3rd Rate ships of the Royal Navy. 1793 to 1815.

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HMS Colossus (1803)


Hull plan for Colossus and Warspite


HMS Colossus was the name ship of her class, the other being Warspite .. She was a 74 gun third rate ship of the line, ordered on the 23rd of November 1797, designed by Sir John Henslow as one of the large class 74s. She was built by M/shipwright Edward Tippett until the March of 1803 and completed by Henry Peake at Deptford Dockyard. Colossus was launched on the 23rd of April, 1803. As a large 74, she carried 24 pdrs on her upper gun deck, as opposed to the 18 pdrs found on the middling and common class 74s.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Colossus
Ordered:	13 January 1798
Builder:	Deptford Dockyard
Laid down:	May 1799
Launched:	23 April 1803
Honours and awards:	·Took part in: ·Battle of Trafalgar
Fate:	Broken up, 1826
General characteristics
Class and type:	Colossus Class 74-gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1888​47⁄94 (bm)
Length:	180 ft (55 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	48 ft 10 in (14.88 m)
Depth of hold:	21 ft (6.4 m)
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Armament:	·74 guns: ·Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs ·Upper gundeck: 30 × 24 pdrs ·Quarterdeck: 12 × 9 pdrs ·Forecastle: 4 × 9 pdrs

Service.


Was commissioned in the March of 1803 under Captain George Martin, and then Captain S. Seymour until the March of 1804.


Napoleonic Wars.


On the 27th of August,1803 Colossus recaptured the East IndiamanLord Nelson, which the French privateer Belone had taken two weeks earlier and which Seagull had fought to the point of surrender.
In March 1804 the command was assumed by Captain James Nicoll Morris until 1808, firstly as the Flagship of Sir Thomas graves in the Channel Fleet. and in 1805 with Collingwood’s squadron off Cadiz.


Trafalgar.


Colossus fought at Trafalgar on the 21st of October under Morris, in Collingwood's lee column. After sustaining fire from the enemy fleet, she eventually ran by the French Swiftsure, 74, and became entangled with Argonaute, 74. Towards the end of the exchange of fire between the two ships, Captain Morris was hit by a shot from one of Argonaute's guns, just above the knee. Argonaute broke free from Colossus after this, whilst the British ship was engaging both Swiftsure and the Spanish Bahama, 74, on her other side. Bahama surrendered when Colossus brought down her main mast, and Swiftsure did likewise after combined fire from Colossus and Orion brought down her main and mizzen masts.In the battle she suffered 40 dead, and a further 160 wounded including Morris. This was the highest attrition in the British Fleet.

Swiftsure then returned to England for a small repair at Portsmouth from the April to the June of 1806.
She recommissioned in the July of that year, and was sent to reinforce Rear Admiral Sir Richard Strachan’s squadron off Rochefort in 1808.

Sailed for the Med on the 30th of July, before being recommissioned in the October of that year under Captain Thomas Alexander.
On her return to Chatham several defects were attended to between the February and April of 1811.

The War of 1812.

Swiftsure started the war of 1812 in Captain Sir John Gore’s squadron off Lorient. On the 5th of January she captured the US 12 gun Privateer Dolphin. Then on the 24th of March, in company with Tonnant, Hogue, Poictiers and Bulwark captured the Emilie.
In 1813 she was in the Nort sea where on 11th of February, Rhin and Colossus captured the American ship Print.

Fate.

In the May of 1814 she was laid up at Chatham for rearming with 18pdr guns on her upper deck.
In 1815 Colossus was placed in ordinary at Chatham. She was eventually broken up there on the 8th

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HMS Hero (1803)



HMS Hero was a modified Fame Class 74-gun third rate ship of the line,ordered on the 4th of February 1800 to the Henslow design. She was laid down in the February of 1801 at Blackwall Yard and built by Perry, Wells and Green. She was launched on the 18th of August, 1803.

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Hero
Ordered:	24 June 1800
Builder:	Perry, Blackwall Yard
Laid down:	August 1800
Launched:	18 August 1803
Honours and awards:	·Participated in: ·Battle of Cape Finisterre
Fate:	Wrecked, 1811
General characteristics
Class and type:	Modified Fame class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1743 (bm)
Length:	175 ft (53 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	47 ft 6 in (14.48 m)
Depth of hold:	20 ft 6 in (6.25 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Complement:	530
Armament:	·74 guns: ·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns ·QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns ·Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Hero was commissioned in the October of 1803 for Channel service under Captain Alan Gardiner, who commanded her until 1807.



A letter written in 1804 by crewman John Parr from Hero.

In 1805, under Gardner, on the 22nd of August she took part in Admiral Robert Calder's action at the Battle of Cape Finisterre, emerging wit severe damage to her superstructure and masts but remarkably only 1 dead and 4 wounded. On the 2nd of November in that same year, she was also involved in Strachan’s action with Dumanoir. off Cape Ortegal, in north-west Spain in which Sir Richard Strachan defeated and captured a French squadron under the command of Rear-Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley. Not quite so lucky on this occasion, Hero sustained 10 killed and 51 wounded.
From the July of 1807 Hero came under the command of Captain J Beresford during her refit between that time and her recommissioning by Captain James Newman in the April of 1808.The work was completed in the June of that year and Newman continued to serve as her Captain until 1811.
He commanded her in both the Basque Roads operation in the April of 1809 and also in the Scheldt operations in Gambier’s main Fleet which did not take part in the main action.

Fate.
During 1811 Hero was assigned to the Baltic for most of the year, but on her return to the North sea, on the 25 December, still under Captain Newman she was wrecked on the Haak Sands at the mouth of the Texel during a gale, with the loss of 500 of her crew including Newman, with only 12 of her crew surviving the catastrophe.



The wreck of HMS Hero in the Texel, 25 December 1811

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HMS Illustrious (1803)





HMS Illustrious,was a modified Fame Class 74 gun third rate ship of the line designed by Henslow,ordered on the 4th of February, 1800 and built by John Randall and John Brent at Rotherhithe where her keel was laid in February 1801. She was launched on the 3rd of September,1803, and she was then completed at Woolwich.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Illustrious
Ordered:	4 February 1800
Builder:	Randall, Rotherhithe
Launched:	3 September 1803
Fate:	Broken up, 1868
General characteristics
Class and type:	Modified Fame class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1746 (bm)
Length:	175 ft (53 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	47 ft 6 in (14.48 m)
Depth of hold:	20 ft 6 in (6.25 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns ·QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns ·Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

She was commissioned in the November of 1803 under Captain Sir Charles Hamilton for the Channel Fleet,. In 1805 under acting Captain Michael Seymour with the aid of HMS Ramillies, she took the 2 gun privateer La Josephine on the 7th of July.

Then under Captain William Shield who commanded her from the end of that month until 1807, she eventually sailed for the Med on the 1st of January 1807, and then came under the command of Captain William Broughton. He would retain command until 1811. Under him she was involved in the Battle of the Basque Roads in 1809, in which she won a battle honour, and in the expeditions against the docks at Antwerp and render the Schelde unnavigable to French ships.

On the 22nd of November, 1810, Illustrious was amongst the fleet that captured Île de France on 3 December. She then took part in the Invasion of Java (1811) in Indonesia.





HMS Illustrious heading out of Table Bay (Thomas Whitcombe, cira 1811)


Fate.

She returned to Portsmouth for major repairs and a complete refit between the December of 1813 and the April of 1817 and was then laid up in reserve until recommissioned in 1832.



Excellent and Illustrious by Henry J Morgan.


Commissioned as a Flagship for Portsmouth in 1841,she was laid up again in 1845, and later used as a guard ship, a hospital ship and, lastly, in 1854 she became a gunnery training ship and continued as one until she was broken up in 1868 in Portsmouth. This was completed on the 4th of December in that year.

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HMS Repulse (1803)



Repulse


HMS Repulse was the name ship of her class which were 74-gun third rate ships of the line designed by Sir William Rule. She was ordered on the 4th of February 1800, and laid down in the September of that year. She was built by Mrs Francis Barnard and Co. at Deptford Green, and launched on the 22nd of July,1803.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Repulse
Ordered:	4 February 1800
Builder:	Barnard, Deptford
Laid down:	September 1800
Launched:	22 July 1803
Fate:	Broken up, 1820
Notes:	·Participated in: ·Battle of Cape Finisterre
General characteristics
Class and type:	Repulse class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1727 ​23⁄94 (bm)
Length:	174 ft (53 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	47 ft 4 in (14.43 m)
Depth of hold:	20 ft (6.1 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	·74 guns: ·Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18 pdrs ·Quarterdeck: 14 × 9 pdrs ·Forecastle: 4 × 9 pdrs

Service.

HMS Repulse was commissioned in the July of 1803 under Captain Arthur Legge who commanded her until 1807, from the November of that year as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Thomas Russell at Yarmouth.

She served at the blockade of Ferrol in 1805, and was at the action resulting in the Battle of Cape Finisterre on the 22nd of August of that year. Despite having her Bowsprit shot away, her casualty list was light, amounting to just four wounded.

During 1806 Repulse was employed in going in search of Leissegues and Willaumez.

In 1807 the ship served in the Mediterranean squadron under Vice-Admiral John Thomas Duckworth and Vice-Admiral Harry Riddick during both the Dardanelles Operation, and in the Alexandria expedition.

In 1809 she experienced her first chang of captain, when John Halliday took over from Legge for the Walcheren operations, and then sailed for the Med under his command, and subsequently took part in the blockade of Toulon, and on the 31st of August in that year, the rescue of Philomel.

In 1811 Repulse had her third commander in the form of Captain Richard Hussey Moubray. Still in the Med she was involved in the boat attack on Morgion on the 2nd of May, 1813.

Fate.

Repulse was paid off in the June of 1814, fitted for ordinary at Plymouth in the following month and finally broken up there in the September of 1820.

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HMS Eagle (1804)




Eagle.


HMS Eagle was a Repulse Class 74-gun third rateship of the line,designed by Sir William Rule and ordered on the 4th of February 1800. She was laid down in the August of that year, and built by Thomas Pitcher at Northfleet. She was launched on the 27th of February, 1804.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Eagle
Ordered:	4 February 1800
Builder:	Pitcher, Northfleet
Laid down:	August 1800
Launched:	27 February 1804
Fate:	Burnt, 1926
General characteristics
Class and type:	Repulse class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1923 (bm)
Length:	174 ft (53 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	47 ft 4 in (14.43 m)
Depth of hold:	20 ft (6.1 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns ·QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns ·Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

Service.


HMS Eagle was commissioned in the February of 1804 under Captain David Colby for the Leeward Islands.
On 11 November 1804, Glatton, together with Eagle, Majestic, Princess of Orange, Raisonable, Africiane, Inspector, Beaver, and the hired armed vesselsSwift and Agnes, shared in the capture of the Upstalsboom, H.L. De Haase, Master.
On the 2nd of April,1805 she took the 14 gun privateer L’Empereur.

Recommissioned in the November of that year under Captain Charles Cowley, who was destined to command her until 1813,she joined Sir Wm Sidney Smith’s squadron off Naples and Capri in the May of 1806.

Between the February and April of 1806 she returned to Portsmouth for a refit, and in the February of 1810 she returned to the Med.
On the 27th of November, 1811 she captured the 40 gun La Coreyre, armed en flute, in the Adriatic sea.

During 1812/ 13 period Eagle was involved in two boat attacks on Goro. The first took place on the 17th of September when two gunboats were taken and several others burnt. The second attack in the 29th of April in 1813 saw five vessels captured and one other burnt. Following this escapade a landing party from the ship destroyed a battery at Farasina on the 11th of June in that year. By the 3rd of July she had joined Freemantles squadron at Fiume, and accompanied by the Fifth Rate HMS Bacchante a convoy was captured at Rovingo on the second of August. From the 5th to the 29th of October she was involved in operations at Triest. Following this she returned to Chatham for a large repair between the June of 1814 and the September of 1816, after which she went into ordinary there.

A small repair followed between the October and December of 1823, and the a complete revamp and cut down into a Fourth Rate 50 gun Frigate between the February of 1830 and the March of 1831.

She was finally recommissioned for sea in the November of 1844 under Captain George Martin for service in North America and the West Indies until 1847. On her return to England she was fitted at Plymouth for Coastguard service from the October of 1856 until February 1857, and then departed for Falmouth, and then Milford in the February of 1858.

Between the June and the September of 1860 she was fitted as a training drill ship at Portsmouth for use in Southampton Water.
She was paid off on the 30th of June 1862,at Liverpool and then becoming an RNR Drill ship.

She was lent to the Mersey Division of the RNR in 1912.

Fate.

HMS Eagle was renamed HMS Eaglet in 1918, when she became the Royal Naval Reserve training centre for North West England. In 1926 a fire destroyed the ship, and the wreck was sold to J Hornby for breaking up on the 4th of January 1927.

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HMS Swiftsure (1804)

HMS Swiftsure was a 74-gun third-rateship of the line, designed by Sir John Henslow, ordered on the16th of August,1800 and built by Balthazar and Edward Adams at Bucklers Hard. Her Keel was laid in the August of 1802 and she was launched on the 23rd of July,1804.




Swiftsure

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Swiftsure
Ordered:	1800
Builder:	Henry Adams, Bucklers Hard
Laid down:	February 1802
Launched:	23 July 1804
Honours and awards:	Participated in: Battle of Trafalgar
Fate:	Sold out of the service, 1845
Notes:	Receiving ship from 1819
General characteristics
Class and type:	Swiftsure classship of the line
Tons burthen:	1724 (bm)
Length:	173 ft (53 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	47 ft 6 in (14.48 m)
Depth of hold:	20 ft 9 in (6.32 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

Service.



HMS Swiftsure was commissioned in the August of 1805 by Captain Mark Robinson for the Channel, and found herself off Cadiz where she took part in the chase to the West Indies under Captain William Gordon Rutherford. On her return she fought at Trafalgar in the lee column. During the battle she and Polyphemus gave succour to the Belleisle which had been grievously mauled during the first four hours of the battle. By mid afternoon when the Redoutable finally surrendered it was the Swiftsure who took her in tow. By noon on the 22nd it was clear that the French ship was foundering and 119 of her crew were taken off and saved. During the entire battle Swiftsure suffered only eight killed and nine wounded.

She was paid off in 1807 and then recommission- ed in that same year under Captain John Conn as the Flagship of Vice Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren and sailed for North America on the 8th of December in that year. Conn was unfortunately drowned in the May of 1810 and she was taken over by Captain Charles Austin for the remainder of her commission.

Swiftsure underwent a repair on her return to England in 1811. The work at Chatham taking from the March until September of that year, She was recommissioned under Captain Robert Lloyd, as the Flagship of Vice Admiral Herbert Sawyer on the North American station. She came under the captaincy of Lord John Colvill in the August of that year, and then sailed for the Med in the November.
By 1812 she was under Captain Temple Hardy and in the August of that year Captain Edward Dickson until 1814 when she became the Flagship of Vice Admiral John Laugharne once more in the Med. By the September of that year she was back in the West Indies under Captain William Webley.

Fate.
Back at Portsmouth by the August of 1815 she was paid off, and went into ordinary. From 1819 until 1845, she remained at Portsmouth having been fitted as a receiving ship, but In the September of 1844, having been moved she heeled over and sank at Portchester. In the November of that year, she commenced use as a target ship by HMS Excellent. She was sold out of the service and broken up by Barnard on the 18th of October, 1845.







Barker family memorial in St Peter's Church, Edensor with reference to HMS Swiftsure and Trafalgar

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HMS FAME (1805)



Fame



HMS Fame was a 74-gun third rateship of the line, the name ship of her class, designed by Sir John Henslow, ordered on the 15th of October 1799, and built at Deptford Dockyard by M/shipwright Edward Tippett until the March of 1803 and then completed by Henry Peake . She was constructed on the same building slip as was HMS Courageux, her keel having been ordered to be laid down on it immediately after the other ship's launch on the 26th of March,1800. The first elements of her keel were not finally laid down until the 22nd of January 1802, and Fame was launched on the 8th of October, 1805.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Fame
Ordered:	15 October 1799
Builder:	Deptford Dockyard
Laid down:	22 January 1802
Launched:	8 October 1805
Fate:	Broken up, 1817
General characteristics
Class and type:	Fame Class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1745 (bm)
Length:	175 ft (53 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	47 ft 8 in (14.53 m)
Depth of hold:	20 ft 6 in (6.25 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	·74 guns: ·Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18 pdrs ·Quarterdeck: 14 × 9 pdrs ·Forecastle: 4 × 9 pdrs

Service.

HMS Fame was commissioned inthe October of 1805 by Captain Graham Moore.
In the May of 1806 she was placed under the command of Captain Richard Bennett from then until 1809. By the Autumn of 1806 she was in the squadron of Sir John Borlase Warren in the pursuit of Willaumez, and then sailed for the Med on the 28th of June 1807, and then back to the Channel later in that year.

In the November of 1808, whilst still under the command of Captain Bennet, Fame joined a squadron lying off Rosas, where Captain Lord Cochrane was assisting the Spanish in the defence of Castell de la Trinitat against the invading French army. Boats from Fame helped evacuate Cochrane's garrison forces after the fort's surrender on the 5th of December.

During 1810 Fame came under the command of two new Captains. First it was Captain Philip Hornby, and then by the November of that year Captain Walter Bathurst until 1814.She sailed to the Med in 1811 and just for for a month from October to November came under acting Captain Abel Ferris before reverting to Bathurst again.

Fate.

Fame was laid up in ordinary at Chatham in1815, where she was broken up in the September of 1817.