HMS ''Enterprise'' (sometimes erroneously spelled ''Enterprize'') was a 28-gun sixth-rate ''Enterprise''-class frigate 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 ...

. She was the

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of her class of twenty-seven ships.

Construction

''Enterprise'' was built at Deptford Royal Dockyard,

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, launched in August 1774, and was commissioned in April 1775 under the command of Captain

Sir Thomas Rich Sir Thomas Rich, 1st Baronet (c. 1601 – 15 October 1667) was an English merchant and politician who sat in House of Commons in 1660. He established Sir Thomas Rich's School, a grammar school.George III of the United Kingdom. The pair showing ''Enterprise'' are now split between the

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and the

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Career

''Enterprise'' served throughout the

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as cruiser and

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escort. She captured a prize off Cape Henry on 19 July, 1778. On 7 June 1780, ''Enterprise'', under command of Captain Patrick Leslie (not to be confused with

Patrick Leslie Patrick Leslie (25 September 1815 – 12 August 1881) was a Scottish settler in Australia. Leslie and his two brothers (Walter and George) were the first to settle on the Darling Downs, and he was the first person to buy land in Warwick ...

), was at anchor in the Bay of

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

with other ships of the

. At about 1:30am, ''Enterprise'' saw some vessels drifting toward the harbour. When they came within hailing distance, the seaman on watch called a challenge. The six drifting vessels were set afire by their crews, who made their escape in small boats, leaving the flaming hulks drifting toward the British ships. Captain Leslie fired a three-gun salvo to warn the other ships, cut his anchor lines to let ''Enterprise'' drift away from the hulks, and then opened fire on the hulks in an attempt to sink them. With the Spanish fleet waiting just outside the harbour for any British ships trying to escape, the British seamen took to small boats and, at great peril to their lives, boarded the flaming hulks to attach lines to pull them away from their own ships and burn themselves out. After this action and continued service in the Mediterranean, she sailed under the command of Captain John Payne on 27 April 1782, for the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean. In October 1782, now under the command of Captain William Carnegie, she captured the 22-gun American

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'', which the Royal Navy took into service under her existing name, before selling her in 1783.

Fate

''Enterprise'' was decommissioned in May 1784. From 1790 she was stationed in port in British home waters as a receiving ship, monitoring the arrival of foreign vessels. In 1791, during the war scare known as the

Spanish Armament The Nootka Crisis, also known as the Spanish Armament, was an international incident and political dispute between the Nuu-chah-nulth Nation, the Spanish Empire, the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the fledgling United States of America triggered b ...

, she was hulked as a receiving ship for impressed men at the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...

. In 1806 she was taken to Deptford and broken up in 1807. In April 1806, another ''Enterprise''-class frigate, (built at Rotherhithe in 1777–78) joined her sister ship at the Tower as another receiving ship to accommodate men taken up by another press at the end of the Peace of Amiens and the outbreak of the

Napoleonic War The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. ''Resource'' was renamed ''Enterprise''; she was broken up in 1816.

Citations and references

;Citations ;References * Gardiner, Robert (1992) ''The First Frigates''. (London:Conway Maritime Press). . * Lyon, David (1993) ''The Sailing Navy List''. (London: Conway Maritime Press). .

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Enterprise (1774) 1774 ships Sixth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy Ships built in Deptford