the eight very large ships of the line of the Santa Ana class, also known as los Meregildos. Salvador del Mundo served during the French Revolutionary Wars until its capture at the Battle of Cape St Vincent by a Royal Navy fleet on 14 February 1797. Salvador del Mundo remained in British hands throughout the Napoleonic Wars, serving as a harbour ship, until it was sold and broken up in 1815.

Construction.

The Santa Ana class was built for the Spanish fleet in the 1780s and 1790s as heavy ships of the line, the equivalent of Royal Navy first rate ships. The other ships of the class were the Santa Ana, Mexicano, San Hermenegildo, Conde de Regla, Real Carlos, Reina María Luisa and Príncipe de Asturias. Three of the class, including Salvador del Mundo, were captured or destroyed during the French Revolutionary Wars.

History.

In 1797 Salvador del Mundo participated in the Battle of Cape St Vincent against the Royal Navy on 14 February under Brigadier Antonio Yepes. During the battle Salvador del Mundo was dismasted and badly damaged before being captured by the British, with losses of 41 killed, including Yepes, and 124 wounded. William Prowse took command of the prize ship. Three other Spanish ships were captured during the battle.

Salvador de Mundo was taken into the Royal Navy under her own name and subsequently served throughout the remainder of the French Revolutionary Wars and the ensuing Napoleonic Wars on harbour duties. At the conclusion of the wars, when she was decommissioned and broken up.

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HMS San Josef (1797)


HMS San Josef as a gunnery training ship in Plymouth


HMS San Josef was a 114-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. Originally built at Ferrol in Galicia for the Spanish Navy in 1782–83, she was captured from the Spanish Navy at the Battle of Cape St Vincent on 14 February 1797 (when she was still named in Spanish San José). In 1809 she served as the flagship of Admiral John Thomas Duckworth.

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History
Spain
Name:	San José
Ordered:	28 July 1781
Builder:	Ferrol
Laid down:	9 November 1782
Launched:	30 June 1783
Captured:	By the Royal Navy on 14 February 1797
Great Britain
Name:	HMS San Josef
Acquired:	Captured on 14 February 1797
Reclassified:	Gunnery training ship in 1837
Fate:	Broken up in May 1849
General characteristics
Class and type:	114-gun first rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	2456 tons
Length:	194 ft 3 in (59.21 m) (gundeck) 156 ft 11 in (47.83 m) (keel)
Beam:	54 ft 3 in (16.54 m)
Depth of hold:	24 ft 3.5 in (7.404 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Complement:	839
Armament:	Lower gundeck: 32 × 32-pounder guns Middle gundeck: 32 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 32 × 12-pounder guns Quarterdeck: 12 × 9-pounder guns Forecastle: 6 × 4-pounder guns

Battle of Cape St Vincent.

The San José was among the Spanish fleet during the battle, during which HMS Captain, under the command of Captain Horatio Nelson came out of the line to attack the San Nicolás. After exchanging fire, Nelson led his forces aboard the San Nicolás. While the English were fighting their way aboard the San José continued to fire upon the Captain and the San Nicolás. The San José then fell upon the San Nicolás and their rigging became tangled. Trapped, the men from the San José continued to fire on the British boarding parties with muskets and pistols. Nelson then took his men from the decks of the San Nicolás aboard the San José, forcing the Spanish to surrender, with their Admiral badly injured. The San José and the San Nicolás, both captured by Nelson, were two of the four ships captured during the battle. After their capture they were renamed HMS San Josef and HMS San Nicolas respectively. The feat of using one enemy vessel as a 'stepping stone' to capture another was afterwards known in the Royal Navy as "Nelson's patent bridge for boarding first rates".


Print of San Josef in Spanish service



HMS San Josef in later Royal Naval service


Later career.


From 1839 San Josef was used as a gunnery training ship. From 10 August 1841 she was commanded by Captain Joseph Needham Tayler, serving as a guard ship at Devonport (established gunnery school). Other captains who served in her include: Captain Frederick William Burgoyne, while serving as the flagship of Samuel Pym, Plymouth; Captain Henry John Leeke; and Captain Thomas Maitland, as the flagship of Admiral William Hall Gage, Devonport. She was broken up a Devonport in May 1849.

Some small pieces of the San Josef still survive to this day. One is in the form of part of a wooden gun carriage; called a Quoin. This quoin can be found among the Valhalla figurehead collection in Tresco Abbey Gardens in the Isles of Scilly. Another is a carved Triumph of Arms from the stern rail sold at Bonhams in London in October 2014. Parts of the ship were used in the re-building of St Nicholas' Church, West Looe in 1852.

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Here is an unusual one for the War of 1812 Buffs.


HMS St Lawrence (1814)




A painting of HMS St Lawrence

001.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4347350

History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS St Lawrence
Builder:	Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard
Laid down:	12 April 1814
Launched:	10 September 1814
Decommissioned:	1815
Fate:	Sold, 1832
General characteristics
Type:	Ship of the line
Tons burthen:	2,304 ​90⁄94 bm
Length:	194 ft 2 in (59.18 m) (gun deck length)
Beam:	52 ft 7 in (16.03 m)
Complement:	700
Armament:	112 guns: Gun deck: 28 × 32 pdrs, 4 × 24 pdrs, 2 × 68 pdr carronades Middle gun deck: 36 × 24 pdrs Upper gun deck: 32 × 32 pdrs, 2 × 68 pdr carronades
National Historic Site of Canada
Designated	2015

HMS St Lawrence was a 112-gun first-rate wooden warship of the Royal Navy that served on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812. She was the only Royal Navy ship of the line ever to be launched and operated entirely in fresh water.^[1] Constructed in 1814, the ship's arrival on the lake ended all naval action and St Lawrence finished the war having never gone into battle. Following the war, the vessel was laid up, eventually being sold in 1832 to private interests. The ship was later sunk and is now a recreational dive spot.

Description.

Master shipbuilder John Dennis and nearly 200 shipwrights built St Lawrence in under ten months, although several sources credit master shipwright William Bell as the designer and builder. Unlike sea-going ships of the line, St Lawrence was constructed without a quarterdeck, poop deck or forecastle. This gave the vessel the appearance of a spar-deck frigate. Furthermore, St Lawrence was not expected to make long ocean voyages and did not have to carry the same amount of stores and provisions. This allowed the designers to make savings in the vessel's capacity. The shipwrights constructing the vessel believed they were building a ship larger than that of the flagship of Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar, HMS Victory.

As built St Lawrence measured 2,304 ​⁹⁰⁄₉₄ tons burthen. The gundeck's length was 194 feet 2 inches (59.18 m) and the beam was 52 feet 7 inches (16.03 m). The crew numbered 700. In way of armaments, she carried thirty-two 32-pounder carronades and two 68-pounder carronades on the upper deck, thirty-six 24-pounder long guns on the middle deck and twenty-eight 32-pounder long guns, four 24-pounder long guns and two 68-pounder carronades on the lower deck.

Service history.

The ship was ordered to correct the inferior state of the Royal Navy on Lake Ontario in relation to the United States naval forces, specifically in relation those units under the command of Isaac Chauncey. St Lawrence had her keel laid on 12 April 1814. The construction of the ship took a toll on British resources in the area, affecting supply levels throughout the region during the spring and summer. Projected launch dates in June, July and August were missed and in order to provide all of the gear for a ship of this size, the 74-gun ships of the line HMS Ajax, HMS Centaur and HMS Warspite were stripped at Montreal and the material brought to Kingston.

St Lawrence was launched on 10 September 1814. British naval commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo commissioned her as his flagship, with Captain Frederick Hickey as Flag Captain, in the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard in Kingston, Upper Canada. The ship cost Britain £500,000. The day after the ship's launch, an American fleet under Chauncey appeared off Kingston and offered to battle, which the British declined. The vessel did not put to sea until 16 October, making several trips around Lake Ontario. On 19 October, the ship was struck by lightning, damaging the mast and killing several of the crew. The Americans made an attempt to blow St Lawrence up in Kingston harbour using a "torpedo" which was much more like a floating naval mine. The British drove the attackers off before they could make a serious attempt on the vessel.

At the time, Lake Ontario was effectively landlocked for any but the smallest vessels, due to shallow water and rapids on the St. Lawrence River downstream and Niagara Falls upstream. As a result, warships operating on Lake Ontario had to be built on site, either in Kingston or in the American naval dockyards at Sackets Harbor, or converted from merchant ships already operating in the lake.

Control of the lake, which was the most important supply route for the British for military operations to the west, had passed back and forth between the Americans and the British over the course of the war. The construction of a first rate ship of the line, in a campaign that had been dominated by sloops and frigates, gave the British uncontested control of the lake during the final months of the war. HMS St Lawrence never saw action, because her presence on the lake deterred the U.S. fleet from setting sail.

After the war ended in 1815, the ship was decommissioned. In January 1832, the hull was sold to Robert Drummond for £25. Between May and August, the hull was towed out of Navy Bay. It later formed the end of a pier attached to Morton's Brewery in Kingston and was used as a storage facility by the brewery, for cordwood among other materials. Later, it sank in 30 feet (9.1 m) of water close to shore
The vessel's remains rotted away until as of 2009, only the keel and ribs of the frame of St Lawrence remain. The wrecksite, along with those of Princess Charlotte and Prince Regent, were designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2015.

Model.



Model of HMS St Lawrence at the Royal Military College of Canada Museum built by master modeller Louis Roosen

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SECOND RATERS.


HMS Atlas (1782)

HMS Atlas was a 98-gun second-rateship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 13 February 1782. She was a Duke-classship of the line built at Chatham Dockyard by Israel Pownoll and Nicholas Phillips.

History
UK
Name:	HMS Atlas
Ordered:	5 August 1777
Builder:	Chatham Dockyard
Laid down:	1 October 1777
Launched:	13 February 1782
Fate:	Broken up, 1821
General characteristics
Class and type:	Duke-classship of the line
Tons burthen:	1950 bm
Length:	177 ft 6 in (54.10 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	50 ft (15 m)
Depth of hold:	21 ft 2 in (6.45 m)
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Armament:	98 guns: Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounders Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounders Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounders Quarterdeck: 8 × 12-pounders Forecastle: 2 × 12-pounders

Commissioned in 1782 she set sail under Captain George Vandeput for Howes Fleet to assist in the relief of Gibraltar. She arrived in time to take part in the encounter with the combined fleets on the 20th of October 1782.

Following repairs at Plymouth she served under Captain John Elphinstone until March 1783. and then Captain William Swiney until 1787.

After more repairs she was re-commissioned under Captain Edmund Dodd in 1795 for Channel service captained in turn by Captain Matthew Squire and then Captain's Shouldham Perd until 1799.

For some of the period between 1799 and 1801, she was under the command of Captain Theophilus Jones. In 1802 she was reduced to a 74-gun third rate ship. Recommissioned in 1804 under Captain William Jonstone Hope, she again served in the Channel 1n 1805 under Captain William Browne.

She participated in the naval Battle of San Domingo on 6 February 1806, when she suffered eight killed and 11 wounded. Her captain was Samuel Pym, who had joined her the year before.

In 1808, under Captain John Sanders, while off Cadiz, and serving as the flagship of Rear Admiral Purvis, she came under fire from French batteries on many occasions. In all, she lost about 50 men killed and wounded. She was responsible for the destruction of Fort Catalina.

Atlas was fitted as a temporary prison ship at Portsmouth from 1813 to 1814. She then spent some months as a powder magazine. She was finally broken up in 1821.

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HMS Barfleur (1768)


HMS Barfleur was a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, designed by Sir Thomas Slade and built by Edward Allin and completed by Joseph Harris on the lines of the 100-gun ship Royal William, and launched at Chatham Dockyard on 30 July 1768,^[ at a cost of £49,222. she was the first of her class. In about 1780, she had another eight guns added to her quarterdeck, making her a 98-gun ship; she possessed a crew of approximately 750. Her design class sisters were the Prince George, Princess Royal, and Formidable. She was a ship of long service and many battles.

History
UK
Name:	HMS Barfleur
Ordered:	1 March 1762
Builder:	Chatham Dockyard
Launched:	30 July 1768
Fate:	Broken up, 1819
Notes:	Participated in: Battle of the Chesapeake Battle of St. Kitts Battle of the Saintes Battle of the Mona Passage Glorious First of June Battle of Groix Battle of Cape St. Vincent Battle of Cape Finisterre
General characteristics
Class and type:	Barfleur-class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1947
Length:	177 ft 6 in (54.10 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	50 ft 3 in (15.32 m)
Depth of hold:	21 ft (6.4 m)
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Complement:	750 officers and men
Armament:	90 guns: Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounders Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounders Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounders Forecastle: 2 × 9-pounders 98 guns: Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounders Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounders Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounders Quarterdeck: 8 × 12-pounders Forecastle: 2 × 9-pounders

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She was first commissioned as a guard ship in 1770 at Portsmouth, where she filled this role until 1773.
In June 1773, King George III reviewed the British fleet at Spithead. Barfleur, under Captain Edward Vernon, was on this occasion the flagship of the fleet commander, Vice-Admiral Thomas Pye.

She sailed for the West Indies on the 29th of November 1780.

She distinguished herself as the flagship of Rear-Admiral Samuel Hood on the Leeward Islands station during the American War of Independence. Under Captain John Knight, she was flagship at the indecisive action of 28 April 1781 off Martinique against the French fleet of Rear-Admiral Comte de Grasse, at which Barfleur lost five men killed.


The Battle of the Saintes, 12 April 1782: surrender of the Ville de Paris by Thomas Whitcombe, painted 1783, shows Hood's Barfleur, centre, attacking the French flagship Ville de Paris, right, at the Battle of the Saintes.



She next took part in the battles of the Chesapeake, St. Kitts and the Saintes. At the Battle of the Chesapeake on 5 September 1781, under Captain Alexander Hood (later Lord Bridport), she was again the flag of Samuel Hood, second in command to Rear-Admiral Thomas Graves, 1st Baron Graves. The battle was lost to the French under de Grasse, which had a profound effect on the outcome of the American war.

She saw further action in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, taking part in Richard Howe's victory at the Glorious First of June as the flagship of Rear-Admiral (W) George Bowyer, with Captain Cuthbert Collingwood in 1794. In this battle she engaged the French Indomptable on 29 May and took a major part in the general action of 1 June, with a total loss of 9 killed and 25 wounded.
She later saw action under Lord Bridport at the Battle of Groix. In 1797 she was with Admiral Sir John Jervis at the Battle of Cape St Vincent.



In 1805, under Captain George Martin, she was part of the Channel Fleet. Her final battle was fought in a squadron under Admiral Sir Robert Calder at the Battle of Cape Finisterre on 22 July 1805 in the attack on the combined Franco-Spanish fleet off Ushant. The action was fought in heavy weather, part of the time in thick fog. The master and four others were killed and Lieutenant Peter Fisher and six others were wounded.

In 1807 under Captain Sir Joseph Sydney Yorke she served in the Channel Fleet. In 1808, under Capt. D. M'Cleod, she served as the flagship of Rear-Admiral Charles Tyler and was engaged in the blockade of Lisbon and the escort to Plymouth of the first division of the Russian squadron commanded by Vice-Admiral Dmitry Senyavin. In 1811, under Captain Sir Thomas Hardy, she was engaged in actions in support of the army under Lord Wellington at Lisbon.

After the conclusion of the Napoleonic wars, Barfleur spent some years in ordinary at Chatham, and was finally broken up there in January 1819.

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HMS Blenheim (1761)



HMS Blenheim was a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 5 July 1761 at Woolwich. In 1797 she participated in the Battle of Cape St Vincent. In 1801 Blenheim was razeed to a Third Rate. She disappeared off Madagascar with all hands in February 1807.

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Blenheim
Ordered:	12 November 1755
Builder:	Woolwich Dockyard
Launched:	5 July 1761
Honours and awards:	Naval General Service Medal with clasp "St Vincent"
Fate:	Foundered, 1807
General characteristics
Class and type:	Sandwich-class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1,827 (bm)
Length:	176 ft 1 in (53.67 m) (gundeck) 142 ft 7 in (43.46 m) (keel)
Beam:	49 ft 1 in (14.96 m)
Depth of hold:	21 ft (6.4 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	originally 90 guns: Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-guns Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounderguns 1801: reduced to a 74-gun Third Rate

Service.

Blenheim was first ordered to be built in November 1755 as part of an Admiralty program to expand the Royal Navy fleet ahead of the onset of the Seven Years' War with France. Construction was assigned to the Navy dockyard at Woolwich with an intended completion date of September 1759. However there were major delays arising from a lack of skilled workmen in the yard, and by Navy Board attempts to reduce waste and misuse in dockyard practices. In April 1757 Blenheim's shipwrights walked out in protest against a Navy Board reform that impacted on their traditional entitlement to remove spare timbers for personal use. Construction had fallen further behind schedule by the time they returned to work, with Blenheim not finally completed until July 1761.



The newly built vessel was commissioned into the Royal Navy in August 1761, for the final year of the Seven Years' War, but paid off in June 1762. She was recommissioned in March 1777 under Captain Broderick Hartwell, but paid off again in September 1784.

She was recommissioned for her third war in August 1794 under Captain Charles Calmady. Under the command of John Bazely from December 1794, she took part in the Battle of Hyères Islands in 1795. Blenheim then fought at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797. By 1801, this by now 40-year-old ship had become so badly hogged as to be unsafe for sea. However, she was razeed to a 74-gun Third Rate in 1801–1802, and set sail for Barbados under the command of Captain Peter Bover at the end of the year, carrying Captain Samuel Hood and other commissioners to Trinidad.

On 14 November 1803 the French privateer Harmonie entered the harbour at Le Marin, together with a prize that she had taken. Captain Thomas Graves, in Blenheim, determined to cut her out. He beat around Diamond Rock but was not able to get into position until the 16th. He then decided to put 60 seamen in four boats, and 60 marines into another four. The seamen were to go into the harbour to cut out Harmonie, while the marines were to attack a battery of nine guns at Fort Dunkirk on the starboard side of the bay to block French reinforcements from massing there. Drake arrived on the scene and Graves had Captain William Ferris lead the seamen in the attack, together with 16 men from her. Drake towed the cutting out party, whilst the hired armed cutter Swift towed the marines. The two parties set out at 11p.m., and at 3a.m. the two attacks succeeded. The marines captured the fort, which was only guarded by 15 men, who they took prisoner. They spiked six 24-pounder guns and three 18-pounders, and blew up the magazine. The cutting out party met with resistance from Harmonie and suffered the only British casualties. Hermione, of eight guns, had had a crew of 66 men under the command of Citizen Noyer at the start of the British attack. Some 12 escaped overboard and some may have drowned. Two were killed and 14 wounded. Blenheim had one man killed and two wounded, and Drake had three wounded, one dangerously so. The inhabitants of Grenada purchased and donated Harmonie to the Royal Navy, which named her HMS Grenada.

Captain Loftus Bland sailed Blenheim back to Portsmouth in 1804.

In 1805, Blenheim sailed for Madras under the command of Captain Austin Bissell, as the flagship of Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Troubridge, Bt.

On 7 August 1805, Blenheim was escorting a fleet of East Indiamen consisting of Castle Eden, Cumberland, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Exeter, Hope, and Preston. when they encountered the French ship of the line Marengo and frigate Belle Poule. There was a brief exchange of fire before both sides sailed on. Troubridge reprimanded the captains of Cumberland and Preston for having acted too boldly in exchanging fire with the French.^[6]

By the time Troubridge received orders to take command at the Cape of Good Hope, at the beginning of 1807, Blenheim was in alarming condition, and required constant pumping to keep her afloat. Despite the request of the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, Edward Pellew, that he transfer his flag to another ship, Troubridge determined to take her to the Cape. Bissell also warned Troubridge of Blenheim's condition, but received in return the taunt that he might go ashore if he liked. Unable to shake Troubridge's confidence, Bissell composed a last letter to his wife before sailing, convinced the ship would founder.

Loss.

Blenheim left Madras on 12 January 1807, in the company of the sloop HMS Harrier (Capt. Justice Finley) and the frigate HMS Java (Capt. George Pigot), the latter recently captured from the Dutch. The two parted company from Harrier in a gale on 5 February 1807. When Harrier last saw them at 22°44′S 66°11′E / 22.733°S 66.183°E / -22.733; 66.183 they were flying signals of distress.

The French frigate Sémillante later reported having seen Blenheim off Rodrigues in a gale on 18 February. Another frigate later reported in Calcutta that ships answering to the descriptions of Blenheim and Java had been seen in distress off Réunion after the gale, had put in for repairs at Île Sainte-Marie in February 1807 and had sailed again.^[No further trace of the ships was ever found, despite an extensive search by Troubridge's son Captain Edward Troubridge in Greyhound and the co-operation of the French. Blenheim and Java are presumed to have foundered somewhere off Madagascar. A painting depicting their loss was created by Thomas Buttersworth. There is speculation that Java was lost while trying to rescue crew from the sinking Blenheim.

About 280 men were lost aboard Java and 590 aboard Blenheim. Those lost aboard Blenheim included Troubridge, Bissell, Captain Charles Elphinstone (nephew of Admiral Lord Keith), the midshipmen George, Lord Rosehill (eldest son and heir of Rear-Admiral the Earl of Northesk) and William Henry Courtenay (illegitimate son of Admiral the Duke of Clarence). Also lost was former HMS Bounty mutineer James Morrison.