HMS Courageux (1800)
Plan of HMS Courageux by John Henslow in 1797
HMS Courageux was a 74-gun third rateship of the line, ordered on the 6th of November,1794, she was designed by Sir John Henslow as one of the large 74-gun ships, and was the only ship built of her Class. She was laid down at Deptford Dockyard in the October of 1797, M/Shipwright Thomas Pollard to late 1779 and completed by Edward Tippett Unlike the middling and common class 74-gun ships, which carried 18-pounder long guns, as a large 74-gun ship, Courageux carried 24-pounders on her upper gun deck.
She was launched on the 26th of March, 1800.
GREAT BRITAIN Name: HMS Courageux Ordered: 6 November 1794 Builder: Deptford Dockyard Laid down: October 1797 Launched: 26 March 1800
Fate: Broken up, 1832 Class and type: Courageux Class 74 gun third rateship of the line Tons burthen: 1780 (bm) Length: 181 ft (55.2 m) (gundeck) Beam: 47 ft 1.5 in (14.4 m) Depth of hold: 19 ft 10 in (6.0 m)
Propulsion: Sails Sail plan: Full rigged ship Armament: ·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
·Upper gundeck: 30 × 24-pounder guns
·QD: 12 × 9-pounder guns
·Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns
Service.
HMS Courageux was commissioned in the Apriul of 1800 unde Captain Samuel Hood.
Her first notable action took place in the attack on Ferrol on the 26th of August 1800.
In 1801 she came under the captaincy of George Duff in Rear Admiral Sir Robert Calder’s squadron.At the end of January, a French squadron under Admiral Honoré Ganteaume comprising seven ships-of-the-line and two frigates, and carrying 5,000 troops, escaped from the port of Brest. It was spotted on 27 January by a British frigate which conveyed the news to Plymouth on the 3rd of February. Believing its destination to be the West Indies, a similar sized force, comprising Sir Robert Calder’s squadron was sent in pursuit. As one of the fastest two-deckers available at the time, Courageux was selected to take part in this unnecessary expedition.
On her return from the West Indies she came under the command of Captain Thomas Sotheby for service in the Channel. In the April of 1802 she was recommissioned under Captain Robert Pamplin, and then again under Captain John or James Hardy in the April of 1803.
In the November of that year she came under the Captaincy of Thomas Bertie, as the Flagship of Rear Admiral James Dacres.
On the 1st of January,1804, she sailed with a convoy from Portsmouth for the West Indies. However, on the 1st of February 43 vessels were forced to put in to Plymouth, together with their escort, Courageux. having been driven back by the severe weather. Defects were made good at Plymouth between the February and April of 1804 and she now came under Captain Charles Boyles.In mid-1804, Courageaux escorted a convoy slightly more successfully from St Helena back to Britain. The convoy consisted of the East Indiamen City of London, Ceylon, Calcutta, and Wyndham, two vessels from the South Seas, Lively and Vulture, and the ship Rolla, which had transported convicts to New South Wales. On the way this convoy also ran into severe weather with the result that Prince of Wales, which had also left St Helena with the rest, foundered with the loss of all on board; this had been her maiden voyage. All the other ships made a successful landfall.
In 1805 Captain Richard Lee took over command of Courageaux in the Channel, but by 1806 and into 1807 Courageux is known to have been under the command of Captain James Bissett at the Blockade of Cadiz.
Water pail from Courageux.
She then went into Chatham for a small repair between the March and July of 1809, and was then recommissioned under Captain Robert Pamplin for a second time, before taking part in the Scheldt operations. In 1810 she was under the command of Captain Adam Drummond for a short time, and then from the August of that year acting Captain William Butterfield, until Captain Philip Wilkinson took command in the November of that same year.
She was unlucky to have grounded twice in the following period of her service. Firstly on the Skerries rocks on the 21st of January,1811 and then on the Anholt reef on the 13th of November,1812. Prior to this second grounding and shortly after the outbreak of the War of 1812, on the 12th of August, Courageaux shared in the seizure of several American vessels: Cuba, Caliban, Edward, Galen, Halcyon, and Cygnet.
Fate.
The year after her second grounding, in the December of 1813, Courageux was taken out of service and fitted as a Lazarette at Chatham.
Courageux was placed on harbour service in the February of 1814, and was broken up at Chatham in the October of 1832.
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