Fourth Rate 50 gun ships of the Royal Navy.

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HMS Jupiter (1778)

HMS Jupiter was a John Williams designed Portland Class, 50 gun fourth rate ship, built by John Randall & Co. at Rotherhithe. Ordered on the 21st of June, and confirmed on the 1st of July, 1776, she was laid down in that same month and launched on the 13th of May, 1778. Completed at Deptford on the 26th of July in that year she cost £15,801.2.10d to build and 38,511.5.4d for fitting and coppering which featured the new technical breakthrough of protecting her iron bolts by the application of thick paper between the copper plates and the hull. In her trials this proved a great success and she also had the added advantage of proving to be one of the most speedy ships in the Royal Navy as demonstrated in her pursuit and attempted capture of the cutter Eclipse.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Jupiter
Ordered:	21 June & 1 July 1776
Builder:	John Randall & Co, Rotherhithe
Laid down:	July 1776
Launched:	13 May 1778
Completed:	By 26 July 1778
Fate:	Wrecked on 10 December 1808
General characteristics
Class and type:	Portland Class 50 gun fourth rate ship
Tons burthen:	1,061 ​30⁄94 (bm)
Length:	146 ft 1 1⁄2 in (44.5 m)
Beam:	40 ft 10 in (12.4 m)
Depth of hold: Draught:	17 ft 6 in (5.3 m) 10ft 7in x 16ft 3in
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Lower deck: 22 x 24 pdr guns Upper deck: 22 x 12 pdr guns QD: 4 x 6 pdr guns Fc: 2 x 6 pdr guns

Service.

HMS Jupiter was commissioned in the April of 1778 under Captain Charles Middleton. On October the 20th in that year whilst cruising off Finisterre Jupiter, now under Captain Francis Reynolds, in company with the 28 gun Medea, Captain James Montagu, fell in with the French 64 gun Triton, under Captain Comte de Ligondes. The Jupiter ranged up on one board, with the Medea taking up position on the opposite, just as dusk was falling, and cannonaded the Triton hotly. The French captain succeeded in turning the same broadside to both his assailants, but after about an hour's fighting was wounded in both arms and was forced to relinquish his command to Lieut, de Roquart. The engagement lasted two hours, before a squall of wind and rain, and the impenetrable darkness of the night separated the combatants. The Triton had suffered some 13 killed and approximately 20 wounded. The Jupiter had 3 killed and 7 wounded, whilst the Medea's loss was 1 killed and 3 wounded.



Naval battle off the coast of Lisbon, 20 October 1778. The French ship Triton against the British ship Jupiter and the frigate Medea. Painting by Pierre-Julien Gilbert

On the 27th of March, 1779, under Captain Lord Francis Reynolds, Jupiter sailed for the Med escorting a convoy and on the 1st of April she assisted the Delight after she had captured the French 20 gun Privateer Jean Bart. Then on the 2nd of October in that same year, Jupiter captured two French cutters, each of 14 guns and 120 men, the Mutin, under the command of Chevalier de Roquefeiul, and the Pilote, under the command of Chevalier de Clonard. The two cutters surrendered after an engagement that left the Mutin dismasted. Jupiter shared the prize money with HM Ships Apollo, Crescent, Glory and Milford.

On the 20th of September, 1780 Jupiter came under the command of Captain Thomas Pasley, and under him on the 13th of March,1781 she sailed as escort to an outbound East India convoy, and fought at the Battle of Porto Preya on the 16th of April, in that year. The battle took place between the British squadron under Commodore George Johnstone and a French squadron under the Bailli de Suffren.
Both squadrons were en route to the Cape of Good Hope, the British to take it from the Dutch, the French aiming to help defend it and French possessions in the Indian Ocean. The British convoy and its escorting squadron had anchored at Porto Praya in the Cape Verde Islands to take on water, when the French squadron arrived and attacked them at anchor.
Due to the unexpected nature of the encounter neither fleet was prepared for action, and in the inconclusive battle which followed the French fleet sustained more damage than the British, though no ships were lost. Johnstone tried to pursue the French, but was forced to call it off in order to repair the damage his ships had taken.

On the 21st of July Commodore George Johnstone's squadron, still on route to the East Indies, captured five valuable prizes in Saldanha Bay. These were the Dutch East Indiamen Dankbaarheid, 24, Perel, 20, Schoonkoop, 20, Hoogcarspel, 20, and Middelburg, 24. Their masters were surprised and could not escape; they therefore cut their cables, loosed their fore-topsails, and drove on shore, where the ships were fired, and the men landed. The British boats, however, were smartly on the spot and checkmated the Dutch designs. The fires were got under on board all the ships except the Middelburg, which burnt furiously, floated off, and nearly drifted on board two of the other prizes. Finally she blew up. A hooker laden with the sails of the captured ships, was discovered hidden away, and captured. Two other hookers were taken, but restored to the Dutch inhabitants by the Commodore. The prizes were sent home, but it is noteworthy as showing the extreme insecurity of British waters at that time, that two of them had sharp fights in coming up the Channel.
The Hoogcarspel was chased by a French frigate, and had to retire to Mount's Bay, there to await an escort. The Perel was attacked by two privateers, which only retired when their ammunition was exhausted.

---

On her return from the Indies in the July of 1783 Jupiter was paid off following wartime service and in the July of the following year underwent a small repair at Sheerness which was completed in the November of that year at a cost of £9,669.2.7d.

She was recommissioned in the August of 1786 under Captain Christopher Parker and sailed for the Leeward Islands in the April of 1787. On her return in the September of 1789 she was paid off and then underwent a very large repair at Sheerness between the February of 1792 and the September of 1794 at a cost of £32,877.

The ship recommissioned under Captain Richard Fisher, and in the January of 1795 came under the command of Captain William Lechmere as the flagship of Commodore John Willett Payne. After serving as a Royal escort for Princess Caroline of Brunswick, in the February of 1796 she was placed under Captain George Losack until 1802, and on the 11th of April she sailed with reinforcements for the Cape arriving in time for the Battle of Muisenberg in the Cape colony, and winning the battle honour “Cape of Good Hope” in the process. Having joined Elphinstone’s squadron she was also at the capture of the Dutch Squadron in Saldanha Bay on the 17th of August in that year. Losack was made Commodore flying his broad pennant in the November of 1798.

On the 25th of April, 1799, Jupiter, Adamant, and Tremendous recaptured the East Indiaman Chance as she lay at anchor under the guns of the battery at Connonies-Point, Île de France. The French frigate Forte had previously captured Chance, which was carrying a cargo of rice, in Balasore Roads. The squadron also recaptured another ship that a French privateer had captured in the Bay of Bengal. After the French had driven the American ship Pacific onshore at River Noir, Jupiter, Adamant, and Tremendous came on the scene and sent in their boats, which removed much of Pacific's cargo of bale goods and sugar. The British then set Pacific on fire.

On the 10th of October, 1799, under the temporary command of Captain William Granger, Jupiter was in action with the 40 gun French Frigate La Preneuse commanded by Jean Marthe Adrien L’ Hermitte in the Indian Ocean.

In 1801 Jupiter became the flagship to Vice Admiral Sir Roger Curtis destined for the East Indies.On the 17th of September in that year, she arrived at Cape Town from Rio de Janeiro, together with Hindostan and Euphrosyne, having taken over from HMS Lion which had escorted a convoy of East Indiamen from England bound for China as far as Rio, together with Hindostan. They had arrived there on the 1st of August. Captain Losack, of Jupiter, then decided to accompany the convoy eastward until they were unlikely to encounter several Spanish and French vessels known to be cruising off the coast of Brazil.
On the 27th of May1803 Jupiter shared with Braave, Diomede, and Hindostan, in the capture of Union.
Returning home she was paid off into Ordinary on the 7th of October in that year. Between the September and the December of 1805 she was fitted as a Hospital ship at Plymouth.
After refitting as a 50 gun ship which was completed in the March of 1807 and recommissioned under Captain Henry Edward Reginald Baker and on the 18th of April she sailed from Portsmouth as escort to a fleet of East Indiamen bound for India and China, although she was not intended to accompany them all the way. On the 15th of June when they were 55°10′N 22°30′W "all was well". However, Surat Castle had sprung a leak and it was determined that she should go into a port.

Fate.

On the 10th of December, 1808, Captain Barker approached Vigo Harbour towards the end of dusk. He decided to anchor as close to the harbour as possible in order to be able to come in early the next morning. As Jupiter was coming into position to anchor she hit a reef. Attempts to lighten her by throwing shot and stores overboard had no effect, and she was taking on so much water the fear was that if she were heaved off she would sink. Over the next two days stores were removed. She then fell on her starboard side and was left a wreck. The subsequent court martial admonished Captain Barker to be more careful in the future.

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HMS Leander (1780)



HMS Leander was a John Williams designed Portland Class, 50 gun, fourth rate ship, built by M/shipwright Israel Pownoll until the April of 1779 and completed by Nicholas Phillips at Chatham Dockyard. Ordered on the 21st of June and confirmed on the 25th of July, 1776, she was laid down on the 1st of March,1777, and launched on the 1st of July, 1780. She was completed on the 21st of August in that year at a total cost of £26,831.1.3d.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Leander
Ordered:	21 June & 25 July 1776
Builder:	Chatham Dockyard, M/Shipwright Israel Pownoll to April 1779 then completed by Nicholas Phillips
Laid down:	1 March 1777
Launched:	1 July 1780
Honours and awards:	Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Nile"
Fate:	Captured 18 August 1798 by the French Navy
FRANCE
Name:	Leander
Acquired:	By capture 18 August 1798
Captured:	3 March 1799 by the Russian Navy
Fate:	Returned to the Royal Navy
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Leander
Acquired:	Returned by Russian Navy
Renamed:	Hygeia, in 1813
Reclassified:	Converted to hospital ship 1813
Fate:	Sold 1817
General characteristics
Type and Class:	Portland Class 50 Gun fourth rate ship
Tons burthen:	1,052 ​46⁄94 (bm)
Length:	146 ft 0 in (44.5 m) (overall) 119 ft 7 3⁄4 in (36.5 m) (keel)
Beam:	40 ft 8 in (12.4 m)
Depth of hold: Draught:	17 ft 5 in (5.3 m) 11ft 0in x 15ft 11in
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Lower deck: 22 x 24 pdr guns Upper deck: 22 x 12 pdr guns QD: 4 x 6-pounder guns Fc: 2 x 6-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Leander was commissioned under Captain Thomas Shirley in the June of 1780, and cruised for some time on the North Sea station. At the end of 1781 Leander accompanied by the Sloop HMS Alligator sailed for the Gold Coast with a convoy, consisting of a few merchant vessels and transports. Britain was at war with the Dutch Republic and on the 17th of February in that year Shirley launched an unsuccessful attack, on the Dutch outpost at Elmina, which was repulsed four days later. Leander and Shirley then went on to capture the small Dutch forts at Moree. These comprised Fort Nassau housing 20 guns, Fort Amsterdam with 32 guns, Fort Patience with 22 guns, Fort Good Hope with18 guns, and Fort Ussher o f32 guns. Leander also destroyed the French store-ship Officeuse, off Senegal, credited with being worth £30,000. Shirley next garrisoned all those facilities with personnel from the Cape Coast.

Leander then sailed to the West Indies where towards the end of 1782, as senior captain, Shirley became commanding officer of the station, prior to the arrival of Admiral Hugh Pigot who promoted him out of Leander to captain of the 90 gun HMS Union.
Captain John Willet Payne became the new commander of Leander on the 5th of January 1783 and on the 18th of January she was escorting a cartel when the two vessels encountered a large French warship at midnight. After an inconclusive engagement of two hours, Leander and her opponent separated. Admiral Pigot reported that the French vessel was probably a 74 gun ship of the line. She was probably the Couronne. On the 4th of March Leander captured the brig Bella Juditta. On the 23rd of that month Leander was one of five warships and the armed storeship Sally which shared in the proceeds of the capture of the ship Arend op Zee. On the 16th of April, Captain John Reynolds took command of Leander until the 10th of May,1784, when on her return to Britain she was paid off at Portsmouth following wartime service.

From the June to the December of 1785 she underwent a small repair costing £8,466.12.5d. and in the November of the following year was fitted for foreign service, having been recommissioned in the August of that year under Captain Sir James Barclay. However, it was not until the 9th of April in 1787 that she sailed for Nova Scotia to serve as the flagship of Sir Herbert Sawyer until the 3rd of September, 1788, when she was paid off. Captain Joseph Peyton, immediately recommissioned her as the flagship for his father Rear Admiral Joseph Peyton, and she sailed for the Mediterranean on the 22nd of December in that same year.

The French Revolutionary, and Napoleonic Wars.

Leander was recommissioned in May 1795 under Captain Maurice Delgano for service in the North Sea and Channel. On the 12th of May, 1796 she was part of Admiral Duncan’s squadron, when HMS Phoenix captured the Dutch frigate Argo and the brig Mercury. The Royal Navy took both Argo and Mercury into service. Argo became HMS Janus and Mercury became HMS Hermes. Leander also shared in the proceeds of the capture of the Vrow Hendrica, which was captured on the 22nd October of that year.

In the following month, Leander came under the command of Captain Thomas Boulden Thompson, and on the 7th of January, 1797, she escorted a convoy to Gibraltar before joining the Mediterranean Fleet under Earl St. Vincent, and being assigned to the squadron under the command of Horatio Nelson. In the July of that year Leander took part in Nelson's attack on Santa Cruz with Captain Thompson being amongst the leaders of the landing parties, under the overall direction of Nelson and Troubridge. Wind hampered the initial attempts to force a landing, and when a successful landing was finally made on the evening of the 22nd, the Spanish defenders immediately subjected the insurgents to a heavy fire. Notwithstanding, Thompson's party were able to advance and spike several of the enemy's guns. However, the British forces had become dispersed throughout the town, and were then forced to negotiate a truce to allow them to withdraw. Thompson himself was wounded in the battle and in total Leander suffered 7men killed, 6 wounded including Thompson, and one missing in action.

The Battle of the Nile.

On the 1st of August 1798, Leander took part in the Battle of the Nile, where she was able to exploit a gap in the French line and anchor between Peuple Souverain and Franklin. From this advantageous position she succeeded in raking both enemy ships whilst being protected from their broadsides. The ploy proved so successful that during the entire battle she suffered no mortalities and sustained only 14 wounded.

Leander’s capture.

On the 18th of August, whilst carrying Nelson's dispatches from the Nile and accompanied by Sir Edward Berry, Leander encountered the 74 gun French ship Le Genereux off Crete. The subsequent action cost Leander 35 men killed and 57 wounded, including Thompson. However, the French suffered no fewer than 100 killed and 180 wounded, but still managed to take Leander. The French then put her into service under her existing name.



The Action between H.M.S. Leander and the French National Ship Le Généreux, August 18th 1798, by C.H. Seaforth. Généreux is visible in the front, with Leander seen damaged in background.

The French treated the prisoners badly and plundered almost everything but the clothes the British had on their backs. When Thompson remonstrated with Captain Lejoille of Généreux, Lejoille answered nonchalantly, "J'en suis fâché, mais le fait est, que les Français sont bons au pillage." ("It makes me angry, but the fact is, the French are good at pillaging.") They refused treatment for Thompson, who had been badly wounded. Leander's surgeon, Mr. Mulberry, was able to remove a musket ball from Thompson's arm only after the vessels reached Corfu on the 1st of September, and he was smuggled aboard the vessel where the French were holding Thompson.
The subsequent court-martial aboard HMS America at Sheerness most honourably acquitted Thompson, his officers, and his crew. The court also thanked Berry for the assistance he gave during the battle. Captain Thompson was subsequently knighted and awarded a pension of £200 per annum.

Leander was at Corfu when a joint Russian and Ottoman force placed the island under siege. The Russians and Turks recaptured Leander when Corfu capitulated to them on the 3rd of March, 1799 and The Russians restored Leander to the Royal Navy.
In the June of that year, Leander was recommissioned still in the Mediterranean under Commander Adam Drummond, but In the September of the year Captain Michael Halliday assumed command.
On her return to England, between the July of 1801 and the June of 1802 she refitted at Deptford at a cost of £24,962, and during this period, in the May of 1802 she was recommissioned under Captain James Oughton as the flagship of Vice Admiral Sir Andrew Mitchell until 1806.

In the July of that year she sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia and Captain Francis Fane took command a year later, in the August of 1803, followed by Captain Alexander Skene who replaced him in the November of that year. On the 16th of August 1804 Leander was in company with HMS Cambrian when they recaptured Hibberts.

She then had three more captains in rapid succession. Firstly George Ralph Collier, then James Oughton again, and from the November of that year, Captain John Talbot.

In the January of 1805 Leander came under the command of Captain William Llyall and on the 23rd of February, whilst on the Halifax station, she discovered the French 40 gun ship La Ville de Milan, under Captain Pierre Guillet, and the British Cleopatra, which Ville de Milan had captured on the previous day. The engagement between Ville de Milan and Cleopatra had left both ships greatly damaged. Consequently, when they encountered Leander they struck without a shot being fired. Leander came upon Cleopatra first, and as soon as she had struck, the British prisoners on board her, retook possession. She then followed Leander towards La Ville de Milan, and sent over a prize crew for her. The Navy later took her into service as HMS Milan.

The rampage continued, when on the 3rd of June Leander captured the Nancy and three days later the Elizabeth. On the day following Leander captured Volunteer and to round off the year in style, on the 12th of October, she also took the Vengeance.
Thereafter, in recognition of the capture of Ville de Milan and the recapture of Cleopatra, the Admiralty promoted Talbot to the command of a ship of the line, the HMS Centaur.

The Leander Affair.

In 1806 HMS Leander came under the command of Captain Henry Whitby. Leander, HMS Driver, and HMS Cambrian, were repeatedly stationed off Sandy Hook, ostensibly to keep watch on two French frigates that had taken refuge in the harbour. However, in the summer of 1804, the warships began stopping and boarding all American ships going into New York just outside the United States' three-mile territorial limit, and searching them for any French goods. If anything suspicious was found, the ship in question was detained and taken to Halifax.

On the 25th of April 1806, Leander fired a warning shot over the bow of a merchantman, signalling it to stop. The cannonball passed by and decapitated John Pierce, the helmsman of the Richard, a small coasting sloop situated inside the harbour. The sloop's captain, who was Pierce's brother, made his way to New York, where he gathered a mob who then paraded Pierce's body and head through the streets. The next day, an angry mob intercepted a party from Leander returning to their ship with a load of provisions, and seized the provisions. Four of Leander's officers caught ashore were imprisoned for their own protection, and were later secretly released. On the 14th of June President Thomas Jefferson issued a proclamation against Captain Whitby. He ordered Leander, Driver and Cambrian immediately to quit US waters and forbade them ever to return. He extended the same prohibition to all vessels that Captains Whitby, John Nairne and Simpson might command in the future. Whitby was court martialed in England on the charge of murdering John Pierce, but was acquitted.



An engraving depicting the incident.

Unperturbed by this incident, on the 26th of April Leander, Cambrian and Driver captured the American ship Aurora.
In the following month Captain Salusbury Pryce Humphreys took command of Leander at Halifax and she became the flagship of Admiral George Berkeley. For her voyage home to England she came under the command of Captain Richard. Raggett, and was decommissioned at the end of her voyage.

Fate.

In the October of 1806, Leander was fitted as a medical depot ship at Portsmouth. In 1813 the Admiralty commissioned a new Leander so on the 6th of May in that year the old Leander was given the name Hygeia, and on the 14th of April 1817 she was sold to a Mr. Thomas for £2,100.

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HMS Adamant (1780)



HMS Adamant was a John Williams designed Portland Class 50 gun fourth rate ship. She was built by Peter Baker at Liverpool. Ordered on the 13th of November, 1776, and laid down on the 6th of September, 1777. The ship was launched on the 24th of January, 1780, and completed between the 13th of June and the 12th of August, 1780, at Plymouth. Her initial cost was £16,313.13.10d, rising to £27,497.3.0d when the cost of fitting her out was included.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Adamant
Ordered:	13 November 1776
Builder:	Peter Baker, Liverpool
Laid down:	6 September 1777
Launched:	24 January 1780
Completed:	By 12 August 1780
Fate:	Broken up in June 1814
General characteristics
Class and type:	Portland class 50 gun fourth rate ship
Tons burthen:	1,059 ​63⁄94 (bm)
Length:	146 ft 3 in (44.6 m) (overall) 120 ft (36.6 m) (keel)
Beam:	40 ft 9 in (12.4 m)
Depth of hold:	17 ft 7 1⁄2 in (5.37 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Complement:	350
Armament:	Lower deck: 22 × 24 pdrs Upper deck: 22 × 12 pdrs Quarter deck: 4 × 6 pdrs Forecastle: 2 × 6 pdrs

Service.

HMS Adamant was commissioned in the November 1779 under the command of Captain Gideon Johnstone, and sailed for North America on the 13th of August, 1780.


North America.
On the16th of March, 1781, Adamant was with Vice Admiral Arbuthnot’s squadron at the Battle of Cape Henry which took place near the mouth of the Chesapeake between the British and a French fleet under Admiral Charles Rene Dominique Sochet. During the action Adamant suffered no casualties. On the 5th of September in that same year she was at the Battle of the Chesapeake, also known as the Battle of the Virginia Capes which took place between Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Graves and the French fleet of Rear Admiral Francois Joseph Paul, the Comte de Grasse. The battle was strategically decisive, in that it prevented the Royal Navy from reinforcing or evacuating the besieged forces of Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis from Yorktown. Adamant took no active part in the action.

Johnstone was succeeded by Captain David Graves in the February of 1782, while Adamant was still in North America, after which she returned to Britain as a convoy escort in the December of that year. The ship was then paid off in the April of 1783 after wartime service, and refitted for foreign service between the May and September of that year at a cost of £6,681.0.5d. Adamant was recommissioned under Captain William Kelly in the June of that year, and on the completion of her refit, sailed for the Leeward Islands in the November, where she spent the next three years as the Flagship of Admiral Sir Richard Hughes. She was paid off again in the September 1786 and underwent a Great Repair, followed by being fitted out as the flagship at Sheerness from the August of 1787 to the May of 1789 at a cost of £23,533. Adamant was recommissioned during the February of that year under Captain David Knox, after which Admiral Hughes again hoisted his flag in her and sailed her to Nova Scotia, during June. From the January of 1792 the ship came under Captain Charles Hope, until returning to Britain in June of that year and being paid off.

The French Revolutionary Wars.

Adamant was fitted for Ordinary in the following month, but with the outbreak of war with Revolutionary France in the April of 1793 she was hurriedly recommissioned, under Captain William Bentinck and at some point during the following year William Mitchell as acting-captain until the June of 1794 when she came under Captain Henry D’Esterre Darby until 1796. Darby sailed Adamant back to the Leeward Islands in the September of that year, and by the April of 1796 she was serving with Vice Admiral Sir George Vandeput's squadron. Captain Henry Warre took command of Adamant in the November of 1796, and was in turn succeeded by Captain William Hotham on the11th of January, 1797.

Mutiny at the Nore, and the Battle of Camperdown.

During the early months of 1897 Adamant was based at the Nore, operating with Admiral Adam Duncan’s fleet in the North Sea and blockading the Dutch fleet at the Texel, but In the May of that year Mutiny broke out among the ships at the Nore, following on from earlier Mutiny at Spithead. Of the Two Decker ships of the fleet, only the crews of Duncan's flagship, HMS Venerable, and Hotham's crew aboard Adamant remained loyal. With only two ships available to blockade the Dutch, Duncan and Hotham took their ships out to sea, remaining in sight of the Dutch coast and for several weeks, implied by false signals and manoeuvres that the rest of the fleet was just over the horizon. Convinced by this deception that the blockade was still in force, the Dutch remained in port. Duncan and Hotham were later reinforced by the Russian squadron based at Harwich, and then, one by one, by ships deserting from the mutiny.

On the 11th of October in that same year Adamant then fought as part of Duncan's fleet at the Battle of Camperdown. The battle was a decisive victory for the British over the Dutch, led by Admiral Jan Willem de Winter, with Adamant , serving in Duncan’s Windward Division, escaping unscathed, and with no loss of life nor wounded.


The Battle of Camperdown, 11 October 1797 by Thomas Whicombe, painted in 1798.

Adamant was then attached to Sir Richard Strachan’s squadron patrolling off Le Havre, after which she and Hotham were sent with a convoy to the Cape of Good Hope in the October of 1798. Adamant later passed on into the Indian Ocean.

Indian Ocean.

On the 25th of April, 1799, whilst operating off the Île de France, Adamant, Jupiter, and Tremendous recaptured the Chance as she lay at anchor under the guns of the battery at Connonies-Point, Île de France. The French frigate Forte had earlier taken Chance in Balasore Roads. The squadron also recaptured another ship that a French privateer had captured in the Bay of Bengal. Lastly, after the French had driven the American ship Pacific onshore at River Noir, the British sent in their boats and removed much of her cargo of bale goods and sugar. The British then set Pacific on fire.

Next, on the 11th of December in that year, Adamant and Tremendous, under Captain John Osborn. encountered the French 36 gun commerce raider Preneuse, under Captain Jean-Marthe-Adrien L’Hermite, off Port Louis, Ile de France. In the ensuing battle they chased her, forcing her to run ashore three shy of Port Louis, but under the cover of French shore batteries. Hotham took Adamant in close, and tried to work up to the grounded frigate, coming under heavy fire from the batteries and Preneuse as he did so. After a period of exchanging fire, Adamant forced Preneuse to strike. That evening three boats carrying men from Adamant and Tremendous boarded Preneuse, despite coming under heavy fire from the batteries. They captured the remaining French crew, including Captain l'Hermite, and removed as much of their captives' private property as they could. They then set fire to Preneuse and returned to their ships without the loss of a single man.



Destruction of Preneuse, depicted by Auguste Mayer.

In the July of 1800, Curtis dispatched Adamant, Euphrosyne, Lancaster and Rattlesnake to blockade the Isle de France and Bourbon. There they remained until October, and during this period shared in the proceeds of several captures:-

Firstly, in August, the Spanish ship Edouard). This vessel may actually have been a French ship of 300 tons (bm), carrying naval stores, wine, brandy, and the like from Bordeaux to Isle de France.

Secondly, the French Brig Paquebot, also taken in August. She had been sailing from Isle de France to Bourbon with a cargo of wine and goods from India.

To round off the month they took the Spanish Brig Numero Sete, which had been sailing from Montevideo to Isle de France with a cargo of soap, tallow, candles, and provisions.

In the month following they also intercepted the French Brig Mouche part of whose cargo and materials were from the wreck of the Brig Uranie.

Hotham remained off South Africa and in the Indian Ocean until being recalled to Britain. Adamant escorted a convoy in the September of 1801, arriving in Britain on the14th of December.

The Napoleonic Wars.

Adamant spent between the time between the May of 1803 and the August of 1804 undergoing a middling repair and refit at Chatham Dockyard, before being recommissioned in the juke of that year under Captain George Burlton. On the 13th of April, 1805, Adamant accompanied by the HMS Inflexible captured the 4 gun Privateer Alert, and in the October of the year, command passed to Captain John Stiles, who in 1806, whilst acting as escort to a convoy of East Indiamen, captured the Spanish 26 gun privateer Nuestra Señora de los Dolores off the Cape of Good Hope and on the 6th of May. On the 17th of June in the year following, he added another prize to his total, capturing the 1 gun privateer La Bueno Union having returned to the Jamaica station. Stiles was succeeded by Captain Micaiah Macbon in the October of that same year, and Adamant remained on the Jamaica station in1808. By early 1809 she was back in Britain, and spent the period between April and July 1809 being fitted at Chatham for service as a receiving ship at Leith. She was recommissioned during the refit in the May, under Captain John Sykes, and in August took part in the Scheldt operations.

Fate.

In the August of 1810 the command was assumed by Captain Matthew Buckle, who would remain as Adamant's captain for the next three years, which she spent as the flagship of Rear Admiral Robert Otway, as a receiving ship at Leith. As the Napoleonic Wars drew to a close the ship was laid up in ordinary at Sheerness in 1814, and then broken up there in the June of 1814.

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HMS Europa (1783)


Europa approaching Port Mahon, Minorca, by Anton Schranz

HMS Europa was a John Williams designed Portland Class 50 gun fourth rate ship, built by M/shipwright George White until the April of 1779, then John Jenner until the December of 1782 when he died, and completed by Henry Peake at Woolwich Dockyard. Ordered on the 12th of January, 1778, and laid down on the 26th of September in that year, she was launched on the 19th of April, 1783, and completed on the 10th of September in that year already fully coppered and fitted at a total cost of £29,351.14.7d.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Europa
Ordered:	12 January 1778
Builder:	Woolwich Dockyard
Laid down:	26 September 1778
Launched:	19 April 1783
Completed:	By 10 September 1783
Honours and awards:	Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt"
Fate:	Sold for breaking up on 11 August 1814
General characteristics
Class and type:	Portland Class 50 gun fourth rate ship
Tons burthen:	1,046 ​91⁄94 (bm)
Length:	145 ft 11 in (44.5 m) (overall) 119 ft 8 in (36.5 m) (keel)
Beam:	40 ft 71⁄4 in (12.4 m)
Depth of hold: Draught:	17 ft 51⁄2 in (5.32 m) 10ft 4in x 16ft 101⁄2 in
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	LD: 22 × 24 pdr guns UD: 22 × 12 pdr guns QD: 4 × 6 pdr guns Fc: 2 × 6 pdr guns

Service.

HMS Europa was commissioned in the June of 1783 and sailed for the West Indies on the 6th of November in that year, and became the Flagship based out of Jamaica until paid off in the September of 1789. During her commission, Europa ran aground at Montego Bay in 1785, but was not seriously damaged.

The French Revolutionary Wars.

When reports of the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars reached the British in Jamaica, Europa was sent into action along with the entire British squadron based there, consisting of several 12 pounder frigates and a number of smaller vessels, under the command of Commodore John Ford.

On her return to Plymouth in the June of 1790 Europa was decommissioned and underwent Middling repairs which were completed in the June of 1791 costing £18,223. In the following year she was fitted for service between the September and the November of 1792, having first been recommissioned under Captain George Gregory in the September of that year.
With the commencement of the War of the First Coalition Europa returned to the naval squadron based at Jamaica on the !0th of September, 1792, which was still under the command of Commodore John Ford, who would be promoted to a Rear Admiral in the May of 1794.

In the January of 1794, Commodore Ford detached the Penelope, 32, Captain Bartholomew Samuel Rowley offering terms of capitulation to Port au Prince. These were refused; and, in consequence, the Commodore blockaded the harbour. On February 3rd, Cape Tiburon was taken, after slight resistance; and on the 11th Aoul was carried. On May the 31st, the Europa, under Captain Gregory, and acting as flagship to Commodore Ford, HMS Irresistible, 74, Captain John Henry, Belliqueux 64, Captain James Brine, Sceptre 64, Captain James Richard Dacres, plus three frigates and three sloops, with 1465 effective troops on board under Brigadier-General White, arrived in the Bay of Port au Prince from Cape Nicolas Mole. On the 1st of June, the Belliqueux, Sceptre and Penelope opened fire on Fort Brissoton, with the Europa and Irresistible, under sail, lending occasional assistance; and, in the course of the day, troops were disembarked under the direction of Commander Thomas Affleck, of the Sloop Fly. The operations were interrupted at 6 P.M. by a most tremendous storm, but in the consequent confusion and obscurity the fort was rushed and carried. On the 3rd of June, the Hermione, 32, Captain John Hills, and the Iphigenia, 32, Captain Patrick Sinclair, bombarded a work at Bernadou to make a diversion during the advance of the troops; and, on the 4th, possession was taken of Port au Prince. There was little loss of life, the Hermione suffering 5 killed and 6 wounded, and the Belliqueux 10 wounded. In the December of 1794 Europa came under the command of Captain Thomas Surridge, still as Ford’s flagship at Jamaica until she returned home escorting a convoy in the July of 1795. She was then paid off in the November of that year.

From the January to the April of 1798 Europa was fitted as a troopship at Portsmouth at a cost of £9,124. During the refit she was recommissioned under the command of Captain James Stephenson, and under him she served in the Quiberon operations during1800.

In 1801 she again served as a troopship during the British expedition to Egypt. Whilst there she participated in the landing at Aboukir Bay, for an overwhelming attack that defeated the French and led to the British capture of Cairo. Because Europa served in the navy's Egyptian campaign between the 8th of March, and the 2nd of September 1801, her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal, which the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants.

From the September of the year command of Europa devolved onto Captain John Stewart until she paid off in the June of 1802.

Fate.

In 1805 Europa was fitted as a Prison ship for POWs at Plymouth, but by 1807 she had gone into Ordinary at Portsmouth where in 1814, “The Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy offered the "Europa, of 50 guns and 1047 tons", lying at Portsmouth, for sale”. The buyer had to post a bond of £3,000, with two guarantors to ensure that they would break up the vessel within a year of purchase. Europa was sold on these conditions on the 11th of August in that year.