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

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HMS Northumberland (1798)






HMS Northumberland was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line, the name ship of her class,ordered on the 10th of june 1795 and built at the yards of Mrs Frances Barnard, Deptford, and launched on the 2nd of February, 1798.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Northumberland
Ordered:	10 June 1795
Builder:	Barnard, Deptford
Laid down:	October 1795
Launched:	2 February 1798
Honours and awards:	·Participated in Battle of San Domingo ·Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt"
Fate:	Broken up, 1850
Notes:	Hulked, February 1827
General characteristics
Class and type:	Northumberland classship of the line
Tons burthen:	1907 (bm)
Length:	182 ft (55 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	48 ft 7 1⁄2 in (14.821 m)
Depth of hold:	21 ft 7 in (6.58 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns ·Upper gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns ·QD: 12 × 9-pounder guns ·Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Northumberland was commissioned in the April of 1798 by Captain Edward Owen, and from the August of that year came under Captain George Martin as the Flagship of Vice Admiral Sir John Colpoys, and sailed to the Med in the October of that year. In the June of 1789 she was in Rear Admiral Sir John Duckworth’s squadron, and took part in the blockade of Malta in 1800. On the 18th of February of that year she took Le Genereux, Northumberland, Alexander, Penelope, Bonne Citoyenne, and the brigVincejo shared in the proceeds of the French polacca Vengeance, captured entering Valletta, Malta on the 6th of April 1800, and together with Genereux and Success, on the 24th of August the 42 gun La Diane off Malta.

Egypt Operation 1801.

On 8 January 1801 Penelope captured the French bombard St. Roche, which was carrying wine, liqueurs, ironware, Delfth cloth, and various other merchandise, from Marseilles to Alexandria. Swiftsure, Tigre, Minotaur, Northumberland, Florentina, and the schoonerMalta, were in sight and shared in the proceeds of the capture.

Because Northumberland served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 8 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorized in 1850 to all surviving claimants.

Northumberland was recommissioned in the June of 1803 under Captain Alexander Cochrane for Channel service.In the August of that year she detained and sent into Plymouth Comet, a vessel that the French had captured on the1st of July as she was sailing from England to Bengal under charter to the British East India Company. An American house with an office in London had purchased Comet at A Coruña as a prize and was sending her to London when Northumberland intercepted her.
In 1805 she was under Captain George Tobin as the Flagship to the now Rear Admiral Cochrane at the blockade of Ferrol, and then in pursuit of Missiessy’s squadron to the West Indies.

Northumberland participated in the Battle of San Domingo on the 6th of February,1806, under acting Captain John Morrison. She was damaged in the battle, and suffered 21 killed and 74 wounded, the highest casualty rate of any British ship taking part in the battle.

From the June of that year she had another temporary Captain in the person of Commander Joseph Spear, and later in the year Captain Nathaniel Cochrane, still as commander of Rear Admiral Cochrane’s flagship in the Leeward Islands. In 1807 Northumberland was part of a squadron, with Rear Admiral Cochran now sailing in HMS Belleisle. The squadron, which included Prince George, Canada, Ramillies and Cerberus, captured Telemaco, Carvalho and Master on the17th of April,1807.
Following the concern in Britain that neutral Denmark was entering an alliance with Napoleon, Northumberland participated in the expedition to occupy the Danish West Indies. The British captured St Thomas on 22 December and Santa Cruz on 25 December 1807. The Danes did not resist and the invasion was bloodless.

Her return to Portsmouth followed and in the February of 1808 she came under the captaincy of William Hargood and sailed for the Med via Cadiz on the 28th of the month.

In 1810 she came under Captain Henry Hotham and on the 23rd of November of that year, Northumberland, while in the company of HMS Armada, a 74-gun third rate, captured the 14-gun French privateer ketch La Glaneuse.

Her next significant action was on the 22nd of May, 1812 when the destruction of the 40 gun L’Ariane, and L’Andromache, plus the 16 gun Le Mamelouk took place near Le Graul rocks off Lorient.



Destruction of the French Frigates Arianne & Andromaque 22nd May 1812.
The image shows the last stages of the Action of 22 May 1812. From left to right: Mameluck, Ariane, Andromaque and Northumberland.

In1813 she went into ordinary at Chatham for a large repair which took from the September of that year until the April of 1815.

Now fitted as a Flagship, she was recommissioned under Captain Charles Ross for Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn. She received a measure of fame when she transported Napoleon I into captivity on the Island of Saint Helena. Napoleon had surrendered to Captain Frederick Maitland of HMS Bellerophon, on the15th of July, 1815 and was then transported to Plymouth. Napoleon was transferred in Tor Bay, Devon from Bellerophon to Northumberland for his final voyage to St. Helena because concerns were expressed about the suitability of the ageing ship. HMS Northumberland was ,therefore, selected instead.





Napoléon on the ship to Saint Helena, by Denzil O. Ibbetson. Drawn aboard HMS Northumberland, 1815. Watercolour, ink and pencil.

In the August of 1816 Northumberland came under the command of Captain James Walker as Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Charles Rowley at Sheerness. Northumberland shared with the tender Seagull in the proceeds of the seizure of some glass on Mary, of London, on 17 March 1817.

Under Captain Sir Michael Seymour she served as a guard ship in the Medway during 1818. Sher continued in this capacity under several commanders until fitted as a Lazarette in the September of 1826.

Fate.

Northumberland was converted to a hulk inthe February of 1827. She returned to Deptford to be broken up in the July of 1850.

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HMS Renown 1798.




HMS Renown was a 74-gun Northumberland Class third rate ship of the line, ordered on the 30th of April 1795. She was intended to have been named HMS Royal Oak, but the name was changed to Renown on the 15th of February,1796. Built by M/shipwright John Dudman at Deptford, she was launched there on the 2nd of May 1798.

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History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Renown
Ordered:	10 June 1795
Builder:	Dudman, Deptford Wharf
Laid down:	November 1796
Launched:	2 May 1798
Honours and awards:	Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt"
Fate:	Broken up, May 1835
Notes:	Harbour service from 1814
General characteristics
Class and type:	Northumberland Class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1899 (bm)
Length:	182 ft (55 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	48 ft 7 1⁄2 in (14.8 m)
Depth of hold:	21 ft 7 in (6.58 m)
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Armament:	·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns ·Upper gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns ·QD: 12 × 9-pounder guns ·Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Renown was commissioned in the August of 1798 under Captain Albamarle Bertie for the Channel.
On the 2nd of July 1799 she took part in the attack on the Spanish squadron at the Basque roads. She then came under the command of Captain Thomas Eyles in the November of that year as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren.

On the 11th of June the squadron’s boats took the 2 gun La Nochette and others near the Penmarcks
On the 2nd of July, Renown, Fisgard and Defence, with the hired armed cutterLord Nelson in company, were in Bourneuf Bay when they sent in their boats to attack a French convoy at Île de Noirmoutier. The British destroyed the French ship Therese (of 20 guns), a lugger (12 guns), two schooners (6 guns each) and a cutter (6 guns), of unknown names. The cutting out party also burned some 15 merchant vessels loaded with corn and supplies for the French fleet at Brest. However, in this enterprise, 92 officers and men out of the entire party of 192 men, fell prisoners to the French when their boats became stranded. Lord Nelson had contributed no men to the attacking force and so had no casualties.

Next, Renown participated in an abortive invasion of Ferrol. On the 26th of August, in Vigo Bay, Admiral Sir Samuel Hood assembled a cutting-out party from the vessels under his command consisting of two boats each from Amethyst, Stag, Amelia, Brilliant and Cynthia, four boats from Courageaux, as well as the boats from Renown, London and Impetueux. The party went in and after a 15-minute fight captured the French privateer Guêpe, of Bordeaux and towed her out. She was of 300 tons burthen and had a flush deck. Pierced for 20 guns, she carried eighteen 9-pounders, and she and her crew of 161 men were under the command of Citizen Dupan. In the attack she lost 25 men killed, including Dupan, and 40 wounded. British casualties amounted to four killed, 23 wounded and one missing. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "29 Aug. Boat Service 1800" to all surviving claimants from the action.

In the October of 1800 under Captain John Chambers White she sailed for the Med. In the February of 1801 she served at the abortive attack and blockade of Cadiz. Armed en flute, she transferred to the Mediterranean later in that year, still as Warren's flagship.. Because Renown served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 2 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants. She took part in the blockade of Toulon in 1803, and also at Malta.

Late in 1804 command was transferred to Captain Pulteney Malcolm, and then to Sir Richard Strachan in the March of 1805. Later that year she was paid off at Plymouth, and was under repair until the December of that year when she recommissioned under Commander William Hellard in the March of 1806 for the Channel. Under Captain Philip Durham between this time and 1809, she sailed for the Med on the 30th of January,1808. At the Blockade of Toulon on the 4th of May 1809 she took the12 gun Le Champenoite.

In the October of that year she served in Martin’s squadron in the pursuit of Baudin’s convoy, and on the 26th they succeeded in destroying the 80 gun La Robuste, and Le Lion 74.
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Fate.

Renown was laid up at Plymouth in 1811, went into ordinary from 1812 to 1813 and a Hospital ship in 1814.

She was broken up at Deptford in the May of 1835.

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HMS Dragon (1798)



HMS Dragon by Antoine Roux


HMS Dragon was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line, the only one in her class being designed by Sir William Rule, ordered on the 30th of April and approved on the 10th of June 1795. She was built by John and William Wells and Co. at Deptford Dockyard and launched on the 2nd of April 1798.

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Dragon
Ordered:	30 April 1795
Builder:	Wells & Co, Deptford.
Laid down:	August 1795
Launched:	2 April 1798
Renamed:	HMS Fame in 1842
Honours and awards:	·Participated in: ·Battle of Cape Finisterre ·Battle of Hampden ·Battle of Fort Peter ·Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt"
Fate:	Broken up, 1850
General characteristics
Class and type:	74-gun third rateship of the line
Tons burthen:	​1814 74⁄95 (bm)
Length:	178 ft (54.3 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	48 ft 3 in (14.7 m)
Depth of hold:	20 ft 6 in (6.2 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Armament:	·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns ·QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns ·Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Dragon was commissioned in the June of 1798 under Captain George Campbell.

French Revolutionary Wars.

On the 1st of June, 1799, she sailed to the Mediterranean as part of a squadron under Sir Charles Cotton, ordered to reinforce Lord Bridports Fleet. By theFebruary of 1801 she was under Captain John Aylmer as one of the squadron under Sir John Warren off Cadiz.
Because Dragon served in the navy's Egyptian campaign between 8 March 1801 and 2 September, her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants.

Napoleonic Wars.

In April 1803, Dragon was sailing from Gibraltar to Britain in company with Alligator and the store ship Prevoyante when they sighted two French ships of the line off Cape St.Vincent. The French ships veered off rather than engage the British vessels.

On the18th of June,1803, Dragon and Endymion captured the French naval 12-gun brig Colombe. Colombe was copper-bottomed and pierced for 16 guns. She had a crew of 65 men under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Caro. Colombe had been returning from Martinique and was bound for Brest when the British captured her off Ouessant. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Colombe. In the following month, under Captain Edward Griffiths she returned to Portsmouth for a refit which took from the August of 1804 until the November of that year.

In 1805, Dragon took part in Admiral Robert Calder's action at the Battle of Cape Finisterre on the 22nd of July. She escaped with light casualties, only four men being wounded.

From 1806 to 1808, Dragon she served in the Channel Squadron under Captain Matthew Scott. On the 17th of February,1806, she ran aground on the Île de Ré, Finistère, France.^] She was later refloated, repaired and returned to service. From the April of 1809 until the September of 1810 she was undergoing small to middling repairs at Plymouth. She was then recommissioned under Captain Forrest as the flagship of Sir Francis Laforey. On the 18th of October in that same year, Dragon was in the Hamoaze. There she ran into and dismasted the Brig Eliza Ann, which was in process of sailing from Neath to London
Following this incident Dragon sailed for the Leeward Islands on the 30th of October.

The War of 1812.

Dragon participated in the War of 1812, firstly under the command of Captain Francis Collier until October of 1812, and took part in a number of engagements. She also captured a number of vessels including the Anna Maria on the 12th of September of that year. In the October of the same year,the command of Dragon was taken over by Captain Robert Barrie and on the 20th of December, destroyed the American privateer Tartar, of ten guns and 47 men.

In the August of 1814, Dragon participated in an expedition with a flotilla of other ships penetrating into the State of Maine, along the Penobscot River. The ships involved were were Sylph, Dragon, Endymion, Bacchante, Peruvian, as well as some transports. Bulwark, Tenedos, Rifleman, and Pictou. On the evening of the 31st of the month, Sylph, Peruvian, and the transport Harmony, accompanied by a boat from Dragon, embarked marines, foot soldiers and a detachment of soldiers from the Royal Artillery, under the command of Captain Robert Barrie of Dragon. The objective was the American 26 gun frigate Adams, which had taken refuge 27 miles upstream at Hampden. Adams’s crew had disembarked her guns and fortified a position along the bank, housing fifteen 18-pounders covering the river approaches. Travelling up river took two days, but eventually, after the Battle of Hampden, in which the British only suffered 2 killed, 8 wounded,and 1 missing. This enabled the British to capture the American defenders at Bangor, although not until after the Americans had succeeded in burning the Adams. The British also captured 11 other ships in the raid and destroyed a further six. Dragon lost only one man killed during the entire operation.

In the January of 1815, Dragon became the flagship for Admiral Sir George Cockburn at the Battle of Fort Peter and the capture of St. Marys, Georgia. Following this exploit the ship returned to England and was laid up at Plymouth in the August of that year. She was moved to Portsmouth in 1817 but later returned to Plymouth.

Fate.

Between the August and September of 1824 Dragon was fitted as a lazerette, still at Plymouth, becoming a Marinebarracks ship at Milford between1829 and 1842. She was then hauled ashore at Pembroke again fitted as a Marine barracks, then hulked and renamed HMS Fame on the 15th of July in that year. She was eventually broken up at Pembroke, this being completed on the 23rd of August,1850.

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HMS Spencer (1800)


Spencer



HMS Spencer was a 74-gun third rateship of the line, the only one of her class, having been designed by the French émigré shipwright Jean-Louis Barrallier.

She was ordered on the 19th of September1795 and built by Balthazar and Edward Adams at Bucklers. Hard. She was launched on the 10th of May,1800.

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Spencer
Ordered:	19 September 1795
Builder:	Adams, Bucklers Hard
Laid down:	September 1795
Launched:	10 May 1800
Honours and awards:	·Naval General Service Medal with clasps: ·"Gut of Gibraltar 12 July 1801" ·"St. Domingo"
Fate:	Broken up, 1822
General characteristics
Class and type:	Spencer Class 74 gun third rateship of the line
Tons burthen:	1917 (bm)
Length:	180 ft 10 in (55.12 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	49 ft 3 in (15.01 m)
Depth of hold:	21 ft 10 in (6.65 m)
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Armament:	·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns ·Upper gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns ·QD: 12 × 9-pounder guns ·Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

Service.



Spencer was commissioned in the June of 1800 by Captain Henry D'Esterre Darby. Who commanded her until 1802. In the following month Spencer was at the Rock of Gibraltar as part of the squadron under the command of Rear Admiral James Saumarez in HMS Caeser. On the 6th of that month Saumarez sailed from Gibraltar with Caesar, Pompee, Spencer, Venerable, Hannibal and Audacious with the intention of attacking a squadron of three French line-of-battle ships and a frigate, which were lying a considerable distance from the batteries at Algeciras, under the command of Admiral Linois . As Venerable, leading the attack, approached the French, the wind dropped and she was forced to anchor. Pompee managed to get into action but Hannibal grounded and had to strike her colours. During the battle the British drove two of the French ships ashore and badly damaged the rest. The total loss in the British squadron was 121 killed, 240 wounded, and 14 missing. The Franco-Spanish force lost 317 men killed and some 3-500 wounded.
On the 8th of July, a squadron of five Spanish ships-of-the-line, a French 74, three frigates and a large number of gunboats reinforced the French ships. Hard work repaired all the British ships at Gibraltar, (excepting the Pompee) in time for them to follow the Franco-Spanish fleet when it sailed on the 12th. In the subsequent phase of the Battle of Algeciras , two first rate Spanish ships, the Real Carlos and the Hermenegildo fired upon each other during the night, caught fire and exploded, with tremendous loss of life. The British captured the third rateSt Antoine. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issue of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Gut of Gibraltar 12 July 1801" to surviving claimants from the battle; 192 medals were issued in all.


Naval combat between the French ship Formidable commanded by Captain Troude, and three British naval ships, Caesar, Spencer, Venerable and the frigate Thames in sight of Cadiz, 13 July 1801.


Spencer joined Admiral Robert Calder's squadron in the October of 1801 and In December she sailed in chase to the West Indies.
In the May of 1803 Spencer was recommissioned under Captain Robert Stopford for service in the Channel, and he remained in command until 1807. Whilst under him, on the 28th of the month she recaptured Castle Douglas, and the following month, on the 10th of June, Lord North. To top this on the 28th of August she also recaptured the East Indiaman Lord Nelson, and on the 20th of November she captured Virgin del Brien Consiglio, followed nine days later by the Nostra Senora del Carmen.
In the August of 1804 Spencer joined Admiral Nelson off Toulon and was involved in the chase to the West Indies in 1805.
Later that year she was part of a squadron off Cadiz under Vice Admiral John Duckworth. When news reached Duckworth that two French squadrons had sailed from Brest in the December of that year, Duckworth took his squadron to Barbados to search for them, eventually sighting Leissègues' squadron off San Domingo on the 6th of February,1806. Duckworth organised his ships into two lines, the weather line consisting of Superb, Northumberland and Spencer, while the lee line consisted of Agamemnon, Canopus, Donegal and Atlas. And then sailed to attack the French ships. During the battle, HMS Superb badly damaged the French 74-gun Indivisible, leaving her adrift, her rigging shot off and her rudder destroyed. Spencer then followed up and took her. The battle was a resounding victory for the Royal Navy, and Stopford and the other captains received a Naval Gold Medal for their actions. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issue of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "St. Domingo" to all surviving claimants from the battle; 396 medals were issued.


Next, Stopford and Spencer participated in the British invasions of the Río de la PlataThe invasions occurred in two phases. A detachment from the British army occupied Buenos Aires for 46 days in 1806 before being expelled. In 1807, a second force stormed and occupied Montevideo, remaining for several months, and a third force made a second attempt to take Buenos Aires. After several days of street fighting against the local militia and Spanish colonial army, in which half of the British forces were killed or wounded, the British were forced to withdraw.


Operations in the Baltic.


Spencer sailed with Gambier,s Fleet from England on the 26th of July 1807 for the Second Battle of Copenhagen, where she took part in the bombardment which along with the actions of the Army resulted in the surrender of the entire Danish Fleet.


Spencer arrived off Kristiansand, Norway on the 18th of September of that same year accompanied by two other ships. The ships withdrew after they were fired on by Christiansholm Fortress. The ship's commander decided to occupy the abandoned Fredriksholm Fortress in the Kristiansand fjord, and demolish it. Charges were laid but after waiting some time for the explosion, men were sent back to check if the fuses had gone out. They had not, and four of the men were killed in the resulting explosion.
In the April of 1808 Spencer came under the command of Captain John Quilliam for service in the as the flagship of the now Rear Admiral Stopford.


Following this she underwent a large repair at Plymouth from the October of 1811 until the March of 1814.


The War of 1812.


Spencer was recommissioned under Captain Richard Raggett, and during the War of 1812 he sailed her to North America escorting a convoy to Canada. Later in that year he patrolled in the Gulf of Maine. After a failed and embarrassing September attempt to gain ransom from a little coaster out of Boston, Raggett turned his wrath on lightly defended Cape Cod towns. Eastham coughed up over $1,200 and Brewster paid $4,000 to avoid bombardment. Bolder people resided in Barnstable and Orleans. The two towns rejected Raggett's demands and prepared to resist. Raggett decided to move on, but locals tagged his ship with the nickname "Terror of the Bay". Earlier, Spencer had shared in the capture of the American brigantine Superb.


After a successful cruise in the summer of 1814 during which she captured the Royal Navy schooner Landrail, the American privateer Syren returned to the United States but as she approached the Delaware River the British blockading ships gave chase. To escape the boats of Spencer and Telegraph, on the 16th of November Syren ran ashore under Cape May. Her crew then set her on fire before making good their escape.

From the August of 1815, Spencer served as a guardship in Plymouth under the command of Captain William Robert Broughton. On the 16th of March 1817, Wolf, a tender to Spencer, captured two smuggling boats, Albeona and Two Brothers, and their cargo. Wolf was in company with the revenue cruiser Vigilant. In 1818 Captain Sir Thomas Hardy replaced Broughton. Captain Samuel Rowley replaced Hardy in the September of that year. Spencer then served as the flagship for Rear Admiral Sir Josias Rowley at Cork. Sir Thomas Lavie replaced Rowley in turn in December 1821.


Fate.


Spencer was broken up at Plymouth in the April of 1822.

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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.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Courageux
Ordered:	6 November 1794
Builder:	Deptford Dockyard
Laid down:	October 1797
Launched:	26 March 1800
Fate:	Broken up, 1832
General characteristics
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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HMS Conqueror (1801)




Conqueror

HMS Conqueror was a 74 gun third rate ship of the line. She was ordered on the 30th of April, 1795 to the design by Sir John Henslow as part of the middling class of 74s, and was the only ship built of her Class. Whereas the common class carried 28 18-pounder guns on their upper gun decks, the middling class carried 30, and only ten 9-pounder guns on their quarterdecks instead of the 12 of the common class. She was laid down in the October of 1795 and built by Joseph Graham at Harwich, being launched on the 23rd of November,1801.

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Conqueror
Ordered:	30 April 1795
Builder:	Graham, Harwich
Laid down:	October 1795
Launched:	23 November 1801
Fate:	Broken up 1822
Notes:	·Participated in: ·Battle of Trafalgar
General characteristics
Class and type:	ConquerorClass 74-gun third rateship of the line
Tons burthen:	1853 (bm)
Length:	176 ft (54 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	49 ft (15 m)
Depth of hold:	20 ft 9 in (6.32 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	·GD: 28 × 32-pounder guns ·Upper GD: 30 × 18-pounder guns ·QD: 12 × 9-pounder guns ·Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Conqueror was commissioned in the March of 1803 under Captain Sir Thomas Louis.
In the May of 1804 she came under the command of Captain Israel Pellew until 1807, and sailed for the Channel Fleet.
By 1805 she was in the Med, and then in Nelson's chase to the West Indies and back.

She fought at Trafalgar on the 21st of October in the Weather column, and Pellew's captain of marines was responsible for accepting the surrender of Admiral Villeneuve, the commander of the Franco-Spanish fleet, aboard the 80 gun French ship Bucentaure.. However, he was not able to deliver Villeneuve's sword to Captain Pellew aboard the Conqueror as she had passed on to engage the Santisima Trinidad and it was received by the acting captain of HMS Mars, her commander George Duff having been killed earlier in the battle. Despite being in the thick of the action for most of the battle and against superior opposition Conqueror suffered only three killed and 9 wounded.

Villeneuve, who spoke English, is alleged to have asked to whom he was surrendering. On being told it was Captain Pellew of the Conqueror, he replied "I am glad to have struck to the fortunate Sir Edward Pellew." When he was informed that the Conqueror's captain was Sir Edward's brother, he said, "His brother? What, are there two of them? Hėlas!"




Sketch showing Conqueror at the Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805

After a refit following the battle Conqueror was assigned to Sir Samuel Hood’s squadron off Rochefort in 1806. On the 15th of July in that year her ship’s boats accompanied by others from the squadron cut out the 16 gun Le Cesar off the Gironde.

After strenuous service she returned to Plymouth for defects to be made good between the April and June of 1807. She then joined Rear Admiral Sir Sidney Smith’s squadron sailing for the Tagus. Toward the end of that year her new commander was Captain Edward Fellows through until 1811. He took her to the Med in 1809 and in 1810 she joined Sir Charles Cottons’ squadron off Toulon.

On the 19th of July, 1811 Conqueror was in action off Cape Sicie against the French 40 gun Frigates L,Amelie and L’Adrienne.

On the 2nd of February, 1812, Conqueror was driven ashore on the coast of England between Sheerness and Chatham, Kent, during a storm.
She returned to Chatham For middling repairs, which were undertaken between the October of that year and the February of 1814. She was under Captain Richard Raggett until the end of 1815 in ordinary still at Chatham. Then in 1816 she became the flagship of Rear Admiral Robert Plampin at St. Helena, under Captain Robert Fowler during 1816 and then John Davie from 1816 until 1818.

Fate.

On her return to England she was fitted for sea at Sheerness and came firstly under Captain James Wallis, and then Captain Francis Stanfell from later in 1818 until 1820 when she was paid off at Chatham in the October of that year.

Conqueror was broken up there between the July and the August of 1822.

[Bligh]

HMS Plantagenet (1801)





Plantagenet



HMS Plantagenet was a 74 gun third rate ship of the line, ordered on the 6th of November 1794. She was designed by Sir William Rule as one of the 'large class' 74s, and was the only ship built in her class. As a large 74, she carried 24-pounder guns on her upper gun deck instead of the 18-pounder guns found on the middling and common class 74s. Laid down in the November of 1798 she was built at Woolwich Dockyard by M/Shipwright John Tovery until the July of 1801, and then completed by Edward Sison

She was launched on the 22nd of October,of that year.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Plantagenet
Ordered:	6 November 1794
Builder:	Woolwich Dockyard
Laid down:	November 1798
Launched:	22 October 1801
Fate:	Broken up, 1817
General characteristics
Class and type:	Plantagenet Class 74 gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1777 (bm)
Length:	181 ft (55 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	47 ft (14 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 9 in (6.02 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 Plantagenet was commissioned in the March of 1803 under Captain George Hammond for Channel service.

Later on In 1803, on the 24th of July she took the 4 gun Privateer Le Coureur de Terre Neuve and then on the 27th of that month accompanied by Rosario, she captured the French privateer sloop Atalante, of 22 guns, after a chase of nine hours. The Royal Navy took Atalante into service as HMS Hawke.

After this she proceeded to the Bay of Biscay now under the command of Captain Michael De Courcy.

She then returned to Plymouth and was fitted for Foreign service during the January and February of 1804


In June 1804 Plantagenet, under De Courcy, escorted the China Fleet of the British East India Company from Saint Helena back to England. This was the fleet that had scared off a French squadron of warships in the Battle of Pulo Aura.




The fleet of the East India Company homeward bound from China engaging and repulsing a French squadron near the Straits of Malacca, on 15 February 1804.


In the October of that year had received a new commander in the person of Captain Francis Pender and was back out in the Channel . During 1805 she had another change of Captain. The new commander was Captain William Bradley who continued in this role until 1809. On the 29th of August, 1807 she took the 2 gun Privateer L’Incomparable, and following this she sailed for Portugal on the 15th of November. She was with Sydney Smith’s squadron at both Lisbon and in the Tagus and finally at Courruna in the January of 1809.


She then sailed for the Baltic, and was under Captain Thomas Eyles from 1810 until 1812. On the 27th of September in that year Plantagenet and Daphne shared in the capture of the Danish schooner Toujours Fidele.
In the February of 1812, now under Captain Robert Lloyd she was preparing to sail for North America which she did on the 10th of March 1813 to take part in the war against the USA. As the ship was moored near Norfolk, Virginia, attempts were made to destroy her with the inventor Robert Fulton’s torpedoes, but this attempt failed.


On 16 December 1813, Planagenet's boats captured the American letter of marque schooner Rapid, off Havana. Rapid, Captain James Frazier, had been launched at Talbot County, Maryland in 1813. She was of 115 tons (bm), had a crew of 20, and was armed with one nine-pounder gun.
On the 26th of September 1814 her boats along with those of others made an unsuccessful attack on the US Privateer General Armstrong at Fayal. Shortly after this with the conclusion of hostilities she returned home and went into ordinary.



USS President and HMS Plantagenet February 1814

British ships Plantagenet, Rota and Carnation attack the American privateer General Armstrong on 26 October 1814 at Fayol (the Azores)


Fate.


Plantagenet was broken up at Portsmouth in the May of 1817.

[Bligh]

HMS Albion (1802)




HMS Albion was a Fame Class 74 gun third rate ship of the line ordered on the 4th of February, 1800. Designed by Sir John Henslow, and built by Perry, Wells and Green at Blackwall Docks. She was launched at Perry's Blackwall Yard on the Thames on the 17th of June, 1802.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Albion
Ordered:	24 June 1800
Builder:	Perry, Wells & Green, Blackwall Yard
Laid down:	June 1800
Launched:	17 June 1802
Honours and awards:	·Naval General Service Medal (NGSM) with clasps ·"Algiers" ·"Navarino"
Fate:	Broken up, 1836
General characteristics
Class and type:	Fame Classship of the line
Tons burthen:	​1740 32⁄94 bm
Length:	175 ft (53 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	47 ft 8 in (14.49 m)
Depth of hold:	18ft 5 in (6.25 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
.Armament:	·Lower deck: 28 × 32-pounder guns ·Upper deck: 28 × 18-pounder guns ·QD: 2 × 18-pounder guns + 12 × 32-pounder carronades ·Fc: 2 × 18-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades ·Roundhouse: 6 × 18-pounder carronades

Service.

HMS Albion was commissioned in the February of 1802 under Captain John Ferrier, who continued in command until 1808. She started her service in the Channel fleet as Flagship to Saumarez. Whilst on station, with the aid of HMS Minatour and Thunderer, she took the French 40 gun La Franchise.

In the May of 1803 under Ferrier she joined Admiral Cornwallis' fleet, which was blockading the vital French naval port of Brest. Albion was among the vessels of the squadron that shared in the proceeds of the capture of:
Juffrow Bregtie Kaas (30 May 1803);
Eendraght (31 May);
Morgen Stern (1 June);
Goede ferwachting (4 June);
De Vriede (5 June).

Albion was soon detached from the fleet to deploy to the Indian Ocean where she was to remain for several years.

Albion and Sceptre left Rio de Janeiro on the13th of October of that same year, escorting Lord Melville, Earl Spencer, Princess Mary, Northampton, Anna, Ann, Glory, and Essex. They were in company with the 74-gunthird rateship of the lineHMS Russell, and the fourth rateHMS Grampus. Three days later Albion and Scepter separated from the rest of the ships.

On the 21st of December, Albion and Sceptre captured the French privateer Clarisse at 1°18′S 95°20′E in the eastern Indian Ocean. Clarisse was armed with 12 guns and had a crew of 157 men. She had sailed from Isle de France (Mauritius) on the 24th of November of that year with provisions for a six-month cruise to the Bay of Bengal. At the time of her capture she had not captured anything. Albion, Sceptre, and Clarisse arrived at Madras on the 8th of January,1804.

On the 28th of February, Albion and Sceptre met up in the straits of Malacca with the fleet of Indiamen that had just emerged from the Battle of Pulo Aura and conducted them safely to Saint Helena. From there HMS Plantagenet escorted the convoy to England.

On the 28th of August,1808, Albion recaptured Swallow, which was carrying among other things, a quantity of gold dust.
Next, Albion escorted a fleet of nine East Indiamen returning to Britain. They left Madras on the 25th of October, but a gale that commenced around the 20th of November at 10°S 90°E by the 22nd of November had dispersed the fleet. By the 21st of February three of the Indiamen —Lord Nelson, Glory, and Experiment— had not arrived at Cape Town. Apparently all three had foundered without a trace.

Caroline, of Riga, arrived at Yarmouth on the 17th of August 1810 having been detained by Albion. She then went into Chatham Dockyard for a major repair which took place between the December of 1810 and the June of 1813.

She was recommissioned under Captain John Ferris Devonshire for the North American and West Indies station.

War of 1812.

In the March of 1814 under Captain Charles Ross, the same year that Napoleon was toppled for the first time, and after the long period of extensive repair, she became flagship of Rear Admiral George Cockburn, taking part in a war (War of 1812) against the United States. In the summer of 1814, she was involved in the force that harried the coastline of Chesapeake Bay, where she operated all the way up to the Potomac and Patuxent Rivers, destroying large amounts of American shipping, as well as US government property. In the May of that year che came under the command of Captain Phillip Somerville, and later Captain James Walker. The operations ended once peace was declared in 1815, and from the 31st of December her Captain changed yet again to John Goode who had command until 1819 in the Med.

Post-war.

In 1816, Albion was part of a combined British-Dutch fleet taking part in the bombardment of Algiers on the 27th of August, which was intended to force the Dey of Algiers to free Christian slaves. She fired 4,110 shots at the city, and suffered 3 killed and 15 wounded by return fire.
In 1817 she became the Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Charles Penrose, and was fitted as a guardship at Sheerness.


From the May of 1819 she came under Captain Richard Raggett, and from the June of1822 under Captain Sir William Hoste until 1824, when she was refitted for sea service at Portsmouth. Recommissioned in the June of 1825,under Captain Ommaney until 1828, in 1827, she was part of a combined British-French-Russian fleet under the command of Admiral Codrington at the Battle of Navarino, where a Turkish-Egyptian fleet was obliterated, securing Greek independence. Albion suffered 10 killed and 50 wounded, including her second-in-command, Commander John Norman Campbell. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with the clasps "Algiers", and "Navarino" to all surviving claimants from the battles.


Albion at the Battle of Navarino.




The Return of the Asia and Albion to Spithead after the Battle of Navarino, 31 January 1828


In 1829, she went into ordinary at Portsmouth, and by mid 1830 she was being used as a receiving ship. Although fitting out had begun she was completed as a lazzarette between the March and July of 1831.

Fate.

Albion was used as a quarantine ship at Leith from1832 to 1835, and was finally broken up at Deptford in the June of 1836.