Third Rate 64 gun ships of the Royal Navy.

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HMS Africa (1781)

HMS Africa was a John Williams designed Inflexible Class, 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by Adams and Barnard at Deptford Dockyard. Ordered on the11th of February, 1778, she was laid down in the following month, and launched on the 11th of April, 1781. She was completed in the July of 178i at Deptford and Woolwich Dockyards.


HMS Africa

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Africa
Ordered:	11 February 1778
Builder:	Barnard, Deptford
Laid down:	2 March 1778
Launched:	11 April 1781
Fate:	Broken up, May 1814
General characteristics
Class and type:		Inflexible Class 64 gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:		1,385​83⁄94 (bm)
Length:		160 ft 10 in (48 m) (gundeck)
Beam:		44 ft 9 in (13.52 m)
Depth of hold:		18 ft 11 in (5.74 m)
Propulsion:		Sails
Sail plan:		Full rigged ship
Armament:		64 guns: LD: 26 × 24-pounder guns UD: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Africa was commissioned in the March of 1871.

During the American War of Independence, she sailed for India in early 1782 as part of a squadron of five ships under Commodore Sir Richard Bickerton, arriving too late for the battles of that year. Africa never actually served in the American theatre and remained in India for the duration of hostilities, taking part in the last battle of that war, at Cuddalore in 1783. She returned to England once news of the peace treaty arrived, and she was paid off in the March of 1784, and fitted for ordinary at Plymouth in the following month. She underwent a small repair there for £10,727.3.4d between the December of that year and the July of 1785. She was next fitted for sea in the September of 1793, and commissioned in the following month under Captain Roddam Home, who commanded her until 1796. On the 18th of May 1794 she sailed for Nova Scotia and was involved in the attack on Leogane on the Jamaica station on the 21st of March, 1796. Rear-Admiral William Parker commanded and the Navy co-operated in an attack, made by troops under Major-General Forbes from Port au Prince, San Domingo, upon Leogane, in the same island. The forces were landed, under the fire of the Ceres, 32, Captain James Newman Newman, Lark, 16, Commander William Ogilvy, Iphigenia, 32, Captain Francis Farrington Gardner, Cormorant, 18, Commander Francis Collingwood, and Sirene, 16, Commander Daniel Guerin; and the town and works were simultaneously cannonaded by the Leviathan, 74, Captain John Thomas Duckworth, Africa, under Captain Home, and Swiftsure, 74, Captain Robert Parker. The place proved stronger than had been anticipated, and, the Leviathan and Africa having been considerably damaged aloft by the guns on shore, the attempt was abandoned.

On her return to England, in the October of that year she was paid off, and then fitted as a Hospital ship at Chatham in the September of 1798. She was commissioned under Liuetenant John Bryant, and then from 1800 under Lieutenant John Dixon.

Napoleonic Wars.

She was refitted as a 64 by Pitcher of Northfleet fo £32,208 between the September of !804 and the July of 1805 when she came under Captain Henry Digby just in time for him to command her in the Weather column under lord Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar on the 21st of October.Having been separated from the main British fleet before the battle, Africa arrived from a different direction without knowing the battle plan that Admiral had devised. As the rest of the fleet engaged the combined Franco-Spanish fleet in a pell-mell battle, Digby sailed Africa down the line of enemy ships in a parallel fashion, exchanging broadsides. During the action Africa suffered 18 killed and 44 wounded.

From the January of1806, Africa was under Captain James R Farquharson for a month and then under Captain I Wooley before Captain James Ross in the Channel. By 1807 her Captain was Henry Bayntum and she was at the Cape of Good Hope in the July of that year. In the February of 1808 CaptainJohn Barrett took command.

Gunboat War.

During the Gunboat War, Africa remained under the command of Captain Barrett, and on the 15th of October in that year Africa was escorting a convoy of 137 merchant ships in the Baltic, with the assistance of the Bomb vessel HMS Thunder and two Gun Brigs. They left Karlskrona. that day and on the 20th of October they anchored in the Oresund, off Malmo. At noon a flotilla of Danish Gunboats were seen to be moving towards the convoy and Africa sailed to intercept them. The flotilla consisted of 25 gunboats and seven armed launches, mounting some 70 heavy cannons with an overall total of some 1600 men aboard. It was under the command of Commodore Johan Cornelius Krieger.

At 1:30 the wind died and Africa was immobilized. By 2:50pm the gunboats had stationed themselves off Africa's quarters, where few of her guns could fire, and opened fire. The battle continued until 6:45pm when with night closing in all firing ceased. Had daylight lasted another hour the Danes might have captured Africa, however, nightfall meant both forces left the battlefield without victory for either side. As it was, Africa had lost 9 men killed and 51 wounded, including Captain Barrett. She was so badly mauled that she had to return to Karlskrona for repairs. The convoy, however, managed to reach Britain.



Danish gunboats attack HMS Africa, 1808

After her refit, in the February of 1809, Africa was recommissioned under Captain Loftus bland and left once more for the Baltic in the October of that year now under the command of Captain Thomas Dundas who was superseded in the May of 1810 by Captain George Reeves who succeeded in bringing home a large convoy, notwithstanding the severity of the weather and the violence of the gales. By the October of 1810 command had devolved onto Captain Thomas Baker under whom John Houlton Marshall was promoted to Commander on the ship at a ceremony held on the 21st of that month to commemorate the Anniversary of Battle of Trafalgar.
In 1811 Captain John Surman Carden assumed command and sailed for North America on the 28th of January in that year. By the November Africa was under Captain John Bastard, as the Flagship of Vice Admiral Herbert Sawyer.

War of 1812.

Still under the command of Captain Bastard, Africa became part of Sir Philip Broke's squadron in 1812, and was present at the capture of the American 14 gun Nautilus on the 16th of July of that year. In the following month she was not so lucky when Broke pursued, but ultimately failed to catch USS Constitution on the 14th of August. However she did manage to take the schooner Lewis.


Constitution's escape from the British squadron after a chase of sixty hours.

Fate.

On her return home Africa was broken up at Portsmouth in the May of 1814.

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HMS Agamemnon (1781)

HMS Agamemnon was a Thomas Slade designed Ardent Class,64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by Henry Adams at Bucklers Hard. Ordered on the 5th of February, 1777, and re-ordered in the April of that year, she was laid down in the following month and launched the 10th of April, 1781. Her completion took place between the 15th of May and the9th of July in that year at Portsmouth. The total cost of her construction was £38,303 15s 4d
She is remembered as being Nelson's favourite ship, and was named after the mythical Greek king of that name, being the first ship of the Royal Navy to bear it.



A painting of the launch of Agamemnon by Harold Wyllie depicts blue skies and scores of spectators

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Agamemnon
Ordered:	8 April 1777
Builder:	Henry Adams Bucklers Hard
Laid down:	May 1777
Launched:	10 April 1781
Fate:	Wrecked in Maldanado Bay Uruguay, 16 June 1809
General characteristics
Class and type:	Ardent Class 74 gun ship of th line
Tons burthen:	1,383 (bm)
Length:	160 ft 2 in (49 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 5 in (13.52 m)
Depth of hold:	18 ft 11 in (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	64 guns: GD: 26 × 24-pounders UD: 26 × 18-pounders QD: 10 × 4-pounders Fc: 2 × 9-pounders

Service.

Agamemnon was commissioned under Captain Benjamin Caldwell on the 28th of March, 1781, and she was soon assigned to Admiral Richard Kempenfeldt’s squadron. The Admiralty having received intelligence that a large French convoy was preparing to sail from Brest under the command of Admiral de Guichen and being comprised of transports carrying naval supplies for the French West Indian Islands and also the French squadrons deployed in the Far East, dispatched orders to Kempenfelt was consequently ordered to intercept this convoy, which he accomplished whilst traversing the Bay of Biscay, south-west of Ushant , on the 12th of December. With the French naval escort to leeward of the convoy, Kempenfelt attacked immediately, capturing 15 of the transports before nightfall. The rest of the convoy scattered, most returning to Brest; only five transports reached the West Indies.

Early in 1782, she sailed to the West Indies as part of Admiral Sir George Rodney’s squadron, and on the 9th of April, she was involved in the Battle of the Saints It commenced in an indecisive skirmish, involving the ships of the the van under Hood, Rodney’s 2ic. His ships were badly mauled and then retreated to make good their damage. Three days later Agamemnon came into action as the second part of the battle evolved. This time it proved to be a decisive victory for the British fleet. Agamemnon’s losses amounted to 2 lieutenants and 14 crewmen killed, and 22 wounded. After wartime service.

Agamemnon returned home and was paid off at Chatham in the June of 1783. From the 29th of October in that year until the June of 1784 she underwent a small repair there had her coppering replaced at a total cost of £12,393.0.9d, and was laid up in ordinary.
She was refitted for sea in the October and November of 1790, but not recommissioned until the February of 1793.

French Revolutionary War.

She was placed under the command of Captain Horatio Nelson, and after provisioning joined the fleet lying at anchor at the Nore, and then sailed to join the Mediterranean fleet, commanded by Vice-Admiral Hood, which was in the process of blockading the French port of Toulon On the 27th of August the town of Toulon declared in favour of the Bourbons, and Hood's fleet moved in to take control of the naval dockyard and capture the 30 French ships of the line in the harbour. Agamemnon then departed for Naples to petition King Ferdinand for reinforcements. Even with his extra contingent of 4,000 men, the revolutionary army, commanded by Napoleon, launched a successful assault against the town and the allied troops were forced into abandoning the defensive works and ultimately the anchorage itself. Agamemnon’s next action took place on the 22nd of October in that same year when she fought against a French frigate squadron off Sardinia.

In the April and May of, 1794, seamen from Agamemnon, led by Nelson himself, assisted in capturing Bastia in Corsica. Agamemnon then sailed to Gib for repairs, in spite of having been refitted in 1793 before her recommissioning. Following the repairs, Agamemnon returned to Corsica At Calvi Agamemnon provided guns and men for the siege. This was the action in which Nelson was wounded and lost the sight in his right eye, from the ricocheting of a French cannon ball which threw gravel and dirt into his face. The town finally surrendered on the 10th of August. During the siege Agamemnon had lost six men killed.

In the December of 1794 Vice-Admiral Williasm Hotham, took command of the fleet and under him
Agamemnon, participated in the Battle of Genoa. On the 10th of March a French fleet of 15 of the line, had been observed. On the 13th as the French had not made any attempt to close with the British Fleet, Admiral Hotham gave orders to the fleet for a general chase. In the French scramble to withdraw, the Ca Ira collided with the Victoire, losing her masts in the process. This allowed the British van to close, and HMS Inconstant caught up with the Ca Ira engaging her until the Agamemnon and Captain could come up to her assistance. The arrival of more French ships who had returned to succour Ca Ira caused Admiral Hotham to signal a general retreat for the British ships engaged with her. Nevertheless, Ça Ira was taken on the following day, together with another French ship, the Censeur, who had been towing the stricken ship.


Agamemnon (left) battling Ca Ira on 13 March 1795.

On 7 July 1795 off Valdo, whilst in company with a small squadron of Frigates, Agamemnon was forced to flee from a French fleet comprising 22 ships of the line and 6 accompanying frigates. They were next sighted on the 13th of July, off the Hyeres islands by the fleet which gave chase once more and caught the French. During the resulting battle, Agamemnon was one of several ships who managed to come up with the French. Agamemnon and HMS Cumberland were just about to engage a French 80-gun ship, when inexplicably. Hotham again signalled for his fleet to break off the action, thus enabling the French to escape once more despite the mauling that they had received. Hotham was taken to task for his ineptitude and was relieved of his command, Admiral Sir John Jervis being instated in his place.

Nelson, having been promoted to Commodore on the 11th of March 1796 took command of his own squadron, and on the 31st of May, boats from Agamemnon and other ships in Nelson's squadron captured a small French convoy close to the Franco-Italian coast.
On the 10th of June, Nelson transferred his pennant to HMS Captain. Command of the Agamemnon passing to Captain John Samuel Smith.

Agamemnon then returned to England and was paid off in the September of that year. She was refitted at Chatham for £10.623 before being recomissioned under Captain Robert Fancourt who was to remain in command until 1802.

Mutiny.

In the May of 1797, whilst under the command of Fancourt, Agamemnon was involved in the Nore Mutiny. On the 29th of that month, the North Sea squadron lying in the Yarmouth Roads was ordered to sea. Only three ships, Agamemnon, Adamant and Glatton, responded to the signal, but the crew of Agamemnon subsequently joined the mutineers, and returned to Yarmouth Roads. The then sailed to join the main mutiny taking place at the Nore. Order was eventually restored aboard Agamemnon, when seamen and marines forcibly ejected the hard-line mutineers from the ship. Captain Fancourt was thus enabled to secure a pardon for the remaining ship's company.
On 18 March 1800, Agamemnon was damaged when she ran onto the Penmark Rocks.
Agamemnon was next sent to the Baltic in the August of 1800 as part of Dixon’s squadron at Elsinore, and then as part of the fleet under Admiral Sir Hyde Parker and Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson to attack the Danish Fleet. Thus it transpired that Agamemnon came to be included in Nelson's division which fought the Battle of Copenhagen on the 2nd of April, 1801. Agamemnon was positioned second in the line to the rear of HMS Edgar, and after passing down the Outer Channel, she grounded whilst attempting to round the southern tip of the Middle Ground shoal. While the battle raged around her Agamemnon, along with Bellona and Russell, both of whom had also run aground, she flew signals of distress. The three stranded ships were eventually pulled off the Middle Ground in the night of the 3rd of April.


Diagram of the Battle of Copenhagen, showing Agamemnon grounded near the Middle Ground

Agamemnon was laid up at Chatham in 1802.

The Napoleonic Wars.

Agamemnon was brought out of ordinary in the September of 1804, having been recommissioned under Captain John Harvey on the 31st of July, and sailed to join the Channel fleet under Admiral William Cornwallis.
Agamemnon was part of Vice-Admiral Robert Calder's squadron which was cruising off Cape Finisterre on the 22nd of July, 1805, when the combined Franco-Spanish fleet from the West Indies was sighted to windward. The British ships formed into line of battle, with Agamemnon fifth in the line, and engaged Admiral Villenuve’s fleet. During the engagement Agamemnon had three men wounded, and lost her mizzen topmast plus her foresail yard. By nightfall, Calder's fleet had become scattered, and he signalled for the action to be discontinued.


The Battle of Trafalgar.


Ship positions at the beginning of the Battle of Trafalgar.HMS Africa and HMS Neptune are erroneously shown in one another's positions

Following the action at Finnesterre, on the 17th of September, 1805, after a small refit in Portsmouth, Captain Harvey was superseded in command of Agamemnon by Captain Sir Edward Berry and on the 3rd of October she sailed from her anchorage at Spithead to join Vice-Admiral Nelson's fleet off Cadiz. On the 21st of October she fought in the weather column at the Battle of Trafalgar, astern HMS Orion and ahead of HMS Minotaur. Once engaged, she was firing both broadsides simultaneously, hammering the Spanish four decker Flagship Santisima Trinidad until it was dismasted, and with 216 of its complement dead, struck its colours. However, before Berry could take possession of the prize, the enemy van division began bearing down on the British line, With Nelson already dying below decks on Victory, his Captain of the Fleet Thomas Hardy ordered Agamemnon and several other ships to intercept them. Three of the enemy ships broke off and ran for Cádiz. After briefly engaging Intrepide, the British ships moved to try to cut off the fleeing ships. Over the course of the battle, Agamemnon suffered just two killed, and eight wounded.

Having undergone repairs after the battle and subsequent storm, at the beginning of 1806 Agamemnon joined Vice-Admiral Duckworth’s squadron in the West Indies, in pursuit of a French fleet carrying troops to Santo Domingo. On the 6th of February in that year, the two squadrons met up at the Battle of San Domingo; Agamemnon assisted Duckworth's flagship Superb, under Captain Richard Keats, in driving the French Vice-Admiral Leissegues flagship Imperial ashore where she was wrecked.


Duckworth's Action off San Domingo, 6 February 1806, by Nicholas Pocock. HMS Agamemnon is visible in the background, third from left.

On the 24th of March, with the aid of Carysfort, Agamemnon captured the 18 gun La Lutine, and on the 30th of the month she also took the 16 gun privateer La Dame Ernouf. In June her new Captain was Joseph Spear, and In October, she escorted a convoy on her return to Britain. November saw another change of commander to Captain William Fahie, and in December she went into Chatham for a well deserved refit.

In 1807 under her new commander, Captain Jonas Rose, Agamemnon participated in Admiral James Gambier’s expedition to take control of the Danish fleet before it could be captured by the French. As a result of this action by the British and after negotiations with the Danes failed, she participated in the second Battle of Copenhagen, and as in the preceding battle of 1801, once again ran aground. After she was refloated, Agamemnon landed guns and shot in Kjörge Bay to form part of a battery being established there to command the city. Firing commenced on the 2nd of September, and persisted until the Danes surrendered on the 7th of that month.
She then proceeded to the West Indies via Portugal.

Sailing for the Tagus on the 1st of January 1808, Agamemnon joined the blockading squadron off Lisbon. From there in the following month Agamemnon sailed with Rear-Admiral Sir Sidney Smith’s flagship Foudroyant to Brazil, where they joined another squadron. At Rio De Janeiro it was discovered that Agamemnon was again quite worn out, with seams in her planking opening and some of her framing bolts broken. In the October of that year, Agamemnon and Monarch anchored in Maldonado Bay, in the mouth of the Rio de la Plata. Whilst there, Monarch ran aground, requiring Agamemnon's assistance to refloat her. The two ships then put to sea, but were forced to return to Maldonado Bay when they encountered bad weather. After the ships returned to Rio in the January of 1809, the ship was fully surveyed by the carpenter, who drew up an extensive list of her defects.

Fate.

On the 16th of June, 1809 Agamemnon, together with the rest of the squadron (which was now under the command of Rear-Admiral Michael de Courcy), put into Maldonado Bay for the third and final time, to shelter from a storm. While working her way between Gorriti island and the shore, Agamemnon struck an uncharted shoal. Captain Jonas Rose attempted to use the ship's boats, together with the stream and Kedge anchors, to refloat her, but the attempt failed.. The ship had dropped anchor on the shoal just prior to grounding, and it was discovered that she had actually run onto it when she grounded, the anchor having pierced the hull. On the 17th of June, with the ship listing heavily to starboard, Agamemnon's stores and all her crew were taken off by boats from other vessels in the squadron, and the following day Captain Rose and his officers left the ship.

The court-martial for the loss of Agamemnon was held at Rio de Janeiro on the 22nd of July, 1809, aboard HMS Bedford. Its findings were that the ship might have been saved if she had not been in such poor general condition, and Captain Rose was honourably acquitted.

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HMS America (1777)


HMS America was a John Williams designed Intrepid Class, 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by M/shipwright Adam Hayes at Deptford Dockyard. Ordered on the 18th of June 1771, and laid down in the October of that year, she was launched on the 5th of August, 1777, and completed on the 29th of March 1778.


Plan showing the body, sheer lines, and longitudinal half-breadth proposed for America

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS America
Ordered:	18 June 1771
Builder:	Deptford Dockyard
Launched:	5 August 1777
Fate:	Broken up, 1807
General characteristics
Class and type:	Intrepid Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1369 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 6 in (48.62 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 4 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	64 guns: Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounders Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounders Quarterdeck: 10 × 4-pounders Forecastle: 2 × 9-pounders

Service.

HMS America was commissioned in the December of 1777, and refitted and coppered at Portsmouth for a cost of £7,210.17.5d between the February and the March of 1780. Under the command of Captain Samuel Thompson, she took part in the Battle of the Chesapeake on the 5th of September, 1781, suffering no casualties.
On the12th of April, 1782 she saw action in the white squadron as part of the Battle of the Saints against a huge French fleet. She was again lucky in the action losing only 1 killed and 1 wounded.

On her return to England after wartime service she was paid off 1n 1783.

Between the March of 1786 and January of 1787 America underwent a small to middling repair at Portsmouth costing £15,979, and then in the March of 1793 she was fitted out for sea and commissioned under Captain John Rodney who was to command her until 1794 in the Channel.

In 1795 she came under the broad pennant of Captain John Blanket, and sailed for the East Indies on the 12th of March. On route she served with Elphinstone’s squadron at the Cape of Good Hope as as part of the British fleet at the Battle of Muizenberg. This was a small but significant military affair that began in June 1795 and ended three months later with the first British occupation of the Cape. In 1796 America was under Captain Edward Buller at the capture of the Dutch squadron in Saldanha Bay on the 17th of August and then returned to England where she underwent a small repair at Chatham between the March and December of 1797.



She was then recommissioned under Captain John Smith until 1799 and Joined Duncan’s fleet, taking a 14 gun privateer Hussar in the North Sea in the August of 1798.She was with Mitchell’s squadron in the Helder during 1799 where she grounded on the 30th of August in that year. This resulted in her having to return to Chatham, where a small repair was effected between the November of that year and the April of 1800. Whilst undergoing repairs, she was recommissioned under Captain Joseph Bingham in the March of 1800, to serve as the Flagship of Vice Admiral Sir William Parker from the following month. She sailed for Halifax in the month following this. By the13th of December she had sailed south and was off the Azores when she ran herself upon the Formigas Reef and suffered severe damage to her hull. With some difficulty she was refloated with the tide and returned to harbour. On the 27th of December America's captain and senior officers were court martialled aboard the HMS Carnatic, which was anchored off Port Royal, Jamaica. All were acquitted when the court established that the grounding had been caused by errors in the ship's charts, upon which the Reef was marked as being substantially to the south of its actual location.

Fate.

Following the grounding, America was withdrawn from active service and redesignated as a prison ship at Port Royal. In 1804 she was loaned to the Transport Board. Following this she was decommissioned and broken up in 1807.

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HMS Anson (1781)




HMS Anson was another John Williams designed Intrepid Class, 64 gun ship of the line, and being the leading ship of her class. She was built by M/shipwright Israel Pownoll at Plymouth Dockyard until the February of 1775, and completed by John Henslow. She was ordered on the 24th of April, 1773 and approved on the 19th of May. Laid down in the January of 1774, she was launched on the 4th of September, 1781, and completed on the 15th of October of that year. This included her coppering. Her sister ship HMS Intrepid had proved satisfactory in sea trials, consequently the Admiralty increased their order from four to fifteen ships and Anson was part of that expanded order. The ship was assigned its name in honour of Admiral George Anson who had been the victor the First Battle of Finisterre, which had taken place on the 14th of May, 1747. [IMG]file:///C:\Users\Rob\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.jpg[/IMG]
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History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Anson
Ordered:	24 April 1773
Builder:	Plymouth Dockyard
Laid down:	January 1774
Launched:	4 September 1781
Honours and awards:	Participated in: Battle of the Saints
Fate:	Wrecked, 29 December 1807
General characteristics
Class and type:	Intrepid Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1375 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 6 in (48.62 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 5.25 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	AS a 64 gun ship: Gundeck:26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck:26 × 18-pounder guns QD:10 × 4-pounder guns FC:2 × 9-pounder guns As a 44 gun ship: Gundeck:26 × 24-pounder guns QD:8 × 12-pounder guns x 42-ounder Carronades Fc:2 × 12-pounder guns 2 × 42-pounder Carronades

Servce.

HMS Anson was commissioned in the September of 1781, for service in the Leeward Islands under Captain William Blair, on the 15th of January, 1782. On the 12th of April in that year,Anson fought at the battle of The Saints in the rear division under the command of Rear-Admiral Francis Samuel Drake. in the fleet of Admiral Sir George Rodney against the French Fleet commanded by Admiral de Grasse. During the battle she lost three killed and 13 wounded including Captain Blair who was struck at waist level by a cannonball which cut him in two.

In the July of that year Anson returned to England, was paid off and had her coppering repaired and raised at Portsmouth. Then between 1884 and 1794 she underwent a series of small repairs in keeping with ordinary maintenance. However, all this was about to be changed by an Admiralty Order issued on the 11th of August in that year.

Conversion to a frigate.

Experience with 64-gun ships throughout the navy, at the Saints and elsewhere, had proved that they were now too poorly armed and weakly built to stand up to th fire power of larger ships-of-the-line. Rather than dispose of the ships entirely, the Royal Navy decided to have such ships razeed by removing the uppermost deck to produce a large Frigate with the capability of housing heavier guns than a standard Frigate. The subsequent Razee Frigate was more than a match for a typical purpose-built frigate, not only because of its firepower but because it was also structurally stronger, although not being as swift or agile as its counterparts nor as easy to handle in strong winds.
Anson was razéed by the close of the year having had the forecastle and quarterdeck removed, and the upper deck reconstructed to provide a new forecastle and quarterdeck, ending up as a 44 gun Frigate with with a gun deck consisting of twenty-six 24-pounder cannon pounders). The new quarterdeck and forecastle had a corresponding weight of cannon to replace the earlier lighter ones, plus the bonus of Carronades Anson was thus heavily armed for a frigate, and retained the stronger construction (and ability to absorb damage) of a ship-of-the-line.

The French Revolutionary Wars.

Anson was recommissioned in the October of 1794 under Captain Philip Durham who would command her until 1800. In the October of the following year she took part in the Quiberon operations from the June to the October of that year, and in 1796 in Warren’s squadron she assisted in the attack on a convoy off Pointe du Raz 0n the 20th of march in which the 28 gun storeship L’ Etoile was taken. She then returned to England to make good defects at Plymouth in the May of 1797. On her return to the squadron she was soon in action off the Penmarcks on the 16th of July, when accompanied by Sylph they drove the French Corvette Calliope on shore, where Sylph proceeded to fire on her. When Pomone reconnoitred site during the following week, she found that Calliope was a complete wreck with her crew camping on shore and attempting to salvage what little they could. Pomone confirmed that the flute Freedom and a brig that had also been driven ashore were total wrecks.

On the 16th of July, this time accompanied by Boadicea, Anson took the privateers le Zephyr of 8 guns. Leviathan, Anson, Childers, Pompee and Melpomene, took Tordenskiold on the10th of September and each shared in the prize money. To follow up on this exploit Anson went on to capture the 20 gun Le Railleur on the 17th of November.

To round off the year, on the 29th of December Anson, cruising off the mouth of the Girond in the Bay of Biscay, recaptured the 30 gun Daphne, which had been taken by the French three years previously. Anson fired several shots before Daphne struck her colours. When taken it transpired that two of her passengers were the Civil Commissioners Jaiquelin and La Carze, who unfortunately managed to toss their dispatches over the side. These had been intended for delivery to Guadeloupe. During the action Daphne lost five men killed and several more wounded.

1798 saw Anson continue where she had left off in the previous year but this time in the Channel from the 8th of February. On the 22nd of March, together with Canada and Phaeton against in an action the 36 gun La Charente off the Ile d ‘Aix, and then on the 31st of August, again accompanied by Phaeton she took the 18 gun privateer Le Mercure.

On the 7th of September, after a 24-hour long chase, Anson and Phaeton captured Flore. Captain Stopford, of Phaeton, in a letter described Flore as a frigate of 36 guns and 255 men. She was eight days out of Boulogne on a cruise. She had also served with the Royal Navy in the American Revolution.

At Warren’s action with Bompart on the12th of October Anson was unable to take part in the Battle, because she had sustained damage during poor weather and was unable to keep up with the rest of the British squadron. However, In the aftermath of the original engagement, on the 18th of October she joined the brig HMS Kangeroo and fought a separate action capturing the damaged French frigate Loire. Anson was still under the command of Captain Durham, who struggled to manoeuvre his ship after having had her mizzen mast shot away as well as her main lower and topsail yards during the earlier pursuit.

After a refit, Anson sailed from Plymouth on the 26th of January, 1799, and on the 2nd of February, in company with Ethalion, captured the 14 gun French privateer cutter Boulonaise. off Dunkirk. She had been preying on shipping in the North Sea. She then returned to Plymouth for repairs between the July and August of that year.
On the 9th of September, Captain Durham held a fête for the King. During the course of the evening, the king was found on the lower deck surrounded by the ship’s company and talking to an old sailor.

On the 10th of April, 1800, when north-west of the Canaries, Anson detained Catherine & Anna bound for Hamburg from Batavia with a cargo of coffee.

Then on the 27th of the month she captured the Letter of Marque 16 gun brig Vainquer. She was ,however, armed partially en flute and only mounted four. When captured she had been on her way from Bordeaux to San Domingo with a cargo of merchandise.

Two days later, at daybreak, Anson encountered four French privateers: Brave (36 guns), Guepe (18), Hardi (18), and Duide (16). As soon as the French vessels realized that Anson was a British frigate they scattered. As Anson passed Brave going in the opposite direction Anson fired a broadside into her; Durham believed that the broadside did considerable damage, but he was unable to follow up as Brave had the wind in her favour and so out sailed Anson. Durham then set off after one of the other French vessels, which he was able to capture. She was Hardi, of 18 guns and 194 men. Durham described her as "a very fine new Ship just of the Stocks." The Royal Navy took Hardi into service, first as HMS Hardi, before shortly thereafter renaming her HMS Rosario. Lastly, Durham reported sending into port for adjudication a very valuable ship that had been sailing from Batavia to Hamburg with the Governor of Batavia as passenger. (This may have been Catherine & Anna.)

On 27th of June Anson and Constance came across some 40 or 50 Spanish merchant vessels on the Straits of Gibraltar. They were protected by 25 gunboats. Two row boats came out from Gibraltar to assist Anson and the British were able to capture eight Spanish merchantmen, though the Spanish managed to recaptured one.
On 29th of June Anson and Constance captured two privateer misticos: Gibraltar and Severo (or Severino). Gibraltar was armed with four guns and had a crew of 50 men. Severo was armed with two guns and ten Swivel guns, and had a crew of 26 men.

On 30th of June Anson cut off two Spanish gun boats that had been annoying the convoy she was escorting. The two proved to be Gibraltar and Salvador. They each mounted two 18–pounder guns in their bow, and each had eight guns of different dimensions on their sides. They were each manned by 60 men and probably sustained heavy casualties in resisting Anson.

Anson went in for a small refit between the December of 1800 and the January of 1801, in which month she came under the command of Captain William. E. Cracraft, who was to captain her until 1805. Anson was destined for the Channel station, cruising out of Portsmouth, and also taking part in convoy duties. In 1802 she was ordered to Med, and in November she sailed from Malta for Egypt.

In 1803 she took the 5 gun privateer La Marguerite on the 15th of October.
She went in to Plymouth to be fitted for temporary service for repairs in the September of1805 until the January of 1806.

Napoleonic Wars.

In December of 1805 Captain Charles Lydiard had been appointed her new captain and it was under him that Anson was driven ashore at Portsmouth, on the 15th of January, but she was successfully refloated, repaired, and returned to service. Still under Lydiard′s command, Anson sailed to the Leeward Islands in the West Indies on the 4th of April.1806.

On the 23rd of August, while sailing in company with Captain Charles Brisbane's they encountered the 38-gun Spanish frigate Pomona off Havana, guarded by a shore battery and twelve Gunboats. Pomona was trying to enter the harbour, whereupon Lydiard and Brisbane bore up and engaged her. The gunboats came out to defend her. The two British frigates then anchored between the shore battery and gunboats on the one hand, and Pomona on the other. A hard-fought action began, which lasted for 35 minutes until Pomona struck her colours. Three of the gunboats were blown up, six were sunk, and the remaining three were badly damaged. The shore battery was obliged to stop engaging the British ships, following an explosion, which seriously damaged one part of the battery. There were no casualties aboard Anson, but Arethusa lost two killed and 32 wounded, with Captain Brisbane among the latter. The captured Pomona was subsequently taken into the Navy as HMS Cuba.


HMS Arethusa and HMS Anson capture the Pomona off Havana, depicted by Thomas Whitcombe.

Anson continued her cruising off Havana, and on the15th of September sighted the French 84-gun Foudroyant, displaying the flag of Vice-Admiral Jean-Baptiste Willaumez, which had been dismasted in a storm and was carrying a jury-rig. Despite the superiority of his opponent and the nearness of the shore Captain Lydiard attempted to close on the French vessel and opened fire. Anson came under fire from the fortifications at Morro Castle,, while several Spanish ships, including the 74-gun San Lorenzo, came out of Havana to assist the French. After being unable to manoeuvre into a favourable position and coming under heavy fire, Lydiard hauled away and made his escape. Anson had two killed and 13 wounded during the engagement, while its sails and rigging had been badly damaged. Foudroyant meanwhile had 27 killed or wounded.

Anson was then assigned to Charles Brisbane's squadron and joined Brisbane's Arethusa and James Athol Wood’s HMS Latona.
In the November of 1806, the ships were despatched by Vice-Admiral James Richard Dacres to reconnoitre Curacao. They were joined in December by HMS Fisguard, and Brisbane decided to launch an attack. The British ships approached early in the morning of the 1st of January, 1807 and anchored in the harbour. They were attacked by the Dutch, at which Brisbane boarded and captured the 36-gun frigate Halstaar, while Lydiard attacked and secured the 20-gun corvette Suriname. Both Lydiard and Brisbane then led their forces on shore, and stormed Fort Amsterdam, which was defended by 270 Dutch troops. The fort was carried after ten minutes of fighting, after which two smaller forts, a citadel and the entire town were also taken. More troops were landed while the ships sailed round the harbour to attack Fort République. By 10 am the fort had surrendered, and by noon the entire island had capitulated.

Anson had seven men wounded. In all, the British lost three killed and 14 wounded. On the ships alone, the Dutch lost six men killed, including Commandant Cornelius J. Evertz, who commanded the Dutch naval force in Curaçao, and seven wounded, of whom one died later. With the colony, the British captured the frigate Kenau Hasselar, the sloop Suriname which was a former Royal Naval sloop, and two naval schooners.


The capture of Curaçao, depicted by Thomas Whitcombe

Anson was sent back to Britain carrying the despatches and captured colours. The dramatic success of the small British force carrying the heavily defended island was rewarded handsomely. Brisbane was knighted, and the captains received swords, medals and vases.
In 1847 the Admiralty authorised the issue of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Curacoa 1 Jany. 1807" to any surviving claimants from the action; 65 medals were issued.

Fate.

After a period refitting in Britain Anson was assigned to the Channel Fleet and ordered to support the blockade of Brest by patrolling off Black Rocks. She sailed from Falmouth on the 24th of December,1807, and reached Ile de Bas on the 28th of the month. With a severe storm developing from the south west, Lydiard decided to return to port. He made forthe Lizard, but in the poor weather, came up on the wrong side and became trapped on a lee shore off Mount's Bay near Penzance, in Cornwall with breakers ahead and insufficient room to sail out to the open seas. Anson rolled heavily in rough seas, having retained the spars from her days as a 64-gun ship after she had been razeed. Lydiard's only option was to anchor off Loe Bar. The storm caused the first anchor cable to snap at 4 am on the morning of 29th of December. Anson's second anchor cable broke at 7 am and she was soon being driven onto the shore. With no anchors, Lydiard, in the hope of saving as many lives as possible, attempted to beach her on what he thought was a suitable beach. It only upon impact that he discovered that it was a sandbar that covered rocks dividing Loe Pool from the open sea. The wind and waves caused the ship to roll broadside on and her mainmast snapped. a sheet anchor was let out, which righted the ship only before it snapped in its turn at 8 am.
As hundreds of spectators watched from nearby settlements the pounding surf prevented boats from being launched from the ship or the shore, and a number of the crew were swept away. Some managed to clamber along the fallen main-mast to the shore. Captain Lydiard remained aboard to oversee the evacuation. About 2 pm the ship began to break up, which allowed a few more men to emerge from the wreck, with one being saved. By 3 pm no trace of the ship remained.
Survivors were taken to Helston, two miles away and later sent on to Falmouth.
Estimates of the number of lives lost vary from sixty to 190. Captain Lydiard and Anson's first-lieutenant was among the casualties; Lydiard's body was recovered on the 1st of January, 1808 and taken to Falmouth for burial with full military honours. Most of the other victims were buried in pits dug on unconsecrated ground on the cliffs with no burial rites. The death toll is uncertain as some of the survivors had been pressed, and took the opportunity to desert.


'Loss of the Anson Frigate, off Cornwall', in an 1808 depiction by William Elmes

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HMS Ardent (1782)



HMS Ardent was a an Edward Hunt designed Crown Class, 64-gun third rate ship of the line, built by George Parsons and Staves at Bursledon Hants. Ordered on the 15th of October 1779, she was laid down in the October of 1780 and launched on the 24th of December,1782. She was completed between the 24th of December of that year and the 27th of August, 1783 at Portsmouth.

Plan of Ardent



Quarterdeck and forecastle

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Ardent
Ordered:	15 October,1779
Builder:	Staves & Parsons, Bursledon
Laid down:	October 1780
Launched:	21 December 1782
Fate:	Blown up, 1794
General characteristics
Class and type:		Crown Class 64 gun ship of the line
Type:
Tons burthen:		1387 (bm)
Length:		160 ft 8 in (48.9 m) (gundeck)
Beam:		44 ft 7.5 in (13.7 m)
Depth of hold:		19 ft 4 1⁄2 in (5.9 m)
Propulsion:		Sails
Sail plan:		Full rigged ship
Armament:		Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Ardent was commissioned in the March of 1783 as a guardship for Portsmouth. By 1784 she was under the command of Captain Harry Harmood, still serving as a guard ship. This state of affairs continued until the June of 1790 when she was commissioned for sea under Captain James Vashon to serve in the Spanish Armament and then followed by the Russian Armament. She was paid off again in the September of 1791.

In the February of 1793 she was recommissioned under the command of Captain Robert Manners Sutton, her fitting out being completed in the May of that year. She sailed for the Med on the 23rd of the month, and was with Vice-Admiral Lord Hood at Toulon in August. She was part of a force detached under Robert Linzee to take part in the attack on Corsica in the September of that year, and in the October took part in an attack on a Martello Tower.

Fate.

In April 1794 Ardent was stationed off the harbour of Villafranche on the French Med coast in order to observe a pair of French frigates. It is presumed that she accidentally caught fire and blew up, as at the enquiry into her loss no actual cause was ever identified. Berwick, whilst cruising in the Gulf of Genoa in that summer encountered some wreckage which seemed to suggest the cause was fire and an explosion. A portion of Ardent's quarter deck with some gunlocks deeply embedded in it was found floating in the area, as were splinter nettings driven into planking. There were no survivors. Indeed no trace was ever found of any of her crew of 500.

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HMS Argonaut (1782)

HMS Argonaut was a French built 64-gun third rate ship of the line named Le Jason. She was laid down in the January of 1778, launched on the 13th of February, 1779, and completed in the May of that year in Toulon. She was captured by the British on the 19th of April, 1782 and commissioned by them as HMS Argonaut in the same year.
.

History
FRANCE
Name:	Jason
Launched:	1779
Captured:	19 April 1782, by Royal Navy
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Argonaut
Acquired:	19 April 1782
Fate:	Broken up, 1831
General characteristics
Class and type:	64 gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1451​77⁄94 (bm)
Length:	166 ft 0 in (50.70 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 8 1⁄2 in (13.6 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 1 in (5.82 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged
Armament:	64 guns Lower Deck: 26x24 pdrs Upper Deck:26x 18 pdrs QD:10x9 pdrs Fc: 2x9 pdrs

In French Service.

On the 2nd of May, 1780, Jason departed Brest with 7 ships of the line and 3 frigates under Admiral Ternay, escorting 36 transports carrying troops in support of the Continental Army fighting the British in the American Revolution. The squadron comprised the 80-gun Duc de Bourgogne, under Admiral Ternay d’Arsac, the 74 gun Neptune, and Conquerant, and the 64-gun Provence, Bernard de Marigny, Jason and Eveille, and the frigates Surveillante,Amazone, and Bellone. Amazone, which constituted the vanguard of the fleet, arrived at Boston on the11th of June, 1780.

In British Service.

On the 19th of April 1782 whilst in the Mona passage Jason was taken by the ships of Admiral Rodney’s squadron, and was registered as a British ship with effect from that date. She was commissioned by Admiral Rodney, under Captain John Alymer for passage home and sailed on the 25th of July for England. She arrived at Plymouth on the 19th of October and was renamed Argonaut . She then underwent a small repair for £12,745.7.4d between the February and July of 1783.She was then fitted and coppered for a further £9,513 between the April and September of that year.She was not recommissioned until the January of 1793 and still under Alymer sailed for Nova Scotia on the 18th of May 1794.

In 1795, now under Captain Alexander Ball, on the 8th of January, she captured the French Republican warship Esperance on the North America Station. Esperance was armed with 22 guns of 4 and 6lb calibre, and a crew of 130 men. She was under the command of a Lieutenant de Vaisseau De St. Laurent and 56 days out from Rochfort, bound for the Chesapeake. Argonaut shared the prize money with Captain Robert Murray’s Oiseaux.
The French ambassador to the United States registered a complaint with the American President stating that Argonaut, by entering Lynnhaven bay, either before she captured Esperance or shortly thereafter, had violated a treaty between France and the United States. The French also accused the British of having brought Esperance into Lynnhaven for refitting for a cruise. The President passed the complaint to the Secretary of State, who forwarded the complaint to the Governor of Virginia. The Governor inquired into the matter of the British Consul who replied that the capture had taken place some 10 leagues off shore. The weather had forced Argonaut and her prize to shelter within the Chesapeake for some days, but that they had left as soon as practicable. Furthermore, Argonaut had paroled her French prisoners when she came into Lynnhaven and as she had entered American territorial waters solely to parole her French prisoners no one should have thought that objectionable. The authorities in Virginia took a number of depositions but ultimately nothing further came from the matter.
Because she was captured in good order and sailed well, Rear Admiral George Murray, the British commander in chief on the North American station, put a British crew aboard her and sent Esperance out on patrol with the Lynx on the 31st of January.

On the 3rd of August in that same year, Argonaut captured the ship Anna.

Fate.

On her return to England, Argonaut was paid off at Chatham in the October of 1896, fitted as a Hospital ship and placed on harbour service in 1797 under Lieutenant Philip Hue, then under Lieutenant George Paul in 1799. In 1804 she came under Lieutenant John James until finally paid off in 1828, and then eventually broken up in 1831.

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HMS Asia (1764)



HMS Asia at the Halifax Naval Yard in 1797. Watercolour by George Gustavus Lennox, who was a lieutenant aboard Asia

HMS Asia was a Sir Thomas Slade designed 64-gun third rate ship of the line, built by M/shipwright Edward Allin to the May of 1762 and completed by Thomas Bucknall at Portsmouth Dockyard. Ordered on the 4th of March, 1758, and confirmed on the 28th of the month, she was laid down in the 18th of April in that year, and launched on the 3rd of March, 1764.
Sir Thomas Slade had designed her as an experimental ship, and one which proved to be particularly groundbreaking in the fact that she was the first true 64 gun vessel. She proved so successful that the Admiralty Board decided not to order any further 60 gun ships, but went on to commission another 39 of the 64s, incorporating alterations learned from trials with Asia. All the subsequent ships built were bigger; consequently, she was the only ship of her class to be built.

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Asia
Ordered:	4 March 1758
Builder:	Edward Allin & Thomas Bucknall, Portsmouth Dockyard
Laid down:	18 April 1758
Launched:	3 March 1764
Commissioned:	March 1771
Fate:	Broken up, 1804
General characteristics
Class and type:	Asia Class 64 gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1364​46⁄94 (bm)
Length:	158 ft 0 in (48.2 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 6 in (13.6 m)
Draught:	10 ft 2 in (3.1 m) forward 16 ft 6 in (5.03 m) aft
Depth of hold:	18 ft 10 in (5.7 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 26 × 24-pdr guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pdr guns QD: 10 × 9 pdr guns Fc: 2 × 9-pdr guns + 2 x 24 pdr Carronades from 1794. RH: 6x 18 pdr Carronades from 1794

Service.

HMS Asia was commissioned in the March of 1771 as a guardship and finally sailed from Portsmouth on the 10th of June, 1774.

The American Revolution.

Asia saw early service in the American Revolutionary War, as a transport vessel for 500 Marines sent to New York in 1774 to quell rising tensions among the local population. She arrived at New York on the 4th of December, and remained there until later in the month when she joined a flotilla commanded by Admiral Richard Howe.
On her return to New York Harbour, Asia supplied protection for the merchant ship Duchess of Gordon, where H.M.Royal governor William Tryon had established an ad hoc office in October 1775, fearing arrest by the rebels if he remained in the city.

She was present at the Battle of Brooklyn in the August of1776, and later survived a fire ship attack led by the American revolutionary Silas Talbot. The fire ship fouled Asia setting fire to her, but the crew, aided by men from other nearby vessels, were able to extinguish the flames, before they turned into a general conflagration.
On her return to England in 1777 she underwent a small repair at Portsmouth between the April and August of that year costing £12,277.14.0d. She then escorted some East Indiamen to India between 1778 and 1779.
On her return she was paid off in the April of 1781 and fitted and coppered at Chatham from the January to the June of 1782. She was then recommissioned for service in the channel, and paid off once more in the March of 1783, whereupon she underwent a large repair at Chatham between the May of 1786 and the June of 1787 at a cost of £27,030. She was recommissioned in the June of 1790 by Captain Andrew Mitchell for the Spanish Armament and then paid off.

The French Revolution.

During yet another refit between the April to the August of 1793, Asia was recommissioned in the May of that year under Captain John Brown and on the 26th of December she sailed for the West Indies to join the fleet of Admiral Sir John Jervis in early 1794. In the March of that year, Asia participated in the capture of Martinique with an expeditionary force under the command of Jervis and Lieutenant-General Sir Charles. By the 16th of that month, British forces were able to capture all the forts, excepting those of Forts Bourbon and Royal. On the 20th Asia and the Zebra were intended to have entered r the Carenage at Fort Royal in order to fire upon Fort St. Louis. However, Asia did not take up her position as a result of her pilot, M. de Tourelles, who had been a lieutenant of the port, reneging on his agreement to take her in, ostensibly because of a fear of shoals. Instead, Zebra went in alone, with her captain, Richard Faulknor, and crew landing under the guns of the fort and capturing it.


Capture of Fort Saint Louis, Martinique, 1794, with Asia in the background, and Zebra in the foreground; depicted by William Anderson.

Asia returned to England in the July of 1794, and In the following month Captain John M'Dougall assumed command as she joined the Downs squadron, followed by a period in the North sea during 1795. From the June of that year she performed duty as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Thomas Pringle.

At the commencement of 1796 having sailed to the West Indies, on the 29th of April Asia again faced a possible fire, this time in Port Royal. The fire was self-inflicted in that part of a recently stored delivery of 300 powder barrels on the lower gun deck exploded. Some 300 of the vessel's crew jumped overboard in order to escape the consequences should the nearby main Magazine explode. Asia's captain, officers, and a few of the remaining crew were able to put out the fire. In all, the vessel lost 11 men killed and wounded.

Following the fire, from the May of that year she was under the command of Captain Robert Murray, and on the 16th of August, she sailed for Halifax Nova Scotia. In the October of 1798 she was destined to become the flagship of Vice Admiral George Vanderput on that station. During her time At Halifax she picked up a group of 600 Jamaican Maroons who had been deported from Jamaica the previous year and were now to be transferred to Sierra Leone. She departed on the 8th of August and arrived in Sierra Leone on 30 September, disembarking there the group who came to be called the Jamaican Marroons of Sierra Leone.

On her return to England in 1800, she was refitted at Chatham and recommissioned in the February of 1801 under Captain John Dawson in Vice Admiral Charles Pole’s squadron. This commission ended in 1802 and she was paid off in the March of that year

Fate.
She was broken up in August 1804 at Chatham.

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HMS Belliqueux (1780)


Belliqueux

HMS Belliqueux was yet another Thomas Slade designed Ardent Class 64-gun third rate ship of the line, built by John Perry and Hankey at Blackwall Yard. Ordered on the 19th of February 1778, and laid down in the June of that year, she was launched on the 5th of June, 1780, and completed between the 13th of June and the 31st of August in that same year. She was named after the French ship of that same name captured in 1758.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Belliqueux
Ordered:	19 February 1778
Builder:	Perry, Blackwall Yard
Laid down:	June 1778
Launched:	5 June 1780
Honours and awards:	Participated in: Battle of Fort Royal Battle of the Saints
Fate:	Broken up, 1816
Notes:	Prison ship from 1814
General characteristics
Class and type:	Ardent Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1379 (bm)
Length:	160 ft (48.8 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 4.75 in (13.5 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounders

Service.

HMS Belliqueux was commissioned in the May of 1780 and on the 29th of April, 1781 she took part at the Battle of Fort Royal, between fleets of the Royal Navy and the French. After an engagement lasting four hours, the British squadron under Sir Samuel Hood broke off the action and retreated. De Grasse offered a desultory chase before seeing the French convoy safely to port.

In the following year she was at the Battle of the Saints between the 9th and 12th of April 1782.
The French suffered heavy casualties at the Saintes and many were taken prisoner, including the admiral, Comte de Grasse. Four French ships of the line were captured, including the flagship, and one was destroyed. Rodney was credited with pioneering the tactic of "Breaking the line" in the battle, though this is disputed. During the action Belliqueux suffered 4 killed and 10 wounded.

Belliqueux was paid off in the August of 1783 after the completion of her wartime service.
Following a small repair at Plymouth for £13,952.11.8d she was recommissioned in the April of 1793 under Captain William Otway, but soon passed to the command of Captain George Bowen and sailed for Jamaica on the 20th of March 1794. In the May of that year she joined Ford’s Squadron at Port-au- Prince, and in the following month was placed under the command of Captain James Brine. She was paid off in the September of 1995.

In the May of 1796 she was recommissioned and came under the command of Captain John Inglis bound for Duncan’s fleet at the Battle of Camperdown in the October of 1797. Following the battle Inglis who had commanded her bravely was commended for his action.

At the action on the 4th of August 1800, which was. a highly unusual engagement which occurred off the Brazilian coast. A force of French Frigates which had been raiding British commerce off West Africa approached and attempted to attack a convoy of valuable East Indiamen, large and heavily armed merchant vessels sailing from Britain to India and China, two ships sailing for Botany Bay, and a whaler sailing for the South Seas' whale fishery. Belliqueux was escort to the convoy, which otherwise had to rely on the ships' individual armament to protect them from attack. Due to their large size, the East Indiamen could be mistaken for ships of the line at a distance, and the French commander Commodore Jean- Francois- Landolphe was un-nerved when the convoy formed line of battle. Supposing his target to be a fleet of powerful warships he turned to escape and the British commander, Captain Rowley Bulteel, immediately ordered a pursuit. To preserve the impression of warships he also ordered four of his most powerful East Indiamen to join the chase.

Belliqueux rapidly out ran Landolphe's flagship Concorde, leaving Landolphe with no option but to surrender without any serious resistance. The rest of the French squadron continued to flee separately during the night, each pursued by two East Indiamen. After an hour and a half in pursuit, with darkness falling, the East Indiaman Exeter came alongside the French Medee, giving the impression by use of lights that she was a large ship of the line. Believing himself outgunned, Captain Jean-Daniel Coudin surrendered, only discovering his assailant's true identity when he came aboard. The action is the only occasion during the war in which a British merchant vessel captured a large French warship.

On her return to England Belliqueux was repaired by Perry and Co. at Blackwall between the October of 1804 and the March of 1805. She was then fitted at Woolwich in the following month under Captain George Byng, who was to retain this post until 1811.

She sailed for the East Indies in the September of 1805, and joined Popham’s squadron at the Cape of Good Hope. After the Dutch Governor Jansens signed a capitulation on the 18th of January, 1806, and the British established control of Cape Colony, Belliqueux escorted the East Indiamen William Pitt, Jane ,Dutchess of Gordon, Sir William Pulteney, and Comet to Madras. The convoy also included the Northampton, Streatham, Europe, Union, Glory, and Sarah Christiana.

At Madras, the captains of the eight East Indiamen in the convoy joined together to present Captain George Byng, of Belliqueux, a piece of silver plate worth £100 as a token of appreciation for his conduct while they were under his orders. Byng wrote his thank you letter to them on 24 April.

Belliqueux now continued her voyage and joined Pellew’s squadron at Batavia in the November of that same year. One unfortunate incident during this period was the death of Philip Dundas the Lieutenant Governor of Penang whilst aboard Belliqueux on the 8th of April 1807, whilst Belliqueux was crossing the Bay of Bengal.
In 1809 Belliqueux was present at the occupation of Rodrigues, and then continued on to China with a convoy during the June of 1810.

Fate.

On her return to England in the August of 1811 she was paid off at Sheerness.
Belliqueux was fitted as a prison ship at Chatham from the October of 1813 to the February of 1814 serving there under Lieutenant William Lee until she was decommissioned and broken up in the March of 1816.

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HMS Bienfaisant (1758)

Bienfaisant was a Mathurin-Louis Geoffroy designed 64 gun ship of the line of the French Navy, built a Brest between1752 and its launching in 1754.It was completed in the February of 1756.

History
France
Name:	Bienfaisant
Launched:	1754
Captured:	25 July 1758, by Royal Navy
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Bienfaisant
Acquired:	25 July 1758
Fate:	Broken up, 1814
Notes:	Participated in: Battle of Cape St Vincent
General characteristics
Class and type:	64 gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1360​7⁄94 (bm)
Length:	153 ft 9 in (46.9 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 6 in (13.6 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 4 in (5.9 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	64 guns of various weights of shot

Service.

A cutting out expedition on the orders Admiral Edward Boscawen captured her on the night of the 25th of July, 1758 during theseige of Louisbourg Bienfaisant and the 74-gun Prudent were the last remaining ships of the line of the French squadron left in Louisbourg harbour. Prudent had run aground and so her captors set fire to her, but men commanded by Commander George Balfour of the Bomb Ketch HMS Aetna boarded Bienfaisant and brought her out of the harbour. The action provided a decisive moment of the siege as the fortress surrendered on the following day. Bienfaisant was purchased into the Royal Navy on the 10th of April 1759.
She was commissioned as the HMS Bienfaisant and fitted at Portsmouth for £8,645.8.11d between the January and May of 1759.

She was paid off after wartime service in the August of 1763. From the March of 1768 until the June of 1771 she underwent a great repair at Plymouth at a cost of £22,482. Recommissioned in the November of 1776 she served as a guardship until the May of 1777.Then in late 1777 on the North American station Bienfaissant, under Captain McBride, captured the privateer American Tartar, of 24 guns and 200 men. Bienfaissant then accompanied her to St Johns, Newfoundland. During 1779 she wasrefitted and coppered at Plymouth.

She took part in the Battle of St Vincent on the 16th of January,1780, during the encounter she suffered no casualties whatsoever, although damage suffered to her structure has to be repaired between the May and July of that year.

Returning to duty, on the 19th of July, Bienfaisant encountered the French 32-gun frigate Nymphe, returning to Brest from America. Nymphe managed to escape but in the following month Bienfaisant successfully captured The Comte de Artois off Ireland.

Bienfaisant participated, under the command of Captain Braithwaite, in the Battle of Dogger Bank a bloody encounter between a British squadron under Vice Admiral Sir Hyde Parker and a Dutch squadron under Vice Admiral Johan Zoutman, both of which were escorting convoys. With a reduced armament on her lower deck Bienfaisant participated as the last ship in the British line.

She paid off once more after wartime service in the March of 1783 and was fitted for ordinary at Plymouth.

Fate.

Bienfaisant underwent a series of changes in duties over the next few years until 1803 when a series of lieutenants took over her command still residing in Plymouth until she was finally broken up there in the November of 1814.

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French ship Le Caton (1777)

Le Caton was a Caton class, 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy designed by Marie-Blaise Coulomb. She was built at Toulon between the April of 1770 and the May of 1777 when she was launched.She was completed in the May of 1778.

History
France
Name:	Caton
Builder:	Toulon
Laid down:	April 1770
Launched:	5 July 1777
Completed:	May 1778
Captured:	19 April 1782, by Royal Navy
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	Caton
Acquired:	19 April 1782
In service:	Registered on 29 January 1783
Reclassified:	Hospital ship from August 1790
Fate:	Sold on 9 February 1815
General characteristics
Class and type:	Caton Class 64 gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	​1,407 23⁄94 (bm)
Length:	166 ft (51 m) (gundeck) 136 ft 4.75 in (41.5735 m) (keel)
Beam:	44 ft 0.5 in (13.424 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 4 in (5.89 m)
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Complement:	500 (491 from 1794)
Armament:	LD deck: 26 × 24-pounders UD: 26 × 18-pounders QD: 10 × 9-pounders Fc: 2 × 9-pounders

French Service.

In 1780, Caton was part of the squadron under Guichen, captained by Georges- Francois de Framond. Caton was later attached to the squadron commanded by DE Grasse. She took part in the Battle of Martinique on the 17th of April, 1780, as well as in the two smaller engagements of the15th and 19th of May in that year.
At the Battle of Fort Royal on the 29th of April, 1781, Caton was one of the four ships who came to reinforce the squadron under De Grasse, along with Victoire, Réfléchi and Solitaire. She took part in the Battle of the Chesapeake on the 5th of September in that same year.

On the 10th of April ,1782, in the run-up to the Battle of the Saintes, Caton found herself becalmed and Framond asked for assistance. Despite having been sent a frigate, Framond decided to anchor at Basse-Terre without authorisation from his hierarchy. He thus failed to take part in the Battle of the Saintes, and a few days later, on the 19th of April, Caton was captured at the Battle of the Mona Passage.

British Service.

Caton having been taken was commissioned by Admiral Rodney on the 19th of May, 1782 under Captain Richard Fisher for the journey home and she sailed on the 25th of July bound for England. She arrived at Plymouth on the 19th of October, and had her commission as the 64 gun third rate HMS Caton. This was registered on the 29th of January 1783, backdated to her commissioning date.

She was fitted for ordinary between the January and February of 1784, and in the August of 1790 she became Hospital ship still at Plymouth under Commander James May. Recommissioned in the January of 1794 under Lieutenant William Bevians, her next commander was Lieutenant Richard Brown from the August of 1797 until 1801 when she was recommissioned there again, this time in the role of a prison hospital ship. She came under the command of Lieutenant John Simpson from 1813 to 1814.

Fate.

She was sold out of the service at Plymouth for £2,500 on the 9th of February, 1815.

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HMS Crown (1782)

HMS Crown was a ,1779, Edward Hunt designed Crown Class, 64 gun third rate ship of the line. It was the final British design for a 64 and added a few changes to the earlier designs. Its overall length was extended by 6in, and it incorporated an extra pair of gun ports on the upper deck forrard in the chase position, but had no additional guns supplied.

Built by Perry and Hankey of Blackwall, she was ordered on the 14th of October, 1778, laid down in the September of 1779 and launched on the 15th of March 1782. She was completed at Woolwich on the 18th of May in that same year.


Plan of the Orlop deck of Crown

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Crown
Builder:	Perry, Blackwall yard
Laid down:	September 1779
Launched:	15 March 1782
Fate:	Broken up, 1816
General characteristics
Class and type:	Crown Class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1405 ​8⁄94 (bm)
Length:	160 ft 5 in (48.90 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 10 in (13.67 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 5.5 in (5.880 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	64 guns: GD: 26 × 24 pdrs UG deck: 26 × 18 pdrs QD: 10 × 9 pdrs+ 2x 24 pdr Carronades from1794 Fc: 2 × 9 pdrs RH: 6x 18 pdr Carronades from 1794.

Service.

HMS Crown was commissioned in the March of 1782, and joined the squadron cruising in the Bay of Biscay in the July of that year. On the 11th of September she joined Howe cruising off Lisbon.
On her return to England in the April of 1784 she was paid off but recommissioned in that same month for use as a guardship at Plymouth.

Paid off again in 1786 she was coppered for a cost of £3496 and that September she was recommissioned still as a guardship. Paid off once more in the October of 1788 she was recommissioned for service at sea at Chatham between the October and November of 1788 and sailed for the East Indies.

She returned to England in 1792 and was paid off once again.

In the May of 1798 she was converted to serve as a prison ship under Lieutenant John Baker until 1801.In the September of that year Lieutenant Benjamin Leigh took over her command, and the following year she was fitted as a powder hulk at Portsmouth. She was refitted as a prison ship again in the June of 1806 and commissioned under Lieutenant John Smith who died in the December of that year. She thus passed to the command of Lieutenant James Rose from 1807 to 1811, and then Lieutenant William Wickham until 1814.

Fate.

HMS Crown was placed into ordinary in 1815, and was broken up in the March 1816 at Portsmouth.

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HMS Diadem (1782)


Diadem at the capture of the Cape of Good Hope by Thomas Whitcombe.

HMS Diadem was a John Williams designed, Intrepid Class, 64 gun, third rate ship of the line, built at Chatham by M/shipwright Israel Pownoll until the April of 1779, and then completed by Nicholas Phillips. Ordered on the 5th of December 1777, she was laid down in the February of 1778, and launched on 19 December 1782, and completed there on the 19th of July 1783 for use as a guardship.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Diadem
Ordered:	5 December 1777
Builder:	Chatham Dockyard
Laid down:	2 November 1778
Launched:	19 December 1782
Commissioned:	March 1783
Honours and awards:	Participated in Battle of Cape St Vincent Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt"
Fate:	Broken up at Plymouth, September 1832
General characteristics
Class and type:	Intrepid Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1375½ (bm)
Length:	159 ft 10 in (48.72 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 5 in (13.54 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Complement:	500
Armament:	Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Diadem was commissioned in the March of 1783 to serve as a guardship at Chatham, and then at Plymouth from 1784 where her copper was repaired at a cost of £1.547.3.4d. Following the work she was recommissioned in the February of 1793 under Captain Andrew |Southerland, and sailed for the Med on the 15th of October in that year.

She took part in the Toulon operations during the latter part of 93, and into 1794.
In 1795 she came under the command of Captain Charles Taylor and was in Hotham’s action off Genoa on the 13th of March, during which action she suffered 3 killed and 7 wounded.

On the 13th of July she was in action again, this time off the Hyeres.

In 1796 she was transferred to Nelson’s squadron under Captain George Henry Towry off Genoa in the April of 1796,and then as Nelson’s Flagship at Leghorn in the August of that year. It was under Captain Towry that
she participated in the Battle of St. Vincent on the 14th of February 1797, during which she suffered 2 killed and 7 wounded. From this action she moved onto the blockade of Cadiz in the April of that same year.

In 1798 she was converted to serve as a Troopship at Plymouth for £7,412. Recommissioned under Captain John Dawson in 1799, on the 7th of April she left Portsmouth together with Trompe. They were to carry the West York militia to Dublin.

In 1800 under the command of Post Captain Sir Thomas Livingstone she was employed in the Quiberon operation
and also at Belle Isle under Sir Edward Pellew.

In 1801 under Captain John Larmoor she was with Lord Keith’s squadron in the Med, and employed in the expedition to Cadiz. She also took part ain the landings at Aboukir on the 8th of March 1801.
Because Diadem served in the navy's Egyptian campaign between the 8th of March, 1801 and the 2nd of September, her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorised in 1850 to all surviving claimants.

The ship, paid off at Woolwich April 1802.

Following a small to middling repair at Woolwich between the April of 1804 and the January of 1805, she was recommissioned under Captain Home Popham for Channel service. In the May of that year she came under the command of Captain Charles Grant and then in the January of 1806 Captain Hugh Downman as the Flagship of the now Rear Admiral Popham. She was with him at both the capture of the Cape of Good Hope, and then the River Plate operations. On the 30th of July in that year she took the Spanish Brig Arrogante off Montevideo, Later in the year under Captain Samuel Warren she became the Flagship of Rear Admiral Charles Sterling for further operations in the region of the River Plate.

On her return to England, between the April and July of 1810 Diadem was at Chatham being fitted for service as a troopship of 28 guns. In June she recommissioned under Captain John Phillimore for Lisbon. She then spent some time working with the Spanish anti-French forces on the north coast of Spain. In the January of 1812 she carried released Danish prisoners of war from Plymouth to Chatham. She then sailed to North America. On the 7th of October in that year, Diadem captured the American privateer Baltimore.

Later, she sailed to the Halifax station. Phillimore transferred to command of HMS Eurotas on the 4th of May, 1813 and Diadem came under the command of Captain John Hanchett. On the 22nd of June her boats were involved in an attack on Norfolk Virginia.

Fate.

By the December of 1814 she was back in England and paid off at Plymouth. Fitted there as a receiving ship in the following year, and then as a troopship once more between the years 1822 and 1825, she reverted to her role as a receiving ship in the latter part of that year.

Diadem was broken up at Plymouth in the September of 1832.

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HMS Dictator (1783)

HMS Dictator was a John Williams designed Inflexible Class 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by Robert Batson at Limehouse. Ordered on the 21st of October, 1778, and laid down in the the May of 1780, she was launched on the 6th of January, 1783 and completed on the 30th of May in that year at Woolwich.


A plan, showing the body, sheer lines, with inboard detail, and longitudinal half breadth of HMS Dictator which may represent her as built in 1783.

.
History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:		HMS Dictator
Ordered:		21 October 1778
Builder:		Batson, Limehouse
Laid down:		May 1780
Launched:		6 January 1783
Honours and awards:		Naval General Service Medal with clasps: "Egypt" "Off Mardoe 6 July 1812"
Fate:		Broken up in 1817
General characteristics
Class and type:	Inflexible Class 64 gun ship of the Line
Tons burthen:	1387 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 4in (48’.01m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 8.5 in (13.52 m)
Depth of hold:	18 ft in (5.0 m)
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 9-pdr guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Dictator was commissioned on the 1st of January 1783 as a Guard ship in the Medway. She was paid off in the March of 1876, had a small repair at Chatham in the summer of 1879 costing £4,000.and was recommissioned under Captain Richard Bligh in the August of 1790 as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Richard King.
She was recommissioned in the April of 1791 under Captain Thomas Tonkin as the Flagship of Rear Admiral John Dalrymple and receiving ship at Blackstakes until paid off n the September of that year.

After being refitted for sea at Chatham in the autumn of 1793 she was recommissioned under Captain Edmund Dod, and on the 5th of March 1794 sailed for the West coast of Africa under Captain Nathan Brunton. She returned home late in that year and was paid off once more. Fitted at Portsmouth between the February and July of 1795 for £ 9,323, in the September she was recommissioned under Captain Thomas Totty and sailed for Jamaica on the 26th of February, 1796.

The French Revolutionary Wars.

In 1797 Dictator first came under the command of Captain Thomas Western and then Captain William Rutherford.
The most important colonial expedition of that year was the one which led to the capture of Trinidad. Being based on the Leeward Islands' station, Rear-Admiral Henry Harvey took command of the invasion Squadron which sailed from Port Royal, Martinique on February the 12th Aboard the ships were a body of troops under Lieut. General Sir Ralph Abercromby. At a rendezvous off Carriacou, on the 14th of the month, they picked up reinforcements, and, on the 16th, arrived at Trinidad, and steered for the Gulf of Paria by way of Boca Grande. At 3.30 P.M., just as the British had cleared the channel, in Shagaramus bay, they discovered a Spanish squadron of four sail of the line and a frigate riding at anchor.

As the entrance to the enemy's anchorage appeared to be well protected by a battery of twenty guns and two mortars posted upon the island of Gaspargrande, and also as the day was already far advanced, Harvey sent his transports, protected by the Arethusa, Thorn, and Zebra, to find a berth about five miles from Port of Spain, and ordered the Alarm, and Victorieuse to keep under sail between the enemy and Port of Spain, whilst, he anchored with his ships of the line within long gunshot of the Spanish ships and batteries The intention being that of preventing the foe from escaping during the night, and on the following morning taking measures for their destruction.

To the surprise of the British, the Spaniards, at about 2 A.M. on the 17th, began to set fire to their ships, and, before dawn, four out of the five were almost totally destroyed. The fifth ship, the San Damaso (74) which was undamaged was brought off without resistance by the boats of the squadron, the Spaniards having evacuated Gaspargrande Island. This was occupied in the early morning by part of the Queen's Regiment, and, in the course of the day. Other troops were landed, without interruption, three miles from Port of Spain, which was quietly entered that evening. On the following day the island of Trinidad peacefully capitulated. The Spaniards, it afterwards appeared, had burnt their ships because they had barely half the officers and men that were required to man them.

Those British ships directly involved were:-
The Prince of Wales 98, Captain John Harvey,
Bellona 74, George Wilson,
Invincible 74, William Cayley,
Vengeance 74, Thomas Macnamara Russell,
Favourite 16, James Athol Wood,
and Terror 8, Dunbar Douglas.

Dictator only participated in the latter stages of the action, not having arrived until the 18th of February and the issue of prize money reflecting this late arrival.

Returning to England, Dictator was fitted as a troopship in the May of 1798 under Captain Byam Martin, and then in 1799 Captain John Oakes Hardy until 1801 firstly in the North Sea and then in the Egyptian operations. On the 8th of March, 1801, whilst disembarking the army at the Battle of Aboukir during the French Egyptian campaign, one of Dictator’s seamen was killed and a midshipman, Edward Robinson, fatally wounded.

Prize money for the capture of enemy ships, was as usual, shared with other warships in the squadron.
Because Dictator had served in the navy's Egyptian campaign, her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal, issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants.
The ship was paid off in the March of 1802, and fitted at Chatham as a floating battery costing £6,888., between the February and May of 1803, for service at Sheerness.

The Napoleonic Wars.

Having been recommissioned by Captain John Newhouse, Dictator was placed under the command of Captain Charles Tinling for use as a guardship in Kings Deep, and later in 1804 this duty devolved onto Captain Richard Hawkins. She was then reinstated as a 64 gun ship by Cox and Co for £26.016. between the October of that year and the May of 1805. She was recommissioned in the following month under Captain James Macnamara for service in the North sea, and then between the June of 1807 and 1808 Captain Donald Campbell took over command.
In the late summer of that year, Dictator was part of Admiral Gambier's fleet in the Øresund at the Battle of Copenhagen where she shared prize money with some 126 other British naval ships. She was again in Danish Waters the following year, in Admiral Hood's squadron of four ships-of-the-line together with some smaller vessels, tasked with maintaining the blockade between Jutland and Zealand. Captain Campbell, ordered the sloop HMS Falcon to proceed on her successful patrols to Samsø, Tunø and Endelave.

In the March of 1809 Dictator came under the command of Captain Richard Pearson and in the August of that year she was tasked with the occupation of the Pea Islands to the east of Bornholm but ran aground en route and had to be towed back to Karlskrona for repairs.

In early July 1810, Dictator came under the command of Captain Robert Williams during the Gunboat war with the coalition of Denmark-Norway. Dictator, in company with the Edgar and Alonzo, sighted three Danish gunboats commanded by Lieutenant Peter Nicolay Skibsted, who had captured the Grinder in the April of that year. The gunboats (Husaren, Løberen, and Flink) sought refuge in Grena, on eastern Jutland, where a company of soldiers and their field guns could provide cover. However, the British mounted a cutting out expedition of some 200 men in ten ships’ boats after midnight on the 7th of July, capturing the three gunboats.
At some time during this period the command of Dictator again changed. Her new captain, James Patterson Stewart was to hold the post until the April of the following year.

Throughout the first half of 1812 , from April onward, Dictator was captained by Alexander Schomberg and led a small squadron consisting of three brigs, the 18-gun Calypso, 14-gun Podargus and the 14-gun Flamer. On the 7th of July they encountered the Danish-Norwegian vessels Najaden, a frigate finished in 1811 in part with parts salvaged from a ship-of-the-line destroyed in earlier battles, and three brigs, Kiel, Lolland and Samsøe. Najaden was under the command of Danish naval officer Hans Peter Holm, and In the ensuing Battle of Lyngor Dictator destroyed Najaden and the British took Laaland and Kiel as prizes, but had to abandon them after the two vessels ran aground. The action cost Dictator five killed and 24 wounded. In 1847 the surviving British participants were authorized to apply for the clasp "Off Mardoe 6 July 1812" to the Naval General Service Medal.

The following month Captain William Hanwell assumed command until the ship was paid off in the November of that year.

The War of 1812.

Dictator was fitted as a troopship at chatham between the June and September of 1813, during which process Captain George Crofton was put in command. In the December of that year command devolved onto the shoulders of Commander Henry Dilks Byng. She then came under Lieutenant James Tattnall who sailed her to North America, and she then came under the command of Commander Henry Montressor in the February of 1815.

Fate.

HMS Dictator was among Admiral Alexander Cochrane's fleet moored off New Orleans at the start of 1815, but by the October of that year she was back in Portsmouth where she was laid up, and broken up there in the April of 1817.

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HMS Director (1784)


HMS Director

HMS Director was a Thomas Slade designed Saint Albans Class 64 gun third rate ship of the line, scaled down from his Bellona Class74s.Built William Cleverley at Gravesend, she was ordered on the 2nd of August, 1780, laid down in the November of that year, and launched on the 9th of March, 1784. Completion took place at Woolwich between the 14th of March and the 23rd of July in that year.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Director
Ordered:	2 August 1780
Builder:	Cleverley, Gravesend
Laid down:	November 1780
Launched:	9 March 1784
Fate:	Broken up, Chatham January 1801
Notes:	Participated in: Battle of Camperdown
General characteristics
Class and type:	64-gun St Albans Class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1388 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 1 in (48.5 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 6.75 in (13.5 m)
Depth of hold:	18 ft 10 in (5.7 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 9-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Director was commissioned under Captain Thomas West in the March of 1879 for service as a guard ship in the Medway. She was fitted in this role at Chatham for the sum of £2643 between the February and July of 1789.
Refitted for the Spanish Armament in 1790, and then back into ordinary in the June of that year.
Fitted as a lazarette at Chatham in for £1,008.in the May of 1794, and then at last fitted as a 64 gun ship in 1796, at Chatham for £10,775., and recommissioned under Captain William Bligh, who would retain his captaincy until 1800.

In early 1797 Director was under his command whilst he surveyed the Humber estuary, preparing a map of the stretch from Spurn Head to the west of Sunk Island. In the May of that year, his crew mutinied during the Mutinies at Spithead and the Nore between the May and June of that year. Their actions were not triggered by any specific actions by Bligh himself. By the 12th of October he had restored order to the crew so successfully that Director was able to take an active part in the Battle of Camperdown, where she captured the Dutch commander, Vice-Admiral Jan de Winter, and his flagship, Vrijheid. Director suffered a total of 7 wounded during the battle.


H.M.S. Director 1784, at St Helena with a view of Jamestown

Fate.

Director was decommissioned in the July of 1800 and broken up at Chatham in the January of 1801.

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HMS Europa (1765)



HMS Europa.

HMS Europa was a William Batley designed Exeter Class, 64 gun, third rate ship of the line, built by Henry Adams, at Lepe, downriver from Bucklers Hard. Ordered on the 16th of December,1761 she was laid down in the February of 1762, after modifications to her plans in the previous month, and launched on the 21st of April,1765. She was completed by the builders for ordinary in the May of that year.

Europa plans.
History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Europa
Ordered:	16 December 1761
Builder:	Henry Adams, Lepe
Laid down:	February 1762
Launched:	21 April 1765
Completed:	By 5 May 1765
Renamed:	HMS Europe on 9 January 1778
Fate:	Broken up in July 1814
General characteristics
Class and type:	Exeter Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1370 (bm)
Length:	1598 ft (48.39 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft. 6.75in (13 m)
Depth of hold:	18 ft. 10 in (5.82 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 9-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

Completed too late to see service in the Seven Years’ War, she was commissioned in the September of 1777 under Captain, Timothy Edwards after a small repair at Portsmouth. Consequently most of of Europa's service took place during the American Revolution, supporting fleet movements and serving as the Flagship of a number of admirals, including John Montagu Molyneux Shuldham, and Mariot Arbuthnot. During her time in North American waters she was renamed Europe on the 9th of January, 1778.

Edwards was succeeded by Captain Francis Parry in the April of that year, and Europe became the Flagship of Vice-Admiral Montagu, under whom she sailed for Newfoundland in the May of 1779. She was part of the attack on Saint Pierre and Miquelon on the 14th of September, 1778, and later that month Parry was succeeded by Captain Thomas Davey, serving with Shuldham’s squadron. In the April of 1779 she came under the command of Captain William Swiney, by now serving as the flagship of Vice-Admiral Arbuthnot, and after some time in home waters she sailed again for North America in the May of 1779.

Captain Smith Child took command of Europe in the August of 1780, and she participated in the battles of Cape Henry on the 16th of March and the Battle of the Chesapeake on the 5th of September,1781. During the Battle of the Chesapeake she formed the leading part of the centre division, along with the 74-gun HMS Montagu, and was heavily involved in the fighting. These two ships suffered heavy damage, with Europe in a leaking condition, with her rigging badly cut, and a number of guns dismounted. Nine members of her crew were killed, and a further 18 wounded. The British fleet eventually withdrew from the action. She was then paid off in the March of 1782, undergoing a refit at Plymouth between May and September that year, during which time she was coppered at a cost of £ 15,640.15.5d.

Europe was recommissioned in the August of that year under the command of Captain John Duckworth, with command passing the following year to Captain Arthur Phillips. He sailed to the East Indies in the January of 1783, returning the following year and paying Europe off in the May of 1784. She was fitted for ordinary at Plymouth in the July of that year, and spent the rest of the years of peace in this condition.

The French Revolutionary Wars.

Europe was recommissioned in the July of 1796. She under Lieutenant John Gardiner,and was used as a prison ship at Plymouth until being paid off again in the September of 1800. Recommissioned again in the September of 1801 under Lieutenant Thomas Darracot, she again served as a prison ship until being paid off in the March of 1802.

The Napoleonic Wars.

She was again in service, still as a prison ship at Plymouth, between the November of 1804 and the December of 1809, under Lieutenant William Styles.

Fate.

Europe was briefly commissioned in 1814 under Lieutenant John Mills Mudge, and was finally broken up at Plymouth in the July of that year.

[Bligh]

HMS Indefatigable (1784)


‘HMS Indefatigable 1784’ by George Shaw (1929-1989

HMS Indefatigable was a Thomas Slade 1761 designed, Ardent Class, 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by Henry Adams at Bucklers Hard. She was ordered on the 3rd of August, 1780, long after Slade's death. She was laid down in the May of 1781 and launched in early in the July of 1784. She was completed between the 11th of July and the 13th of September of that year, at Portsmouth dockyard, as a 64 gun two decked third rate ship of the line at a cost of £ 25,210 4. 5d, her total outlay including fitting out and coppering, being £ 36,154 18. 7d. By the time of her completion, she was already an anachronism in her role as a ship of the line, because the French were now only building more powerful 74 gun ships, and she was consequently never commissioned in that format.


Indefatigable

History
Great Britain
Name:		HMS Indefatigable
Ordered:		3 August 1780
Builder:		Adams, Bucklers Hard
Laid down:		May 1781
Launched:		July 1784
Commissioned:		December 1794
Honours and awards:		Naval General Service Medal with clasps: "Indefatigable 20 Apl. 1796" "Indefatigable 13 Jany. 1797" "16 July Boat Service 1806" "Basque Roads 1809"
Fate:		Broken up at Chatham, March 1816
Notes:		Razeed to 44 guns between September 1794 and February 1795
General characteristics
Class and type:	Ardent Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	​1384 3⁄94 (bm)
Length:	160 ft 1 1⁄4 in (48.8 m) (gundeck); 131 ft 10 3⁄4 in (40.2 m) (keel)
Beam:	44 ft 5 in (13.5 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft (5.8 m) (as frigate, 13 ft 3 in (4.0 m))
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	As built: GD: 26 × 24-pounder guns UD: 26 × 12-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns As a frigate: GD: 26 × 24-pounder guns QD: 8 × 12-pounder guns + 4 × 42-pounder Carronades Fc: 4 × 12-pounder guns + 2 × 42-pounder Carronades

Service.

During 1794, HMS Indefatigable was razeed. Her upper gun deck was cut away in order to convert her into a large and heavily armed frigate. The original intention had been to retain her twenty-six 24-pounder guns on her gundeck, and to mount eight 12-pounder guns on her quarterdeck, with a further four on her forecastle, which would have rated her as a 38-gun vessel. However, it was at this time that the Carronade was beginning to show its potential to the Navy, and her intended armament was altered on the 5th of December, 1794 to include four 42-pounder carronades for her quarterdeck and a further two on the forecastle. Indefatigable was thereafter rated as a 44 gun fifth rate frigate. The work was carried out at Portsmouth between the September of 1794 and the February of 1795 at a cost of £8,764. On the 17th of February in that year, a further two 12-pounder guns were added to her quarterdeck armament, although her official rating remained as that of a 44.

The French Revolutionary Wars.

Indefatigable was first commissioned in the December of 1794 under Captain Sir Edward Pellew, who commanded her until 1798.

She began her service in a cruising capacity and on the 9th of March, 1795, Indefatigable, Concorde, and Jason captured numerous French prizes including Temeraire, Minerve, Gentille, Regeneration, and a brig and sloop of unknown names. In the October of that same year, the Dutch East Indiaman Zeelilee was wrecked on the Isles off Scilly with the loss of 25 of her 70 crew. Displaying extreme bravery, Pellew and his crew rescued the survivors.
On the 20th of March, 1796, Indefatigable and her squadron chased three French corvettes, of which the Volage of 26 guns ran ashore under a battery at the mouth of the Loire, losing her masts as she struck, the French were, however, able to refloat her at a later date. Her two consorts Sagesse and Eclatant succeeded in escapeing up the river. The squadron also captured or sank a number of merchant vessels between the 11th and the and the 21st of March.

• Favorite Sultana, laden with salt—captured;
• Friends, Brig, laden with flour—captured;
• Brig of unknown name, in ballast—sunk;
• A Chasse Maree of unknown name, empty—sunk;
• Providence, Chasse Maree, laden with wine and brandy—captured;
• Brig of unknown name, laden with empty casks—sunk;
• Four Marys, Brig, in ballast—captured;
• Aimable Justine, Brig, in ballast—captured;
• Nouvelle Union, Brig, in ballast—captured.

The vessels sharing in the prize money were: Indefatigable, Concorde, Revoloutionnaire, Amazon, Argo, and the hired armed cutter Dolly along with the hired armed Lugger Duke of York.

On the 13th of April in that same year, Indefatigable was in pursuit of a French frigate. Pellew signalled to Revolutionnaire to cut her off from the shore. Revolutionnaire then captured the French frigate Unite after having fired two broadsides into her. Unite suffered nine men killed and 11 wounded, whilst Revolutionnaire received no casualties. The Royal Navy later took the frigate into service as HMS Unite.



Virginie fighting HMS Indefatigable.

On the morning of the 20th of April, 1796, Indefatigable sighted the French 44 gun frigate Virginie off the Lizard. Indefatigable, Amazon, and Concorde gave chase, with Indefatigable coming up with her just after midnight on the 21st of April, after a chase of 15 hours and 168 nautical miles. After an hour and three quarters of fighting, Virginie had still not struck her colours and had somewhat outmanoeuvred Indefatigable when Concorde arrived on the scene. Seeing that she was now outnumbered, Virginie finally conceded and struck.

Virginie carried 44 guns, 18 and 9 pounders, and supported a crew of 340 men under the command of, Capitaine de Vaisseau Citizen Bergeret. She had 14 or 15 men killed, 17 badly wounded, and 10 only slightly injured. She had also taken on four feet of water in the hold from shot holes below the waterline. In contrast Indefatigable had suffered no casualties. Pellew dispatched the Virginie to Plymouth escorted by Concorde, and followed on the next day together with Amazon, which had sustained some damage during the action. The Royal Navy took Virginie into service under its own name.

In the July of that year, there was an initial distribution of £20,000 in prize money for the capture of Unite and Virginie. Indefatigable shared this with Amazon, Revolutionnaire, Concorde, and Argo. Apparently, Duke of York also shared in some or all of the prize money. In 1847, the Admiralty authorised the issue of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Indefatigable 20 Apl. 1796".

On the 12th of June, Indefatigable, Amazon, Concorde, Revolutionaire, and Phoebe took two French brigs off Ushant, the Trois Couleurs and the Blonde (alias Betsey). This time the chase took them 24 hours before they overhauled their quarry. Trois Couleurs carried 10 guns and a crew of 70. Blonde had 16 guns and a crew of 95 men. Each was under the command of an ensign de vaisseau and both vessels had left Brest two days earlier for a six-week cruise, but had not yet succeeded in taking any prizes.

In September 1796, Indefatigable, Phoebe, Revolutionnaire, and Amazon captured five Spanish ships.
On the 1st of October, Indefatigable, Amazon, Revolutionnaire, Phoebe, and Jason shared in the capture of the Vrow Delenea Maria. The next day, Pellew and Indefatigable captured the privateer schooner Ariel of Boston off Corunna. Earlier, Pellew had recaptured the brig Queen of Naples, which had been sailing from Lisbon to Cork. From her, he learned that there were two privateers operating in the vicinity of Corunna. One of which had captured a brig from Lisbon with a cargo of bale goods two days earlier. Pellew immediately set off towards Corunna and was able to intercept the Ariel. She had 12 guns and a crew of 75 men, and was 14 days out of Bordeaux. Her consort, the schooner Vengeur, was of the same strength, and Pellew was also hopeful of catching her. The brig from Bristol, however, had escaped into the port of Ferrol, the same port into which Pellew had earlier chased two French frigates.

In the beginning of January, 1797, Indefatigable and Amazon first captured the Packet Sangossee and then on the 7th they captured the Emanuel. On the 13th, Indefatigable was destined to fight the action for which she and Captain Pellew became famous.

This engagement took place off the Penmarks and once again involved the two frigates Indefatigable and Amazon, on this occasion against the French Droits de l’Homme, a 74 gun ship of the line. The battle ended with Droits de l'Homme being driven ashore during a gale. Amazon also ran onto the shore. Almost her entire crew survived both the battle and the grounding, but were captured. Despite being embayed and having damaged masts and rigging, Indefatigable was able to repair her own damage and beat off the lee shore showing the excellent seamanship of her Captain, Master and crew. She suffered only 19 officers and men wounded, with most of those not being serious. This action resulted in the award of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Indefatigable 13 Jany. 1797" for any crew still surviving in 1847.


Fight of the Indefatigable (left) and Droits de Homme, as depicted by Leopold le Guen (1853)

By the 18th of January Indefatigable had returned to Falmouth. When a fire destroyed the American merchantman Indian Chief, leading his crew Pellew saved all the crew that were on board her.
Subsequently, either Indefatigable, or Pellew's squadron took more vessels, including privateers, primarily in the Channel. Thus, Pellew was able to report that, on the 30th of April, 1797, "we" captured the French Brigantine privateer Basque. armed with eight guns and carried a crew of 50 men.

On the 11th of May, Indefatigable in company with Phoebe, Cleopatra, Childers, and Duke of York captured Nouvelle Eugénie. She was a razeed privateer of 16 guns and carried a crew of 120 men. Four days out of Nantes on a 30-day cruise, she had taken no prizes. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Eugenie.

On the14th of October, Indefatigable arrived at Teneriffe. At midnight she captured the French brig corvette Ranger which was armed with 14 guns and carried a crew of 70 men. She had been carrying dispatches to the West Indies, which her Captain was able to destroy before surrendering. On the following day, Pellew captured a Spanish schooner carrying a cargo of fish. Indefatigable was short of water, so he put the crew of Ranger on board the schooner (though not Ranger's officers) and put them ashore at Santa Cruz.

Not content with this feat,ten days later, Indefatigable captured the privateer Hyène after a chase of some eight hours. Hyène was armed with twenty four 9 pounder guns and had a crew of 230 men. She was two weeks out of Bayonne but had not achieved any captures. Hyène had apparently mistaken Indefatigable for a vessel from Portuguese India. Pellew estimated that, had she not lost her foretopmast in the chase, she might well have escaped him. She had been the post ship Hyaena until being captured in 1793. The Royal Navy took her back into service under her original name.

Indefatigable then returned to the Channel and on the 11th of January, 1798, whilst in company with Cambrian and Childers they took the French privateer schooner Vengeur, a new vessel of 12 guns and 72 men. She was eight days out of Ostend but had as yet taken no prizes. Pellew dispatched her to Falmouth.

Five days later, in the evening of the 16th, Pellew's squadron captured the French privateer Inconcevable. She was armed with eight guns and had a crew of 55 men. She was 10 days out of Dunkirk and had taken nothing. Prize money was paid to Indefatigable, Cambrian, and the Success.

On the 28th of the month, Indefatigable and Cambrian captured the privateer Heureuse Nouvelle. She was armed with 22 guns and had a crew of 130 men. She was 36 days out of Brest and, during that time, had captured only one ship, a large American vessel named the Providence which had a cargo of cotton and sugar. Pellew dispatched Cambrian in pursuit. Duke of York also shared in this capture.

On the 30th of April in that same year, Indefatigable captured the brigantine privateer Basque. She was armed with eight guns and had a crew of 50 men. For good measure Indefatigable and Cleopatra also captured the Hope on the 11th of July.

At daylight on the 4th of August, Indefatigable sighted the privateer Heureux together with a prize and as usual gave chase. The two separated, with the prize heading directly for Bayonne. After a chase of 32 hours on a great circular route, Indefatigable and her quarry found themselves off Bayonne where Indefatigable intercepted the prize and captured her. The privateer was the Heureux, of 16 guns and 112 men. Her prize was the Canada, John Sewell Master, which had been sailing from Jamaica to London, having stopped in Charlestown, with a cargo of sugar, rum, and coffee. Pellew exchanged prisoners, taking off the crew of the Canada and putting on her the crew of Heureux. He then drove Canada on shore where he hoped that her cargo at least would be destroyed.

Indefatigable’s next capture was the French corvette Vaillante while cruising in the Bay of Biscay on the 8th. After a chase of 24 hours, she was finally taken, the corvette having fired a few shots before her commander Lieutenant de Vaisseau La Portee struck he colours. She was armed with twenty-two 9 pounder guns and had a crew of 175 men. She had left Rochefort on the 1st of the month. The ship was only 18 months old, coppered, and a fast sailer. The British took her into service as Danea. There was now a pause in the proceedings, for it was not until the 15th of November that Indefatigable captured her next victim the Mercurius. To round off this most successful year at dawn on the 31st of December, Indefatigable captured the Minerve, five leagues off Ushant. This ship was armed with 16 guns and carried a crew of 140 men. She was four weeks out of Saint- Malo and waiting to enter Brest when the Indefatigable swooped. She had already taken several prizes, one of which, the Asphalon, Indefatigable captured on the 1st of January 1799 thus starting the New year in fine style. Aspahalon, a Newcastle vessel, had been sailing from Halifax to London with a cargo of sugar, coffee, and tobacco. Other vessels which Minerve had captured included Martinus a Bremen brig, Tagus a Portuguese brig, Minerva an English Snow, and Ann and Dorothea, aka Beata Maria, a Danish schooner.

More captures or recaptures of merchantmen followed. Indefatigable, Melpomene, and Nymph recaptured the Providence on the 10th of January and on the 14th, Indefatigable recaptured Argo, which had been sailing from Gothenburg for Boston when a French privateer had captured her. After her recapture Argo was dispatched to Falmouth. Next came the Pomona on the 5th of February, and the Wohlfarden on the 9th.

Indefatigable’s subsequent commanders.

From the March of 1799 until the end of 1800 Indefatigable came under the command of Captain Henry Curzon. On the 31st of May she captured the brig Vénus armed with twelve 4 pounder guns and two 9 pounders, carrying a crew of 101 men. She was nine weeks out of Rochefort and had captured two prizes, the schooner Clarence, sailing from Lisbon to London, and a ship from Lisbon sailing to Hamburg with a cargo of salt. Indefatigable was apparently also in company with Fisgard and Diamond.

On the 9th of October in that year Indefatigable, Diamond, Cambrian, Stag, Nymphe and Cerberus shared in the capture of the Spanish brig Nostra Senora de la Solidad. Then on the 7th of November Nymphe, Indefatigable and Diamond also shared in the recapture of the ship Brailsford.

Indefatigable began the new centaury in fine style because on the 6th of January, 1800 she shared with Defiance, Unicorn Sirius and Stag in the capture of the French brig Ursule. And on the 11th of February Indefatigable captured the Vidette.

There was now another break in the proceedings because it was not until the 12th of June that Indefatigable captured the French privateer brig Vengeur. She was armed with six long 4-pounders and ten 18-pounder carronades, and carried a crew of 102 men. Two days out of Bordeaux and sailing for the coast of Brazil. Vengeur was in company with three Letters of marquee vessels, a ship, a brig and a schooner bound for Guadeloupe. On the 11th of June Vengeur had captured the Jersey-privateer Lugger Snake. Indefatigable shared the prize money with the Sirius.

On the 3rd of July Indefatigable recaptured the brig Cultivator, from the French. Eleven days later, Indefatigable and Sirius captured the French ship Favori. On the 22nd of October Indefatigable, took the French 28-gun frigate Venus off the Portuguese coast. Indefatigable had been chasing her from the early morning, and then during the afternoon Fisgard came in sight and forced Venus toalter her course. Both British vessels then trapped Venus at almost the same time of 7pm.^[Venus was armed with 32 guns and had a crew of 200 men. She was sailing from Rochefort to Senegal.

In the January of 1801, Indefatigable was under Captain Matthew Scott. Indefatigable was part of the squadron that shared by agreement in the prize money from the Temeraire, which Dasher had captured on 30 May. Similarly, the same vessels shared by agreement in Dasher's capture of Bien Aimé on 23 July 1801.
Indefatigable was then paid off later that year, and was laid up in ordinary at Plymouth between the March and April of 1802, as a result of the peace treaty signed with France in 1801.

The Napoleonic Wars.

Following the resumption of hostilities, the Indefatigable was fitted out for sea between the July and September of 1803. In the December of that year she was recommissioned under Captain Graham Moore, younger brother of Sir John Moore of Corunna fame.

On the 9th of August, 1804 Indefatigable was in sight when HMS Nautilus recaptured the West Indiaman William Heathcote off Bayonne, and thus shared in the salvage money. On the 5th of October of that year,Indefatigable, with Moore now as Commodore, and accompanying frigates Medusa, Lively, and Amphion intercepted four Spanish frigates of the Montevideo treasure fleet off Cadiz, under the command of Rear-Admiral Don Joseph Bustamente, Knight of the Order of St. James, They were carrying bullion to Spain. Spain, a neutral country at the time, was on the verge of declaring war strong signs of declaring war on Britain, under a coercive alliance with Napoleon.. Acting on Admiralty orders, Moore instructed the Spaniards to change their course and sail for England. Admiral Bustamente refused and a short engagement ensued.

First Mercedes blew up. Then Indefatigable captured the Medée, and Lively captured Clara. After a further chase, Lively and Medusa took the Fama.

• Medée the flagship was armed with forty-two 18-pounder guns on her main deck and had a crew of 300 men. She lost two men killed and 10 wounded.
• Fama, the Commodore's ship, was armed with thirty-six 12-pounder guns on her main deck and had a crew of 180 men. She lost 11 killed and 50 wounded.
• Clara was armed with thirty-six 12-pounder guns on her main deck and had a crew of 300 men. She lost seven killed and 20 wounded.
• Mercedes was armed with thirty-six 12-pounder guns on her main deck and had a crew of 280 men. After she exploded, the British were only able to rescue her second captain and 40 men.

In the action Indefatigable suffered no casualties. Amphion had five men wounded, one badly. Lively had two killed and four wounded. Indefatigable and Amphion escorted Medée and Fama to Plymouth, whilst Medusa and Lively brought in Clara. The Royal Navy took Medea into service as Iphigenia and Clara as Leocadia. The value of the treasure was very large and, if it had been treated as Prizes of War, then Moore and his brother captains would have become extremely wealthy. As it was, the money and ships were declared to be "Droits of Admiralty" on the grounds that war had not been declared, and the captains and crew shared a relatively small ex gratia payment of £160,000 for the bullion, plus the proceeds of the sale of the hull and cargo.

In the October of 1805 Indefatigable, now under Captain John Tremayne Rodd, who would stay in command until 1809, took part in the blockade of Brest. One boat each from the ships of the line of the squadron, plus three boats each from Indefatigable and Iris entered the Gironde on the 15th of July, 1806 to attack two French corvettes and a convoy. A change in the wind permitted all but one corvette to escape. The British captured the French corvette Caesar, which the Royal Navy took into service as HMS Cesar. She was armed with 18 guns, had a crew of 86 men, and was under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Monsieur Louis Francois Hector Fourré. The French were expecting the attack and put up a strong resistance. The British lost six men killed, 36 wounded and 21 missing. Indefatigable alone losing two killed and 11 wounded. This cutting out expedition resulted in the participants qualifying for the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "16 July Boat Service 1806".
On the 19th of October 1806, Indefatigable, Hazard, and Atalante captured the chasse marees Achille, Jenny, and Marianne. On the 5th of December, 1807 Indefatigable captured the Pamelia., Then on Boxing Day, Indefatigable accompanied by Tribune captured the American ship Eliza.

On the 7th of January, 1808 Indefatigable and Tribune took the French Galiot Fanny and her cargo. Then on the 31st of July in that same year, Indefatigable, in company with the gun-brig Conflict captured the letter of marque Diane, which was on her way to Ille de France, carrying naval stores, as well as letters and dispatches, those latter of which her captain threw overboard during the chase. She was six armed with fourteen 9 and 6 pounder guns, and had a crew of 68 men. She had left the Gironde the evening before on this, her second voyage, to the Indian Ocean.

On the 19th of August, Indefatigable, still in company with Conflict, captured the Adele. In the December of that year a distribution of £10,000 was payable for the proceeds coming from Diane and Adele. On the 1st and 9th of September, 1808 Indefatigable captured two American ships, Sally and Peggy. Theseus and Impeteuex were in company with her at the time. On the 1st of November Indefatigable captured Bonne Louise.

On the 14th of January, 1809 Indefatigable captured the French privateer Lugger Clarisse in the Channel. She was pierced for 14 guns but had only three mounted. She had left Saint-Malo on the previous evening and had not captured any prizes. At the time of the capture, Amazon, Iris, Ralieigh, and Goldfinch were in sight. They shared with Indefatigable in the proceeds for the hull, but not the bounty money for the captured crew. On the 20th of the following month Statira captured the French schooner Matilda whilst Indefatigable was in company.

Indefatigable arrived at the Basque Roads on the 25th of that month, and captured two vessels, the Danish ship Neptunus on th 24th of March and the French ship Nymphe on the 28th. At the capture of Neptunus Indefatigable was in company with the sloops Foxhound and Goldfinch. Foxhound was also in company for the capture of Nymphe.

In the April of that year, Indefatigable participated in the battle of the Basque Roads. She was engaged on the 12th of April but withdrew on the 13th with no casualties. The action earned her crew another clasp to the Naval General Service Medal: "Basque Roads 1809"

In the October of that year Indefatigable came under the command of Captain Henry E. R. Baker, succeeded by Captain John Broughton in the December of that year, and who would remain in command until 1812.
On the 11th of January, 1810, Indefatigable captured Mouche No 26 near Cap de Penas, whilst under the command of Enseigne de vausseau provisorie Fleury. She had sailed from Pasajes with despatches for Ille de France. On the following day Mouche foundered close to the Penmarks and Fleury went down with his ship.
Four months later, on the 6th of May Indefatigable with Scipion and Piercer in company captured two French chasse marees, Camilla and Bonne Rencontre. Next, Indefatigable captured Flora on the 13th of the month following. Then on the 20th of October she re-captured the Portuguese brig Intrigua. Then on the 15th of January, 1811, Dryad captured Matilda and her cargo whilst Indefatigable and Lyra were in sight.

In the June of 1812, with Captain John Fyffe now taking up her command, Indefatigable was cruising on the South American station, where she visited the Galapagos Islands. During this cruise she gave the second largest island, now known as Santa Cruz island, its own English name – Indefatigable.

By July Indefatigable was back in Portsmouth, when news of the outbreak of the War of 1812 with the United States reached Britain. The Royal Navy immediately seized all American vessels then in British ports. Indefatigable was among the Royal Navy vessels then lying at Spithead off Portsmouth and so was entitled to a share in the grant for the American ships Belleville, Janus, Aeos, Ganges, and Leonidas seized there on the 31st of July.
On the 17th of September Indefatigable, Hearty, Desiree, Drake, Primrose, and Cretan shared in the capture of the Dankbarheide. When the Gun-Brig Hearty detained the Prussian vessel Friede on the 29th of the month, Indefatigable, Desiree, Primrose, Cretan, Drake, again took a share either because they were in company, or by agreement.

Indefatigable was reported to have been at Lima on the 11th of July, 1815, about to sail for the Galipagos for a second visit.

Fate.

After a most illustrious career, Indefatigable was finally paid off in 1815. She was broken up at Sheerness in the August of 1816.

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HMS Intrepid (1770)



HMS Intrepid was designed by John Williams as an Intrepid Class, 64 gun, third rate ship of the line,built by M/shipwright Joseph Harris until the July of 1767 and completed by William Grey at Woolwich. Ordered on the 16th of November, 1765 and approved in the following month, she was laid down in the January of 1767, and launched on the 4th of December, 1770. She was completed on the 31st of January, 1771.

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Intrepid
Ordered:	16 November 1765
Builder:	Woolwich Dockyard (M/Shipwright Joseph Harris to July 1767; completed by William Gray)
Laid down:	January 1767
Launched:	4 December 1770
Fate:	Sold out of the service, 1818
Notes:	Participated in: Battle of the Chesapeake
General characteristics
Class and type:	Intrepid Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1374​65⁄94
Length:	159 ft 6 in (48.6 m) (keel) 131 ft 0 in (39.9 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 4 in (13.5 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 0 in (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 26 × 24 pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 9-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 2 x 24 pounder Carronades from 1794

Service.

HMS Intrepid was commissioned in 1770 for the Falklands Islands dispute. She was then fitted as a guardship at Portsmouth in the October of 1771. The following year she was fitted for the East Indies at a cost of £5,547.5.7d.
On the 17th of April, 1772 Intrepid sailed to the Dutch East Indies. The ship's commander for the journey was Captain John Hunter, who later became an admiral and the second Governor of New South Wales. On her return to England she was laid up at Plymouth in the May of 1773, and paid off in the April of 1775. She was fitted for Home service at Plymouth between the July of 1778 and the April of 1779. She was then transferred to Portsmouth where she was refitted and coppered between the May and December of that year at a cost of £5,071.2.4d.She was recommissioned in the January of 1779 and sailed for the Leeward Islands on the 30th of January 1780.
Under her Captain Antony James Pye Malloy, on the 5th of September 1781 she took part in the Battle of the Chesapeake. The combatants were a British fleet led by Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Graves and the French fleet led by Rear Admiral Francois Joseph Paul, the Comte de Grasse. During the action, Intrepid positioned initially in the Van, but in what was to became the Rear during the battle, lost a total of 21 killed and 35 wounded. She was paid off in the August of 178 after wartime service. Between the January and September of 1787 she underwent middling repairs at Portsmouth, and was fitted for service and recommissioned in the June of 1790 under Captain Seymour Finch for the Spanish Armament. She was paid off in the September of 1791.Fitted again at Portsmouth between the March and July of 1793 she was recommissioned under Captain Charles Carpenter, took part in the occupation of Toulon and on the 20th of May 1794 she sailed for Jamaica.

The French Revolutionary Wars.

On the 31st of July, Intrepid and Chichester captured the French 36 gun Brig- sloop La Serine off San Domingo The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Serin.
Her next capture was on the 1st of February, 1795 when she took the privateers Le Perroux, La Republicain Pagest, and Le Sans Pareil.

On the 23rd of April, 1796, Intrepid was patrolling near Cap- Francois looking for reinforcements expected from Cork when she encountered a French corvette. After a chase of ten hours, the corvette ran ashore in a cove to the east of Porto Plata, where her crew abandoned her, enabling the British to retrieve her. She turned out to be La Percante, armed with twenty 9 pounder guns and six brass 2 pounders, with a crew of 200 men under the command of Citoyen Jacque Clement Tourtellet. She had left La Rochelle on the 6th of December, 1795 under orders from the Minister of Marine and Colonies not to communicate with any vessel during her passage. The British took her into service as the sixth rate HMS Jamaica.

Intrepid returned to Portsmouth in the November of 1896 and was paid off. Between the following month and the May of 1797 she underwent a refit costing £15,239. She was recommissioned by Captain Robert Parker during her refit but unfortunately he was drowned in the November of that year.

Captain Sir William Hargood, who would be her captain until 1792, then took up the command of Intrepid and sailed with a fleet of nine East Indiamen to the Cape of Good Hope. She then sailed for the East Indies in the March of 1798 where she remained until the Peace of Amiens in 1802, having defended Macau at the Macau incident in January 1799.

On the 4th of April, 1801, Intrepid captured Chance. The prize agents business failed and what prize money could be recovered from his estate was not paid until 1828.

The Napoleonic Wars.

Having returned to England Intrepid was paid off and between the October of 1804 and the July of 1805 she underwent repairs at Daniel Brent of Rotherhithe for £ 38,215. Her fitting out was completed at Deptford in the August of that year when she was recommissioned under Captain Philip Woodhouse who would command her until 1807.

She sailed for the med to join Sidney Smith’s squadron at Napls in the June of 1806. Then in 1807 she came under Captain John Laugharne, followed by Captain Richard Worsley in the October of that year, and sailed for the Leeward Islands on the 30th of November. She was with Hood’s squadron at Madeira between the 24th and the 26th of December 1808 under Captain Warwick Lake in an acting capacity.

In the February of 1809 she was under Captain Christopher Nesham at the capture of Martinique.
In the April of that year, a strong French squadron arrived at the Iles des Saintes, south of Guadeloupe. There they were blockaded until the 14th of April, when a British force under Major-GeneralFrederick Maitland and Captain Philip Beaver in Acasta, invaded and captured the islands. Intrepid was among the naval vessels that shared in the proceeds of the capture of those islands.

Fate.

On her return to England Intrepid was fitted as a receiving ship at Plymouth in the May of 1810. She then went into Ordinary until 1815.

On the 26th of March, 1828, the "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered for sale at Plymouth "Intrepid, of 50 guns and 1374 tons". The Navy sold Intrepid for £3,030 on that day to D. Beatson.

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HMS Lion (1777)


HMS Lion

HMS Lion was a Thomas Slade designed Worcester Class, 64 gun, third rate ship of the line, built at Portsmouth Dockyard by M/shipwright Thomas Bucknell until the October of 1772 and completed by Edward Hunt. Ordered on the 12th of October 1768, and laid down in the May of 1769, she was launched on the 3rd of September 1777, and completed on the 7th of September, 1778.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Lion
Ordered:	12 October 1768
Builder:	Portsmouth Dockyard
Laid down:	May 1769
Launched:	3 September 1777
Honours and awards:	Participated in: Battle of Grenada
Fate:	Sold for breaking up, 30 November 1837
General characteristics
Class and type:	Worcester Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1378 (bm)
Length:	159 ft (48 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 6 in (13.56 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 10 in (6.05 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns FC: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Lion was commissioned in the May of 1778 and then sailed for the Americas.

The American Revolution.

She fought at the Battle of Grenada in Admiral John Byron’s fleet, under Captain William Cornwallis in the Rear squadron, on the 6th of July, 1779, where she was badly damaged and forced to run downwind to Jamaica. She remained on the Jamaican Station for the next year.

In the March of 1780, Lion fought an action in company with two other ships against a larger French force off Monte Christi on San Domingo. A second action took place in the June of 1780 near Bermuda when Cornwallis in Lion, with three other ships of the line and a fifty-gun ship, met a larger French squadron carrying the troops of General Rochambeau to North America. The French were too strong for Cornwallis's squadron, but were content to continue with their mission instead of attacking the smaller British force. Lion then returned to England, carrying with her Horatio Nelson, who was sick with malaria.

On her return to England she was decommissioned and then coppered at Portsmouth between the December of that year and the January of 1781, at a cost of £8,255.14.11d She was paid off in the August of 1783 following wartime service.In 1787 she underwent a middling repair at Portsmouth and then in the July of 1790 she was fitted and recommissioned for the Spanish Armament, but paid off again in the September of 1791.

Refitted at Portsmouth between the March and July of 1792 for £9460 she was recommissioned under Sir Erasmus Gower and on the 26th of September of that year sailed for China escorting the East Indiaman Hindostan, which carried the British ambassador Lord Macartney on his way to visit the Emperor of China with Lord Macartney’s Embassy. On their way they stopped at New Amsterdam Island or Ile Amsterdam. There they found a gang of seal fur hunters under the command of Pierre Francois Peron. Later, Lion captured the French ship Emélie, the vessel that had landed the sealers. Deprived of the ship that had landed them, Péron and his men spent some 40 months marooned on the island until Captain Thomas Hadley, in Ceres rescued them in late 1795 and took them to Port Jackson.

The French Revolutionary War.

Between 1792 and 1793 Lord George Macartney’s Embassy proceeded to the Bohai Gulf, off the Hai River The ambassador and his party were then conveyed up river by light craft to Tianjin before proceeding by land to Beijing. On reaching Tianjin, Macartney sent orders to Lion to proceed to Japan, but because of sickness among the crew she was unable to do so. The embassy rejoined Lion at Canton in the December of 1793. The ship's journal from this voyage is in the library of Cornell University.



HMS Lion under sail, 1794.

On her return to England following the Embassy Lion was paid off in the October of that year at Chatham and immediately underwent a refit which was completed in the May of 1795. She was recommissioned under Captain George Palmer for service in the North Sea. And later came under the command of Captain Henry Inman.

In 1796,under Captain Edmund Crawley she visited Cape Town; but in 1797, her crew were among those who joined the Mutiny at the Nore. In the July of that year she was put under the command of Captain Charles Cobb and then In the September of 1798, under the command of Sir Manley Dixon., Lion sailed for the Medon the 2nd of June in that year and fought a squadron of Spanish 34 gun frigates, comprising the Santa Cazilda, Pomona, Proserpine, and Santa Dorothea, in the Action on the 15th of July, in the process Lion captured the Santa Dorothea.


Capture of the Dorothea, 15 July 1798 (HMS Lion is at centre right), Thomas Whitcombe, 1816

She then proceeded to take part in the blockade of Malta where with the aid of HMS Penelope and HMS Foudroyant she captured the French 80 gun ship Le Guillaume Tell as it attempted to escape the blockade. During the action Lion lost a total of 8 killed and 38 wounded. Guillaume Tell was subsequently bought into the Royal Navy as HMS Malta.



The Disabled situation of the Guillaume Tel of 84 Guns... as she appeared at Daylight on the 30th March 1800, after having been Engaged by His Majesty's Ship Penelope... the Stromboli Brig, Lion & Foudroyant coming up, by the two latter of which ships she was afterwards engaged

In the May of 1800 she came under the captaincy of Lord William Stuart, and then in the July of that year Captain George Hammond, before being paid off in the November of that year. She then had a refit at Chatham between the February and May of 1801 at a cost of £13,545.She was then recommissioned under Captain Henry Mitford, and sailed for the East Indies on the 20th of May. By 1804 she was back in England and undergoing more repairs at John Dudman’s Deptford yard from the 12th of December of that year until the December of 1805 at a cost of £58,124. She then completed her fitting out there at a further cost of £15,509 completed in the January of 1806. Meanwhile being recommissioned in the previous month under Captain Robert Rolles. She sailed once again for the East Indies in the May of that year, and in the July of 1807, in the Straits of Malacca she successfully protected a convoy homeward bound from China from the French frigate Semillante, without the need to engage her.

Homeward bound, on the 27th of December in that year, Lion captured the French privateer Lugger La Reciprocité off Beachy Head. The Frencc ship was from Dieppe, had a crew of 45 men, and was armed with 14 guns. Lion then dispatched her to the Downs under a Prize crew.

In the February of 1808 she came under Captain Henry Heathcoat, who would command her until the end of 1811, and she set sail for China on the 5th of March 1808. In the July of 1811, Lion was one of a large fleet of ships involved in the capture of Java from Dutch forces.

On the 26th of January,1812 Commander Henderson Bain of the Harpy became acting captain of Lion. which became the Flagship of Vice Admiral Robert Stopford at the Cape of Good Hope. Later in the year Lion was transferred to becoming the Flagship of Rear Admiral Charles Tyler. Bain returned to command of Harpy a few weeks before he received promotion to Post Captain on the 6th of April, 1813. Captaincy of Lion now underwent a rapid succession of commanders, commencing with Captain James Johnstone, and then George Douglas, Henderson Bain, and finally John Eveleigh.

Fate.

Lion was converted to a sheer hulk, for service at Plymouth in the August of 1814 and then at Sheerness, in the September of 1816, following the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars.

Lion was eventually sold to John Levy and Son of Chatham for £2,300, to be broken up on the 30th of November, 1837.

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HMS Magnanime (1780)


Magnanime

HMS Magnanime was a Sir John Williams designed, Intrepid Class, 64-gun, third rate ship of the line, built by M/shipwright Adam Hayes at Deptford Dockyard. Ordered on 16th of October 1775, approved on the 7th of November of that year, and laid down on the 23rd of August 1777, she was launched on the 14th of October, 1780,and completed fully coppered, between the 26th of October and the 29th of December in that year at Woolwich.
In 1795 Magnanime was razeed into a 44 gun Frigate.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Magnanime
Ordered:	16 October 1775
Builder:	Deptford Dockyard
Laid down:	23 August 1777
Launched:	14 October 1780
Commissioned:	October 1780
Fate:	Broken up at Sheerness Dockyard, July 1813
Notes:	Razeed to a 44-gun fifth rate, 1795
General characteristics
Class and type:	Intrepid Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	​1370 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 6 in (48.62 m) (gundeck) 131 ft 6 in (40.08 m) (keel)
Beam:	44 ft 4 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Complement:	500 (as 64-gun ship); 310 officers and men (as frigate)
Armament:	As third rate: Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Magnanime was commissioned in the October of 1780 under Captain Charles Wolsely. She sailed on the 13th of March, 1781 with the Relief Expedition to Gibraltar, and subsequently on the 26th of June from there to the East Indies, where she participated in several of the series of battles against French forces off India – including that of Providien, which was the second in a series of running naval battles fought between the British fleet, under Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes, and a French fleet, under the Baili de Suffren, off the coast of India during the Anglo French War. The battle was fought on the 12th of April, 1782 off the east coast of Sri Lanka, near a rocky islet called Providien, south of Trincomalee,in which neither side gained any real advantage.

Negapatam, followed and was the third in the series of battles fought between the British and the French in which Magnanime was a participant. This battle was fought on the 6th of July, and was indecisive but Suffren was stopped in his goal by Hughes and withdrew to Cuddalore, whilst the British remained in control of Negapatam. Trincomalee fought on the 3rd of September, in which the British tried to retake the port from the French, was a defeat for Hughes, his fleet being forced to withdraw after suffering severe damage. The final act in the drama was enacted at Cuddalore. In the battle, which took place on the 20th of June, 1783, Suffren commanded the engagement from the frigate Cleopatre and won what is generally considered a victory. Peace had, however, already been agreed upon in Europe, but that news had yet to reach India, making this the final battle of the war. 1783. Following the peace being ratified in India Magnanime returned to the United Kingdom and paid off into ordinary, following her wartime service in the June of 1784. She underwent a small repair between the July of 1785 and the January of 1786, but then little of consequence took place until she was cut down into a 44 gun Frigate by Admiralty Order issued on the 11th of August ,1794. She was fitted at Plymouth for £ 17,066.


Magnanime

During this period she was recommissioned under Captain Isaac Schomberg in the November of 1794. In the December of 1795 command was transferred to Captain the Honourable Michael de Courcy who would continue in this role until 1798. On the 27th of June 1796 Magnanime took the 8 gun Privateer Le Triton off Cape Clear, and on the 15th of August the 8 gun Le Tiercelet. Her next success came on the 16th of March1798 whilst she was escorting a small convoy. Her lookouts spied a privateer lurking about, seeking an opportunity to pick off a prize. Magnanime immediately gave chase and Twenty-three hours and 256 nautical miles later, she captured the 18 gun Le Eugenie at Latitude 42 and Longitude 12. She had thrown 8 of her guns overboard during the chase in an attempt to outsail Magnanime, but failing in her attempt despite the fact that she was coppered and appeared completely new. The Royal Navy took her into service under the name HMS Pandour, but never actually commissioned her.

On the 1st of April Magnanime was again involved in a successful chase. On this occasion it proved to be one of 180 miles in 18 hours. The privateer captured on the 2nd, was the Audacieux, and although pierced for 22 guns, she was only carrying 20 when apprehended. Her crew of 137 men were all taken as prisoners of war. She too was coppered and new. De Courcy remarked that Audacieuz was so fast that had her captain done a better job of steering she would have escaped. She was taken into the Royal Navy as HMS Audacieux but like Le Eugenie was never commissioned. On the 16th of August,1798, in concert with Naid, Magnanime took the 36 gun Le Decade off Finisterre, and on the 12th of October in that same year as part of Warren’s squadron, took part in the action with Bompart, taking the 36 gun L Embuscade.

Returning to Plymouth, Magnanime made good her repairs between the May and June of 1799, and came under the command of Captain William Taylor until 1801, on the African coast from the April of 1800. Whilst on that station, she took part in the capture of Goree from the French in the April of 1801, while cruising with a squadron under the command of Captain Sir Charles Hamilton. The squadron received intelligence that there were three French frigates at anchor there and Hamilton sailed to investigate in the 38 gun Frigate HMS Melpomene, accompanied by Taylor in Magnanime, and Captain Ferris, in the 64-gun HMS Ruby. The frigates being absent, Hamilton ordered the governor to surrender, to which he agreed, and Hamilton and his force took possession on the 5th. Magnanime then sailed for the Leeward Islands, where she remained for the rest of the French Revolutionary Wars, during which period she was firstly under Captain John Giffard and then Captain Henry Vansittart and was at the mutiny of the West Indies Regiment at Dominica in the April of 1802, paying off into ordinary again in the August of that year.

She was then fitted to lie in the Clyde from the September to the November of 1803.

The Napoleonic Wars.

During the Napoleonic Wars she served in a variety of ancillary capacities, being initially commissioned under Captain John Broughton as a floating battery at Bristol, and then laid up at Sheerness in the October of 1804. Recommissioned again in the January of 1805 under Lieutenant James Cuthbert as a hospital ship, she remained at Sheerness subsequently under Lieutenants Isaac Collett from 1806 to 1807, Cuthbert again from 1809 to 1810, and John Molyneux from 1810.

Fate.

Magnanime went into ordinary between 1812 and 1813, being eventually broken up there in the July of that year.

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HMS Monmouth (1772)

HMS Monmouth was an Intrepid-class 64 gun third rate ship of the line, one of the first in a batch of four ships built to a design by Sir John Williams in 1765, and built by M/shipwright Israel Pownoll at Plymouth. Ordered on the 10th of September, 1767, it was approved on the 22nd of October, and the name Monmouth assigned in the November of that year. She was laid down in the May of, 1768, and launched on the18th of April, 1772, being completed and fitted at the dockyard between the October of 1777 and the 9th of May, 1778,


Ship plan for the Monmouth

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Monmouth
Ordered:	10 September 1767
Builder:	Plymouth Dockyard
Laid down:	May 1768
Launched:	18 April 1772
Renamed:	Captivity in 1796
Reclassified:	Prison ship from 1796
Fate:	Broken up in January 1818
General characteristics
Class and type:	Intrepid Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1,369 ​51⁄94 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 6 in (48.6 m) (gundeck) 131 ft (39.9 m) (keel)
Beam:	44 ft 4 in (13.5 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Monmouth was commissioned under Captain Thomas Collingwood, in the January of 1778, and after fitting out she sailed for the Leeward Islands in the June of that year with the squadron under Vice-Admiral John Byron. She came under the command of Captain Robert Fanshawe in 1779, and under him saw action at the Battle of Grenada on the 6th of July in that year. Monmouth was in Hyde Parker’s rear squadron and was heavily involved in the fighting with the Comte D’Estaing’s fleet, and following the battle was ordered to Antigua to carry out repairs. She returned to Britain in the December of that year and was then refitted and coppered at Portsmouth between that date and the December of 1780 at a cost of £ 13,034.9.3d. She recommissioned in late 1780 under the command of Captain James Alms, and was immediately assigned to the squadron under Commodore George Johnstone, whose squadron was dispatched on a secret expedition to capture the Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope. The squadron left Spithead on the 13th of March, 1781 comprising 46 ships and 3,000 troops under General Sir William Meadows. The French had learned of the expedition's intent through the services of a spy based in London, and quickly prepared an expedition under Admiral Pierre Andre de Suffren to foil Johnstone by beating him to the Cape and reinforcing it. Johnstone at first made for the Cape Verde Islands anchoring at Porto Praya, for taking on fresh water and revictualing.


Combat de la baie de la Praia dans l'île de Santiago au Cap Vert, le 16 avril 1781, by Pierre-Julien Gilbert.

He was taken by surprise on the 16th of April whilst still at anchor by the unexpected arrival of Suffren's squadron, which had also not anticipated finding an enemy force at Porto Praya. The French launched an immediate attack, and it was sometime before the British could respond effectively, eventually driving the French off. Johnstone ordered a pursuit, but his damaged ships were unable to catch up with the French. Suffren sailed directly to the Cape, with Johnstone following after completing repairs. Finding the Dutch forewarned and reinforced on his arrival there, Johnstone did not attempt an attack, instead contenting himself with takingseveral Dutch merchant vessels sheltering in Saldanha Bay. Johnstone decided to return to Britain with his prizes, detaching the troops and supplies he was escorting for the East Indies station, and his best warships under Captain Alms in the Monmouth to escort them.

Service in the East Indies.

Alms struggling with adverse winds and a high incidences of sickness, eventually forced him to leave the troop transports on the coast of Arabia in order to allow his warships to reach India in time for the campaigning season. The British fleet rendezvoused with Sir Edward Hughes at Madras on the 11th of February, 1782, and Monmouth went on to be involved in a number of indecisive clashes between Hughes and Suffren; at Sadras on the 17th of February, Providien on the 12th of April, Negapatam on the 6th of July, and Trincomalee on the 3rd of September in that same year.


Depiction of theBattle of Trincomalee on the 3rd of September, 1782, byDominic Serres.

For more information see my post on HMS Magnanime. Monmouth had a particularly important part in the battle of Providien, when she was the second ship in the line to Sir Edward's Flagship HMS Superb. At one point in the action, Alms saw that Suffren had put up his helm with a view of boarding Hughes's ship, and brought Monmouth about to defend his commander, the ship receiving heavy fire as he did so. In this engagement, the Monmouth had seven guns dismounted,had her wheel twice cleared, and only two seamen , besides the captain, were left alive on the quarterdeck. 45 men were killed, and 102 wounded, Alms, himself, suffering two splinter wounds in the face and brace of musket-balls through his hat.

Monmouth sailed back to Britain at the conclusion of the American Revolution, and was paid off at Portsmouth in the July of 1784. She spent a number of years laid up, and was not returned to service on the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, but was renamed Captivity on the 20th of October 1796, and fitted out as a Prison ship between the October and November of that year for £1,331.

Fate.

Placed under the command of Lieutenant Samuel Blow until 1799, She continued in this role for over a decade, serving under a number of commanders. Blow’s replacement in 1800 was Lieutenant Emanuel Hungerford until the September of 1801, and then Lieutenant Jacob Silver from September 1801 until the December of 1805. Thereafter, command devolved upon Lieutenant McDonald until well into 1806.

She was finally broken up at Portsmouth in the January of 1818.

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HMS Nassau (1785)



Silhouette of the ship of the line Nassau.

HMS Nassau was a Slade designed, Ardent Class, 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by James Martin Hillhouse at Bristol. Ordered on the 14th of November 1782, and laid down in the March of 1783, she was launched on the 28th of September, 1785, and completed between the 8th of November of that year and the second of February, 1786, at Bristol, and then coppered at Plymouth.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:		HMS Nassau
Ordered:		14 November 1782
Builder:		Hillhouse, Bristol
Laid down:		March 1783
Launched:		20 September 1785
Fate:		Wrecked 14 October 1799
General characteristics
Class and type:	Ardent Class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1384 (bm)
Length:	160 ft 1 in (49 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 5 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 1 in (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	64 guns: Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Nassau was commissioned in the July of 1790 under Captain Andrew Southerland for the Spanish Armament, fitted at Plymouth and then paid off. She was recommissioned in the March of 1795 under Captain Herbert Sawyer, who commanded her until the spring of 1797, for duty in the North Sea.



‘Hand-coloured etching (July 1797) of Richard Parker, President of the Delegates in the Mutiny at the Nore.

During the Mutiny at the Nore led by Richard Parker between the 26th of May and the 13th of June, she was commanded by Captain Edward O’Bryen, and under him went on to become the Flagship of Vice Admiral Sir Richard Onslow. On the outbreak of the mutiny, his authority was challenged and resisted by his crew. When they attempted to hang two men who would not join them, O'Bryen insisted that if anyone should die he would be the first and threatened to throw himself overboard. This checked the actions of the mutineers, but reportedly O'Bryen was left close to suicide. He left the ship shortly afterwards, and although the crew, who expressed their affection for him, invited him to return, he refused until the mutiny was over. In July, Onslow and O'Bryen moved to HMS Monarch and Nassau then came under the command of Captain William Hargood. Between the June and July of 1799 she was converted for use as a troopship at Chatham for £2,010, the command then passing to Captain George Tripp.

Fate.

Nassau was wrecked on the Haak sands off the Texel, the Netherlands, on the 14th of October, 1799. 205 members of her crew survived, out of a total of approximately 400.

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HMS Nonsuch (1774)

HMS Nonsuch was a John Williams designed Intrepid Class,64-gun, third rate ship of the line, built by M/shipwrightand Israel Pownoll at Plymouth Dockyard. Ordered on the 30th th of November, 1769, and approved on the 12th of March 1770, she was laid down in the January of 1772, and launched on the 17th of December, 1774. She was completed on the 25th of April, 1776.


Nonsuch

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Nonsuch
Ordered:	30 November 1769
Builder:	Plymouth Dockyard
Laid down:	January 1772
Launched:	17 December 1774
Fate:	Broken up, 1802
General characteristics
Class and type:	Intrepid Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1373 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 5 in (48.6 m) (gundeck);130 ft 10 1⁄2 in (39.9 m) (keel)
Beam:	44 ft 0 7⁄8 in (13.4 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 0 1⁄2 in (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship.
Complement:	As a third rate: 500 (491 from 1794) As floating battery: 230 officers and men, 14 Marines, and 50 supernumeraries.
Armament:	As third rate: Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns As floating battery: Lower deck: 20 x 68-pounder Carronades Upper deck: 26 x 24-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Nonsuch was commissioned in the August of 1775 as a guardship at Plymouth, and refitted as such again in the December of 1776. She was next refitted for service in North America, and sailed on the 23rd of March, 1777.

The American Revolution.


The Nonsuch is pictured here in this depiction of Barrington's action at St Lucia in 1778, by Domonic Serres.

On her return to England in 1779 she was paid off and underwent a small repair and coppering at Chatham between the January and the May of 1780 at the cost of £10,339.12.7d.
On the 7th of July in that year, Nonsuch, now under the command of Sir James Wallace, captured the Brig-rigged Curtter Hussard of Saint Malo. Hussard was armed with eighteen 6 pounder guns. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Echo.
On the 14th of July, Nonsuch captured the 26-gun Frigate Belle Poule off the Loire. The Royal Navy took her into service under her existing name.
In April of 1781, Nonsuch formed part of Admiral George Darby’s's relief fleet during the Seige of Gibraltar . Then on the 14th of May, on her homeward voyage, whilst scouting ahead, Nonsuch chased and brought to action the French 74-gun Actif, hoping to detain her until some others ships in the fleet came up. However, Actif was able to repulse Nonsuch, causing her to suffer 26 men killed and 64 wounded, and continued on to Brest unmolested.
After this action Nonsuch was paid off, and underwent repairs at Portsmouth between the June and September of that year, costing £9,146.2.1d. following her refit she sailed for the West Indies on the 15th of January 1782. at the Battle of the Saints on the 12 th of April in that year, Nonsuch was fourth in the line attacking the French fleet under the command of Captain Truscott, and suffered only 3 killed and 3 wounded.

Late in the year, Nonsuch and Zebra formed the escort to Jamaica of a fleet from Georgia "with the principal inhabitants, their Negroes, and their Effects". Returning to England at the conclusion of her wartime service in 1783 she was paid off once more.

Floating battery.

By Admiralty Orders issued on the 3rd of February 1794 Nonsuch was at Chatham, being cut down and fitted as a floating battery at a cost of £ 7,998. Recommissioned by Captain Billy Douglas in the March of that year, the alterations were completed two months later. In June she was removed to Jersey under Captain Philipe d’ Auvergne,Prince de Bouillon, and Senior Officer of Gunboats in the Channel Islands, in charge of a small flotilla of obsolete gunvessels, which included the Eagle, Lion, Repulse, Scorpion, and Tigre. The Navy was to disposed of most of them within a year or so. Nonsuch was paid off in the December of that year and recommissioned in the February of 1795 by Captain William Mitchell as a floating battery at Hull in the Humber estuary. In the August of that year, Captain Henry Blackwell succeeded to the command and Nonsuch's logs state that she arrived in the Humber at the end of June, having sailed up from Chatham under Blackwood's command. By the 2nd of July she had been established at her permanent mooring in Hull Roads.

In April 1796 Captain Robert Dudley Oliver replaced Blackwood, only to be superseded himself in the October of the following year by her final commander, Captain Isaac Woolley, who held the commission until 1799.

Fate.

In the June of 1802 Nonsuch was broken up at Sheerness.

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HMS Polyphemus (1782)





HMS Polyphemus was a John Williams designed Intrepid Class, 64 gun, ship of the line, built by M/shipwright George White until the March of 1778, and then by John Jenner until the May of 1779, she was completed by Henry Peake at Sheerness. Ordered on the 1st of December 1773 and approved on the 16th of that month, she was laid down in the January of 1776 and launched on the 27th of April, 1782, and completed, including coppering, on the 24th of July of that year.



Polyphemus

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Polyphemus
Ordered:	1 December 1773
Builder:	Sheerness Dockyard.
Laid down:	January 1776
Launched:	27 April 1782
Honours and awards:	Battle of Cape Spartel Naval General Service Medal with clasps: "Copenhagen 1801" "Trafalgar" Boat Service "16 July 1806" Siege of Santo Domingo
Fate:	Broken up, 1827
General characteristics
Class and type:	Intrepid Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1408​71⁄94 (bm)
Length:	160 ft 0 in (48.8 m) (gundeck) 133 ft 3 in (40.6 m) (keel)
Beam:	44 ft 7 in (13.6 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 0 in (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Polyphemus was commissioned under Captain William C. Finch in the April of 1782, and then sailed for Gibraltar forming a part of a British fleet under Admiral Richard Howe. They successfully resupplied Gibraltar which was in the process of being besieged by the French forces. Shortly after this, on the 20th of October in that year, the British fleet met the combined Franco-Spanish fleet under the command of Admiral Louis de Cordova y Cordova. The resulting Battle of Cape Spartel being indecisive. Polyphemus was part of the second division of the van, and suffered only four men wounded.

In the latter part of the year, Polyphemus, now under the command of Captain Thomas Sotheby sailed for the West Indies in a squadron commanded by Admiral Sir Richard Hughes. During the voyage, on the 6th of December off the Island of Martinique they encountered a French convoy. The British squadron attacked and in an action, which only lasted 40 minutes, the Ruby, under Captain John Collins, captured the French 64 gun ship Solitaire, which suffered dead and 55 wounded, wearas the Ruby escaped with only two men wounded. On arrival at Barbados two days following the action, the The Royal Navy took Solitaire into service as HMS Solitaire. Polyphemus shared with Ruby in the prize money for the capture of Solitaire, although the rest of the squadron were excluded, suggesting that Polyphemus had a hand in the capture or that she was the only other ship in sight when it was made.

Following the end of her wartime service in the June of 1783, she was paid off.. Then she underwent a small repair at Chatham between the December of that year and the September of 1784 at a cost of £6,371.10.4d. Another more substantial repair and refit took place between the also at Chatham between the December of 1793 and June 1794, this time at a cost of £8,771. In the April of that year during her refit she was recommissioned by Captain George Lumsdaine who was destined to command her until 1800.

The French Revolutionary Wars.

The following year on the 21st of September, 1795, Polyphemus and the Santa Margarita, a fifth rate ex Spanish prize, shared in the recapture of the vessel Hibberts. Next, on the 22nd of October whilst operating off Queenstown, Ireland. Polyphemus captured the Dutch 64-gun ship Overyssel, which the Royal Navy later took into service under the name HMS Overyessel. At the commencement of 1796 Polyphemus became the flagship for Vice Admiral Robert Kingsmill, on the Irish Station until 1800, during which time between the May and July of that year she underwent a refit at Plymouth for £5,605. Immediately on her return to service there were very few ships on the Irish station. At Cork, Kingsmill only had Polyphemus and a frigate squadron under his command when the French made their attempt to create a republican uprising in Ireland in the d’Irlande expedition.

During this attempt at a landing, in the December of that same year, Polyphemus and Apollo were off the Irish coast when, acting in concert, they took the 14 gun French privateer Schooner Deux Amis, The Royal Navy took her into service under her existing name. Polyphemus next seized the transport Justine on the 30th of December, and to round off the year in style, on the 31st of the same month, Polyphemus captured the Tartar.
HMS Jason captured the transport Suffren shortly afterwards, and although the French 44 gun Frigate Tartu managed to recaptured Suffren, on the 5th of January, 1797 Polyphemus took theTartu herself. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Uranie. Polyphemus also captured another transport, but with nightfall, and a stormy sea running she did not take possession in spite of the fact that the transport was making distress signals because she was leaking badly. This vessel may well have been the Fille-Unique, which sank in the Bay of Biscay on the 6th of January.

Between the November of 1799 and the March of 1800 Polyphemus underwent repairs at Chatham at a cost of £12,753. She was then recommissioned still under Lumsdaine, but on the 1st of August in that year Captain John Lawford was appointed to her command and assumed his post only three days later. By the 9th of the month she had sailed from Yarmouth, with a squadron under Vice Admiral Archibald Dixon aboard HMS Monarch on route to the Baltic. Wind conditions forced the faster sailing vessels to tow the poor sailers and it was not until the 15th of August that they raised the Skaw. On the following day the entire squadron advanced to the mouth of the Sound where three of the Danish 74 gun ships were anchored. A fourth later joined them between Kronberg Castle and the Swedish shore. Because of severe gales the Admiral’s squadron took shelter in Elsinore Roads and then proceeded in HMS Romney as far as the Sophienberg Castle to confer with Lord Whitworth, who was negotiating on behalf of the British Government, with the Danes. After matters were resolved amicably the squadron returned to Yarmouth in September of that year.

In the March of 1801, Rear-Admiral Thomas Graves raised his flag on Polyphemus, replacing Kingsmill. Polyphemus was with the fleet under the command of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker which bombarded Copenhagen on the 2nd of April in that year. The British objective was to break up the League of Armed Neutrality, which also included Sweden and Prussia, which Tsar Paul 1 of Russia had established.
During the battle, Polyphemus and Desiree came to the assistance of the 50 gun fourth rate HMS Isis, which was being hard-pressed by the Danes' 56-gun ship Provesteenen, and succeeded in silencing her.


Polyphemus at Copenhagen.

In the action Polyphemus lost six men killed, and 25 wounded. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Copenhagen 1801" to all surviving claimants from the battle.

The division of the North Sea fleet commanded by Admiral Thomas in Polyphemus returned to Yarmouth from the Baltic on the13th of July in that same year, and then sailed to join Admiral Dickson's squadron blockading the Dutch fleet in the Texel. At some point Graves transferred his flag to HMS Defiance.
In the April of 1802 Polyphemus was paid off and went into ordinary at Chatham following the Treaty of Amiens which put a period to hostilities.

The Napoleonic Wars.

After war with France resumed in 1803, Polyphemus underwent fitting out at Chatham between March and September 1804. In the July of that year she was recommissioned under Captain Robert Redmill for service in the Channel, and sailed for the Channel fleet.

Polyphemus then joined the Cadiz squadron under Admiral John Orde. On the 26th of November in that year, together with Donegal and Defence, she shared in the proceeds from the capture of the Spanish ship Virgen del Rosario.

Late that month or in the early December (records disagree), Polyphemus, under Captain John Lawford's command, captured several Spanish ships. One was the Snow San Joseph. Which had been sailing from La Guayra to Cadiz with a cargo of Indigo, Cocoa, Cochineal, and cotton. Taken with her was the Santo Christo, which had been sailing from Montevideo also to Cadiz with a cargo of hides and copper. Polyphemus also captured the St Edward which was on route from Vera Cruz to Cadiz with a cargo of cocoa, cochineal, and cotton, and $98,539.in specie. Finally, Polyphemus captured the Bon Air, which was sailing from Vera Cruz, again to Cadiz, with a cargo of cocoa, indigo, and cochineal, and $20,000 in specie.

Three days later Polyphemus accompanied by Lively captured the 40 Gun Spanish Frigate Santa Gertruyda, sailing armed en flute with only 14 guns aboard, off Cape St Mary, as she was sailing from Peru via Mexico to Coruna. Polyphemus and Santa Gertruyda were separated in a gale which damaged the Spanish ship. However she still managed to reached Plymouth on the 10th of January, 1805, being towed in by the defence ship Harriet, which had encountered her several days following the storm. Santa Gertruyda was carrying $1,215,000 in specie, and merchandize. The Royal Navy took her into service as, Santa Gertruda to serve as a receiving ship.
Captain Robert Redmill was in command by the 8th of February,1805 when Polyphemus captured the Marianna, which arrived in Plymouth a few days later.

The Battle of Trafalgar.

Under Redmill, Polyphemus took part in the Battle of Trafalgar on the 21st October in that year. She fought in the Lee column, and during the battle only suffered two men killed and four wounded, despite having engaged both the French ships Neptune and Achille. Following the battle she also captured the Argonauta. In the aftermath, Polyphemus towed the damaged Victory back to Gibraltar carrying the body of Lord Nelson.
Parliament later voted a grant of £300,000 to the participants in the battle, payable in the September of 1806. Following this,in the March of,1807 there was a further distribution of prize money for the hull, stores, and head money for four French and two Spanish ships captured at Trafalgar. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Trafalgar" to all surviving claimants from the battle.

In the January of 1806, Polyphemus, in concert with the frigate Sirius, was escorting a convoy from Gibraltar when they encountered a French squadron under Admiral Willaumez. The French succeeded in capturing two of the merchant vessels and four of the French fleet unsuccessfully persued the Sirius for two hours, but forced her to separate from the convoy.

By the 3rd of April in that year, Polyphemus, Fame and Africa were off Madeira, having escorted the East India Fleet southward. On the 20th of that month, Polyphemus shared in the capture of the Spanish ship Estrella and a week later Polyphemus, Fame, and Africa shared in the capture of the Spanish ship San Pablo, on her way from Vera Cruz with a valuable cargo which they seized.

In the July of that same year, Polyphemus had joined Lord St Vincent’s squadron off Ushant. On the 14th her boats, together with others of the squadron, were conveyed by the Iris to join Captain John Tremayne Rodd in the Indefatigable off Rochefort in order to to attack two French corvettes and a convoy in the Garonne estuary. On the 15th of July the weather appeared to be suitable for the attempt, but after the boats had commenced the operation, an adverse wind blew up and despite capturing the 36 gun corvette Le Cesar, they were unable to apprehend the convoy which escaped up the river. The French had anticipated such an attack and were thus ready to put up a strong defence. I In the action, British losses amounted to six killed, 36 wounded and 21 missing. Indefatigable alone losing two men killed and 11 wounded whilst Polyphemus suffered only two of her crew lightly wounded. The 21 missing were in a boat crewed by men from the Revenge. A later report suggested that most, if not all, had been taken prisoner. The majority of the boats were either shot through or so badly stove in that they were swamped, and had to be cut adrift from the brig as she was brought out under fire from the batteries and the ex-British brig Teaser. The vessels claiming prize money for the action included Pilchard and the Lugger Nile, in addition to the various ships of the line and frigates. This cutting out expedition resulted in the participants qualifying for the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "16 July Boat Service 1806".

In July 1806 Polyphemus was recommissioned. Captain Joseph O. Masefield replaced Redmill in September and In the action on the 25th of that month, a British squadron of six ships of the line which were effecting a close blockade of the port of Rochefort intercepted a French squadron comprising five frigates and two corvettes, attempting to sail for the West Indies carrying much needed supplies and reinforcements. The British ships, under the command of Commodore Sir Samuel Hood sighted the French convoy shortly after it left port. The British caught the French convoy after a five-hour general chase, having thus become separated from one another. The British succeeded in taking the French frigates Armide, Gloire, Indefatigable, and Minerve, Polyphemus sharing in the prize money for all four frigates.

Following this success, in the following month, Captain John Broughton replaced Masefield as Polyphemus’ commanding officer.

In 1807 Polyphemus, came underr the command of Captain Peter Heywood, as the flagship of Rear-Admiral Sir George Murray, and in the March of that year Murray's squadron carried troops from the Cape of Good Hope to South America in support of a second attempt to capture the River Plate area from the Spanish. A detachment of sailors and marines from Polyphemus served on shore in the Advance Brigade during the disastrous (for the British) attack on Buenos Aires. Admiral Murray evacuated Lieutenant Crowley of Polyphemus, who had been wounded, and his men, aboard the frigate Néréide.

Polyphemus remained in the area, carrying out surveying duties and also merchant vessel protection. On her return to England, btween the January and February of 1808 Polyphemus underwent a refit at Portsmouth. During the refit Heywood retained command until the May of that year, when he was superseded by Captain William Pryce Cumby, and Polyphemus became the flagship of Vice-Admiral Bartholomew Rowley. Two months later she sailed for Jamaica, escorting a large convoy of merchantmen, and also carrying the Vice-Admiral Rowley to take up his appointment as Commander of that station. On arrival Rowley took up residence on shore, thus freeing up Polyphemus to undertake cruises against the enemy.

On the morning of the 14th of November in that year, whilst on just such a cruise, Cumby sent his boats, under Lieutenant Joseph Daly in the barge, to chase a schooner attempting to enter the harbour at San Domingo. An hour later the British succeed in boarding the schooner despite facing a hail of grape shot and musketry. Their quarry proved to be the French navy 3 gun schooner Colibry, during the boarding of which, the French lost one man killed and five wounded; Polyphemus had one man killed.

On the 17th of April, 1809, a British squadron captured the French 74 gun Le de Hautpoult. The initial distribution of prize money excluded Polyphemus and Tweed, who appealed. Polyphemus's appeal succeeded. On the 28th of April, Polyphemus recaptured Carlotta, which had been sailing from St Bartholomews to Jacmel when a French privateer captured her.

In the June of 1809 Cumby received command of a squadron comprising Polyphemus, Aurora, Tweed, Sparrow, Thrush, Griffon, Lark, Moselle, Fleur de la Mer, and Pike. On the 7th of June in that year, they departed Port Royal with troops under the command of Major-General Hugh Lyle Carmichael to assist their now Spanish allied force besieging the French in the city of San Domingo.

On the 1st of July Polyphemus anchored at Caleta and disembarked eight of her 24-pounder guns into Sparrow for landing at Palenqui to augment the batteries sited to the west of the city. Captain Burt of Sparrow then transported two of the guns from Andre Bay to the eastern sited battery, a journey of almost 30 miles across nearly impassable terrain. In face of this new threat, the French garrison surrendered on the 6th.. Cumby signed the terms of capitulation in his capacity as senior officer in command of "His Majesty's Ships and Vessels before the City of Santo Domingo." one payment of prize money not occurring until the October of 1832.

Captain Cumby was appointed to Hyperion in the March of 1811, and the command of Polyphemus now came under Captain Thomas Graves on the Jamaica station. In his turn he was superseded in the October of that year by Commander Nicholas Pateshall until December, and then Captain Cornelius Quinton as the Flagship of Vice Admiral Charles Stirling still on the Jamaica station. Following his tenure came Captain Peter Douglas and under his command, Polyphemus recaptured Diana and Fame.

In the August of 1812 Polyphemus and Barbadoes escorted a fleet of 47 merchant vessels sailing from Jamaica to London. On the 20th of the month, as the convoy was sailing off Savannah the US Revenue Cutter James Madison began shadowing them in an attempt to pick off the slower and more vulnerable vessels. Two days later, after a seven hour chase, Barbadoes closed with the Madison and succeeded in capturing her. The British immediately fitted out James Madison for the protection of the fleet. They put two officers and 40 men on board, drawn from Barbadoes, and those men of James Madison's existing crew that were willing to change sides. On the 26th of August, the vessels of the convoy were scattered by a Hurricane which also totally dis-masted Barbadoes, forcing it to limped back to Jamaica. Polyphemus' main and foremasts also having been sprung, it left the James Madison to re-gather the vessels in the convoy. She was successful in recovering 21 in all. Then on the 3rd of September an American privateer schooner of 14 guns started shadowing James Madison and the vessels she was escorting. During the subsequent four days the privateer stayed close enough to exchange occasional shots with the Madison, but did not succeed in capturing anything. One month exactly after the confrontation with the privateer, on the 3rd of October, Polyphemus and James Madison made port quite separately at Portsmouth. Prize money for the capture was paid out in the March of 1815.

Later In October Polyphemus took the American vessel Amazon, from Philadelphia, and also dispatched her into Portsmouth. Amazon arrived there on the 4th of October. Polyphemus paid off at Chatham in the following month.


Polyphemus' figurehead.

Fate.

Between the March and September of 1813 she was converted to serve as a powder hulk at Chatham, and she then went into ordinary until 1815. She was then used as a powder hulk in the Medway until 1826, when she once again was placed into ordinary between the February and the April of 1826. The following year she was broken up at Chatham, this being completed on the 15th of September 1827.

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HMS Prothee (1772)



Protee was a Joseph-Louis Ollivier designed Artesien Class 64 gun ship of the line of the French Navy, built from the February of 1771,launched on the 10th of November,1772, and completed in the February of 1773.

History
FRANCE
Name:	Protée
Launched:	1772
Captured:	24 February 1780, by Royal Navy
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	Prothee
Acquired:	24 February 1780
Fate:	Broken up, 1815
General characteristics
Class and type:	Artesian Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1480 (bm)
Length:	164 ft 1 in (50.01 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 7 in (13.59 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	LD 26 x 24pdrs UD 26 x 18 pdrs QD 10 x 9 pdrs Fc 2 x 9 pdrs

Service.

On the 16th of February, 1780, Protée under the command of Captain Charles Louis du Chilleau de la Roche and acting as the flagship escorting a convoy bound for India, with troops and ammunition sailed from the port of Lorient.
On the 23rd of February, just off the Spanish Biscay coast the convoy met Admiral Rodney’s fleet. Hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned, Protée struck while Charmante retreated to Lorient, arriving there on the 3rd of March. In the action, three merchantmen were also taken. Although Court-martialled for the loss of his ship, Duchilleau was honourably acquitted.

British service.

Protée was commissioned into the Royal Navy on the 3rd of March 1780 as the 64 gun third rate ship of the line HMS Prothee, fitted at Spithead for £5,330.9.8d.
Refitted and coppered at Portsmouth for £14.036.7.4dbetween the March and July of 1781 she saw her first and only action under the British flag, commanded by Captain Buckner, on the 12th of April, 1782 against a huge French fleet at the Battle of the Saints. Serving in the Centre, during the battle she lost five killed and 25 men wounded.

In the August of 1783 she was paibd off after wartime service.

She was converted to serve as a prison ship at Portsmouth in the September of 1795, she was recommissioned in the December of 1796 under Lieutenant Joseph Novil Eastwood, and then under Lieutenant William Bevians in the September of 1797.Her next commander was Lieutenant John Mackenzie from 1798 to 1800, followed by William Taylor, and then William Todman until1811. Lieutenant Timothy Bird followed, and finally Lieutenant Abraham Chapman during 1813 and 1814.

HMS Prothee was broken up at Portsmouth in the September of 1815. Eight of her small cannons were purchased by John Manners, 5th Duke of Rutland and are currently on display at Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire. The cannon are still fired on special occasions, such as weddings and the Duke's birthday.

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HMS Raisonnable (1768)

HMS Raisonnable, also spelt Raisonable, was an Ardent Class, 64 gun third rate ship of the line, designed by Thomas Slade and built by M/shipwright Edward Allin until the July of 1767 and completed by Joseph Harris at Chatham Dockyard. Ordered on the 4th of December 1762 and confirmed on the 11th of January 1763, she was laid down in the November of 1765, launched on the 10th of December, 1768, and completed on the 15th of March 1771. Raisonnable was named on the 30th of April, 1763 after the ship of the same name captured from the French in 1758.

Raisonnable
History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Raisonnable
Ordered:	11 January 1763
Builder:	Chatham Dockyard
Laid down:	November 1765
Launched:	10 December 1768
Honours and awards:	Participated in: Battle of Copenhagen Battle of Cape Finisterre
Fate:	Broken up, 1815
General characteristics
Class and type:	Ardent Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1386
Length:	160 ft 1 in (49 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 6 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold: Draught:	19 ft (5.8 m) 12ft 1 in / 17ft 4in
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Complement:	500 officers and men
Armament:	64 guns: Gundeck: 26 × 24 pdrs Upper gundeck: 26 × 18 pdrs QD: 10 × 4 pdrs Fc: 2 × 9 pdrs

Service.

HMS Raisonnable was commissioned under Captain Maurice Suckling on the 17th of November, 1770 for the Falkland Islands dispute. Suckling was Horatio Nelson’s maternal uncle, and this was the first ship in which Nelson served. The ship was paid off on the 15th of May, 1771 to be fitted as a guardship for the Medway, and at this time, Suckling took command of the 74 gun HMS Triumph, and took Nelson with him. Just 10 days later on the 25th, Raisonnable was recommissioned under Captain Henry St. John St for service with the Channel Fleet. On the 23rd of January, 1773, command passed to Captain Thomas Greaves. Raisonnable paid off at Plymouth on the 23rd of September, 1775. After a small repair she was refitted once more as a guardship for £11,964.16.3d.

The American Revolution.

Raisonnable was re-commissioned on the 25th of February, 1776 under Captain Thomas Fitzherbert, and fitted for sea between the February and March of 1777. In the July of 1778 she was despatched to the North American Station to join Lord Howe’s squadron, which was lying off Sandy Hook in opposition to French Admiral d’ Estang’s large fleet The engagement in battle by the two fleets was only prevented by the inclement weather and sea conditions, which compelled both fleets to disperse.


Raisonnable seen here in the far left background firing into Hunter on the Penobscot Expedition

On the 5th of December, 1778, command of Raisonnable passed to Captain Henry Francis Evans, and in the May of the following year, serving in Commodore Sir George Collier's squadron, she took part in the attack upon Hampton Roads. On the 1st of the month following, Raisonnable was in action upon the river Hudson, during which time, two forts were invested and taken. In August, with Sir George now aboard her, Raisonnable sailed for Penobscot Bay to join British forces who were suffering a siege. On arrival Collier's squadron of only 7 ships engaged a rebel fleet of 41, 2 of which were captured, and the rest either sunk or destroyed to prevent capture.
In the January of 1780, Raisonnable joined Vice Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot’s squadron in the siege of Charleston, although Raisonnable, returned to New York before the siege began.

On the 30th of August in that year, command passed to Captain Sir Digby Dent and Raisonnable returned to England to be paid off in January of the following year after wartime service. On the 11th of May she went into Portsmouth dockyard to undergo middling repairs and re-coppering at a total cost of £17,885.19.4d.
She was recommissioned on on the14th of January, 1782, under Captain Lord Hervey for West Indies service, but returned to Chatham in the August of that year for decommissioning. Her crew were to be discharged to other vessels, but there were delays in finalising their departures and they became mutinous. Captain Hervey made an unsuccessful appeal to the crew to return to their stations, and then had the ringleaders of the mutiny arrested at gunpoint. The mutiny promptly collapsed, and Raisonnable was sailed to Sheerness Dockyard where she was placed under guard. Four of the mutineers were then sentenced to death for their part in the uprising.

With the American war petering out and Raisonnable being surplus to requirements she sailed for home and was laid up in ordinary. From the May of 1785 until theApril of 1786 she underwent a large repair for £26,339. And then in 1791 another small repair.

French Revolutionary War.

When war with France broke out in 1793, Raisonnable, along with many other vessels, was brought out of ordinary, and made ready for service once more. On the 31st of January she was re-commissioned under Captain James, Lord Cranston for service on the Irish station. However, changing circumstances dictated that she joined the Channel Fleet in the April of that year, but by the 14th of January, 1794 she was back in Portsmouth for a refit costing £ 7,323. In the September of that year, under Captain Robert Packer, she once more re-joined the Channel Fleet on the1st of November, and remained on active service firstly under Packer, and then Captain Charles Boyle from the December of 1795 until the14th October, 1796 when she was docked at Plymouth for re-coppering between the end of October of that year and the January of 1797 costing £9,124. In that month she returned to duty still under Boyle’s command. Docked again between the April and August of 1800, she was recommissioned on the 21st of January, 1801, when Captain John Dilks was appointed as Raisonnable's commanding officer.

The ship then rejoined the North sea Squadron. 1801 saw the creation of an alliance between the Danes, Norwegians, and Prussians with Russia in the League of Armed Neutrality which would effectively cut Britain off from the supplies relied upon from the Baltic in order to maintain its ships as seaworthy.

Raisonnable was dispatched as part of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker’s fleet's fleet sent to neutralize the Danish Fleet based at Copenhagen. On the second of April, after negotiations failed, and with the prospect of the Leagues ships combining once the thaw set in, Hyde Parker reluctantly attacked. Although present, Raisonnable took no active part in the Battle of Copenhagen. Following the battle, she was attached to a squadron under Captain George Murray in HMS Edgar, tasked with monitoring the activities of the Swedish Navy based at Karlskrona.. Once the situation in the Baltic had been satisfactorily resolved from the British point of view, Raisonnable returned to the North Sea, prior to being paid off in the April of 1802.

With the Treaty of Amiens having been signed in the March of that year, Raisonnable had defects made good and then underwent a refit at Chatham, and Sheerness. Her copper was repaired at a cost of £10,848, all this being undertaken between the April of that year and the May of 1803.

The Napoleonic Wars.

Having been recommissioned for Channel service in March by Captain William Hotham, once war broke out again with France in that same month Raisonnable was almost ready for sea. She sailed to joined Admiral William Cornwallis and the Channel Fleet, participating in the blockade of Brest.

In the April of 1804 she came under Captain Charles Malcolm, and then in the September of that year Captain Robert Barton. On the 11th of November, Raisonable, together with, Eagle, Glatton, Princess of Orange, Africane, Majestic, Inspector, Beaver, and the hired armed vessels Swift and Agnes, all shared in the capture of Upstalsboom, In the September of that same year Hotham was replaced by Captain Robert Barton, and in the April of 1805 he in turn was replaced by Captain Josais Rowley.
By the end of the following month, she was with Admiral Sir Robert Calder’s squadron off Ferrol, when they uncovered Villeneuve’s combined Franco-Spanish fleet. The ensuing Battle of Cape Finisterre although inconclusive, at least forced the Combined Fleet to seek sanctuary in Vigo in order to refit. During the action Raisonnable lost 2 killed and six wounded.

Raisonnable remained on blockade duty she sailed from Cork in late 1805 for the Cape of Good Hope with Commodore Sir Home Riggs Popham's squadron. This consisted of 9 vessels, which also contained Raisonnable's sister ship, Belliqueux, The following campaign, documented more fully in one of my previous posts, saw British troops drive the Dutch out of Cape town, and the annexation of the Cape Colony by the British. In April 1806, after receiving news that the populous of Buenos Aires were discontented under Spanish rule, and it was rumoured that they would welcome the British as liberators, Popham, without consulting the British Government or Admiralty, unilaterally sailed with his squadron to the Rio de La Plata. Unsuprisingly, Popham was superseded by Rear Admiral Murray and, following a disastrous second attempt to take Buenos Aires, Raisonnable returned to the Cape. In 1809, Captain Rowley with Raisonnable as his flagship, was in command of a squadron which proceeded to blockade the Isle of Mauritius, known to the French as the Isle de France,and Reunion, the Isle de Bourbon. On the 20th of September, Rowley, commanding the squadron from HMS Nereide, captured the town of Saint Paul, the batteries defending it, a 40 gun Frigate Caroline, a 16 gun brig, and 2 merchantmen, as well as rescuing two East India Company ships, the Europe and Streatham. Captain Rowley transferred to HMS Boadicea during the March of 1810, and command of Raisonnable devolved onto the shoulders of Captain John Hatley, who returned with her to England where she was paid off in the July of that year.

Fate.

Between the August and the November of 1810, Raisonnable was fitted as a receiving ship at Chatham, and towed to Sheerness where she was recommissioned under Commander Francis Dickinson as a guardship and receiving ship. In 1811 she came under Commander Thomas New, followed in the May of 1812 by Commander Charles Hewitt, and in the July of that year Captain Edward Clay who was to be her final commander befor she was paid off for the last time in the June of 1814, and going to the breakers yard in the March of 1815.

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HMS Repulse (1780)

HMS Repulse was a John Williams designed, Intrepid Class, 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by Robert Fabian at East Cowes. Ordered on the 5th of February 1777 and confirmed on the 16th of May in that year, she was laid down on the 12th of January 1778, and launched on the 28th of November 1780. Completion took place at Portsmouth between the 11th of December in that year and the15th of February 1781.

Repulse
History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Repulse
Ordered:	5 February 1777
Builder:	Fabian, East Cowes
Laid down:	12 January 1778
Launched:	28 November 1780
Fate:	Wrecked, 10 March 1800
General characteristics
Class and type:	Intrepid Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1386 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 6 in (48.62 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 7.5 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	64 guns: Gundeck: 26 × 24 pdrs Upper gundeck: 26 × 18 pdrs Quarterdeck: 10 × 4 pdrs Forecastle: 2 × 9 pdrs

Service.

HMS Repulse was commissioned in the November of 1780.
She saw her first action between the 9th and 12th of April, 1782 under the command of Captain Thomas Dumaresq, in Admiral Sir George Rodney’s centre Division of the Fleet at the Battle of the Saints. During the battle Repulse suffered only 14 casualties, three killed and eleven wounded. Her crew were described as "fine Guernsey lads".

In the following year she returned to England and was paid off in the July of 1783 after wartime service.
Refitted and with her defects made good at Portsmouth for £ 10.180.13.4d between the August of that year and the May of 1784, she was not fitted for sea again until the December of 1794 at Woolwich. The refit was completed in the June of 1795 at a cost of £ 16,722. During this time she was recommissioned for sea under Captain William Fairfax in the May of that year. On the 3rd of December whilst cruising off the coast of the Dutch coast, she fell in with, and took the 6 gun Privateer Le Petit Pearen.

In the November of 1796 she came under the command of Captain James Alms who was to hold this post until 1800.

The Mutiny at The Nore.

During the Mutiny at The Nore in 1797, on the 9th of June. Repulse made a 'miraculous' escape from the mutineers reaching shore despite receiving 'as was calculated two hundred shot'. Its First Lieutenant T. Frances Douglas, was presented with a commemorative sword with the inscription engraved upon it :

‘PRESENTED by the Committee of Merchants &c OF LONDON to LIEUT.T FRANCIS DOUGLAS for his Spirited and active conduct on board His Majesty’s Ship the REPULSE. Ja.s Alms Esq.r Commander during the MUTINY at the NORE in 1797. Marine Scociety Office, May 1o 1798 } Hugh Inglis Esq.r Chairman’

Repulse was refitted at Portsmouth between the October of 1798 and the February of 1799 for £11,062. On the 6th of May in that year she sailed for the Med.

Fate.

On the 10th of March, 1800, having been driven off course by heavy weather, Repulse struck a submerged rock off Ushant and began taking on water. The crew eventually abandoned the ship somewhere in the vicinity of the Cap Sizun, on the Pointe de Penharn from where the majority of the survivors were taken away as prisoners of war. Only three men were lost drowned. The first lieutenant escaped with a number of men in Repulse's large cutter, and headed for England. But, on the 16th of March, actually made landfall at Guernsey.

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HMS Ruby (1776)

HMS Ruby was a John Williams designed 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built at Woolwich Dockyard by M/shipwright William Grey until the March of 1777, and completed by Nicholas Phillips. Ordered on the 30th of November, 1769 and approved on the 12th of March, 1770, she was laid down in the 9th of September 1772, and launched on 26 November, 1776. She was finally completed on the 27th of February, 1778.


Ruby

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Ruby
Ordered:	30 November 1769
Builder:	Woolwich Dockyard
Laid down:	9 September 1772
Launched:	26 November 1776
Fate:	Broken up, 1821
General characteristics
Class and type:	Intrepid Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1374 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 6 in (48.62 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 6 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold: Draught:	19 ft (5.8 m) 11ft 2in / 16ft 10in
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Ruby was commissioned in the September of 1777, and sailed for Jamaica under Captain Michael John Everitt on the 24th of May 1778.

On the 2nd of June, 1779 whilst cruising off Haiti, Ruby, in company with Aeolus 32, and the 18 gun Sloop Jamaica, were sailing in the Bay of Gonave when they fell in with the 36 gun French frigate Prudente under the command of one Captain d’Escars. Ruby chased the Prudente for several hours and was much inconvenienced by the well directed fire of the enemy's stern chasers. Captain Everitt and a member of the crew were actually killed by this fire.. Just before sunset Ruby eventually came into close range of Prudente, and forced her surrender, with the loss of two killed and three wounded. The British Navy took Prudente into service under the same name.

[

Representation of the Distressed Situation of His Majesty's Ships Ruby, Hector, Berwick and Bristol when Dismasted in the Great Hurricane, 6 October 1780

On return to England Ruby was paid off in the January of 1782 after wartime service. She was then fitted and coppered at Portsmouth for £ 15,326.15.1d between the March and August of that year. She was then recommissioned and sailed to the relief of Gibraltar on the 11th of September in that same year. A small to middling repair followed between the July of 1785 and the March of 1786 at a cost of £15,038.
She was next fitted at Portsmouth for the Channel under Captain Sir Richard Bickerton, in the May of 1793, and sailed in the June of 1794 to join Montague’s squadron.

On the 27th of February, 1795, HMS Ruby, now under Captain Henry Stanhope, sailed with the squadron under Capt John Blankett to take part in the 1st British Occupation of the Cape of Good Hope, Whilst there she was employed on patrols and general duties but saw no action. The surrender of the Dutch squadron at Saldanha Bay on the 17th of August combined with the fact that the Dutch army had just lost the battle of Muizenberg on the 7th, triggered the total collapse of the Dutch forces which controlled the Cape at the time, and having capitulated, this relieved the British ships of some of their duties.

In the March of 1796 Ruby came under the command of Captain George Brisac and sailed to the East Indies where Captain Thomas Bertie took over command, and in the February of 1797 it would then seem that a Captain Jacob Waller had her until she paid off into ordinary at Chatham in the November of 1797.

She was once again repaired and fitted at at Chatham, between the January of 1798 and July of 1799, before being recommissioned under Captain Alan Gardner for the Channel. In the year of 1800 she was under Captain Solomon Ferris, when on the 14th of July she fell in with and took the 22 gun La Fortune in the South Atlantic. In the March of 1801 she was back at Chatham making good her top hamper and in the following month she came under the command of Sir Edward Berry destined for the Baltic. In the April of 1802 she came under Captain Henry Hill and was then fitted once more at Chatham between the following month and the the July of 1803.
Recommissioned under Captain Francis Gardiner she then had a rapid series of Captains until Captain John Draper took command in the July of 1806 under whom she spent some time in the North sea.

On the 25th June, 1807, Tsar Alexander I and Napoleon entered an accord at Tilsit, one of the secret clauses of which entailed the joint seizure of the Portuguese fleet. This led Napoleon to send a large army into Portugal in October of 1807, with a demand that Portugal should detain all British ships and sequester British property. This led to the departure of a Naval Squadron under Sir Sidney Smith to blockade the Tagus estuary. The squadron consisted of the Hibernia (120 guns), the London (98), the Foudroyant (80) and Elizabeth, Conqueror, Marlborough, Monarch, Plantagenet and Bedford (all78s). On arrival Smith arranged for the Portuguese Royal Family, all the serviceable Portuguese fleet and 20 armed merchantmen to leave for Brazil, which they did on the 29th October. Smith and his squadron accompanied them part of the way, leaving Marlborough, London, Monarch and Bedford to escort the fleet to Brazil. On the 30th October a Russian squadron under Admiral Seniavin entered Lisbon, where they became blockaded by the return of Smith's squadron. A few days after the Tsar's hostile declaration became known in London, five ships left Portsmouth to reinforce the blockade. These were the Ganges Defence and Alfred (74s) and Ruby and Agamemnon (64s). On arrival at the Tagus they enabled the Foudroyant, Conqueror and Plantagenet to leave for Cadiz.

The blockade continued for some time, as evidenced by this extract from a letter written by a seaman, John Williams, on board HMS Ruby off Lisbon in the June of1808 :-

"We are at present at anchor at the mouth of the harbour in sight of our Enemies. We are in sight of all of their Shipping with a naked eye there is of them 13 Saile of the Line of Battle Ships & 25 Sloops and Brigs of War all the Gun Boats we do not know the number of them. We are only 10 Saile of the Line and 2 Frigates 2 Sloops and Brigs. There is very heavy Batteries which the French has got the possession of them one of them has mounted as many heavy guns as there is Days in a year. We expect orders to go in Every Day So Dear Brother Remember me in your prayer."

In the December of 1808 her Captain was Robert Hall and once again she was destined for the Baltic.
In the June of 1809 Ruby became the Flagship of Rear Admiral Manley Dixon for a time under Captain Matthew Bradby and then in the July of that year Commander Thomas White as acting captain. Recommissioned in the October of 1810 and fitted at Chatham between the April and June of 1811, Ruby became a depot ship bound for Bermuda, and sailed for North America on the 25th of July in that year.

Fate.

In 1812 she came under the command of Lieutenant Peter Trounce As a receiving ship under the broad pennant of Captain Andrew Evans until 1817. During 1813 and 1814 she was under Lieutenant James Ward and from 1815 Lieutenant James Knight. Ruby was finally broken up in Bermuda during the April of 1821.

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HMS St Albans (1764)

HMS St Albans was a Thomas Slade designed St Albans Class 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by John Perry of Perry, Wells & Green at Blackwall Yard. Ordered on the 1st of January 1761 and confirmed on the 20th of that month, she was laid down in the August of that year, and launched on the 12th of September, 1764. She was completed at Deptford Dockyard on the 27th of that month.


St Albans

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS St Albans
Ordered:	1 January 1761
Builder:	Perry. Blackwall yard London.
Launched:	12 September 1764
Fate:	Broken up, 1814
Notes:
Class and type:	St Albans Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1380 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 3.75 in (48 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 6.5 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold: Draught;	18 ft 10 in (5.74 m) ?
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	64 guns: Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounders Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounders QD: 10 × 9-pounders Fc: 2 × 9-pounders +10 x 24-pounder Carronades from 12.1806

Service.

HMS St Albans was commissioned in the January of 1771 as a guardship at Portsmouth, and was recommissioned for sea in the November of 1776 under Captain Richard Onslow who had taken command in the previous month. She escorted a convoy to New York in the April of 1777 and then joined Lord Howe’s fleet in time for the repulse of Comte d’Estang at Sandy Hook on the 22nd July in that year. On the 4th of November, 1778, Onslow sailed for the West Indies in Commodore Hotham’s squadron and took part in the capture of Saint Lucia and its defence against d'Estaing that December at the Cul-de-Sac. In the August of 1779, St Albans escorted a convoy from St Kitts back to England. She was then paid off after wartimer service and underwent a middling repair, and coppering at Chatham between the March and October of that year for the sum of £17,583.16.8d.During her refit she was recommissioned by Captain Charles Inglis

On the 10th of December, St Albans, in company with the Monsieur, Portland, Solebay and Vestal, captured the Comtess de Buzancois.
On the 13th of March, 1781 St Albans sailed with Vice Admiral George Digby’s fleet to the relief of Gibraltar. She was with Admiral Robert Digby’s squadron later that year, before being dispatched to join Sir Samuel Hood’s squadron at Barbados.

She was thus with Hood during the Battle of St. Kitts, when he attempted to relieve the island and on the 25th and 26th of January, 1782, successfully repulsed several attacks by the Comte de Grasse. On the 9th of April in that year, St Albans was in action once more with the French Fleet, when Hood came to blows with de Grasse in the Dominica Channel, and on the 12th of April, when the main British fleet under Inglis' old captain, now Admiral Sir George Rodney, decisively defeated de Grasse at the Battle of the Saints. During the action St Albans suffered only six men wounded.

In late July St Albans sailed to North America with, Admiral Hugh Pigot who had succeeded to the command of the fleet. Having returned to the West Indies by the November of that year, Inglis had been promoted to the command of a squadron of four ships cruising independently. The squadron, consisted of St Albans, the 74 gun Magnificent, the 64 gun Prudent, and the sloop Barbados. On the 12th of February, 1783 they were dispatched from Gros Islet Bay to investigate a report that a French squadron, consisting of Triton, Amphion and several frigates, had sailed from Martinique. On the15th, Captain Robert Linzee’s Magnificent, cruising in company with Prudent and St Albans, sighted a strange sail and gave chase. She was close enough to identify the ship as a frigate by 18:00, and by 20:00 as darkness fell Linzee’s quarry opened fire on Magnificent with her stern chasers. Magnificent closed with the French Frigate at 21:15, and after fifteen minutes bombardment forced her to strike. Magnificent boarded the 36 gun Frigate which turned out to be the Concorde commanded by M. le Chevalier du Clesmaur. Shortly after surrendering, Concorde's main topsail caught fire, requiring her crew to cut away the mainmast in order to extinguish the conflagration. Two hours later the St Albans and Prudent came up, and Magnificent then towed Concorde to St Johns in Antigua.

Returning to England in the July of 1783 St Albans was paid off after wartime service and underwent a Great Repair and refit at Portsmouth between the October of 1790 and the April of 1793.at a cost of £32.201.She was recommissioned in the January of 1793 under Captain James Vashon, and on the 23rd of May she sailed for the Med, and on returning from this cruise, in the April of 1794 she sailed for Jamaica. On the 8th of November in that year St Albans in company with Porcupine shared in the capture of the Brig Molly, and on the 26th, off Bermuda, she rescued the crew of the ex French Gun-Brig HMS Actif which had developed leaks and was foundering.
Returning to England in 1795, she was refitted at Chatham between the April and May of that year for £8,184. and in the August she was recommissioned under Captain Thomas Macnamara Russell. Then in 1796 under Captain William Lechmere as the flagship of Vice Admiral George Vanderput, she sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the 12th of April in that year.

By the start of 1797 she had returned to Europe and was at Lisbon when, on the 28th of February, she took the Spanish privateer El Atrebedo, alias Le Concepcion. In the August of that year she came under Captain Francis Pender who would command her until 1799.

In the March of that year she sailed once more for Halifax, now under the command of John Oakes Hardy. In the October of 1801 command was passed to Commander Frederick Thesiger, and St Albans returned to England to be placed in ordinary at Chatham in the July of 1802.Here, she was fitted as a floating battery in the September of 1803 and commissioned under Captain john Temple for service in Hosley Roads.

In The June of 1805 St Albans became the Flagship of Admiral Viscount George Keith, and in the December of 1806 was refitted as a 64 gun ship. She was recommissioned in the February of 1807 under Captain Francis Austin who would retain this position until the April of 1810.On the 5th of April ,1809, St Albans sailed for the East Indies and China.

From the November of 1810 she was returned to Chatham for re-fitting under Captain Edward Brace.
From the December of 1810 she was at Spithead then on the Cadiz station until the December of 1812 under Captains Brace, Captain Charles Grant in 1811 and then Captain John. F. Devonshire from the January of 1812.
She was paid off in the November of 1812, taken out of commission and docked in Chatham for a refit between the December of that year and the October of 1813.

Fate.

By the September of that year St Albans was in process of being converted for use as a floating battery once more, but she was broken up less than a year later in the June of 1814.

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HMS Sampson (1781)

HMS Sampson was a John Williams designed, Intrepid Class, 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by M/shipwright Nicholas Phillips until the end of 1777, then George White until the April of 1779, and completed by John Jenner at Woolwich Dockyard. The ship was ordered on the 25th of July, 1776, laid down in the 20th of October 1777, and launched on the 8th of May, 1781. She was completed on the 29th of June in that year.


Sampson

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Sampson
Ordered:	25 July 1775
Builder:	Woolwich Dockyard
Laid down:	20 October 1777
Launched:	8 May 1781
Fate:	Broken up, 1832
General characteristics
Class and type:	Intrepid Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1380 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 5.5 in (48.62 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 5.75 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold: Draught;	18 ft 10.5 in (5.8 m) 11ft 6in / 16ft 5in
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	64 guns: Gundeck: 26 × 24 pdrs Upper gundeck: 26 × 18 pdrs QD: 10 × 4 pdrs Fc: 2 × 9 pdrs

Service.

HMS Sampson was commissioned in the April of 1781, paid off and recommissioned in the April of 1783 and fitted as a guardship at Plymouth between the Nay and September of 1783. Paid off once more in the June of 1786, she underwent a small repair in the June and July of 1792 for £19,255. She was recommissioned in the February of 1793 under Captain Robert Montague, and after fitting at Plymouth in the July of that year, sailed with a convoy for the East Indies on the 20th of March, 1794. On her return in the December of that year she was paid off and then recommissioned during that same month. In the April of 1795 she came under Captain Thomas Louis, but prior to making sail for Jamaica on the 23rd of May, had Captain William Clark appointed to command her.
In the February of 1796 Sampson came under Captain George Gregory, who was superseded in the May of that year by Captain George Tripp, and even later Captain Joseph Bingham before she was paid off in the February of 1797.

Recommissioned in the November of that same year under Lieutenant William Bevians until 1800 for use as a prison ship at Plymouth, in the September of 1801,she was under Lieutenant John Norris but opaid off once more in the May of 1802. Hulked as a Powder magazine in the August of that year it seemed as if Sampson’s
short seagoing life had been curtailed, and she wound up as a receiving ship at Cork in the October of 1805. However, between the December of that year and the January of 1806 she was recalled to service, fitted and rearmed as a 64 gun ship at Plymouth, and recommissioned in the April of that year under Captain Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy. In the July of that year she was placed under the command of Captain Samuel Warren, and shortly after that Captain Captain William Cumming as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Charles Stirling. On the 30th of August she sailed as escort to a convoy bound for the Cape of Good Hope, and then continued to the River Plate. On her return home in the December of that year she was paid off into ordinary at Chatham.

Fate.

Sampson was commissioned in the March of 1808 as a prison hulk in the Medway under Lieutenant John Watherston until 1811. He was followed by several other commanders until 1814 when Sampson was fitted as a sheer hulk at Woolwich.

On the 30th of May 1832 she was sold to John Levy at Deptford, and was then broken up.

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HMS Sceptre (1781)

HMS Sceptre was a John Williams designed Inflexible Class, 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by Randall and Co. at Rotherhithe. Ordered on the 5th of February 1777, confirmed on the 11th of February, 1779, laid down in the May of 1780, and launched on the 8th of June, 1781.She was completed and coppered at Deptford on the 17th of August in that same year.


Sceptre

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Sceptre
Ordered:	16 January 1779
Builder:	Randall, Rotherhithe
Laid down:	May 1780
Launched:	8 June 1781
Fate:	Wrecked in Table Bay, 5 November 1799
Notes:	Participated in: Battle of Trincomalee Battle of Cuddalore 1783 Battle of Muizenberg
General characteristics
Class and type:	Inflexible Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1398 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 9in (48 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 9 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold:	18 ft 0 in (5.74 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Sceptre was commissioned in the January of 1781, and shortly after her completion under Captain Samuel Graves, was dispatched to the Indian theatre in order to join the squadron of Vice Admiral Sir Edward Hughes. Her first action took place on the 3rd of September, 1782 at the Battle of Trincomalee off the coast of Ceylon. This was the fourth battle of a bloody campaign between Vice-Admiral Hughes and the French Admiral Bailli de Suffren’s squadron. In the battle the British total losses were 51 killed and 285 wounded, vs. the French losses of 82 killed and 255 wounded.

In the year following, on the night of the 11th of April, 1783 Sceptre was fortunate in capturing a 20 gun Coquette Class Corvette the Naiade, under the command of captain Villaret,. Naïade was taken into service by the Royal Navy, but was never commissioned. Instead she was sold in the August of 1784.
On the 20th of June, in the Bay of Bengal, Sceptre was involved in the Battle of Cuddalore, which turned out to be the final episode in the campaign.


The Battle of Cuddalore, Auguste Jugelet

She returned to England in the June of 1784, and was paid off after wartime service and was then laid up at Portsmouth and went into ordinary.

She underwent a small repair costing £15,148.18.11d in the January to June of 1785 but was not recommissioned until the March of 1793 under Captain James Dacres, for Howe’s Fleet. Having been fitted for sea between the April and May of that year, she sailed for Jamaica on the the 1st of November in that same year.
In 1794, under the command of Commodore John Ford, Sceptre took part in the San Domingo operations in the May and June of that year and on June the 4th assisted in the capture of Port-au-Prince in Haiti.
On the 12th of March, 1795, now under the command of Captain William Essington, Sceptre became the Flagship of Vice Admiral John McBride in the North Sea prior to sailing as escort to a convoy of East Indiamen bound for India and China via St Helena and the Cape of Good Hope.

When Sceptre arrived at St. Helena she brought the news that France had invaded the Netherlands in the January of that year. Furthermore, under an order dated the 9th of February, 1795, Royal Navy vessels and British ships under Letters of Marque were ordered to detain Dutch vessels and cargoes and bring them into British ports that they might be detained provisionally. Then, on the 2nd of June the British East India Packet Swallow arrived from the Cape with the news than a convoy of Dutch East Indiamen had left there, in transit to the Netherlands.
On the18th of May, the Dutch brig Komeet, commanded by Captain-Lieutenant Mynheer Claris, and the Dutch Corvette Scipio, Captain de Jong, set out from Table Bay with a further sixteen East Indiamen, for Europe. Inclement weather conditions forced eight Indiamen to return to the Cape. The remaining eight Indiamen, which had sailed on the 18th of May and their two escorts, and a private Dutch ship from the Cape, the whaler Herstilder, pressed on despite the storm and all but two of this group reached ports in the then neutral Norway.
Essington prevailed upon Colonel Brooke, the governor of St Helena, to loan him some troops and to allow the British EIC vessels which were in port there to form a squadron in an attempt to intercept the Dutch. On the 3rd of June, Sceptre, General Goddard, Manship,and Swallow set out. Five other HEIC ships set out later, of which only Busbridge caught up with the squadron. On the10th, the British succeeded in capturing the Dutch Indiaman Hougly, which Swallow escorted into St Helena, before returning to the squadron with additional seamen. Due to bad weather, Manship and Busbridge then lost contact with Essington's squadron.

In the afternoon of the 14th of June, Essington's squadron sighted seven sail. At 1 a.m. the next morning General Goddard penetrated the Dutch fleet, which fired on her. She did not ,however, return fire. Nevertheless, later that morning, after a brisk exchange of shots between the fleets,the Dutch surrendered. The HEIC ships Busbridge, Captain Samuel Maitland, and Asia, Captain John Davy Foulkes, arrived on the scene and helped board the Dutch vessels. There were no casualties on either side. The British then brought their prizes into St Helena on the 17th of June.



General Goddard, HMS Sceptre, and Swallow capturing Dutch East Indiamen, byThomas Luny; National Maritime Museum.

On the 1st of July, Sceptre, General Goddard and the prizes sailed from St Helena to gather in other returning British East Indiamen. They then returned to St Helena, where George Vancouver and Discovery, which had arrived there in the meantime, joined them. The entire convoy, now comprising some 20 vessels, sailed for Shannon in August, the majority arriving there on the13th of December, although three of the Dutch vessels were lost, Houghly on the 1st of September, and Surcheance on the 5th. Zeelelie escaped, but was wrecked off the Scilly Islands on the 26th. General Goddard reached the Downs on the 15th of October.
Because the captures occurred before Britain had declared war on the Dutch, now the new Batavian Republic, the vessels become Droits to the Crown. Nevertheless, prize money, in the amount of two-thirds of the value of the Dutch ships still amounted to £76,664.14. Of this, £61,331 15s 2d was distributed among the officers and crew of Sceptre, General Goddard, Busbridge, Asia, and Swallow.
On the 17th of August, 1796 Sceptre, was present at the surrender of the Dutch squadron in Saldanha Bay. In the March of 1797 she came under the command of Captain Thomas Alexander and then in the September of that year Captain Valentine Edwards. On the 19th of September 1799 she destroyed the 10 gun Privateer L’Eclair at Rodrigues.

Fate.


HMS Sceptre sinking

While still under the command of Captain Edwards, Sceptre, riding at anchor in table Bay, was caught a storm on the 5th of November in that year, along with seven other vessels. At 10:30am, Captain Edwards ordered the topmasts to be struck down, and the fore and main yards lowered in order to ease the ship in the strengthening winds. At midday, the ship fired a feu de joie on the occasion of the Gunpowder Plot, suggesting no apparent apprehension about the oncoming storm. However within half an hour, the main anchor cable parted followed by the secondary one. At approximately 7pm, the ship was driven ashore onto a reef at Woodstock Beach. The ship was battered to pieces, and approximately 349 seamen and marines lost their lives. One officer, two midshipmen, 47 seamen and one marine were saved from the wreck, but nine of these died on the beach.



A sketch of wreckage showing the guns from Sceptre at Craig's Tower by Lady Anne Barnard

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HMS Scipio (1782)

HMS Scipio was an Edward Hunt designed Crown Class 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by William Barnard at Deptford. Ordered on the 11th of November 1779, laid down in the January of 1780, se was launched on the 22nd of October, 1782 and completed between the November of that year and the 15th of January 1783 at Woolwich.


Plan of the orlop deckdeck of Scipio
.

History
Great Britain
Name:		HMS Scipio
Ordered:		11 November 1779
Builder:		Barnard, Deptford
Laid down:		January 1780
Launched:		22 October 1782
Fate:		Broken up, 1798
General characteristics
Class and type:	64-gun Crown Class third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1401 (bm)
Length:	160 ft 8 in (48.90 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 8.75 in (13.67 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 5 in (5.880 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Scipio was commissioned in the October of 1782 and fitted for Channel service at Sheerness in the September of 1783, where she was recommissioned as a guardship in the April of 1784.Refitted at Chatham for £4604.17.8d she remained a guardship in theMedway until 1789.

Fitted at Chatham, and recommissioned under Captain Thomas Pasley in the March of 1790 for the Spanish Armament, in the August of that year she came under the command of Captain Edward Thornbrough.

Scipio returned to chatham for repairs between theApril of 1794 and the May of 1795 at a cost of £8.805.Having been Recommissioned in the November of 1794 under Captain Mark Robinson, in the January of 1795 she came under the command of Captain Richard fisher and in the following month Captain Robert M’Dougall and sailed for the Leeward Islands on the 8th of August in that year. In the March of 1796 she came under Captain Francis Laforey, and then exactly a year later Captain Charles Davers. In the September of that year she returned to England and was paid off in the December.

Fate.

She was broken up at Chatham in the October of 1798.

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HMS STANDARD (1782)

HMS Standard was the last of the 15 Inreepid Class 64 gun third rate ships of the line built to a design by John Williams, and built by m/shipwright Adam Hayes at Deptford dockyard. Ordered on the 5th of August 1779, she was laid down in the May of 1780, and launched on the 8th of October, 1782. The ship was completed at Woolwich between the 18th of October and the19th of December in that year, her total cost amounting to £34,347.11.4d.


Plan of Standard

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:		HMS Standard
Ordered:		5 August 1779
Builder:		Deptford Dockyard
Laid down:		May 1780
Launched:		8 October 1782
Fate:		Broken up, 1816
General characteristics
Class and type:	Intrepid Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1369 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 6 in (48.6 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 4 in (13.5 m)
Depth of hold: Draught:	19 ft (5.8 m) 12ft 2in x 17ft 1 in
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Standard was commissioned under Captain William Dickson in the September of 1782, and recommissioned in March 1783 as a guardship at Plymouth, and fitted for this role in the September of that year. She was paid off in the September of 1786, and recommissioned in the same month for the same duty, under Captain Charles Chamberlyane. She was next paid off in the February of 1788.

She was next fitted at Plymouth between the February and June of 1795 for £12,490, recommissioned under Captain Joseph Ellison, for Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren’s squadron, and dispatched forthwith for the Quiberon operations which conclueded in the September of that year. On the 28th of February, 1796 Standard sailed for the East Indies, temporarily under the command of Captain H Lukin. By the October of that year she was back in the North Sea. In the February of 1797 she was under Captain Thomas Parr, and then in the September of that same year Captain Thomas Shivers. From mid April to mid May, Standard was involved in the Nore Mutiny. On the 5th of May her crew had taken over the ship and trained cannon on officer’s enraged over the issue of the dilatory practice of payment in arrears. After the mutiny collapsed, William Wallis, one of the leaders on Standard, shot himself to avoid trial and hanging. William Redfern, her surgeon's mate, was sentenced to death for his role in the mutiny, which was later commuted to transportation for life to the colony of New South Wales. Order having been thus restored she was paid off in the December of that year.

She was recommissioned in February 1799 as a prison ship at Sheerness under lieutenant Thomas Pamp. In November she was fitted as a convalescent ship at Chatham. One month later she was recommissioned under Lieutenant Jacques Dalby as a hospital ship at Sheerness.

Between March and May 1801 Standard was refitted at Chatham, for the sum of £15,110. as a 64 gun ship once more, being commissioned during this time in the April of that year under Captain Charles Stewart, for service in the North Sea. She was paid off in the April of 1802, repaired by Barnard and Co. at Deptford, refitted at various times, and recommissioned in August 1805 under Captain Thomas Harvey, who would remain in command until 1808, and then sailed for the Eastern Mediterranean in order to join Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Louis’s squadron.

During 1807, whilst based in the Med, she took part in Vice admiral Sir John Duckworth’s unsuccessful operation in the Dardanelles On the 19th of February; Standard suffered three crewmen wounded while forcing the passage.


Duckworth's squadron forcing the Dardanelles.

Near a redoubt at Port Pesquies the British encountered a Turkish squadron of one ship of 64 guns, four frigates and eight other vessels, most of which they ran aground. Marines from HMS Pompee spiked the 31 guns on the redoubt, and Standard aided by Thunderer destroyed three Turkish frigates which had run ashore. On the 27th of that month Standard had two men wounded assisting a Royal Marine landing party on the island of Prota.
During their retirement, the British squadron were subjected to fire from the Turkish castle at Abydos. Granite cannonballs weighing 700–800 pounds and measuring well over 6 ft in circumference smote the Active, Standard, and Windsor Castle. the shot itself killing four men aboard Standard. It also started a fire and explosion which led to four seamen jumping overboard. In total, Standard lost four dead, 47 wounded, and four missing (believed drowned). In all, the British ships suffered 29 killed and 138 wounded.

On the 26th of March, 1808, cruising off Cape Blanco, Standard, accompanied by the 38 gun frigate Active, captured the Franco-Italian 18 gun Brig, Friedland. After a chase lasting several hours Captain Richard Mowbray of Active took possession of the Brig. Had she not had the misfortune to lose her topmast, she might well have made her escape. Active accompanied her prize to Malta, together with the prisoners, who included Commodore Don Amilcar Paolucci, commander in chief of the Italian Marine and Knight of the Iron Crown.

On the 16th of June, whilst Standard was cruising off the island of Corfu, she encountered the Italian gunboat Volpe, armed with an iron 4-pounder cannon, escorting the French dispatch boat Legera. The wind having fallen off, Captain Harvey dispatched his ships pinnace, cutter, and yawl in an attempt to capture the enemy ships. The British overhauled their quarry after having rowed for two hours. They captured Volpe despite facing stiff resistance, and then caused the Legera to run aground about four miles north of Cape St. Mary. The French crew took to the rocks above their vessel and kept up a continuous small arms fire on the British seamen who took possession of the vessel and towed her off. They then burnt both vessels. Despite the resistance and small arms fire the British had suffered no casualties.

During 1809 Standard served in the the Baltic under Captain Aiskew Hollis during the Gunboat War. On the 18th of May in that year a squadron consisting of Standard, the frigate HMS Owen Glendower, and the vessels Avenger, Rose, Ranger and Snipe, took the island of Anholt, with a landing party of seamen and marines under the command of Captain William Selby of the Owen Glendower, together with the assistance of Captain Edward Nicholls contingent of Royal Marines from Standard. The Danish garrison of 170 men put up a sharp but ineffectual resistance which only killed one British marine and wounded two others. The garrison then quickly capitulated, and the British took immediate possession of the island.

Hollis, in his report, stated that Anholt was strategically important insofar as it could furnish not onlt supplies of water to His Majesty's fleet, but also afforded a secure anchorage for merchant vessels sailing to and from the Baltic seaports. However, the principal objective of the mission was to restore the lighthouse on the island to its pre-war state to facilitate the movement of British men of war and merchantmen navigating the dangerous seas in the vicinity.

On the 19th of December, 1810, still under Captain Hollis, Standard sailed for the Med again. By the February of 1811 she had reached the Portuguese station, now temporarily under the command of Captain Joshua Horton, and then In May command was passed temporarily to Captain Charles Fleeming.

Fate.

On her return to England, Standard was paid off into ordinary in 1813. She was broken up in the October of 1816 at Sheerness.

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HMS STATELY (1784)



HMS Stately was a Thomas Slade designed, Ardent Class, 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by Thomas Raymond at Northam. Ordered on the 5th and confirmed on the 10th of February, 1777, she was laid down on the 25th of May, 1779, and launched on the 27th of December, 1784. The ship was completed between the 30th of that month and the 25th of February 1785 at Portsmouth at a cost of £25,037.9.11d plus £6,735 for extras.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Stately
Ordered:	5 December 1778
Builder:	Raymond, Northam
Laid down:	25 May 1779
Launched:	27 December 1784
Honours and awards:	Naval General Service Medal with clasps: "Egypt" "Stately 22 March 1808"
Fate:	Broken up, 1814
General characteristics
Class and type:	Ardent class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1388 (bm)
Length:	160 ft 0.5 in (49 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft6.5 in (13.5 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 9 in (5.8 m)
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Lower deck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper deck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

Starting life in ordinary at Portsmouth, HMS Stately underwent a small repair and coppering between the September of 1787 and the April of 1788. She was partly fitted for The Spanish Armament under Captain Robert Calder in 1790 but saw no service.


In 1793 Stately was commissioned under Captain John Samuel Smith as the flagship of Vice Admiral Sir Richard King who took command at Portsmouth on the 24th of July in that year, as was reported in The Times newspaper.
In 1794 she came under Captain Richard fisher and then in 1795 Captain Billy Douglas, and sailed for the East Indies on the 12th of March. She then joined Elphinstone’s squadron at the Cape of Good Hope, where on the 7th of July, 1796 accompanied by other vessels she took the privateer Milanie. On the 17th of August in that year she took part in the capture of the Dutch squadron at Saldanha Bay. In the March of 1797 she was under the command of Captain Patrick Campbell until the August of that year, when Captain Andrew Todd took over her command.

In the August of 1798 she came under Captain John Spanger, followed in the November, by Captain John Osbourn.
It was during this year of Stately’s sojourn at the Cape that she became the venue for the court-martial of Mr. Reid, second mate of the East Indiaman King George. Whilst they were both on shore, Reid had struck Captain Richard Colnett, captain of the ship. The court-martial sentenced Reid to two years in the Marshallsea prison. This was because Colnett held a Letter of Marque Certificate. King George being a "private man-of-war", and the Navy's Articles of War applying only at sea. Had Reid struck Colnett aboard ship, the charge would have been mutiny, for which the penalty would have been hanging.

The Admiralty had Stately converted for use a troopship between the June and August of 1799.
Having been recommissioned in that July by Captain George Scott for service in the Med, she sailed for that theatre in the April of 1800. In 1801 she took part in the Egyptian operations armed en flute, and remained in this guise until 1804 when she returned home for necessary repairs performed by Perry and Co. at Blackwall between the November of 1804 and the May of 1805, at a cost of £22,422. Because Stately 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 authorised to all surviving claimants in 1847.

Napoleonic Wars.

In the April of 1805 was refitted under Captain George Parker, as a fully armed 64 gun warship intended for North Sea service but by 1808 she was in the Baltic, where on the 22nd of March, accompanied by the Nassau she took and burnt the Danish 74 gun ship Prinds Christian Frederick near Grenaa off Zealand Point.



Stately and Nassau destroying the last Danish ship of the line, Prinds Christian Frederick, commanded by Captain C.W.Jessen, at the Battle of Zealand Point.

In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasps "Stately 22 March 1808" and "Nassau 22 March 1808" to any still surviving crew members of those vessels that chose to claim them.
In the June of 1808 Stately came under Captain William Cumberland’s command, and shortly afterwards returned to England. Between the August and September of that year she underwent a trifling small repair at Portsmouth for £6,402.

In the April of 1809 her Captain was thought to be James Whitley Dundas acting as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Thomas Bertie, once more in the Baltic, bur by the February of 1810 she was back at Portsmouth for repairs which took until April. She next came under the command of Captain Robert Campbell and sailed for the Med on the 28th of December in that year. Her next commander was Captain Edward Dixon, who was in turn superseded by Captain William Stewart in the August of 1812. From then until 1813 she served off Portugal, although she had another change of Captain in the November of 1812 when command passed to Captain Charles Bateman. During 1813 she came under Captain Charles Englis for her final duty as the Flagship of Vice Admiral George Martin.

Fate.

Stately was broken up at Portsmouth in the July of 1814.

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HMS Trident (1768)

HMS Trident was one of only three Exeter Class, 64 gun, third rate ships of the line designed by William Bately, and built by M/shipwright Israel Pownoll at Plymouth Dockyard. Ordered on the 4th of December 1762 and approved on the 2nd of February 1763, she was laid down in the October of that year and launched on the 20th of April 1768. She was completed in the January of 1771.


Trident, Prudent and Europe.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Trident
Ordered:	4 December 1762
Builder:	Plymouth Dockyard
Launched:	20 April 1768
Fate:	Sold out of the service, 1816
General characteristics
Class and type:	Exeter Class 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1366​86⁄94 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 0 in (48.39 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 4 in (13 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 4 in (5.82 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Trident was commissioned in the May of 1771 for service in the Med. On the 30th of January, 1772, whilst anchored in Gibraltar harbour during a severe winter storm, the Danish ship-of-the-line Prinsesse Wilhelmine Caroline dragged its anchor, colliding with the bow of HMS Trident before running aground.
Between the May and July of that year she was fitted as a Flagship at a cost of £3,644.6.8d.
She was paid off in the September of 1774.

She was then fitted for ordinary at Chatham in the January of 1775. She underwent a very small repair and refit for £10,070.7.10d between the October of 1776 and the June of 1777. Having been recommissioned during the refit, from the April of 1778 until the June of that year she was under the command of Captain John Inglis. She was paid off again in the September of 1781 after wartime service.

Between the November of that year and the December of 1783 she underwent a Great Repair and coppering for the sum of £25,855.4.0d and was then laid up. Fitted for sea again between the February and July of 1795, in the April of that year she was recommissioned under Captain Theophilus Jones as the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Charles Pole from the September of that year. By the November her new captain was Edward Osborne, who would continue in command until 1798. Under him Trident sailed for the East Indies on the 16th of May 1796 and was thus on hand at the Cape for the surrender of the Dutch squadron in Saldanha Bay on the 17th of August of .that year.

Temporally placed under Captain Edward Packenham in the June of 1798, in quick succession she then came under captain’s Simon Miller in the June of 1799, and John Turner in the October of that year. He died in the January of 1801, and his place was taken by Captain Henry Lidgbird Ball in 1801, and then in temporily Commander’s Peter Haywood, Charles James Johnson, and finally Captain George Ralph Collier in the East Indies in 1802. During the period 18 04 to 1805 Trident came under the command of Captain Thomas Surridge as the Flagship of Vice Admiral Peter Rainier, and then under Captain Benjamin Page for her voyage home. On her return to England in the October of 1805 she was paid off and not recommissioned, and went into Ordinary at Chatham until 1807. By Admiralty Orders on the 12th of August in that year she was fitted at Chatham as a guard and receiving ship for Malta.between the September of that year and the April of 1808 under the supervision of Captain Robert Campbell. She spent her time between 1809 and 1815 in this role at Malta, and under Captain Richard Vincent from 1812 as the Flagship of Rear Admiral John Laugharne.

Fate.

In 1816 Trident came under the command of Commander Charles Hope Reid until the 3rd of July in that year when she was sold out of the service at Malta to Vicenzo Casuli for £1,516.10.0d.

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HMS Veteran (1787)

HMS Veteran was a Sir Edward Hunt designed Crown Class 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by Robert Fabian until his death in 1786, and completed by his son of the same name, at East Cowes. Ordered on the 3rd of September 1780, and laid down in the July of 1781, she was launched on the 14th of August, 1787, and completed between the 15th of that month and the 13th of September of that same year at Portsmouth before going into Ordinary. The final cost being £24,259.12.0d to build, plus £9,695 for fitting and coppering.


Plan of the Orlop deck of Veteran

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Veteran
Ordered:	3 August 1780
Builder:	Fabian, East Cowes
Laid down:	July 1781
Launched:	14 August 1787
Fate:	Broken up, 1816
Notes:	Participated in: The Battle of Copenhagen
General characteristics
Class and type:	Crown Class, 64 gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1,396 ¾ (bm)
Length:	160 ft 4 ½ in (48.9 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 8 in (13.6 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 5 in (5.9 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Veteran was commissioned under Captain Charles Nugent for Howe’s fleet in the March of 1793, and sailed for the Leeward Islands on the 26th of November in that year. In 1794 she was under Captain Lewis Robinson and in the March of that year she was at Martinique where Robinson was killed. By June she was at Guadeloupe now under Captain George Bowen, and later Captain Sampson Edwards.

However, in 1795 she was under the command of Captain Hancock Kelly, still stationed at the Leeward Islands. She then returned to England and was paid off in the October of 1796.

Veteran was recommissioned under Captain Abraham Guyot in the May of 1797, and in the August of that same year she came under the command of Captain George Gregory and at the Battle of Camperdown on the 11th of October served in the Lee column, suffering 4 killed and 21 wounded.

At end-February 1798 Veteran and HMS Astraea were responsible for the towing of the General Elliott into Great Yarmouth following her abandonment by the crew. In the following month the command of Veteran was transferred to Captain James Walker, followed by Captain J Moss in the June of that year, when she became the Flagship of Vice Admiral Archibald Dixon.

In the February of 1799 she came under the command of Captain Archibald Collingwood Dixon until 1801, and took part in Mitchell’s operations off the Dutch coast in the August of that year.

Veteran’s next assignment took place in the Baltic in 1801, where she was present at the Battle o Copenhagen, as part of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker’s reserve fleet.

In the January of 1804 Veteran was placed under the command of Captain Richard King who was replaced in the June of that year by Captain James Newman.

In 1805, Veteran was captained by Capt. Andrew Evans in Jamaica. She subsequently served as the Flagship of both Vice-Admiral James Richard Dacres, then second in command on the station, and on his recall, Vice Admiral Bartholomew Rowley in 1808.

Fate.

On her return to England in 1809 Veteran was fitted as a prison ship at Portsmouth in the July of that year, and was commissioned under Lieutenant Henry Marshall until 1811. In 1813 she came under Lieutenant William Henry Boyce, and in 1814 Lieutenant Stephen Donovan. In 1815 she was placed in Ordinary, and broken up at Portsmouth in the June of 1816.

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HMS Vigilant (1774)

HMS Vigilant was a John Williams designed Intrepid Class,64 gun, third rate ship of the line, built by Henry and Anthony Adams at Bucklers Hard, Ordered on the 14th of January, 1771, and laid down in the February of that year, a month before she was approved, she was launched on the 6th of October, 1774, and completed at Portsmouth between the 29th of October in that year and the 11th of July, 1778.


Vigilant

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Vigilant
Ordered:	14 January 1771
Builder:	Adams, Bucklers Hard
Laid down:	February 1771
Launched:	6 October 1774
Fate:	Broken up, 1816
General characteristics
Class and type:	Intrepid Class, 64 gun ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1376 (bm)
Length:	159 ft 6.5 in (48.62 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	44 ft 5.5 in (13.51 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	64 guns: Gundeck: 26 × 24 pdrs Upper gundeck: 26 × 18 pdrs Quarterdeck: 10 × 4 pdrs Forecastle: 2 × 9 pdrs

Service.

HMS Vigilant was commissioned in the March of 1778 for service in the American Revolution, but by 1779 she had been deemed unseaworthy by the navy. She was stripped of her sails and used as a floating battery to support the amphibious landing of British troops on Port Royal Island, South Carolina prior to the Battle of Beaufort. On her return to England she was paid off after wartime service in the September of 1781. Between the October of that year and the March of 1782 she was repaired, fitted and coppered at Chatham for the sum of £11,467.13.11d. Temporally recommissioned, she was paid off again in the July of the following year. Then, between the March and April of 1795 she was fitted as a prison ship at Portsmouth at a cost of £2,722. and again in the October of 1796 for £1,712. Recommissioned under Lieutenant Robert Young in this role, she then continued as such with a regular change in commanders until the January of1806, when she sank in Portsmouth Harbour. Raised again in the April of that year and repaired, she was recommissioned under Lieutenant John McDonald , and then in the August of that year command passed to Lieutenant Somerville until the end of1811, when Lieutenant James M’Aurthur assumed command for 1813. In 1814, still acting as a prison ship, her final commander was destined to be Lieutenant William Stone.

Fate.

HMS Vigilant, which could be deemed to arguably have been be the least active and most unseaworthy ship in this whole period, was broken up at Portsmouth in the April of.1816.

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HMS Yarmouth (1745)



HMS Yarmouth was a 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built at Deptford Dockyard by M/shipwright Joseph Allin, Jnr. Ordered on the 16th of June, 1742, and laid down on the 25th of November of that year, launched on the 8th of March, 1745, and completed on the 10th of May in that same year, at a cost of £30,527.4.9d. She had been previously ordered to the dimensions specified in the 1741 proposals for modifications to the 1719 Establishment, but the Admiralty had very quickly concluded that these were too small, and as an experiment in 1742 authorized an addition of 6ft to the planned length Yarmouth was thus re-ordered to the enlarged design in the June of that year. She had been built at Deptford because the Admiralty felt they could best observe the effectiveness of the added size at close quarters.


Plan of Yarmouth

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Yarmouth
Ordered:	16 June 1742
Builder:	Deptford Dockyard
Laid down:	25 November 1742
Launched:	8 March 1745
Commissioned:	February 1745
In service:	1745–1807
Honours and awards:	Second Battle of Cape Finisterre, 1747 Seven Years’War. American Revolutionary War. Battle of the Saints 1782
Fate:	Broken up, April 1811
General characteristics
Class and type:	1741 proposals 64 gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1359 ​38⁄94 (bm)
Length:	160 ft (48.8 m) (gundeck) 131 ft 8 in (39.8 m) (keel)
Beam:	44 ft 3 in (13.5 m)
Depth of hold:	18 ft 11in (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 26 × 32-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns Quarterdeck: 10 × 9-pounder guns Forecastle: 2 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Yarmouth was commissioned under Captain Roger Martin in the February of 1745 for the Western squadron in the Downs during the winter of 1745.

The War of the Austrian Succession.

In 1746, still with the Western squadron she was the Flagship of W. Martin. And on the 15th of April took the privateer Le Chasseur. Later in that year, on the 9th of October, now under Captain Piercy Brett, she joined Admiral George Anson’s Fleet cruising off Cape Finisterre.

In the following year, on the 14th of May 1747, she served as one of the ships in Anson’s squadron at the First Battle of Cape Finisterre. This action saw 14 British ships attack a French 30-ship convoy commanded by Admiral de la Jonquiere. The British captured 4 ships of the line, 2 Frigates and 7 merchantmen, in a five-hour battle. One French frigate, one French East India warship and the other merchantmen escaped.

In later 1747, temporarily under Captain Charles Saunders she took part in the second battle of Finisterre, but by 1748 she was back under Brett’s command again this time with Warren’s fleet.

By Admiralty Orders, on the 22nd of November 1748 Yarmouth was reduced to guard ship duties at Chatham, and was then paid off in 1752. In the September of 1753 she removed to Sheerness still in the role of a guard ship under Captain George Cockburn.

Refitted for Channel service in 1754,in the March of 1755 she came under Captain Harry Norris and sailed as a reinforcement for Boscawen.

The Seven Years’ War.

In the January of 1756 she joined Osborne’s Fleet, but by the June of that year, now under Captain Chaloner Ogle, she was back with Boscawen. In the November of that year, under Captain Robert Frankland she became the flagship of the now Rear Admiral Norris with Knowles’s Fleet, and on the10th of March 1757 she sailed for the East Indies.

In 1758 HMS Yarmouth served under Captain John Harrison as Flagship to Vice Admiral George Pocock at the Battle of Cuddalore which took place on the 29th of April of that year off the Carnatic coast of India and was an indecisive battle fought between the British squadron and a French squadron under the command of the Comte d’Ache. British casualties were 29 killed and 89 wounded, whilst the French lost 99 killed and 321 wounded. Although the battle itself was indecisive, the French fleet was able to achieve its primary objective in delivering the reinforcements for which the defenders of Pondicherry had been awaiting.
The two squadrons clashed again on the 3rd of August at the Battle of Negapatam and finally on the 10th of September at the Battle of Pondicherry.

Yarmouth returned to England to pay off in 1760.On the 4th of November in that year she underwent a survey, and during the period between the 11th of September 1761 and the July of 1763 she underwent a great repair at Chatham costing £30,338.9.3d.

Recommissioned inthe May of that year under Captain Charles Proby, who was to command her until 1766, she took up guard duties at Chatham. In 1767 she removed to Sheerness to continue in this role, now under Captain James Gambier, and thence to Chatham once more.
In 1770 she came under the command of Captain Edward Vernon back at Sheerness once more, and later under Captain Western Verlo.

A change of fortune for Yarmouth came in 1777 when she recommissioned under Captain Nicholas Vincent, and on the 9th of September in that year she sailed for the Leeward Islands.

The American Revolution.

On the 7th of March, 1778 Yarmouth was attacked by the American frigate Randolph which had half the number of Yarmouth’s guns and estimatedly less than a quarter of her firepower. The frigate managed to cause some minor damage to two of Yarmouth's topmasts and a portion of her bowsprit, and now having established superior manoeuvrability, attempted to rake the Yarmouth. Randolph was now managing 3 broadsides to each one with which Yarmouth could reply, however the 12 lb shot failed to do substantial damage or to penetrate Yarmouth's hull, whilst Yarmouth's 18 and 32-pounders were able to penetrate any part of her comparatively lightly armoured opponent with impunity. Having taken a critical hit, most probably having entered her magazine, Randolph exploded during the engagement,killing all but four of her crew. Part of her wreckage landed on Yarmouth's decks, including Randolph's ensign. Yarmouth was forced to repair two damaged topmasts, but otherwise suffered no significant damage, and no fatalities or serious injuries.

Later in 1778 she came under the Captaincy of Nathaniel Bateman, who would be dismissed in 1780 by Court Martial. On the 6th of August 1779 Yarmouth took part in the Battle of Grenada, taking her place at the van of the rear squadron, and in the following year, on the 17th of April, 1780, in Admiral Rodney’s Fleet at in the Battle of Martinique. By the end of the month she was under Captain John Duckworth for the actions at St Lucia from the 15th and 17th of May in that year. Following this action she proceeded with Rodney to New York and thence home to England.

In 1781,Yarmouth was under Captain Skeffington Ludwidge until she paid off in the March of that year in order for her to be reduced in armament to become a 60 gun Fourth Rate ship. She was ,however, re-established as a 74 gun ship of the Line by Admiralty Orders given on the 18th of April and was fitted as such for Home Service between the May and October of that year. Recommissioned by Captain William Denne for Derby’s fleet in the autumn of that year, in the January of 1782, under Captain Anthony Parrey she sailed for the Leeward Islands once more.

On the 9th of April of that year she saw action in the Dominica Channel, and on the 12th of the month at the Battle of the Saints, and following this an action at the Mona Passage on the 19th of the month. On the 21st of July she sailed for New York with Pigot, and then to the blockade of Cape Francois. In the January? of 1783, she came under Captain Edward Herbert and returned to the Leeward Islands. From there she returned home and was paid off in the June of that year.

Fate.

Fitted as a receiving ship at Plymouth between the November and December of that same year she remained in this role until 1807.
In the April of 1811, Yarmouth was broken up there.

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HMS Agincourt (1796)

HMS Agincourt was a 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by Perry and Co. at Blackwall Yard. Registered and named Earl Talbot in 1795 she was launched on the 23rd of July, 1796. By which time she had been purchased by the Admiralty, whilst still on the stocks, from the Honorable East India Company, who had named her the Earl Talbot. She was completed between the 27th of August, 1796, and the 31st of March, 1797, at Woolwich.



Plan of Agincourt

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Agincourt
Builder:	Perry, Blackwall Yard
Launched:	23 July 1796
Christened:	Earl Talbot
Decommissioned:	1809
Renamed:	1796:HMS Agincourt 1812:HMS Bristol
Honours and awards:	Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt"
Fate:	Sold, 1814
General characteristics
Class and type:	64 gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1438 (bm)
Length:	172 ft 8 in (52.63 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	43 ft 4½ in (13.21 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 8¾ in (6.02 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament: As a troopship	Guns LD: 28 x 24pdrs UD:28 x 18pdrs QD: 6 x 9pdrs Fc: 2 x 9pdrs LD: nil UD: 28 x 18pdrs QD: 2 x 9pdrs + 8 x 24pdr Carronades FC: 2 x 9pdrs + 8 24pdr Carronades

Service.

HMS Agincourt was commissioned by Captain John Williamson in the October of 1796.
She was at Gravesend during the Nore Mutiny in 1797. On the 11th of October in that year, under Captain Williamson, in Admiral Duncan’s Fleet, she took part in the Battle of Camperdown in the Lee column. Although slightly damaged, she received no casualties.

In the January of 1798 she came under the command of Captain John Lawford, and then in the March of that year Captain John Bligh, as the Flagship of Vice Admiral William Waldegrave, and voyaged to Newfoundland in the summer of that year. By the December she was back in England and underwent a refit at Portsmouth for £9,235. between the December of that year and the January of 1799. She then proceeded to aid in the blockade of Rochefort, still in the role of Waldegrave’s Flagship.

In 1800 the command of Agincourt was assumed by Captain George Ryves, a post which he would hold until 1804. Under him, the ship sailed for the Med in the January of 1801 as the flagship of Rear Admiral Charles Pole. Agincourt was to serve in the navy's Egyptian campaign between 8 March 1801 and 2 September, which qualified her officers and crew for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorized in 1850 to all surviving claimants.

In the August of 1803 Agincourt was temporarily taken under the command of Captain Charles Schomberg, and on Ryves finally leaving the post in 1804, she came under Captain Thomas Briggs until 1805, destined for the Channel Fleet, then between 1806 and 1807 she served under Captain Richard Hill in the North Sea.
On her return to port she was fitted as a victualler at Chatham between the February and October of 1808. Recommissioned under Captain Robert Henderson in the same roll for the Downs, in the November of that year, she came under Captain William Kent who would hold the command until 1811.

Fate.

Agincourt was decommissioned in 1809 and converted to a 28 gun troop ship between the July and October of 1810. On the 6th of January, 1812, she was recommissioned under the name HMS Bristol.
In the July of that year she was serving in the Med under Captain John Thompson, and then Captain John Wyndham during 1813 in the North sea, where on the 21st of March in that year she took the 4 gun privateer La Petite louise as her last hurrah!

On the 15th of December, 1814, she was sold out of the service for £4,500.

[Bligh]

HMS Ardent (1796)


Ardent off Lowestoft on 16 October 1797. Note the Jury rigged sails.

HMS Ardent was a 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by Thomas Pitcher at Northfleet. Registered and named on the 14th of July, 1795, and launched on the 9th of April 1796. She was completed between the 26th of April and the 7th of August, 1796 at Woolwich.

Her total cost was £22,652 for building including coppering, plus £5,262 for fitting.
Like Agincourt before her, she was originally designed and laid down for the Honorable East India Company which was going to name her Princess Royal, but the Navy purchased her before launching, in the March of 1795, for service as a warship in the French Revolutionary War.


Ardent

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Ardent
Builder:	Pitcher, Northfleet
Launched:	9 April 1796
Acquired:	March 1795 (on the stocks)
Honours and awards:	Participated in: Battle of Camperdown Battle of Copenhagen
Fate:	Broken up, 1824
General characteristics
Class and type:	64 gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1,416​24⁄94 (bm)
Length:	173 ft 3 in (52.81 m) (overall) 144 ft 0 in (43.89 m) (keel)
Beam:	43 ft 0 in (13.11 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 10 in (6.05 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Lower deck: 26 x 24-pounder guns Upper deck: 26 x 18-pounder guns QD: 10 x 9-pounder guns FC: 2 x 9-pounder guns

Service.


HMS Ardent was commissioned under Captain Richard Burges in the May of 1796 for service in Admiral Duncan’s Fleet in the North Sea.

In the May of 1797, whilst anchored at the Nore, she became caught up in the Great Mutiny which had spread from Spithead.Ardent played only a minor role in the upheaval, but at one point, came under fire from the mutineers aboard HMS Monmouth.


The Battle of Camperdown by Derek Gardner.

She finally got to sea on the 10th of June, and on the 11th of October in that year, she took part in the Battle of Camperdown serving in Duncan’s weather column. During the action Ardent suffered 41 killed, including Captain Burges, and a further 107 wounded.


Captain Burgess' memorial in St Pauls Cathedral.

On the 8th of November of that year, now under Captain Thomas Bertie, who would command her until 1801, she joined Mitchell’s squadron on the Dutch coast.

In 1801, as the Flagship of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, on the second of April Ardent took part in the Battle of Copenhagen. Her casualties amounted to 30 killed, and 64 wounded. In the june of that year she had another change of captains, Her new commander was Captain George M’Kinley, and later Captain William Nowell. A small repair at Chatham followed this and took place between the August of 1802 and the April of 1803 costing £11,829. She had been recommissioned in the previous month by Captain Robert Winthrop who took command until 1805. Under him she joined Pellew’s squadron off Ferrol at the beginning of November. On the 28th of that month Ardent gave chase to the French 32 gun, Corvette, La Bayonnaise in Finisterre Bay. The corvette's crew ran her ashore and then in order to prevent the British from capturing her, set her on fire and blew her up. Captain Winthrop described Bayonnaise as “a frigate of 32 guns and 220 men, which had been sailing from Havana to Ferrol”. In actual fact, Bayonnaise was armed en flute with only six 8-pounder guns, and was returning from the Antilles.

In the February of 1805 Ardent became the temporary Flagship of Admiral Lord George Keith in the North Sea. She was recommissioned in the July of 1806 under Captain George Eyre, and in the September of that year Captain Ross Donnelly took command. In the May of 1807 she had another new Captain assigned to her. This time it was Captain Edwin Chamberline, who in the September of that year took her to join the River Plate operations.

On returning to England, in the February of 1808 she came under Captain William Parkinson, and was fitted as a guardship at Sheerness between the May and June of that year to serve at Leith.
Recommissioned under Captain James Giles Vashon, she served as the Flagship to Vice Admiral James Vashon, and from the August of the year was commanded by Captain John Bligh.

The April of 1809 saw Ardent under the command of Captain Robert Honeyman, who would remain as her commander until 1811 for service in the Baltic. On her return to Chatham, between rhe February and June of 1811 she was fitted as a troopship once more bound for the Baltic under Captain John Davie, and later Captain George Bell.

Fate.

On her return to England in 1812 Ardent was paid off and fitted for harbour service at Portsmouth and then between the February and May of 1813 as a prison ship for service in Bermuda under Captain John Cochet. Between the May of 1814 and1815 she was under the command of Commander Sir William Burnaby, before being hulked at Halifax from 1817 until 1822. She was finally broken up at Bermuda in the March of 1824.

[Bligh]

HMS Monmouth (1796)

HMS Monmouth was a 64 gun third rate ship of the line, built by Randall& Co. at Rotherhithe. Belmont was registered and named Monmouth on the 14th of July, 1795 and was launched on the 23rd of April, 1796, being completed at Deptford Dockyard by the 31st of October in that same year. Monmouth was designed and laid down for the Honourable East India Company under the name of Belmont, but the Navy purchased her after the start of the French Revolutionary wars.






Original EIC Ship plan for the Monmouth 1796

GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Monmouth
Builder:	Randall & Co, Rotherhithe
Launched:	23 April 1796
Completed:	31 October 1796
Acquired:	14 July 1795
Honours and awards:	Naval General Service Medal with clasps: "Camperdown" "Egypt"
Fate:	Broken up in May 1834
General characteristics
Class and type:	64 gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1,439​ 51⁄94 (bm)
Length:	173 ft 1 in (52.8 m) (overall) 144 ft 1 1⁄2 in (43.9 m) (keel)
Beam:	43 ft 4 in (13.2 m)
Depth of hold: Draught:	19 ft 8 in (6.0 m) 10 ft 7 in / 15 ft 9 in
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Complement:	491
Armament:	Lower deck: 26 x 24 pdr guns Upper deck: 26 x 18 pdr guns QD: 10 x 9 pdr guns Fc: 2 x 9 pdr guns

Service.

HMS Monmouth was commissioned in the September of 1796 under Captain Lord William Carnegie Earl of Northesk.

The French Revolutionary Wars.

She was initially assigned to serve in the North Sea, and in the May of 1797 was one of the ships involved in the Mutiny at the Nore. The crew took her first lieutenant Charles Bullen prisoner, and threatened to execute him. Northesk intervened and Bullen was able to carry messages ashore from the crew. These are reputed to have helped in ending the mutiny. After the mutiny Northesk resigned his commission. Order was restored in a matter of weeks, and Monmouth was placed under Commander James Walker., in an acting captaincy. Walker had been planning to attack the mutinous ships at anchor with a squadron of gunboats only a few weeks previously.
I n 1797, Walker commanded Monmouth in the Lee column at the Battle of Camperdown on the 11th of October when Admiral Adam Duncan led the British Fleet against the Dutch.

Before the battle Walker had addressed the crew, saying:

"Now, my lads, you see your enemy before you. I shall lay you close on board, and thus give you an opportunity of washing the stain off your characters with the blood of your foes. Go to your quarters, and do your duty."
Monmouth was engaged in heavy combat with the Dutch ships Alkmaar and the Delft, capturing both vessels, although Delft later sank. During the action Monmouth suffered five men killed and 22 wounded. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Camperdown" to all surviving claimants from the action.

During the February of 1798 Monmouth underwent repairs as a consequence of the battle at a cost of £4,577. She was then recommissioned in the following month and Robert Deans became her new captain. Monmouth was among the seven vessels of Lord Duncan's fleet that shared in the prize money for the privateer Jupiter, captured on the 27th of April in that year.

In January 1799 Vice-Admiral Archibald Dickson raised his flag in her, but she then went into Sheerness in March for repairs costing £4,873.In April command passed to Captain George Hart, who retained the post until 1805. Monmouth was among the vessels sharing in the prize money from sundry Dutch doggers, schuyts, and fishing vessels, taken in April and May of that year. She was also part of a squadron that on the 12th of May captured Roose, Genet, next Polly, American, Forsigtigheid, and Bergen, two days later, Des Finch on the 21st, and Vrow Dorothea on the 30th.

That August, Monmouth took part in the Helder operation, a joint Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland under the command of Vice-AdmiralAndrew Mitchell. At the Neiuw Diep the British captured seven warships and 13 Dutch East Indiamen along with several transports. Mitchell then contrived the surrender of a squadron of the Batavian Navy in the Vlieter Incident. The Dutch surrendered twelve vessels ranging down in size from the 74 gun Washington to the 16 gun Brig Galathea. Following this feat majeure, on the 17th of August, Monmouth was among the vessels sharing in the capture of Adelarde, and on the 15th of September, in concert with several other British vessels and two Russians, to high acclaim, she arrived at Sheerness as escort to five captured Dutch ships of the line, three frigates and one sloop.

Monmouth sailed for the Mediterranean in the June of 1801. She therefore came to share in the proceeds of the capture of Almas di Purgatoria off Alexandria on the 28th of July in that year. Because Monmouth 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 authorised for all surviving claimants in 1850.

The Napoleonic Wars.

In 1803 Monmouth, still under Hart's command, was at Gibraltar. There Hart received the report from Captain John Gore of the Medusa about his taking of Esperance, a French privateer’s Felucca, off the Straits of Gibraltar, and also of the destruction of another, the Sorcier. By the July of that year, Monmouth had joined the Mediterranean squadron blockading Toulon.

Following Monmouth’s return to home waters in 1804, and after his promotion to Rear Admiral in the April of the year, Thomas McNamara Russell adopted Monmouth as his Flagship for service in the North Sea.
Monmouth was recommissioned again in the March of 1807 under Captain Edward Durnford King, and on the 7th of September in that year she became the Flagship of Rear-Admiral William O’Bryen Drury, and then on the 15th of that month she sailed as escort to a convoy of nine East Indiamen for the Indian sub continent. Seven of the ships were bound for the coast, and two further vessels for Bombay.. The vessels being escorted included the Ann, Diana, Glory, Northampton, Sarah Christiana, Sir William Pulteney, and Union.

During the voyage, on the 25th of January, 1808 Monmouth took the Danish ship Nancy. Following this, on the 12th of February, she arrived off the Danish possession of Tranquebar in time to witness the !4th Regiment of Foot and the HEIC's artillery being disembarked by the Russell. The British marched to capture the settlement and the adjacent fort, both of which capitulated without a show of resistance. Monmouth returned to Britain in the September of that year, having escorted another convoy of Indiamen. Shortly after her arrival she was paid off on the 24th of that month.

By the August of 1809, Monmouth was involved in the Walcheren Expedition, the objective of which was to destroy the dockyards and arsenals of Antwerp, Flushing, and Terneuzen.By the end of the month, Admiral Sir Richard Strachan had ordered her return to England for watering and inn the October of that same year she was fitted and recommissioned as a victualing ship under Commander Michael Dod, for service in the Downs.

Dod’s successor on the 7th of November, 1810 was Captain Francis Beauman. At the time Monmouth was destined to become the flagship of Vice-Admiral George Campbell, Commander-in-Chief of the Downs station. In the April of 1811 Captain Hyde Parker took command of Monmouth, and later in the year she came under Captain William Nowell until 1813.His successor was Captain William Wilkinson. Throughout this period she served, in addition to still being a victualler, as the flagship to Vice-Admiral Thomas Foley, Campbell's successor. Monmouth received payment for smuggled goods which had been seized on the 1sat of March, 1814.

Fate.

Monmouth was laid up in ordinary at Woolwich in 1815. In the June of 1815 she then was hulked at Deptford, becoming a sheer hulk at Woolwich from 1828 th 1833. She was broken up at Deptford in the May of 1834.Despite this she still appeared on the Navy Lists for several more years.

[Bligh]

HMS York(1796)

HMS York was another bought in East Indiaman converted to a 64 gun, third rate ship of the line, built by William Barnard & Co. at Grove Street Yard, Deptford. Laid down in the March of 1795,she was launched on the 24th of March, 1796 and completed between the 9th of April and the June of 1796. Unlike many of the other Indiamen purchased straight off the stocks York been employed on eight voyages to the East Indies for Sir Richard Hotham before being bought into the Service by the Royal Navy.
Originally named Royal Admiral, as a 64 gun small third rate, this fact combined with her unusual build resulting from her conversion from a mercantile craft to a warship, made her a slightly ungainly and awkward ship.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	Royal Admiral
Builder:	Barnard, Deptford
Laid down:	March 1795
Launched:	24 March 1796
Renamed:	HMS York
Fate:	Wrecked January 1804
General characteristics
Class and type:	64 gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1433​30⁄94 (bm)
Length:	174 ft 3 in (53.1 m) (overall) 144 ft 4 in (44.0 m) (keel)
Beam:	43 ft 2 1⁄2 in (13.2 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 7 1⁄2 in (6.0 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Lower deck: 26 x 24-pounder guns Upper deck: 26 x 18-pounder guns QD: 10 x 9-pounder guns Fc: 2 x 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS York was commissioned under Captain John Ferrier in the April of 1796, and sailed for the Leeward Islands on the 4th of January, 1797. She spent much of her early career in the Caribbean, where on the 8th of February, 1798, near to the Isle of St. Thomas she took the small American schooner Fancy, after firing 15 shots in order to make her heave to. When the boarding party from York took possession, they discovered 12 French passengers in the act of throwing five sacks of money overboard. York escorted Fancy into Mole-saint-Nicholas where she was condemned by the prize court. Apparently she had also been carrying 25,000 dollars in gold, hidden on board, but most of it had been successfully smuggled ashore.

In the June of 1799, York, in company with Alarm, Carnatic, Thunderer, and Volage, captured the Spanish 4 gun Packet Santa Dorval, which was sailing from Vera Cruz to Havanna, under the command of Lieutenant Don Joseph Bonefacio. Later in that month York also captured several merchant vessels:
Firstly the Spanish schooner Jesus Maria, sailing from Jamaica to Porto Rica bearing a false pass, and carrying provisions and sundries.
Next, came the Schooner Christopher, sailing under American colours, from Arrcoa to Baltimore with a cargo of coffee and tobacco which was discovered to be Dutch property.
Then the Brig James was taken, again under the American flag, sailing from Cape Francois to Philadelphia with a cargo of coffee and sugar which was this time property of the French.
The Brigs Harriot and Ann, flagged again as American were next these were on route from Cape Francois to Charleston with a cargo of French coffee and sugar.
The haul continued with the Schooner Eliza, also under American colours, sailing from Jeremie to Saint Augustine with a cargo of coffee and sugar.

In the following month, York accompanied by Maidstone captured or detained the following shipping.
The Brig Ariel, under American colours, sailing from Jeremie to Baltimore, with a cargo of 146,000 pounds of coffee.
The Schooner Lydia, under American colours, sailing from Tauxillo (probably Trujillo, Honduras), to Havana with a consignment of sugar and Indigo.
The Brig Romulus (detained), under American colours, sailing from Havanna to Charlestown, with 662 boxes of sugar.
The Ship Flora, with Spanish and American papers, from Cartagena on the Spanish Main, and bound first to New York and then onward Cadiz, with a cargo of cotton and fustic, and also a secreted $81,000 in gold.
Then they came across the American Schooner Fair American, voyaging from Barracoa to Baltimore, carrying 183,000 pounds of coffee and 10,000 pounds of sugar.
Not content with this haul, towards the end of that same year, York captured Cronberg, under her Master by the name of Molder. She had been sailing via St Croix and Havana to London. York brought Cronberg into Jamaica, before returning to England herself.

In 1801 York sailed back to Britain as escort to a convoy of 155 merchant vessels, all of which reached their destination safely. For his service, the West Indian merchants thanked Ferrier and presented him with a piece of Plate.

York next served under Admiral Nelson during his unsuccessful attacks on Boulogne.
On the night of the 15th of August, the Third Division, under Captain Isaac Cotgrave, were assembled on York's deck. Their boats attacked in the early hours of the morning of the 16th, but after suffering considerable losses, had to withdraw between 3 and 4am. During the attack, the British lost five officers and men killed, and 31 wounded. Three of the dead and 16 of the wounded were from York.

York was paid off and placed into Ordinary at Woolwich in the June of 1802, and between the October of that year and the August of 1803 she underwent repair and refitting at Deptford.
She was recommissioned under Captain Henry Mitford in the June of 1803.

Fate.

She departed from Woolwich on the 26th of December of that same year for a routine patrol in the North Sea. On the voyage she went missing and was presumed to have foundered with the loss of all hands. It appears that she had struck the Bell Rock off the port of Arbroath. This tragedy was believed to be the main impetus which brought about the construction of the Bell Rock lighthouse three years later. Wreckage was later found at Cruden Bay and St Coombs, both of which are situated in Buchan, Aberdeenshire.

[Bligh]

HMS Lancaster (1797)

HMS Lancaster was a 64 gun third rate ship of the line built by Randall & Co. at Rotherhithe. Launched on 29th of January,1797, she was completed between the 13th of February and the 17th of April in that year at Deptford Dockyard. The total cost of building including coppering being £29,659. plus £9,132. for fitting.
She was designed and built as the East Indiaman Pigot for the Honourable East India Company, but the Navy purchased her on the stocks because of a shortage of naval vessels to prosecute the French Revolutionary Wars.

Royal Naval plan of Lancaster
History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	Pigot
Builder:	Randall and Brent, Rotherhithe
Launched:	29 January 1797
Renamed:	HMS Lancaster
Fate:	Sold, 1832
General characteristics
Class and type:	64 gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1429 (bm)
Length:	173 ft 6 in (52.88 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	43 ft 2 in (13.18 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 9 in (6.02 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	64 guns of various weights of shot

Service.

HMS Lancaster was commissioned by Captain John Wells in the February of 1797.She was involved in the Nore Mutiny at Gravesend, but had been restored to duty by the 6th of June in the same year. On the 11th of October of that year she took her place in the Weather column at the Battle of Camperdown. During the action she suffered 3 killed and 18 wounded.

In 1798 she served on the Irish station, and in 1799 she returned to port for a refit during the April and May of the year. The cost was £9,021.

She was then recommissioned under Captain Thomas Larcom who died in the April of 1804.
Under him she served as the flagship of Vice Admiral Sir Roger Curtis and sailed for the Cape of Good Hope and then onward to the East Indies. In the July of 1800 Lancaster, Adamant, Euphrosyne, and Rattlesnake were dispatched by dispatched by Admiral Curtis to create a blockade at the Iles de France and Bourbon, which duty they carried out until the October of that year, and during this time they took the following ships:-
In August, they took the Spanish or possibly French ship Edouard, carrying wine and brandy to the Isle de France from the port of Bordeaux. Later in the month came the French Brig Paquebot with a cargo of wine and a variety of other commodities originating on the Indian sub continent.
Also in August they captured a Spanish Brig sailing from Montevideo to the Isle de France carrying a consignment of soap, tallow and other sundry goods.

In September they intercepted the French Brig Mouche conveying a portion of the cargo from the Brig Uranie which had been wrecked some time earlier.

Between 1805 and 1807 Lancaster came under the captaincy of Captain William Fothergill and returned to the Cape from where on the 29th of August, 1806, she sailed from her anchorage in Simon’s Bay as part of Stirling’s squadron escorting several transports, forming part of the second of the British invasion forces involved in the River Plate fiasco.

On her return to England in 1807 she was fitted as a receiving ship at Chatham between the August and September of that year intending to dispatch her to Malta in that role. However, in October she went into Ordinary and then fitted as a victualler still at Chatham from between the October and end of 1808. She then moved to Plymouth in 1812, and Sheerness from 1813 to 1815.

Fate.

On the 11th of March, 1815, the Navy loaned Lancaster to The West India Dock Company as a Boys’ Training ship. She was returned to the Admiralty on the 2nd of January, 1832 and shortly after this The Principle Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy offered her for sale at Woolwich on the 30th of May in that year. She was sold on the same day for the sum of £2,410 to Joshua Crystall & Co.of London, to be broken up.

[Bligh]

This concludes my list of 64 gun ships of the line, 1793 to 1815. I will next deal with the Fourth Rate 60 and 50 gun ships launched during the period 1793 to 1815, of which only 4 new 60s were built.

As usual my work is indebted to the following reference sources:-

Wikipedia.
More than Nelson.
Osprey's British Napoleonic ships of the Line.
Rif Winfield's British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817
The ships of Trafalgar by Peter Goodwin.
The battle of Copenhagen by Ole Feldbaekand,
Thec Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
Any mistakes are solely down to me.

Rob.