Fourth Rate 50 gun ships of the Royal Navy.

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HMS Preston (1757)

HMS Preston was a Joseph Allin designed 50 gun fourth rate ship of the line, built by M/shipwright Thomas Fellowes to the March of 1753 when he died, then Thomas Slade to the August of 1755, and completed by Adam Hayes at Deptford Dockyard. Ordered on the 25th of April 1751 and laid down in the June of that year she was launched on the 7th of February, 1757, and completed on the 15th of May in that same year at a total cost of £23,703.14.4d. which included fitting.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Preston
Ordered:	25th April 1751
Builder:	Deptford Dockyard
Launched:	7 February 1757
Fate:	Broken up, 1815
Notes:	Participated in: Battle of the Dogger Bank
General characteristics
Class and type:	50 gun fourth rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1052 (bm)
Length:	143 ft 3in (45.7 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	41 ft 3in (13.0 m)
Depth of hold: Draught:	17 ft 3in (5.6 m) 9ft 10 x 15ft 6in
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 22 × 24 pdr guns Upper gundeck: 22 × 12 pdr guns QD: 4 × 6 pdr guns Fc: 2 × 6 pdr guns

Service.

HMS Preston was commissioned under Captain John Evans in the January of 1757 for service in the Levant, off Dunkirk and then in the Med once again. On returning to England she was paid off in 1763.

Between the June of 1764 and the April of 1765 she underwent a small repair at Portsmouth for £4,987.14.5d. Preston was recommissioned under Captain Alan Gardner in the May of 1766 for service in Jamaica and from 1767 to 1769 served as Flagship to Rear Admiral William Parry until on return to England she was paid off once more in the September of 1769. She now underwent a middling to large repair at Portsmouth which took from the January of 1772 until the July of 1773 and cost £20,124.13.7d. plus a further £3,724.1.6d. for fitting which was completed in the April of 1774, having already been recommissioned in the January of that year under Captain John Robinson, and on the 6th of May 1776 she sailed for service in North America now under Captain Samuel Uppleby. In the December of that year she was at Rhode Island in time for its occupation. During the remainder of her time on the American station Preston served from 1776 to 1780 under Commodore William Hotham. Leaving Sandy Hook on the13th of August 1778 and cut off from her squadron by a storm, she encountered the French 74 gun Marseillois, which she fought indecisively. On the 4th of November in that year she sailed to the Leeward Islands and on the 14th of December she was involved in the Battle of St. Lucia.

Having returned to England on the 23rd of October 1780 she was paid off. She then went into Chatham for a small repair and coppering for the sum of £11,282.0.4d. which was completed by the May of 1781.On the 5th of August now commanded by Captain Alexander Grahame Preston took part in the Battle of the Dogger Bank where she was disabled, with her commander, Captain Graeme losing an arm.

Both the British and Dutch claimed a victory, although it was actually a tactical draw given that no ships were lost on either side with the exception of the Holland. Nevertheless, strategically the battle was a British victory as the Dutch fleet retreated to Texel and did not leave harbour again during the war. Preston was then sailed back to the Thames by Lieutenant Saumarez for repairs.


Battle of Dogger Bank

On the 8th of June, 1782 Preston sailed for Jamaica under Captain Patrick Leslie and did not return until the 3rd of April, 1784 when she was again paid off.

Fate.

Between the April 1785 and the October of that year her copper was replaced by wooden sheeting and she was fitted as a sheer hulk at Woolwich, where she was broken up in the January of 1815.

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HMS Chatham (1758)


His Majesty's Ship Chatham of 50 guns in the 1770s. Watercolour by Robert Raymond.

HMS Chatham was a Joseph Allin designed 50 gun fourth rate ship of the line, built by M/s Peirson Lock until the December of 1755 when he died and completed by Edward Allin at Portsmouth Dockyard. Ordered on the 20th of October 1752, and laid down on the 14th of December in that same year, she was launched on the 25th of April, 1758 and completed on the 23rd of May in that year.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Chatham
Ordered:	20th October 1752
Builder:	Allin Portsmouth Dockyard
Launched:	25 April 1758
Fate:	Broken up, 1814
General characteristics
Class and type:	50 gun fourth rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1067 (bm)
Length:	147 ft (44.8 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	40 ft 3 in (12.3 m)
Depth of hold:	17 ft 8 in (5.4 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 22 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 22 × 12-pounder guns QD: 4 × 6-pounder guns FC: 2 × 6-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Chatham, was commissioned in the January of 1758 and served through the Seven Years’ War until paid off in 1764. She underwent a small repair and was refitted at Portsmouth for £10,240 between the January and June of 1766. Between that date and 1775 she served mainly in the Leeward Islands before returning to England to undergo a Middling repair between the March of 1770 and the June of 1772 at a cost of £17,739.9.9d. On completion she returned to the Leeward Islands until 1775 when she removed to the North American station. On the 25th of June, 1776 HMS Chatham formed part of the British flotilla anchored off Staten Island, in the opening phases of the Battle of Long Island.



The British fleet in the lower bay (Harpers Magazine, 1876) depicts the British fleet amassing off the shores of Staten Island in the summer of 1776



The British fleet in New York Harbour just after the battle.

After her return to England in the September of 1778, Chatham patrolled in Home waters until the end of that year, and then went into Sheerness for refitting and coppering at a cost of £5,828.4.0d.This work was completed by the April of 1780 and the ship was recommissioned in the July of that year for further service in North America.


On the 2nd of September 1781, Chatham now under Captain Andrew Snape was cruising off Cape Ann near Boston when she observed a French frigate the 36 gun Magicienne, commanded by Captain Janvre de la Bouchetiere, escorting a merchantman.

Douglas ordered Chatham to action stations, and after a pursuit of several she overhauled the Frenchman and opened fire. Following an action of about two hours Magicienne was forced to finally strike after her rudder and bowsprit had both been shot away and she was rendered un-steerable. The Chatham had one man killed and one wounded while losses on the Magicienne were heavy suffering 32 killed and 54 wounded including Captain de la Bouchetière, The crew having been secured below battened down hatches, Magicienne was conducted to Halifax Nova Scotia and recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Magicienne. The merchantman that Magicienne was escorting had meanwhile managed to escape and eventually docked in a French held harbour.

Fate.

On her return to Plymouth in the November of 1783, she was fitted for Ordinary, and in the March of 1793 was refitted as a convalescent ship under Lieutenant Lionel Hill. In the January of 1797 she was fitted for deployment to Falmouth in the role of a receiving ship under Lieutenant James Manderson, between 1800 and the March of 1802, when she was paid off.

In the December of 1805 she was fitted at Chatham as a floating magazine for Plymouth. Renamed Tilbury on the 29th of June 1801, she was eventually broken up at Chatham in the May of 1814

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HMS Warwick (1770)

HMS Warwick was a William Batley designed 50 gun fourth rate ship of the line approved in modified form on the 29th of August 1759. She was built by M/shipwright Thomas Bucknell at Portsmouth Dockyard. Ordered on the 31st of December 1758, and laid down in the August of 1762, she was launched on the 28th of February 1767, and completed between the November of 1770 and the March of 1771.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Warwick
Ordered:	31 December 1758
Builder:	Bucknell Portsmouth
Launched:	28 February 1767
Fate:	Sold 24 March 1802
General characteristics
Class and type:	50 gun fourth rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1073 (bm)
Length:	151 ft 0in (gundeck)
Beam:	40ft 3in
Depth of hold:	18ft 3in
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 22 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 22 × 12-pounder guns QD: 4 × 6-pounder guns FC: 2 × 6-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Warwick was commissioned in the December of 1770 for the Falkland Islands dispute. From 1771 to 1775 she served in the East Indies. On her return to England she underwent a small repair and refit at Portsmouth at a cost of £13,964.7.11d.
In the March of 1777 she was recommissioned for service in Home Waters. Between the June and September of 1780 she was coppered and refitted at Chatham for £7,711.2.11d. and recommissioned for service in North America.

Fate.

Paid off in the February of 1783, from the May to September of that year she underwent fitting as a receiving ship at Chatham for £2,051.6.7d.
On the 24th of March, 1802, she was sold out of the Service for £1,205.

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HMS Romney (1762)



HMS Romney by Robert Cleveley.


HMS Romney built to a unique design by Sir Thomas Slade, was a 50 gun fourth rate ship of the line,based on William Bately's plans for HMS Warwick, but altered to shorter the length, built by M/shipwright Israel Pownoll at Woolwich Dockyard. Ordered on the 20th of July, 1759,and laid down on the 1st of October in that year, she was launched on the 8th of July 1762, and completed by Joseph Harris by the 4th of September in that year at a cost of £26,492.17.2d.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	Romney
Ordered:	20 July 1759
Builder:	Pownoll Woolwich Dockyard
Laid down:	1 October 1759
Launched:	8 July 1762
Completed:	By 4 September 1762
Honours and awards:	Naval General Service Medal with clasps: "Romney 17 June 1794" "Egypt"
Fate:	Lost on 19 November 1804
General characteristics
Class and type:	50 gun fourth rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1,046​ 61⁄94 (bm)
Length:	146 ft 0in (44.5 m) (overall) 120 ft 8½ in (36.8 m) (keel)
Beam:	40 ft 4½ in (12.2 m)
Depth of hold: Draught:	17 ft 2 in (5.2 m) 10ft 9 in x 15ft 5 in
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Upper deck: 22 x 12 pdr guns Lower deck: 22 x 24 pdr guns QD: 4 x 6 pdr guns Fc: 2 x 6 pdr guns

Service.

HMS Romney was commissioned under Captain Robert Walsingham in the June of 1763.

She was recommissioned under the command of Captain James Ferguson in the February of 1767 and sailed for North America on the 20th of May in that year as the Flagship of the commander of the North American station, Rear Admiral Lord Coleville. She served in this capacity for the next three years.

Whilst undergoing a brief refit at Portsmouth, between the March and April of 1767, at a cost of £3,799.2.2d. Romney had been recommissioned during the March under Captain John Corner, as part of a squadron being sent to North America under Admiral Samuel Hood. While serving on the North American station, Romney achieved a degree of publicity after being sent to Boston to support the commissioners, who had asked Hood for help in enforcing the Townshend Acts. She arrived on 17th of May, 1768, but being short of men, Captain Corner began to impress seamen from the harbour. This was unpopular with the locals, who took to attacking the press gangs. Events escalated when the commissioners in the town ordered the seizure of the merchant vessel Liberty, which belonged to John Hancock. When sailors and marines from Romney attempted to seize the vessel, mobs attacked them and then turned on the commissioners. Many of the officials took refuge aboard Romney, before transferring to Castle William. These incidents heightened tensions that would eventually lead to the Boston Massacre in 1770.

The American Revoloution.

In 1770 Romney was briefly under Captain Hyde Parker, followed by Captain Robert Linzee in the October of that year. She returned to England and was paid off in the March of 1771 before being repaired and refitted at Deptford from the May of 1773 to the May of, 1775, costing £ 19,614.18.7d. Romney was recommissoned under Captain George Elphinstone in the March of 1776 as the flagship of the commander of the Newfoundland station, Rear-Admiral Robert Duff, who was succeeded by Vice Admiral John Montagu in the following year. Montagu retained Romney, by now under the command of Captain Elliott Salter, as his Flag Captain. Salter, in his turn, was replaced by Captain George Montagu, the son of the Vice-Admiral, in the February of 1777, and he remained in command of the ship for the following two years. At the beginning of 1779 she came under the command of Captain George Johnstone.

On her return to England Romney was paid off and refitted and coppered at Plymouth between the April and May of 1779 at a cost of £4,650.19.9d. for service in the Channel. On Johnstone's advancement to commodore in the April that year, and Romney came under Captain Robert Nicholas, destined for service in the Channel, though she remained part of Johnstone's squadron and flew his broad pendant. she returned to sea as Sir john Ross’s flagship, with Johnstone back as captain. She was involved in the operations in the Channel during the attempted Franco-Spanish invasion, after which she sailed for Lisbon. On the 11th of November in that same year accompanied by HMS Tartar she captured the 34 gun Spanish frigate Santa Margarita, which was subsequently taken into the navy with the prefix of HMS.. With Johnstone's return to the post of commodore in December, command passed to Captain Roddam Home, though Johnstone remained aboard. On the 1st of May, 1780, Romney was involved in the incident with the French cartel ship Sartine. In July, whilst cruising off Cape Finisterre, Romney captured two French ships the 38 gun Artois on the 1st, and the 18 gun Perle five days later on the 6th of July.

In the March of 1781 Romney sailed for the East Indies with a convoy, and on the 16th of April was involved in action at Porto Praya. This battle was inconclusive, but on the 21st of July, she was with Johnstone's squadron when it captured several Dutch Indiamen in Saldanha Bay.

Romney returned to England in the November of that same year, at which point Captain Robert McDougall took command. In the March of 1783 she was in the Western Approaches, now under Captain John Wickey, flying the broad pendant of Captain John Elliot. In the July of the following year she came under Captain Thomas Lewes and on the 17th of October off Ushant she took the 12 gun Privateer Comte de Bois-Goslin,. Romney's next commander was Captain Samuel Osborn, between the January and April of 1783, after which she was paid off. After a period spent in ordinary, she underwent a Great repair and refit at Woolwich between the April of 1790 and the May of 1792 costing £31,375. Recommissioning during her refit in the March of that year under Captain William Domett, she became the flagship of Rear-Admiral Samuel Goodall for service in the Med wence she sailed on the 18th of June in that year.

The French Revolutionary Wars.

She served in the Mediterranean until the outbreak of the French revolutionary Wars, recommissioning under Captain William Paget in the March of 1793, and returning to the Med on the 18th of June to aid in the British occupation of Toulon.

On the17th of June, 1794, whilst cruising off Mykonos Paget observed a French 44 gun Frigate Sibyle, at anchor in the harbour along with three merchantmen. Paget closed with the enemy ships and demanded that the French surrender. The French Frigate captain demurred, whereupon Paget approached even closer and delivered a broadside to which the French gave reply. After exchanging broadsides for over an hour the French ship struck her colours, having suffered casualties of 46 dead and 112 wounded of which 9 proved to be mortal. In contrast Romney had suffered 8 dead and 30 wounded, of which two were mortal.

In 1847 this action earned for the survivors the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Romney 17 June 1794".



The battle between Romney and Sibylle, depicted by Nicholas Pocock.

From the December of 1794 command of Romney passed to Captain Charles Hamilton, although Commander Henry Inman took command for her return to Britain in the March of 1795. From the June of that year she came under Captain Frank Sotheron when Romney became the flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir James Wallace, and she then returned to Newfoundland on the 18th of the month. Romney spent the next few years sailing to and from Newfoundland, under the command of Captain Percy Fraser from the June of 1797, and then Captain John Bligh from July of 1797 as the Flagship of Vice Admiral William Waldegrave who had taken over command of the Halifax station.

Captain John Lawford took command during the March of 1798, and on her return to home waters she was involved in the Swedish convoy incident in the summer of that year when British men-of-war compelled two Swedish convoys destined for south European ports to put into a British harbour. The decision of the Admiralty Court was pronounced a year later and led to the confiscation of both vessels and their cargoes. The dominant sea power thus denied the right of a neutral to prevent a search by them. The decision aroused great attention at the time and has become a precedent in respect of the rights of neutrals in naval warfare. The convoy affair of 1798 is of special interest from another point of view, however, in that the reaction of the Swedish government has been regarded as characteristic of Gustaf IV Adolf's personal foreign policy. The seizure of the first convoy called forth a particularly violent reaction on the part of the King, and he stubbornly insisted on the release of the convoys and the payment of full compensation and for several years, relations between Sweden and Britain became tainted by this dispute.

In the August of the following year Romney was assigned to Vice-Admiral Andrew Mitchell’s squadron at Den Helder during the Vlieter incident. on the 30th of August 1799, when a squadron of the Batavian Navy, commanded by Rear Admiral Samuel Story, surrendered to the British navy. The incident occurred when the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland was underway, the Dutch squadron being trapped in the tidal trench between the Texel and the mainland which was known as De Vlieter, close to Wieringen.

Captain Sir Home Popham tookk command in the August of 1800 and Romney sailed for the Red Sea to support the British forces in the expulsion of the French Army from Egypt. Because Romney served in the navy's Egyptian campaign from the 8th of March to the 2nd of September 1801, her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal, which was awarded by the Admiralty in 1847 to all surviving claimants.

In 1802 Romney was in the Red Sea, supporting General Baird’s expedition to assist General Abercromby in mopping up the remaining pockets of the French still remaining there. On the 14th of June the transport Calcutta transporting 331 men of the 80th Foot and 79 native Indian followers was wrecked on the Egyptian coast in the Red Sea. Romney arrived on the following day along with two transports, but Only Romney was able deploy her boats. Despite this, they were able to rescue and ferry ashore all but 7 of the men who had died in an earlier attempt to rescue them.
In the May of 1803 Romney returned to Chatham. After a refit costing £ 7,847. Captain William Brown recommissioned her for operations on the African coast during 1804, and then in the West Indies. In the October of that year Captain John Colville replaced Brown as captain.

Fate.

On the18th of November in that year Romney sailed from Yarmouth to join the force under Rear-Admiral Russell blockading the Texel. She ran aground when her pilots lost their way in thick fog while sailing off the Haak bank on the following day. Attempts to float her off failed. Realising that his ship was doomed, Colvill attempted to save his men and sent out two boats to seek help from nearby merchant vessels. One boat overturned while returning to Romney, drowning the boat's crew. The other made for shore, hoping to summon assistance from the Dutch authorities. The following morning, and with Romney fast breaking up, Colvill supervised the construction and launching of a number of rafts. As the final raft was being launched, seven boats approached from shore. On reaching Romney, the Dutch commander of the boats called on Colvill to surrender, promising that he would endeavour to save the British sailors. Colvill agreed and the Dutch rescued the remaining members of the crew. The total loss of life in the wreck was between nine and eleven men.



The Loss of the Romney Man of War, by Richard Corbould

The Dutch conveyed the British to shore, where Dutch Admiral Kirkhurt treated them well. He then sent Colvill and eight of his officers back to join Russell.

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HMS Salisbury (1769)




HMS Salisbury was a Thomas Slade designed 50 gun fourth rate ship of the line approved on the 2nd of April 1766. She was built by M/shipwright Joseph Harris at Chatham Dockyard. Ordered on the 18th of January 1766, and laid down on the 19th of August in that year, she was launched on the 2nd of October 1769 and completed between that date and the 5th of July, 1770 at a total cost of £22,567.13.3d.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Salisbury
Ordered:	18 Jan 1766
Builder:	Harris Chatham
Launched:	2 Oct 1769
Fate:	Wrecked 13 May 1796
General characteristics
Class and type:	50 gun fourth rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1051(bm)
Length:	146 ft 0in (gundeck)
Beam:	40ft 6¼ in
Depth of hold:	17 ft 4in
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 22 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 22 × 12-pounder guns QD: 4 × 6-pounder guns FC: 2 × 6-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Salisbury was commissioned under Captain Andrew Barkley in the May of 1770 for service in North America. On return to England she was paid off in the March of 1772 and underwent a small repair and refit at Chatham for £6,524.12.9d. between the June and October of 1773.

Recommissioned under the command of Sir E Hughes in the September of that year she departed for service in the East Indies until 1777.

After returning to England she was not recommissioned until the August of the following year for service in the West Indies under Captain Charles Inglis. This cruise lasted until 1780 when she returned to Plymouth for a large refit and coppering. This took from the September of 1780 until the December of 1782 and cost £23,736.14.5d. which was more than her original build cost. She was recommissioned in the April of 1783 under Captain James Campbell for service on the Newfoundland station. At some period whilst there her captain was James Bradby.

Salisbury was paid off in the December of 1785, but further commissions followed under Captain J Elliot from 1786 to 1788, and then Captain Mark Milbanke from 1789 to 1791. She then paid off and went into Ordinary until fitted at Portsmouth between the May and August of 1795 at a cost of £10,377. During her refit she was commissioned under Captain William Mitchell, and under him sailed for West Africa and thence to Jamaica in the November of that year.

Fate.

On the 13th of May in that year she was wrecked on the Ile de Vache near to San Domingo.


One of Salisbury's cannon found at the wreck site.

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HMS Centurion (1774)





HMS Centurion was a Sir Thomas Slade designed, Salisbury Class, 50 gun fourth rate ship, built by John Barnard and John Turner at Harwich. Ordered on the 25th of December, 1770, and laid down in the May of 1771, she was launched on the 22nd of May, 1774, and completed between the 22nd of June in that year and the 9th of September.1775, at Chatham. The cost was £15023.9.11d.to the builder, plus £1,237.6.11d. for masts provided by the Navy. With rigging for her the overall bill came to ££20,537.17.9d and then there was a further £4,205.16.10d for fitting out.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Centurion
Ordered:	25 December 1770
Builder:	Barnard & Turner, Harwich
Laid down:	May 1771
Launched:	22 May 1774
Completed:	By 9 September 1775
Fate:	Sank at moorings on 21 February 1824 Raised and broken up in 1825
General characteristics
Class and type:	Salisbury Class 50 gun fourth rate.
Tons burthen:	1,044 ​11⁄94 (bm)
Length:	146 ft 0in (44.5 m) (overall) 120 ft 2in (36.6 m) (keel)
Beam:	40 ft 5in (12.3 m)
Depth of hold:	17 ft 3 1⁄2 in (5.27 m)
Draught: Propulsion:	10ft 8in x 15ft 7in Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Upper deck: 22 x 12 pdr guns Lower deck: 22 x 24 pdr guns QD: 4 x 6 pdr guns Fc: 2 x 6 pdr guns

Service.

HMS Centurion was commissioned in the July of 1775 under her first commander, Captain Richard Braithwaite, and sailed for North America on the 25th of October in that year.

The American Revolution.

She was present at the occupation of Rhode Island in December of the following year. Centurion was part of Richard Howe’s fleet at Its encounter with the Comte d’Estang on the 11th of August, 1778, after which she briefly became Howe's Flagship between the 14th and 15th of August. By November, she was in the West Indies with William Hotham’s forces, where she supported the St Lucia landings on the 14th and 15th of December. Remaining in the Leeward Islands throughout 1779, Centurion took part in the Battle of Martinique on the 17th of April, 1780, followed by periods of action in the indecisive clashes that took place on 15th and 19th of May. She returned to Britain and was paid off in September of 1780. The ship then underwent a Middling repair and was coppered at Portsmouth for £11,178.19.10d between the September of that year and the June of 1781. Recommissioned, she sailed back to North America on the 5th of July in that year, under the command of Captain Samuel Clayton. On the 22nd of January, 1783, she chanced upon a battle between the frigate HMS Hussar and the 36 gun French frigate Sybille off the Chesapeake, prompting Sybille's surrender. At the end of the American Revolution Centurion returned home to pay off. She was then fitted for Ordinary at Sheerness and between the December of the following year and the December of 1787 underwent a Great repair at Woolwich for £23,424.12.0d.
Recommissioned in the February of 1789 under Captain William Ottway, she became the Flagship of Rear Admiral Phillip Affleck, and sailed for Jamaica on the 20th of June in that year. Centurion returned home and was paid off in the August of 1792.

The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Between the August of 1792 and the January of 1793 Centurion was refitted at Chatham, and recommissioned under Captain Samuel Osborn, and immediately sailing for the Leeward Islands on the 26th of February. By the November of that same year she was on her way to the East Indies and in early 1794, Centurion, in company with the Orpheus and Resistance, arrived on the East India station.
On the 5th of May she was instrumental in the capture of the French 34 gun ship Duguay-Trouin, late Princess-Royal, Indiaman off the Isle de France.

Off Mauritius, accompanied by the 44 gun HMS Diomede, on the 22nd of October, 1794, Centurion came into action with a French squadron under Captain Jean-Marie Renaud, comprising the 44 gun La Prudente, and la Cybele, plus the 20 gun Le Jean Bart and 14 gun Le Courier.
Centurion placed herself abreast of the two frigates, with the greater part of her broadside bearing on the Prudente. Diomede took a similar position between Cybèle and Jean Bart, but focused her attention primarily on Cybèle. Meanwhile, the French avisos attempted to rake the British from the rear. After one hour, Renaud started to withdraw, signalling to Cybèle to follow, but the wind had fallen and she had sustained such damage to her rigging that she could not do so. Cybèle therefore found herself under sustained fire from both Centurion and Diomede, but enjoyed aggressive support from Coureur. At 17:00, Centurion lost her topmasts. Around the same time, the wind came up again, enabling Cybèle to retreat and Prudente to return to the fight. Cybèle then lost her mainmast; by then, she had three feet of water in her hull. Diomede attempted to close in, but had sustained damage and was unable to intervene. Prudente was able to put a tow on Cybèle and the two then retreated to Isle de France.
Centurion had lost three seamen killed or mortally wounded, and 24 men wounded. Diomede did not sustain any loss. Prudente lost 15 men killed, including her First Lieutenant and Second Lieutenant, and 20 wounded, including Renaud. Cybèle lost her first lieutenant and 21 men killed, and 62 wounded, 37 of them dangerously. Coureur apparently suffered no casualties. With her topmasts shot off and her foremast lost, Centurion had to retreat for repairs, so the British squadron abandoned the blockade.


Cybèle and Prudente fighting HMs Centurion and HMS Diomede, by Durand Brager

Centurion was also involved in the capture of Ceylon in the July and August of following year, and also that of Amboyna and Banda in the February of 1796.

From the April of 1797 she came under the command of Captain John Sprat Rainier, still cruising in the East Indies, the Red sea and then back to Batavia in the August of 1800. On 23rd of that month, Centurion, with Sybille, Daedalus, and Braave captured or destroyed several Dutch vessels at Batavia Roads. The Royal Navy took a Dutch Brig into service as the Admiral Rainier.

In 1804 Centurion came under the Temporary command of Captain James Lind and it was during this period that her most important action came at the Battle of Vizagapatam, in which she fought against the French squadron of Contre-Admiral Charles-Alexandre Durand Lenois which was raiding British shipping. The French squadron, comprising the 74 gun Marengo and the frigates Semillante and Atalantea encountered the small frigate HMS Wilhelmina accompanying the Centurion escorting a convoy of two East Indiamen, the Barnaby and the Princess Charlotte. The convoy was anchored at Vizagapatam, early on the 15th of September, when Linois's squadron approached the harbour. Captain Lind was ashore, leaving Lieutenant James Robert Phillips in command. Phillips sighted the approaching ships and, suspecting them to be French, opened fire. Linois continued to approach, causing one of the East Indiamen to run ashore, where she was wrecked, while Lind hurried to return to his ship.
The three main French ships, continued to approach under fire from Centurion and the shore batteries protecting the harbour. When the French frigates came within 200 yards, Phillips opened fire on Atalante as Sémillante attempted to reach the other side of the British ship and surround her. Linois did not want to risk the Marengo when there might be uncharted shoals about, and so he fired from a longer range. After several hours of fighting, Centurion had suffered severe damage. She had been severely holed, with her rigging wrecked and her anchor cable shot through, which caused her to slowly drift away from the shore, out of control. The French took the opportunity to capture the remaining East Indiaman and withdraw from the harbour. The Centurion lost one man killed and nine wounded. The French suffered slightly heavier losses, Marengo losing two men killed and an officer wounded and Atalante three killed and five wounded. Sémillante, which had not been closely engaged in the battle, suffered no casualties. Damage to the French ships was severe, and Linois was forced to abandon further operations.
Both nations claimed the encounter as a victory, the French for the capture of the East Indiaman and the British for the survival of Centurion in the face of overwhelming French numerical superiority.


Defence of the Centurion in Vizagapatam Road, Sept. 15th 1804, after a painting by Sir James Lind.

Retirement from active service.

Centurion did not remain much longer in the East Indies, being sent home in November as needing an extensive repairs, due at least in part to the damage inflicted by an infestation of white ants. The letter sent back with her from the commanding officer of her station declared that he was sending her home as she "will require an expensive repair if detained any longer in this Country; in her present state she may be converted by the Navy Board to some useful inferior establishment, as I know of no other mean of effectively getting rid of the White Ants onboard her, who have at times discovered themselves by serious depredations aloft".

In the August of 1807 Centurion was duly fitted at Chatham for service as a Hospital ship, and after recommissioning under Lieutenant Edward Webb sailed to Halifax Nova Scotia under his command in 1808. She became a receiving ship and stores depot there under Captain George Monke, in the November of that year, followed by a return to being a hospital ship in 1809. She was back in use as a receiving ship under Captain William Skipsey in the June of 1813, during which time she served as flagship of Rear Admiral Edward Griffith Colpoys. Captain Justice Finley took over command in the June of 1814, followed by Captain David Scott from the October of that year.

Fate.

Centurion was finally hulked in 1817, in which state she spent the next seven years. She sank at her moorings on the 21st of February, 1824, was raised and broken up in the following year.

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HMS Assistance (1781)

HMS Assistance was a John Williams designed Portland Class 50 gun fourth rate ship, built by Peter Baker at Liverpool. Ordered on the 11th of February, 1778, laid down on the 4th of July in that same year, and launched on the 12th of March, 1781, she was completed by 31st of December in that year, at a cost of £10,908.3.3d.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Assistance
Ordered:	11 February 1778
Builder:	Peter Baker, Liverpool
Laid down:	4 July 1778
Launched:	12 March 1781
Completed:	By 31 December 1781
Fate:	Wrecked on 29 March 1802
General characteristics
Class and type:	Portland Class 50 gun fourth rate ship
Tons burthen:	1,053 37⁄94 (bm)
Length:	145 ft 1 in (44.2 m) (overall) 119 ft 9 in (36.5 m) (keel)
Beam:	40 ft 8 in (12.4 m)
Depth of hold:	17 ft 6 in (5.33 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Upper deck: 22 × 12 pdrs Lower deck: 22 × 24 pdrs Quarter deck: 4 × 6 pdrs Forecastle: 2 × 6pdrs

Service.

Assistance was commissioned in the January of 1781 and entered service in the Channel under her first commander, Captain James Worth.
In the May of 1782 she escorted a convoy to North America, returning to Britain to be paid off at Plymouth in the January of 1783 after wartime service. Assistance was then fitted for Ordinary in the following month, but then, between the July and September of that year, refitted as a Flagship for £ 4,387.9.11d. She returned to North America in the following month under the command of Captain William Bentinck flying the broad pendant of Captain Sir Charles Douglas, and based in Nova Scotia. Serving on Assistance at this time was Lieutenant Hamilton Douglas Halyburton, the son of Sholto Douglas, 15th Earl of Morton. He and a party of men were sent out in Assistance's barge to chase deserters, but, landing in the dark and in a snowstorm, they became trapped in mud. When the snowstorm cleared two days later, all 13 of the party had died from exposure. "Had they landed fifty yards on either side from the place they became stranded, the company would have escaped." A memorial was later erected by Lt Halyburton's mother, Katherine, Countess of Morton. Captain Nicholas Sawyer took command in the January of 1784, flying the broad pendant of Captain Herbert Sawyer.

Assistance returned to Britain in mid-1786 and was paid off. She underwent Middling repairs at Chatham between the June of 1789 and the May of 1790 costing £15,259. Then fitted for sea in the August of that year at a cost of a further £4,474. having been recommissioned during that July under Captain Lord James Cranstoun for the Spanish Armament. The easing of tensions led to Assistance being paid off in the September of 1791, before recommissioning the following year under Captain John Samuel Smith in order to serve off Newfoundland and North America again. She became the Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Richard King on the Halifax station from the August of 1792 until the end of the January of 1793 when Captain Arthur Legge took command in the following month, being replaced in his turn by Captain Nathan Brunton in the July of that year for service cruising with the Channel Fleet. Captain Henry Mowatt then assumed command from the May of 1795, returning the Assistance to the Halifax station in the March of 1796, where he captured the 40 gun French frigate L’Elizabeth on the 28th of August, 1796. Mowatt died in the April of 1798, and was succeeded to the command by Captain John Oakes Hardy, and then from the December of1799 by Captain Robert Hall. Hall sailed Assistance home from Halifax for repairs at Chatham which took place between the October of 1800 and the January of 1801, at a cost of £8,379. She then recommissioned under Captain Richard Lee for a return to the Halifax station.

Fate.

Having returned to the Chanel, on the 29th of March, 1802, Assistance was en route from Dunkirk to Portsmouth when she ran aground on a sandbank near Gravelines. Efforts to free her were unsuccessful, and the impact of waves against her beached hull quickly rendered the vessel unserviceable. The beaching was visible from the Flemish shore, and a local pilot boat and several fishing boats put to sea to come to her aid. By late afternoon Captain Lee accepted that Assistance was stuck fast and unable to sail; he and the crew then abandoned her. Two marines drowned while attempting to swim to one of the fishing boats, but the remainder of the crew were safely carried to shore in the Flemish craft. The surviving crew members then made their way to Dunkirk, where a ship was hired to return them to England.
A court martial was convened ten days later, to be held aboard HMS Brilliant. Blame for Assistance's loss was laid at the feet of her pilots, Watson Riches and Edmund Coleman, who were found to have acted negligently in not guiding the ship clear of the charted sandbanks off the Gravelines shore. The two men were fined, and jailed for six months in the Marshalsea Prison. For his part, Captain Lee was admonished for placing the too much trust in the pilots, and for not showing due regard for the safety of his ship. No formal penalty was imposed, though Lee was denied a new naval command for the following three years. He returned to active service in 1805, as captain of the 74 gun HMS Courageux.

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HMS Medusa (1785)


HMS Medusa was John Williams designed Experiment Class, 50 gun fourth rate ship, approved on the 9th of November, 1772. The prototype, Experiment, however, was taken by the French in 1779. Medusa was built by M/shipwright John Henslow until the November of 1784, and completed by Thomas Pollard at Plymouth Dockyard. Ordered on the 1st of August, 1775, and laid down in the March of 1776, she was launched on the 23rd of July, 1785, and completed on the 10th of August in that same year at a cost of £26,417.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Medusa
Ordered:	16.2.1780
Builder:	Henslow, Plymouth
Launched:	23.7.1785
Fate:
General characteristics
Class and type:	Experiment Class 50 gun fourth rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	920 16⁄94 (bm)
Length:	140ft 91⁄2 in (overall) 115ft 111⁄2 in (keel)
Beam:	38ft 71⁄2 in
Depth of hold: Draught:	16ft 7in 10ft 6in x 14ft 5in
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 20 × 12 pdr guns Upper gundeck: 22 × 12 pdr guns QD: 6 × 6 pdr guns Fc: 2 × 6 pdr guns ( replaced by 2 x 32 pdr Carronades 10. 9.1790

Service.

HMS Medusa was commissioned under Captain John Inglefield in the August of 1790, and between that date and the 15th of September she was fitted for service in the Channel for £3,296, but instead, on the 22nd of that same month, she sailed for the coast of Africa.

On her return to England she was fitted as a receiving ship at Chatham for £3446. In the January of 1793 she was commissioned under Captain James Norman and served at Cork from the May of that year. Some refit must then have been completed because later in the same year she is stated as being a fifth Rate with 38 guns and a crew of 274 men. On the 15th of February 1795 she sailed for Jamaica, returning in the Autumn as a convoy escort and being paid off in the December of that year. She was fitted as a Hospital ship at Plymouth in the February of 1796 for £8,961. and was commissioned as such under Commander John Eaton, continuing in this role until the January of 1797 when she was recommisioned as a troop ship under Commander Alexander Becher and sailed for the Med in the October of 1798.

Fate.

Cdr. Alexander Becher was in command on the 26th November whilst in Rosia Bay off Gibraltar, when Lord St. Vincent on shore was passing instructions to him through a speaking trumpet. In the confusion of some misunderstanding of those instructions Medusa was driven ashore and wrecked.

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HMS Grampus (1782)

HMS Grampus was an Edward Hunt designed Grampus Class 50 gun fourth rate ship. The only other ship of her class HMS Cato was lost on her maiden voyage in late 1782. Grampus was built by John Fisher at Liverpool. Ordered on the 16th of February, 1780, she was laid down in the March of 1781 and launched on the 8th of October, 1782, at Liverpool. She was completed between the 16th of February and the 18th of March, 1783, at Plymouth for £19,281.3.11d. to the builder and an additional £6,238.2.3d. for fitting and coppering.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Grampus
Ordered:	16.2.1780
Builder:	Fisher. Liverpool
Launched:	8.10.1782
Fate:	B.U. 1794
General characteristics
Class and type:	Grampus Class 50 gun fourth rate ship
Tons burthen:	1062 25⁄94 (bm)
Length:	148 ft 1in (gundeck)
Beam:	40ft 6in
Depth of hold:	17ft 9in
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 22 × 24 pdr guns Upper gundeck: 22 × 12 pdr guns QD: 4 × 6 pdr guns FC: 2 × 6 pdr guns

Service.

HMS Grampus was commissioned by Captain Lord James Cranstoun in the September of 1782 but in the March of 1783 was paid off and then fitted for Ordinary at Plymouth immediately on her completion.

In the July of that year she was recommissioned under Captain Edward Thompson who held the post until 1785.and fitted for Foreign Service between the August and December of that same year at a cost of £9,402.7.4d. at Plymouth. Further fitting out specific to service on the coast of Africa took place between the August and September of 1784 costing a further £3,115.3.2d.

Whilst on the African coast serving as Flagship to Commodore Edward Thompson, the Commodore died and Commander George Tripp posted himself captain of that vessel on the 27th of March, 1786, in accordance with the custom on the West African station.

Fate.

In the following month the Grampus sailed for Chatham to be paid off. By Admiralty Orders given on the 18th of July, 1794, Grampus was broken up at Deptford in the following month.

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HMS Trusty (1782)



HMS Trusty was, a was a modified, Edward Hunt Designed Grampus Class, 50 gun fourth rate ship built by James Martin Hillhouse at Bristol. She was ordered on the 28th of March, 1780, approved on the 13th of July, laid down in the July of 1781, and launched on the 9th of October. 1782. She was completed at Bristol in the January of 1783 at a cost of £17,694.12.10d. and a further £6,171,6.6d. for fitting out.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Trusty
Ordered:	28.3.1780
Builder:	Hillhouse, Bristol
Launched:	9.10.1782
Fate:	B.U. 4.1815
General characteristics
Class and type:	Grampus Class 50 gun fourth rate ship
Tons burthen:	1,07016⁄94 (bm)
Length:	150ft 51⁄2 in (gundeck)
Beam:	40ft 73⁄8 in
Depth of hold:	17ft 93⁄4 in
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 22 × 24 pdr guns Upper gundeck: 22 × 12 pdr guns QD: 4 × 6 pdr guns FC: 2 × 6 pdr guns

Service.

HMS Trusty was commissioned in the September of 1782 under Captain James Bradby. In the August of 1783 she was fitted for service in the Med at Sheerness under Captain John Faithful Fortescue as the Flagship of Commodore Sir John Lindsey until 1786, and sailed there in the November of 1783.

She returned to England to be paid off in the first part of 1785 for refitting at Sheerness but was recommissioned by the August of that year under Captain Martin Waghorn and the refit was completed by the 26th of September at a cost of £7862.6.8d. and by the 29th Trusty was on her way back to the Med under the command of Captain William Wolseley to become the Flagship of Commodore Phillip Cosby.

She remained there until the January of 1789, and a month later, on the 20th of February, paid off in England once again. During March she underwent a small repair at Plymouth Dockyard, and recommissioned during her repairs in the November of that year under Captain John Drew who would command her until 1793. With her repairs completed by the March of 1790 at a cost of £13,913, on the 13th of the month she sailed for the Leeward Islands, as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir John Laforey
.
In the April of 1793, under Admiral Rodney, Trusty took part in the naval action during the French capture of Tobago. By August she was back in England for fitting at Plymouth and she was paid off in the following month. By November she was recommissioning under Captain William O’Bryen Drury and refitting, at a cost of £13384.0.0d She subsequently became a guard ship at Weymouth from the 14th of September, 1794. In 1795 she came under Captain John Osborne until 1797, but in the June of 1796 she sailed with a convoy to the Cape of Good Hope under temporary Captain Commander James Walker.

In the March of 1798 Captain Andrew Todd took up the command of Trusty, and from the May to the August of 1799 she was fitted as a 28 gun unrated troop ship at Woolwich dockyard. During July she had been recommissioned under Captain George Bowen
at a cost of £8686.0.0d12.

Between the period from 1801 to 1802 her captain was Alexander Wilson and it was under him that she took part in the navy's Egyptian campaign from the 8th of March to the 2nd of September in that first mentioned year.

Her officers and crew thus qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal, which the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants.

On her return to Britain in 1802, she was recommissioned under Captain Daniel Guion in the December of that year and refitted to her former status as a 50 gun fourth rate ship for service in the Downs.

In the November of 1803 she began yet another refit at Chatham this time to that of a troopship which was completed in the February of 1804 at a cost of £6004.0.0d. She was recommissioned under Captain George Argeles who would command her until 1807. Once again she found herself serving in the Downs.

On the 17th of July 1805 Trusty was serving as part of a flotilla of small ships when she witnessed the loss of the Gun-brigs Plumper and Teaser by seven French Gunboats and a Dogger, whilst they were all becalmed off Calais. By use of their sweeps the Gunboats were able to gain a superior position and outranging the Gun-brigs carronades they stood off and damaged the British vessels at will until they forced them both to surrender.

Fate.

In 1808 Trusty was under the command of Captain Brian Hodgson before being fitted as a prison ship in 1809 under Lieutenant William Needham. In the June of that year command passed to Lieutenant Daniel Couch, and in 1811 Lieutenant Joseph Coxwell, before being broken up at Chatham in the April of 1815.

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HMS Antelope (1802)


This painting by William Joy. From the date, the two-decked ship under construction in the right background could only be HMS Antelope. In the foreground, is a hoy (left) and a sheer hulk (right).

HMS Antelope was a Sir John Henslow designed 50 gun fourth rate ship and was the only ship of her class. Built by M/shipwright William Rule until the August of 1790, then Edward Sisson to 1793, followed by John Marshall to June 1795, Thomas Mitchell to the August of 1801, she was completed by Nicholas Diddams at the Royal Dockyard, Sheerness.
Ordered on the 15th of February 1790, and laid down in the June of 1790, she was launched on the 10th of November, 1802, and completed on the 15th of March, 1803, at a cost of £38,369 which included fitting. Her construction had taken 12 years. In contrast, HMS Isis, a very similar ship, had been built at John Henniker's shipyard in Chatham in just two years.


Sheer plan, lines and stern details.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Antelope
Ordered:	15.2.1790
Builder:	Rule, Sheerness
Launched:	10.11.1802
Fate:	BU. 7.1845
General characteristics
Class and type:	Antelope Class 50 gun fourth rate ship
Tons burthen:	1,10725⁄94 (bm)
Length:	150ft 1⁄2 in (gundeck)
Beam:	41ft 11⁄4 in
Depth of hold:	17ft 8 in
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 22 × 24 pdr guns Upper gundeck: 22 × 12 pdr guns QD: 4 × 6 pdr guns FC: 2 × 24 pdr Her construction had taken 12 years. In contrast, HMS Isis, a very similar ship, had been built at John Henniker's shipyard in Chatham in just two years. Carronades

Service.

HMS Antelope was commissioned under Captain John Melhuish in the November of 1802. By the time she was launched and commissioned, the French Revolutionary War had ended and Europe was enjoying the brief interlude known as the Peace of Amiens, after the Treaty of Amiens, signed the previous March. After both sides failed to follow the agreement, On the 10th of May, 1803, Lord Whitworth the British commissioner was ordered by the British Government to leave Paris if France did not accede to their demands within 36 hours. On 13th May, Lord Whitworth left Paris and Britain declared war on France on the 18th.

The Napoleonic wars.

The French now began preparations for an invasion of Britain and massed an army of 83,000 men around Boulogne.
Meanwhile, in the April of 1803 HMS Antelope had joined the North Sea Fleet and became flagship of the Inshore Squadron under Commodore William Sidney Smith. Very quickly his squadron was engaged in the blockade of Flushing, Helvoet and Ostend. Smith in Antelope stationed himself off the Schoneveldt Estuary at a mid-point between Flushing and Ostend in order to be able to dash down and support either group as and when required, in company with the two frigates.

On the evening of the 15th of May, 1804, an enemy force of 22 one masted vessels and a schooner were seen to be exiting from the harbour at Ostend and anchoring to the west of the lighthouse. Captain Hancock ordered the Stag under Lieutenant William Patfull to proceed with all dispatch to Antelope and inform Commodore Smith of the situation. At nightfall, he took his two sloops closer inshore and anchored off the pier within range of the shore batteries. At about 9.30am the next day, HMS Rattler, which was laying a little further offshore than HMS Cruizer, made a signal that they had sighted five sail coming up from the east-south-east. A little later, she made a signal that an enemy fleet had been sighted. This turned out to be a division of the Franco-Dutch Flushing flotilla, inbound to Ostend. The enemy force consisted of two large ship-rigged prams, each carrying 12 24 pdr long guns, 19 schooners and 47 schuyts. All in all, the enemy force consisted of 68 vessels carrying a total of more than 100 long guns, 36, 24 and 18 pounders. Between them, they were carrying between 4,000 and 6,000 troops. The enemy force was commanded by the Dutch Rear Admiral Ver-Huell, flying his command flag in the Ville d'Anvers, one of the prams. The other pram was called the Ville d'Aix.

At about 10am, Captain Hancock ordered that the two sloops weigh anchor and make towards the enemy. At 11am, the wind shifted in favour of the British vessels. This forced the Dutch admiral to turn his force around and head back towards Flushing. At about noon, Commodore Smith came within sight of the two sloops in HMS Antelope in company with his two frigates. At about 1.30pm, HMS Cruizer bore up to one of the shuyts and opened fire with her carronades. This forced the enemy vessel to strike her colours and surrender. The enemy vessel was found to be carrying a single 36pdr long gun and was manned by five Dutch seamen and 25 French troops. Signalling HMS Rattler to take possession of the enemy vessel, HMS Cruizer continued on, Captain Hancock hoping to engage one of the large prams. The Dutch admiral, feeling annoyed at seeing one of his vessels defeated by such a comparatively insignificant British sloop, took advantage of another change in the wind and headed his force back towards Ostend. The action really intensified from this point. The Ville d'Anvers fired a shot at Cruizer, which passed over her and fell near Rattler. At this point, the wind shifted again, forcing the two British vessels to alter course. The change of course brought them on a parallel to that of the enemy fleet. The Ville d'Anvers then opened fire on both British vessels, as did several of the schuyts and schooners. A furious fight now ensued, with both Cruizer and Rattler getting stuck into the middle of the enemy fleet, by now putting on all sail and heading towards the shelter of Ostend, engaging on both sides. The British vessels were also taking fire from the shore battery at Blankenberghe. Despite this, Cruizer and Rattler managed to drive the Ville d'Anvers and four of the schooners ashore. At about 3.45, HMS Aimable drew up and opened fire on the enemy fleet. At 4.30pm, HMS Antelope and HMS Penelope also came within range and opened a heavy bombardment on the enemy and drove ashore more of the schooners and schuyts. On the, now aground, Ville d'Anvers, her crew having fled, soldiers from the shore battery manned the guns and at 7 pm, Aimable was damaged by their fire, having drawn within range. At 7:45pm, Commodore Smith ordered his force to disengage and withdraw. The tide had gone out, leaving his vessels operating in dangerously shallow water. What was left of the Franco-Dutch force limped into the harbour at Ostend, covered by a force of French gunboats and the shore battery on the pier-head. In what is now known as the Attack on Ver Huell's Squadron, Cruizer had suffered one seaman killed,with the Captains Clerk, and three seamen wounded. Rattler had suffered two seamen killed and three wounded. Aimable had come off the worst in Commodore Smith's force, with Mr Christie, Masters Mate, Mr Midshipman Johnson, four seamen and one boy killed and Lieutenant William Mather, Mr William Shadwell, purser, Mr Midshipman Conner and eleven seamen wounded. Antelope had suffered no casualties in the action.

In the June of that year Commodore Smith moved his command pennant ashore. Antelope then became flagship of Rear-Admiral William Domett, and Captain Melhuish was replaced by Captain William Stuart. He was only to remain in command until October, when he was superseded by Captain Home Riggs Popham.

On the evening of the 8th of December Antelope was involved in an attempt to destroy Fort Rouge, a pile-battery at the entrance to the harbour at Calais. In this attempt, an 'explosion vessel' the Susannah and two catamarans or 'carcasses' were to be attached to the legs of the battery and blown up, hopefully taking the battery with them. Fortune did not smile on the British endeavour. One of the catamarans couldn't be affixed to the battery's piles, whilst both the other one and the Susannah failed to detonate.
In the December of that year now under Captain Robert Plamplin she took station in the North Sea.

Then in the June of 1805 she came under the command of Captain Henry Bazely and sailed for the East Indies as an escort to a convoy. In the October of that year she had Captain Barrington Dacres as her commanding officer, once again as the Flagship of Commodore Sir William Sydney Smith.

In 1807 she was based at the Cape of Good Hope, and in the December of that year came under the command of Captain Edward Galway, under whom she sailed to the Med on the 21st of February,1808.

In the May of 1809 Antelope gained a new captain in the form of Donald M’Leod as the Flagship of Vice Admiral John Holloway, and sailed to Newfoundland on the 25th of June. In 1810 now under Captain Richard Dunn she served as Flagship to Vice Admiral Sir John Duckworth until 1812. In the December of 1810 her new captain was James Carpenter and under him she sailed with a convoy for Gibraltar, and then back to Newfoundland on the 22nd of June 1812.

In the December of that year she took as her captain Edward Hawker, and became Flagship to Vice Admiral Sir Edmund Nagle on the Newfoundland station.

On the 11th of October, 1813, under Captain Samuel Butcher, Antelope took the Danish privateer Kera Venner. And then on the 24th, another Danish privateer, the Eleonara. To follow up these two successes in the following year on the 14th of August, she captured the American 20 gun Privateer Ida. On the 14th of October 1814, Antelope sailed from Quebec with a convoy bound for England. The voyage was not without incident because at some point in the voyage, she struck an iceberg suffering some hull damage. On the15th of November, Antelope arrived safely at Portsmouth with her charges. She was dry-docked on the 19th of November for the damage to be repaired and she was refloated on the 20th of the following month, and fitted for sea. She came under Commander Richard Booth Bowden in the May of 1815 and sailed to the Leeward Islands as the Flagship of rear Admiral John Harvey. and for use as a troopship. In the August of that year she came under Captain George Sayer still as Harvey’s Flagship.

Between the January and the February of 1817, Mr William Seaman, purser of HMS Antelope was tried by Court Martial aboard HMS Tigris at Barbados. He had been accused by Lieutenant Henry Boeteler of Antelope of defrauding the ships company out of a considerable part of their provisions. On being found guilty by the Court Martial, Mr Seaman was ordered to be dismissed from His Majesty's Service. By order of the Court Martial, he was also prevented from ever again taking up any civil service or military employment.

Fate.

In 1818, Antelope was converted to a troopship. This involved the removal of her lower gundeck guns, with the gun-ports being permanently sealed. In the April of 1819, she was paid off at Chatham and laid up in Ordinary. Between the August and the November of 1823, Antelope was taken into the Royal Dockyard at Chatham and converted into a convict ship, and she sailed to Bermuda in the January of 1824. On arrival, she was placed on harbour service as a prison hulk and remained there until she was broken up in the July of 1845.

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HMS Diomede (1798)

HMS Diomede was a Sir John Henslow designed Antelope Class modified to produce the Diomede Class 50 gun fourth rate ship. She was built by M/shipwright Martin Ware until the June of 1795 and completed by Thomas Pollard at Deptford Dockyard. Ordered on the 9th of December 1790, and laid down in the October of 1792, she was launched on the17th of January 1798 and completed on the 11th of May in that year at a cost of £43,804.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Diomede
Ordered:	9.12.1790
Builder:	Ware. Deptford
Launched:	17.1.1798
Fate:	BU. 8.1815
General characteristics
Class and type:	Diomede Class 50 gun fourth rate ship
Tons burthen:	1,122 52⁄94 (bm)
Length:	151ft 11⁄2 in (gundeck)
Beam:	41ft 13⁄4 in
Depth of hold: Draught:	17ft 7in 11ft 9in x 16ft 6in
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 22 × 24 pdr guns Upper gundeck: 22 × 12 pdr guns QD: 4 × 6 pdr guns FC: 2 × 6 pdr guns

Service.

HMS Diomede was commissioned in the March of 1798 under Captain Charles Elphinstone for service in the North Sea. On the 6th of December in that year she departed from Portsmouth bound for the East Indies, escorting a small convoy which included the Indiamen Carnatic and Taunton Castle.
In the August of 1800 she captured the Union and its cargo Cargo.


During the period of July to September 1801, Diomede was cruising off Madagascar in company with the Imperieuse in search of enemy shipping.

By the 19th of October in that year she had returned to the Cape of Good Hope, in company with the Lancaster, Tremendous, Jupiter, Imperieux and Penguin, Brig, from whence on that date the Belliqueux, Adamant and their convoy of HEIC vessels departed for England.
From the 25th of May, 1802, Captain Elphinstone was forced to return to England on account of his ill health, and the command of Diomede passed to Captain Samuel Motley from the December of that year.

On the 15th of October, 1802, salvage money due to Diomede for her capture of the Union in 1800 had become due to be paid at the Cape of Good Hope.

On the 27th of May, 1803 she arrived back at Spithead from the Cape of Good Hope, under the command of Admiral Sir Roger Curtis, together with Jupiter, Hindostan, and Braave, accompanying the two transports Favourite and Suffolk, and a captured valuable French East Indiaman, La Union, of about 800 tons, bound for Flushing, taken by them on the day previous off Dunnose.

Two days after his arrival at Spithead Admiral Sir Roger Curtis struck his flag on Diomede, and on the Thursday following departed the ship.

On the third of June Diomede commenced a small refit for sea under Capt Larcom, and on the 9th was placed under orders to join Sir James Saumarez's squadron off the Channel Isles as soon as she was seaworthy. On the 14th of June she sailed from Spithead to become the Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir James Saumarez's squadron cruising off the Channel Isles, and was to retain this role for the next two years. On the 12th of November in that year she arrived at Spithead from Guernsey and on the 16th of the month a courts martial was assembled for the trial of Boatswain's Mate S Thompson, of the Diomede,

“ For having, on the 17th of October, shoved Richard Wheatland, one of the carpenter's crew, down from the lower deck, into the orlop, in the main hatchway, receiving injuries from which he subsequently died.”

Whilst being acquitted of murder, Thompson was found guilty of having shoved Wheatland down the hatchway. Later that day at the same trybuneral, seamen C F Smedbar, and W Price, also of the Diomede, were found guilty of desertion and awarded 72 lashes each.

On the 26th of Nov Diomede removed to Portsmouth Harbour from Spithead.

In the ships absence on the 23rd of December another courts martial was held, this time on board the Gladiator at Spithead, on Lieutenant R Crawford of the Diomede, for absenting himself without leave. He was sentenced to be admonished and to be more careful in future.

On the 31st of December Diomede returned from Portsmouth to Spithead and on the 7th of January, 1804, Capt Hugh Downman was appointed as the captain of Diomede, and she for Saumarez's squadron at Gurnsey where she remained until returning to Spithead on the 18th of October in that year. By the 8th of November she was on her way back to Guernsey once again.

A change came about in 1805 when she had a spell in the North sea, and then between the 26th of November in that year and the 12th of January 1806, she was fitted for foreign service. In that year she came under Commander Joseph Edmonds as part of the Expedition under the orders of Commodore Sir Home Popham, to take the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch, which involved many of the men working ashore as a part of a marine battalion.

On the 4th of March forming a part of the squadron lying off the Cape of Good Hope she captured the French 40 gun frigate Volontaire, which was later bought in to the Royal Navy under the same name.

In 1807, once more under the command of Captain Downman she took part of an expedition to Monte-Video and Buenos-Ayres. By the June of that year she was back at Portsmouth and paid off for a refit which took place between the September and November of that year, having been recommissioned under Captain Phillip Dumaresque during August.

In 1808, under Captain John Sykes, she became the flagship of Rear admiral Sir Edmund Nagle back at Guernsey yet again.

Then in 1809, now under the command of Captain Hugh Cook until 1811, she sailed on the 22nd of May in that year with a convoy to St. Helena, and thence onward to the East Indies. She departed from Canton on the 22nd of April, with a convoy on the return journey to St. Helena, finally arriving back at Deal in Kent on the 2nd of September of that year, from whence on the 6th she departed on a cruise.
On her return to port at Chatham, between the June and September of 1812 she was fitted as a 26 gun troopship, and on the 29th of September departed from Cawsand Bay for Corunna conveying troops for Corunna, returning to Plymouth on the 21st of October. She was then recommissioned under Captain Charles Fabian, and on the 29th of December arrived off the Tagus to collect a convoy which sailed on the 1st of January, 1813, which arrived at Portsmouth on the14th of that month.

On the14th of September in that year, Diomede, still under Capt. Fabian, arrived at Halifax Nova Scotia, with the rest of the squadron from the Chesapeake, where on the 7th of Oct, Diomede and the Diadem embarked the1st Battalion of the Royal Marines for transportation to Quebec. She returned to Halifax on the 16th of November, accompanied by the Fox and the transport Mariner, the trip having taken 16 days from Quebec.

Diomede returned from Halifax to Portsmouth on the 24th of December 1813 and on the 3rd of January, 1814, she departed with American prisoners of war aboard, destined for Gillingham-reach.

Now under Captain Hugh Pigot, she sailed from Portsmouth on the 10th of May escorting convoys destined for the coast of Africa, Brazil, and the Cape of Good Hope, the East Indies, and British North America, via Cork.

On the 30th of June in that year the Hebrus arrived at Halifax, from Cork, with a small convoy, which had parted a few days previous from the Diomede, Diadem, and, Leopard carrying troops for Quebec.

In the October of 1814 Diomede came under the command of Captain George Kippen and on the 14th of Dec in that year there was a distribution of head-money arising from the capture of American gun-boats and sundry bales of cotton, reported in the London Gazette of the 26th of June, 1821.

She returned to Portsmouth on the 18th of April 1815 and then passed on for the Downs carrying troops returning from America.

Fate.

Diomede was then paid off, and ordered to become a provisions depot at Sheerness on the 7th of July, 1815, but being found to be too decayed even for this duty she was broken up there in the following month.

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HMS Grampus (1802)

HMS Grampus, originally named HMSTiger, was a Sir John Henslow designed Diomede Class 50 gun fourth rate ship, built by M/shipwright George White until the March of 1793, then Edward Tippett until the October of 1799, and completed by Thomas Pollard at Portsmouth Dockyard. Ordered on the 9th of December, 1790, she was laid down in the October of 1792, and launched on the 20th of March, 1802. She was completed on the 11th of April, 1803.


HMS Grampus

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Grampus
Ordered:	9 December 1790
Builder:	White, Portsmouth Dockyard
Laid down:	October 1792
Launched:	20 March 1802
Commissioned:	March 1803
Renamed:	Built as Tiger Renamed Grampus on 4 March 1802
Fate:	Sold in late 1832
General characteristics
Class and type:	Diomede Class 50 gun fourth rate ship
Tons burthen:	1,114 ​31⁄94 (bm)
Length:	151 ft (46.0 m) (gundeck) 124 ft 7 1⁄2 in (38.0 m) (keel)
Beam:	41 ft 0 in (12 m)
Depth of hold:	17 ft 8 in (5.4 m)
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Lower gundeck: 22 × 24pdr guns Upper gundeck: 22 × 12pdr guns QD: 4 × 6 pdr guns Fc: 2 × 6pdr guns

Service.

HMS Grampus was commissioned by Captain Hugh Downman in the March of 1803, but in the following month command passed to Captain Thomas Gordon Caulfield, and she was ordered to the Downs on the 7th of May. As soon as her complement of men was completed and her bounty paid, she sailed for the East Indies to join Admiral Edward Thornbrough’s squadron off Goree.
On the 19th of May Jalouse captured Jong Jan Pieter.^] Jalouse shared the prize money with Grampus and the Gun Brigs Censor and Vixen, with whom she had been in company.

Grampus returned to Portsmouth from Gurnsey on the 20th of June to fit out for the East Indies and sailed with a convoy under her protection on the 29th. She carried £100,000 that the Honourable East India Company was shipping to Bengal. By the16th of October she was three days out of Rio in company with HMS Russell together with the Indiamen which they were escorting. After their arrival in the Indies, Grampus was destined to spend until the end of 1809 in the East Indies or at the Cape.

In the March of 1806 Captain James Haldane Tait relieved Caulfield in command of Grampus. Later she was stationed at the Cape of Good Hope, and returned home in the summer of 1809, escorting a large convoy of East India Company ships which Captain Tait had taken under his protection at St Helena.

He was presented by the Court of directors with a sum of money for the purchase of a piece of plate. Grampus was paid off because of her poor condition at the end of 1809. Grampus then underwent a repair and refit at Chatham which was completed by the February of 1810. During her refit, in the January of 1810, she was recommissioned under the command of Captain William Hanwell who was to command her until 1812. On the 28th of April she sailed with a convoy destined for the East Indies and saw them safely through to the coast of Africa.
Having returned to Portsmouth, on the 30th of September, a courts martial was convened on board HMS Raisonnable to try Lieutenant John Cheshire of Grampus. Captain Hanwell having accused him of insolence, contempt, and disrespect on the 11th of April, and similar conduct, coupled with neglect of duty, on the 15th of that same month. The court found that the charges were unfounded and acquitted Lieutenant Cheshire.

In the November of 1811 Commodore George Cockburn hoisted his broad pendant on board Grampus, preparatory to proceeding as one of three commissioners, the others being Thomas Sydenham and John Morier, all nominated by the Prince Regent to mediate between Spain and her colonies. They arrived in Cadiz on the 21st of April, 1812, only to discover that the Spanish government and the majority of the Cortes resolved to retain absolute control over their South American possessions instead of taking a liberal view as proposed by the British government. He returned from his unsuccessful mission on 4 August.

Grampus then sailed to North America under Captain Robert Barrie on the in the June of that same year, and thence to the Leeward Islands on the 2nd of September. In the following month command was transferred to Captain Francis Collier until 1815 as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Francis Laforey, effective from 1813. From 1814 to 1815 Grampus spent time in the East Indies before returning to England to be paid off and laid up at Woolwich in the July of that year.

Fate.



In 1816 she was transferred to Deptford where she was converted to a troopship in 1817, and then by Admiralty Orders issued on the 13th of January 1820 she was fitted and used as a hospital ship at there from 1820 until being lent to the Society for Distressed Seamen in 1824. She served in this role in the Thames until 1831 when she was returned to the Royal Navy and sold at Woolwich to a Mr Batson in late 1832.

[IMG]file:///C:\Users\Rob\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image002.jpg[/IMG]
H.M.S. Grampus lying off Deptford Creek, Greenwich

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HMS Jupiter (1813)

The Jupiter Class 50 gun fourth rate ship was designed by Sir William Rule, based on the reduced lines of the 80 gun Danish Prize Christian VII, approved on the 30th of June, 1810. She was built by M/shipwright Joseph Tucker to the May of 1813 and completed by Thomas Roberts at Plymouth. She was the only ship in her class, and one of the last three 50 gun ships built during the hostilities. Ordered on the 30th of June, 1810, HMS Jupiter was laid down in the August of 1811, and launched on the 22nd of November, 1813. She was placed in Ordinary during 1814, and fitted for sea in the March of 1815 before being laid up. Her cost before fitting being £36,733, partial fitting adding a further £12,494 to the bill.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Jupiter
Ordered:	30.6.1810
Builder:	Tucker, Plymouth
Launched:	22.11.1813
Fate:	BU. 28.1.1870
General characteristics
Class and type:	Jupiter Class 50 gun fourth rate ship
Tons burthen:	11734⁄94 (bm)
Length:	154ft 0in (gundeck)
Beam:	41ft 71⁄2 in
Depth of hold:	18ft 0in
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 22 × 24 pdr guns Upper gundeck: 24 × 12 pdr guns QD: 8 × 24 pdr Carronades FC: 2 × 6 pdr + 2 x 24 pdr Carronades

Service.

HMS Jupiter was commissioned briefly in 1815 under Commander Henry Meynell. She was classed as a troopship in the November of 1819. In the latter part of 1821 she underwent a small repair, and was then fitted to carry the new Governor General to India from the May to September of 1822. She was then recommissioned as a troopship under Captain George Westphal, and had one further captain until reassigned under Captain William Wiseman as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Willoughby Lake on the Hailifax station from 1825. In the December of 1826 the captaincy passed to William Webb until she paid off in the May of 1827.

She became a troopship of 30 guns again in 1829 until fitted as a temporary lazarette at Plymouth im the August of 1831.Between the April and July of 1842 she was refitted as a troopship at a cost of £15,671 and then fitted as suitable to convey the Governor General The Earl of Auckland to India and was re-rated to a 38 gun ship in the September of 1835.In the November of that year she was recommissioned under Captain Frederic Grey, and then paid off again in the September of 1836.


Jupiter at Table Bay whilst serving as a troop ship.

Between the August and November of 1837 she was again fitted as a troop ship for £6,168, and deployed for the China War between 1839 and 1842, followed by the Vangyze operation in the July of 1842. Following this she returned to England and paid off on the 9th of December1843.

Fate.

In the April of 1846 Jupiter was fitted as a coal depot at Plymouth where she remained until under Admiralty Orders issued on the 13th of October,1869 she was to be broken up. This was completed on the 28th of January, 1870.

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HMS Salisbury (1815)

HMS Salisbury was a Sir William Rule designed Salisbury Class 50 gun fourth rate ship modified from the Jupiter Class. She was built by M/shipwright Robert Nelson until the July of 1813 and completed by William Stone. Ordered on the 13th of july,1810, laid down in the October of, 1811, and launched on the 21st of June,1814, she was completed partly at Woolwich from the 18th of July to the 25th of August in that year, and finally at Sheerness on the 22nd of May, 1815. The building cost being £45,297 including fitting at Woolwich, and then a further £15,814 at Sheerness.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Salisbury
Ordered:	13.7.1810
Builder:	Nelson, Deptford
Launched:	21.6.1814
Fate:	BU. 12.1.1837
General characteristics
Class and type:	New Salisbury Class 50 gun fourth rate ship
Tons burthen:	1,1992⁄94 (bm)
Length:	154ft 0in (gundeck)
Beam:	41ft 11in
Depth of hold:	17ft 6in
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 22 × 24 pdr guns Upper gundeck: 22 × 12 pdr guns QD: 8 × 24 pdr Carronades FC: 2 × 6 pdr guns +2 x 24 pdr Carronades

Service.

HMS Salisbury was commissioned in the March of 1815 under Captain Edward hawker as the Flagship of Vice Admiral Sir Richard Keats on the Newfoundland station. From the December of that year she came under Captain John Mackellar as Flagship to Rear Admiral John Erskine Douglas on the Jamaica station, and then under Commander Houston Stewart in an acting capacity in the March of 1817, before returning home. Between the May and December of 1818 Salisbury underwent a Small Repair and refitting for sea at Portsmouth costing £19,224. Recommissioned under Captain John Wilson in the August of that year she was designated Flagship to Rear Admiral Donald Campbell in the Leeward Islands, until Campbell died in the November of 1819.

Salisbury returned to England shortly afterwards and between the September of 1821 and the March of 1822 was again having defects repaired at Portsmouth. On this occasion costing the sum of £12,850, and during this period she was commissioned under Captain William Maude from the September of 1821. She then proceed to the Halifax station as Flagship to Rear Admiral William Fahie.

Fate.

On her return to Britain she was paid off and laid up at Portsmouth in the September of 1824 where she remained until sold to Mr. Beaton for £2,710 to be broken up on the 12th of January, 1837.

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HMS Romney (1815)

HMS Romney was a Sir William Rule designed (new) Salisbury Class 50 gun fourth rate ship modified from the Jupiter Class. She was built by M/shipwright John Pelham at Frindsbury. Ordered on the 13th of May, 1811, laid down in the August of that year, and launched on the 24th of February, 1815, she was laid up as incomplete at Chatham.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Romney
Ordered:	13.5.1811
Builder:	Pelham, Frindsbury
Launched:	24.2.1815
Fate:	Sold. 15.12.1845
General characteristics
Class and type:	New Salisbury Class 30 gun troopship
Tons burthen:	1,22664⁄94 (bm)
Length:	154ft 9in (gundeck)
Beam:	42ft 6in
Depth of hold:	17ft 6in
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 30 guns

Service.

HMS Romney was commissioned under Captain John Mackellar in the October of 1815.
She was roofed over in the December of 1819 and then fitted for sea for £6,680 in the July of 1780, and as a 30 gun troopship between that date and the May of 1822 for a further £5,476. Then fitted for sea at Sheerness between the July and August of 1824 and commissioned for sea under Captain William Mingaye, although she never sailed.

She was fitted for foreign service at Chatham for £2,414, in the January of 1825 having been recommissioned under Captain Nicholas Lockyer, and was laid up at Plymouth in the September of 1827, and paid off in the following month. Between the January and the April of 1832 Romney was fitted as a troopship once more at Plymouth. This time at a costing of £12,151, she came first under ship Master R Brown until 1833 and then James wood from the November of that year until the end of 1834.

Fate.

Between the January and June of 1837 Romney was fitted as a receiving ship for freed slaves at Portsmouth at a cost of £5,554. Destined for Havana, having been recommissioned under Lieutenant Charles Jenkins, and then from the August of 1839, Lieutenant Charles Hawkins, her final commander was Lieutenant Robert McClure in the June of 1842, holding the post until the ship was sold in Jamaica on the 15th of December, 1845.

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HMS Isis (1819)

HMS Isis would have been the 3rd of Rules 50 gun ships.Work was commenced at Woolwich Dockyard under M/shipwright Edward Sisson until the March of 1816 and then taken over by Henry Canham. The ship had been ordered in the 10th of October, 1811, which comes within the time period that I am covering, and laid down in the February of 1816 when work was suspended. By Admiralty Orders she was then converted to a Frigate, whilst the building was still in progress, and launched on the 5th of October,1819 with a very different design layout.
Thus Romney had effectively been the last 50 gun fourth rate ship of the period.
Rob.

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As no further 50 gun ships of the line were built for the Royal Navy after this date I am now moving on to the Fourth Rate 50 gun Frigates built during the period 1793 to 1815.

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,
and also for this particular series of ships Three Decks Warships in the age of sail whose information has been of inestimable in filling in the gaps and cross checking for disparity of information in some of the other texts.

Any mistakes are solely down to me.

Rob.