HMS ''Dragon'' was a 74-gun

third rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third r ...

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, launched on 2 April 1798 at

Rotherhithe Rotherhithe () is a district of south-east London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping, Shadwell and Limehouse on the north bank, as well as the Isle of Dogs ...

. She was designed by Sir William Rule, and was the only ship built to her draught.

French Revolutionary Wars

In 1799, she sailed to the Mediterranean as part of a squadron under Sir Charles Cotton. In February 1801 she was part of a squadron under Sir John Warren off Cadiz. Because ''Dragon'' served in the navy's Egyptian campaign between 8 March 1801 and 2 September, her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants.

Napoleonic Wars

In April 1803, ''Dragon'' was sailing from Gibraltar to Britain in company with and the store ship ''Prevoyante'' when they sighted two French

ships of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colum ...

off

Cape St. Vincent Cape St. Vincent ( pt, Cabo de São Vicente, ) is a headland in the municipality of Vila do Bispo, in the Algarve, southern Portugal. It is the southwesternmost point of Portugal and of mainland Europe. History Cape St. Vincent was already sacr ...

. The French ships veered off rather than engage the British vessels. On 18 June 1803, ''Dragon'' and captured the French naval 12-gun brig ''Colombe''. ''Colombe'' was copper-bottomed and pierced for 16 guns. She had a crew of 65 men under the command of ''lieutenant de vaisseau'' Caro. ''Colombe'' had been returning from Martinique and was bound for

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress *Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria *Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France **Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Brest, ...

when the British captured her off Ouessant. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS ''Colombe''. In 1805, ''Dragon'' took part in Admiral

Robert Calder Admiral Sir Robert Calder, 1st Baronet, (2 July 174531 August 1818) was a British naval officer who served in the Seven Years' War, the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. For much of his career ...

's action at the Battle of Cape Finisterre.National Maritime Museum Warship Histories
, Vessel ID 365765 From 1806 to 1808, ''Dragon'' she served in the Channel Squadron. On 17 February 1806, she ran aground on the

Île de Ré Île de Ré (; variously spelled Rhé or Rhéa; Poitevin: ''ile de Rét''; en, Isle of Ré, ) is an island off the Atlantic coast of France near La Rochelle, Charente-Maritime, on the northern side of the Pertuis d'Antioche strait. Its highe ...

Finistère Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.

, France. She was later refloated, repaired and returned to service. In September 1810 she commissioned as the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

Sir Francis Laforey Admiral Sir Francis Laforey, 2nd Baronet, KCB (31 December 1767 – 17 June 1835) was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, whose distinguished service record included numerous frigate commands ...

and she sailed for the

Leeward Islands french: Îles-Sous-le-Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Leeward Islands. Clockwise: Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Saint kitts and Nevis. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean SeaNorth Atlantic Ocean , coor ...

in October 1810. On 18 October 1810, ''Dragon'' was in Hamoaze. There she ran into and dismasted the brig ''Eliza Ann'', Rees, master, which had been sailing from Neath to London.

War of 1812

''Dragon'' participated in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

, under the command of

Robert Barrie Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Barrie KCB, KCH (5 May 1774 – 7 June 1841) was a British officer of the Royal Navy noted for his service in the War of 1812. He was helped early in his naval career by the patronage of his uncle, Sir Alan Gardner ...

, and took part in a number of engagements. She also captured a number of vessels. On 12 September 1812, ''Dragon'' captured ''Anna Maria''. On 20 or 22 December, ''Dragon'' destroyed the American privateer ''Tartar'', of ten guns and 47 men. In August 1814, ''Dragon'' took part in an expedition up the

Penobscot River The Penobscot River (Abenaki: ''Pαnawάhpskewtəkʷ'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 22, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Maine. Including the river's We ...

in Maine. The first ships to go were , ''Dragon'', , , , as well as some transports. , , , and joined on the 31st. On the evening of 31 August, ''Sylph'', ''Peruvian'', and the transport ''Harmony'', accompanied by a boat from ''Dragon'', embarked marines, foot soldiers and a detachment from the Royal Artillery, to move up the Penobscot under the command of Captain Robert Barrie of ''Dragon''. The objective was the American frigate , of twenty-six 18-pounder guns, which had taken refuge some 27 miles up stream at

Hampden, Maine Hampden is a town on the Penobscot River estuary in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The population was 7,709 at the 2020 census. Hampden is part of the Bangor metropolitan statistical area. History The town was originally called Whee ...

. Here ''Adams'' had landed her guns and fortified a position on the bank with fifteen 18-pounders commanding the river. Moving up the river took two days, but eventually, after the

Battle of Hampden The Battle of Hampden was an action in the British campaign to conquer present-day Maine and remake it into the colony of New Ireland during the War of 1812. Sir John Sherbrooke led a British force from Halifax, Nova Scotia to establish New Ire ...

, the British were able to capture the American defenders at Bangor, though not until after the Americans had burnt the ''Adams''. The British also captured 11 other ships and destroyed six. The British lost only one man killed, a sailor from ''Dragon'', and had several soldiers wounded.''The Anglo-American Magazine'', (Toronto: Maclear), Vol. 5, pp.418-9. In January 1815, ''Dragon'' was the flagship for Admiral Sir

George Cockburn Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet, (22 April 1772 – 19 August 1853) was a British Royal Navy officer. As a captain he was present at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in February 1797 during the French Revolutionary Wars an ...

at the

Battle of Fort Peter The Battle of Fort Point Peter was a successful attack in early 1815 by a British force on a smaller American force on the Georgia side of the St. Marys River near St. Marys, Georgia. The river was then part of the international border between ...

and the capture of St. Marys, Georgia.

Fate

''Dragon'' was on harbour service in 1824, becoming a

Marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

barracks ship A barracks ship or barracks barge or berthing barge, or in civilian use accommodation vessel or accommodation ship, is a ship or a non-self-propelled barge containing a superstructure of a type suitable for use as a temporary barracks for sai ...

at Portland in 1829. She was renamed HMS ''Fame'' in 1842. She was broken up in 1850.

Notes, citations, and references

;Notes ;Citations ;References * * Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. .

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dragon (1798) Ships of the line of the Royal Navy 1798 ships War of 1812 ships of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in 1806 Maritime incidents in 1810 Shipwrecks in the Bay of Biscay