Perseverance-class Frigate
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The ''Perseverance''-class frigate was a 36-gun, later 42-gun,
18-pounder The Ordnance QF 18-pounder,British military traditionally denoted smaller ordnance by the weight of its standard projectile, in this case approximately or simply 18-pounder gun, was the standard British Empire field gun of the First World War ...
fifth-rate
frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...
class of twelve ships of the Royal Navy, constructed in two batches. Designed by Surveyor of the Navy Sir Edward Hunt the first iteration, consisting of four ships, was constructed as a rival to the similar ''Flora''-class frigate. Strongly built ships, the ''Perseverance'' class provided favourable gunnery characteristics and was highly manoeuvrable, but bought these traits with a loss of speed. The name ship of the class, ''Perseverance'', was ordered in 1779 and participated in the American Revolutionary War, but her three sister ships were constructed too late to take part. The class continued in service after the war, but soon became outdated. In 1801 the new First Lord of the Admiralty Admiral Lord St Vincent brought back the ''Perseverance'' class in an attempt to save money and resources in ship construction by producing older and less elaborate designs than those his predecessor Lord Spencer had built. Five new ''Perseverance''-class frigates were initially ordered in 1801, but one of these was cancelled before construction had begun. A year later two frigates were ordered to be built on contract at Bombay Dockyard, and a final ship of the class was accidentally ordered in 1808. This second iteration of the class retained the earlier gunnery characteristics, but the sailing issues of the old design were not improved on and the ships were very slow when compared to other modern designs. The ships of the class saw wide-ranging service throughout the
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and Napoleonic Wars, serving on blockades, in fleets, and on cruises on a large variety of Royal Navy stations. Key actions of the class include ''Phoenix'' in the
battle of Tellicherry The Battle of Tellicherry was a naval action fought off the Indian port of Tellicherry between British and French warships on 18 November 1791 during the Third Anglo-Mysore War. Britain and France were not at war at the time of the engagement, b ...
,
action of 12 May 1796 The action of 12 May 1796 was a minor naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars between a squadron of British Royal Navy frigates and a frigate and four smaller ships of the Batavian Navy. The British squadron had been detached on the ...
, and battle of Cape Ortegal, and ''Iphigenia'' at the battle of Grand Port. Of the eleven completed ships of the class five were lost in
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s, while ''Iphigenia'' was captured by the French at Grand Port but later recaptured. The last extant ship of the class was ''Salsette'', one of the two Bombay ships, which was broken up in 1874 having spent almost forty years as a
receiving ship A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea. Hulk may be used to describe a ship that has been launched but not completed, an abandoned wreck or shell, or to refer to an old ship that has had its rigging or internal equipmen ...
.


Design and construction


First iteration


Background

In the early years of the American Revolutionary War the British
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noted the success of the French Navy's large
frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...
s of twenty-eight and thirty main guns. These frigates were mostly armed with 18-pounders, a larger calibre than that of the Royal Navy's general use. In response to these French frigates the Admiralty demanded that the Navy Board provide designs for a new series of British frigates that would be able to outperform the new generation of French ships. These new classes were to have 18-pounders instead of the Royal Navy's usual choice of 12-pounders and were to be of a minimum of thirty-two guns overall.
Surveyors of the Navy The Surveyor of the Navy also known as Department of the Surveyor of the Navy and originally known as Surveyor and Rigger of the Navy was a former principal commissioner and member of both the Navy Board from the inauguration of that body in 15 ...
Sir Edward Hunt and Sir John Williams each brought forth a design, Hunt's of thirty-eight guns and Williams' of thirty-six. These classes would go on to be known as the ''Minerva'' and ''Flora'' class frigates, respectively. One frigate of each design was ordered by the Admiralty to be built on 6 November 1778. With these initial two classes holding different amounts of guns, other ships of different but equivalent designs were required to further evaluate them. Hunt was employed again to provide an alternative design to the ''Flora'' class, of thirty-six guns total.


Design

The design Hunt came up with was the ''Perseverance''-class frigate. This was a slightly shortened equivalent of the ''Minerva'' class. The class was very similar in design to the ''Flora'' class despite the intentions for the two to be evaluated against each other, however the ''Perseverance'' design was sharper than ''Flora''. One of the most noticeable differences between the two classes was that the ''Perseverance'' class had slightly longer rails on their
quarterdeck The quarterdeck is a raised deck behind the main mast of a sailing ship. Traditionally it was where the captain commanded his vessel and where the ship's colours were kept. This led to its use as the main ceremonial and reception area on bo ...
s. Both thirty-six gun ship classes were built quite heavily and were known to be very robust in their construction, most likely because the designers had erred on the side of caution when drawing up the new ships. As well as this the ships would go on to be thought of very favourably in combat, because even when victualled for long journeys they provided a large amount of freeboard with which to keep guns in use. As well as this, the guns themselves were seven feet apart from each other, providing more operating space than was common. These favourable gunnery characteristics came at a cost to the class's speed, however, but they made up for this by retaining a high level of manoeuvrability and were very weatherly.


Construction and armament

The first ship of the class, ''Perseverance'', was ordered on 3 December 1779. In response to positive trials of all three designs by Hunt and Williams, more vessels were ordered later in the Revolutionary War to a variety of civilian dockyards. Three further vessels would be built of the ''Perseverance'' class, but in this early stage of war the speed of civilian construction was still slow, with the average length of construction being eighteen months. This meant that only ''Perseverance'' herself was launched in time to see any service in the war the class was built for. To avoid the creation of jealous tensions between Hunt and Williams, as was often the case when the surveyors designed similar ships, the later ships of the ''Perseverance'' and ''Flora'' classes were ordered in a pattern alternating between the two classes. These early classes of 18-pounder frigates were not extensively built after the war because by 1790 the ''Pallas''-class frigate had been adopted as the standard design, but because the majority of the class missed the Revolutionary War they were saved from the strenuous services many ships underwent during that conflict, and thus had longer service lives than might have been expected. All ships of the class were constructed to the following dimensions: along the gun deck, at the keel, with a
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of and a depth in the hold of . They measured 871
tons burthen Builder's Old Measurement (BOM, bm, OM, and o.m.) is the method used in England from approximately 1650 to 1849 for calculating the cargo capacity of a ship. It is a volumetric measurement of cubic capacity. It estimated the tonnage of a ship bas ...
and were to have a crew of 260 men. Initially the armament of the class was set at twenty-six 18-pounders on the gundeck, four 6-pounders on the quarterdeck, and two 6-pounders on the forecastle. On 30 September 1779 four 18-pound
carronade A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and was used from the mid-18th century to the mid-19th century. Its main func ...
s were added to the quarterdeck and another four were added to the forecastle in response to the new carronade establishment ordered by the Admiralty. Also on the forecastle, fourteen -pounder
swivel gun The term swivel gun (or simply swivel) usually refers to a small cannon, mounted on a swiveling stand or fork which allows a very wide arc of movement. Another type of firearm referred to as a swivel gun was an early flintlock combination gun wi ...
s were added. The carronades added in the 1779 establishment were later found to be widely impracticable in the frigates and the majority of them were removed by the end of the Revolutionary War; by July 1782 ''Perseverance'' had only two of her quarterdeck carronades remaining. The final armament change for the class came on 25 April 1780 when all the 6-pounders were replaced with 9-pounders. At the same time as this the complement of men for the class was increased to 270 to reflect the increased size of much of the weaponry being carried on board. The ships would in later years be classified on paper as 42-gun frigates.


Second iteration


Background

In the 1790s the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Spencer, moved the Royal Navy away from a policy of building small, cost-efficient vessels that resulted in a large fleet, and instead championed the building of larger and more expensive ships that could help counter French and Spanish ships that had not been designed under similar constraints. By 1800 the majority of British frigates were of a similar size to those of other nations, but this new fleet had been very expensive to construct. In February 1801 a new administration brought in a new First Lord, Admiral Lord St Vincent. With threats of invasion ongoing and peace with France being uncertain, St Vincent was tasked with continuing to build frigates at the same pace as his predecessor, but with far less extravagance and expense. St Vincent, an experienced sailor, believed that the navy could exist with average but capable ships, with the gap between the force of a British and French frigate being made up by the superior training of British crews. He was of the opinion that the ''Perseverance''-class frigates were of the perfect size for this strategy, with ''Inconstant'' being especially singled out as a model ship, and as such orders were put forth for the class to be revived. The smaller size and consistency in service of the ''Perseverance'' class was what gained it favour with St Vincent; it has been noted that other classes, such as the ''Flora'' class, were faster, and the choice was no compliment to the sailing qualities of the class. This would become the blueprint for future frigate designs and construction, forcing the Royal Navy back to the use of smaller, cheaper, but still capable frigates. While there was little push back against the order, it has since been suggested by the naval historian Robert Gardiner that the whole revival was a false economy that did not assist St Vincent's finances as he had hoped.


Design

There were some very minor alterations to the original design of 1779, such as a reinforced forecastle, but the design was mostly identical. This included the sailing qualities of the class, which were not improved; they were comparatively poorer than other modern British frigates. This reflected the anachronistic twenty-year-old designs that made the ''Perseverance'' class shorter and stubbier than its compatriots. While their high gun ports provided the same benefits as the first iteration's, the ships of the class struggled to reach above eleven or twelve
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and did not catch the wind easily when at sea.


Construction and armament

Five vessels were initially ordered to be built in the United Kingdom, starting with the first ship of the revival, ''Tribune''. The first two vessels were built in civilian dockyards as favours to the loyalties of the owners, but all other ships of the class were built in Royal Dockyards, reflecting St Vincent's distrust of most civilian dockyards. In the following year two more ships of the class were ordered, but these were to be built of teak in Bombay Dockyard by contract with the East India Company, and despite requests from the Admiralty for the builders to stay within the designated measurements for the class, these two ships ended up significantly different to the rest of the class, especially in terms of their beam. As such Gardiner argues that these should be considered as only half-sisters to the rest of the ''Perseverance'' class. In May 1808 the final ship of the original group of five ordered was completed, and a final frigate was ordered to be built to the same design. The naval historian Rif Winfield suggests that this ship, while completed and launched in 1811, was in fact a mistaken order. The second iteration of the ''Perseverance'' class were constructed, apart from the two Bombay ships, to the following dimensions: along the gun deck, at the keel, with a beam of and a depth in the hold of . They were to measure 869 tons burthen, and their crew complement was set slightly lower than the original iteration of the class; at 260, but by 1815 this had been raised to 264. The first Bombay ship, ''Salsette'', was particularly unique when compared to her sister ships: she measured along the gun deck, at the keel, with a beam of and a depth in the hold of . She weighed 901 tons burthen. While the ships themselves were very similar to their predecessors in the class, their armament was considerably heavier reflecting improvements in the years between the two iterations. While they still held thirty-six main guns of which twenty-six were 18-pounders, they had considerably less 9-pounders (only two each on the quarterdeck and forecastle) but made up for this with ten 32-pound carronades on the quarterdeck and another two on the forecastle. Furthermore, no swivel guns were included in their armament. As with the first iteration of the class, the classification of the ships would later on be changed to 42-gun frigates. While ships of the ''Perseverance'' class were used in a variety of different roles throughout their careers, all continued to be classified as fifth-rate frigates apart from ''Tribune'', which was razeed as a 24-gun
corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...
in 1831.


Ships


First iteration


''Perseverance''

''Perseverance'' was commissioned by Captain Skeffington Lutwidge in March 1781. On 20 July she sailed to the North America Station and en-route she captured the French 26-gun post ship ''Lively'' in the English Channel on 29 July. She arrived there on 24 September and began an active period of service, capturing the American privateer ''General Green'' on 30 August, and in the following year ''Raven'' on 1 April and ''Diana'' on 29 August. She left the North America Station in 1783 and was paid off in September of the same year. She was recommissioned in October 1787 by Captain
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but was quickly paid off again in December. ''Perseverance'' then received a refit at the end of 1788 before being recommissioned again in October under Captain Isaac Smith. On 11 February 1789 Smith sailed her to the East Indies Station, where on 18 November 1791 the frigate was present at but did not actively participate in the
battle of Tellicherry The Battle of Tellicherry was a naval action fought off the Indian port of Tellicherry between British and French warships on 18 November 1791 during the Third Anglo-Mysore War. Britain and France were not at war at the time of the engagement, b ...
. ''Perseverance'' served in the East Indies until paying off on 9 July 1793. From then on she was placed in ordinary at Portsmouth, becoming a
receiving ship A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea. Hulk may be used to describe a ship that has been launched but not completed, an abandoned wreck or shell, or to refer to an old ship that has had its rigging or internal equipmen ...
in January 1800. She served in this role until 1822 and was sold for breaking up to Joshua Cristall on 21 May 1823, for £2,530.


''Phoenix''

''Phoenix'' was commissioned by Captain
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in October 1787, but paid off in the following December without having gone to sea. She was then fitted out for sea service, which work was completed on 11 December 1788. While this was being completed ''Phoenix'' had been recommissioned by Captain George A. Byron in October. Under him she sailed to the East Indies Station, and on 18 November 1791 she fought and captured the French 32-gun frigate ''Résolue'' in the battle of Tellicherry, despite the two nations not being at war. ''Phoenix'' returned home to England in August 1793 and was put in for a large series of repairs at Deptford Dockyard. These took place between August 1794 and January 1796, with her having been recommissioned under Captain Lawrence Halstead in the previous October. She then sailed to serve in the
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, where she captured the Batavian 36-gun frigate ''Argo'' in the
action of 12 May 1796 The action of 12 May 1796 was a minor naval engagement during the French Revolutionary Wars between a squadron of British Royal Navy frigates and a frigate and four smaller ships of the Batavian Navy. The British squadron had been detached on the ...
. In March 1797 ''Phoenix'' was transferred to the Channel Fleet; she captured the French 4-gun privateer ''L'Espiegle'' off Waterford on 18 May, 1-gun ''Le Brave'' off
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on 24 April 1798, 20-gun ''La Caroline'' on 31 May, and 20-gun ''Foudroyant'' on 23 January 1799. ''Phoenix'' then sailed to join the
Mediterranean Fleet The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between t ...
on 6 May, where she continued her successes. Alongside the fireship HMS ''Incendiary'' she captured the French 10-gun privateer ''L'Eole'' off
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on 11 February 1800. ''Phoenix'' then took the French 12-gun
brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the ...
''L'Albanaise'' on 3 June while in company with the brig-sloop HMS ''Port Mahon''. Fourteen days later she captured the French 4-gun ship ''Revanche'', but the prize capsized the following day. On 2 September 1801 ''Phoenix'', with the frigates HMS ''Pomone'' and HMS ''Minerva'', captured the French 32-gun frigate ''Success'' and destroyed the 36-gun frigate ''La Bravoure'' off Leghorn. Phoenix was paid off in June 1802 and received a refit between July 1802 and June 1803. She was recommissioned in April of the latter year by Captain Thomas Baker, under whom she captured the French 40-gun frigate ''Didon'' in the
action of 10 August 1805 The action of 10 August 1805 was a minor naval engagement between two frigates of the British Royal Navy, and the French Navy as part of the Napoleonic wars. After an hour of action ''Didon'' surrendered to ''Phoenix''. Background Thomas Bake ...
. ''Phoenix'' then fought at the battle of Cape Ortegal on 4 November. Baker was replaced by Captain Zachary Mudge in December, and ''Phoenix'' began serving again in the Channel Fleet. She received a repair at Plymouth Dockyard between September 1808 and April 1809, having been both paid off and recommissioned in February 1809. ''Phoenix'' then captured the French 14-gun privateer ''Le Charles'' alongside the
ship-sloop In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' enc ...
HMS ''Jalouse'' on 29 January 1810, with Mudge then being replaced by Captain James Bowen who sailed the frigate to the East Indies Station on 11 May. Captain William Webley took over from Bowen in 1813, and he in turn handed over to Captain Charles Austen in September 1814. Austen sailed ''Phoenix'' to the Mediterranean, where she was wrecked off Ä°zmir in a hurricane on 20 February 1816. The wreck was burned on 2 March, with the remaining materials sold for $600.


''Inconstant''

''Inconstant'' was first commissioned in August 1790 by Captain
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, but was paid off with the end of the Spanish Armament in September 1791. She then received a refit at Woolwich Dockyard between January and February 1793, and was recommissioned under Captain Augustus Montgomery to join Admiral Lord Howe's Channel Fleet. In April ''Inconstant'' was sent to the
West Indies Station The Jamaica Station was a formation or command of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed at Port Royal in Jamaica from 1655 to 1830. History The station was formed, following the capture of Jamaica, by assembling about a dozen frigates in 165 ...
, where she captured the French 14-gun ship ''Le Curieux'' on 3 June. The frigate was then sent home in July, joining the Mediterranean Fleet on 21 November. As such she was present at the siege of Toulon. In the following year Captain George Cockburn assumed temporary command of ''Inconstant'', before being replaced by Captain Thomas Fremantle in January 1795. In a prelude to the battle of Genoa the frigate then skirmished with the French 80-gun ship of the line ''Ça Ira'' off Genoa on 10 March. She recaptured the 14-gun brig HMS ''Speedy'' fifteen days later, before joining a squadron under the command of Captain
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in August. ''Inconstant'' captured the French 24-gun corvette
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at Bona on 20 April 1796, and then assisted with the evacuation of Leghorn on 26 June. She was paid off in September of the following year, and was fitted as a 20-gun troopship at Woolwich between March and June 1798. Recommissioned in April by Commander Milham Ponsonby, ''Inconstant'' was paid off again in October 1799. She received another refit at Woolwich between October 1799 and March 1800, having also been re-armed with sixteen 9-pounders and four 6-pounders. Under Commander John Ayscough ''Inconstant'' initially served in the North Sea, before moving to participate in French Royalist operations in Quiberon Bay in June 1800. The ship then supported the British Egypt campaign in 1801, before coming under the command of Captain Richard Byron in October 1802. Byron was replaced by Captain Edward Dickson in December, under whom ''Inconstant'' recaptured Gorée on 7 March 1804. ''Inconstant'' was refitted as a frigate again at Portsmouth between December 1805 and February 1806, still under Dickson. Between 1806 and 1808 she served as the
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to Vice-Admiral Sir James Saumarez in the Channel Islands, before being refitted again at Portsmouth between September 1808 and October 1809. In this ''Inconstant''s quarterdeck armament was changed to twelve 32-pounder carronades. She sailed to the Cape of Good Hope Station on 27 December and was paid off in 1810. Having been refitted again at Portsmouth between September and December of that year, ''Inconstant'' was recommissioned in October by Captain
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to serve in the North Sea. Captain Edward Owen replaced Quilliam in December, commanding the ship until some time in 1812. Captain Sir Edward Tucker took command of ''Inconstant'' in March 1814 and sailed her to South America. Captain
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took command in August 1815, and the ship was broken up at Portsmouth in November 1817.


''Leda''

''Leda'' was commissioned in around November 1790 by Captain
Thomas Bertie Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Bertie KSO (born Hoar, 3 July 1758 – 13 June 1825) was an English officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. His career began i ...
for the Spanish Armament. She then received a great repair at
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between June of that year and December 1791, then moving to continue work at Deptford. There she was refitted between December 1792 and 24 February 1793, being recommissioned under Captain George Campbell in January. ''Leda'' sailed to the Mediterranean on 7 April, where she captured the French 22-gun ship ''L'Eclair'' on 9 June and served at the siege of Toulon. Captain John Woodley replaced Campbell in May 1794, some time after which the ship was ordered to sail to Martinique with a convoy. While off
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on 11 December 1795, two of ''Leda''s guns came loose in a storm and broke through the side of the ship, through which water began to enter. ''Lega'' capsized in ten minutes with the loss of all but seven of her crew.


Second iteration


''Tribune''

''Tribune'' was commissioned in July 1803 under the command of Captain
George Henry Towry Captain George Henry Towry (4 March 1767 – 9 April 1809) was a Royal Navy officer of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century who is best known for his service as commander of the frigate HMS ''Dido'', in the action of 24 June 179 ...
, who was replaced by Captain Richard Bennet in early 1804. Under the latter captain, on 30 January the frigate captured the French
gunbrig A gun-brig was a small brig-rigged warship that enjoyed popularity in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, during which large numbers were purchased or built. In general these were vessels of under 200 tons burthen, and thus smaller than ...
s ''No.43'' and ''No.47''. Captain Richard Curry assumed temporary command of ''Tribune'' in May 1805, with Captain Thomas Baker taking over in 1806. ''Tribune'' was one of the vessels that chased the French 74-gun ship of the line ''Vétéran'' into the
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on 26 August 1806. In 1808 Captain George Reynolds replaced Baker, taking ''Tribune'' to serve in the Baltic Sea. Off
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she fought an action against four Danish brigs on 12 May 1810, before being reassigned to the East Indies Station to which she sailed on 5 March 1811. Some time after this the vessel returned to England, where she was repaired at Woolwich between January 1814 and June 1815 before being put in ordinary at Chatham Dockyard. ''Tribune'' was recommissioned by Captain
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in August 1818, and the ship received a refit for foreign service between October 1818 and December 1819. ''Tribune'' then joined the Leeward Islands Station before being paid off again in September 1822. She was under repair until March 1823, at which point she sailed under Captain Gardiner Guion to serve on the
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. There the frigate stayed for around a year before receiving a repair at Chatham between July 1826 and May 1828, being recommissioned by Captain John Wilson in January of the latter year. ''Tribune'' sailed for the
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, where in December 1829 Wilson was replaced by Captain John Duntze. ''Tribune'' returned from South America to be cut down into a 24-gun sixth rate corvette at Chatham between January 1832 and March 1833. She was then refitted between May and September 1834, having been commissioned in May by Captain James Tompkinson, for the Mediterranean. In 1838 Tompkinson handed over to Captain Charles Williams, under whom ''Tribune'' was wrecked near Tarragona on 29 November 1839.


''Shannon''

''Shannon'' was originally ordered under the name ''Pallas'', but was renamed in November 1802 and commissioned in July 1803 by Captain Edward Leveson-Gower. The frigate was sent to serve on the blockade of Le Havre. While doing so she was driven onto rocks underneath the gun batteries of
La Hogue Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. Toponymy Saint-Vaast is the Norman name of Saint Vedast and Hougue is a Norman language word meaning a "mound" or "loaf" and comes from the Old Nors ...
in a storm on 10 December, where she was captured by French soldiers with the loss of three crewmen. The wreck was burned by the sloop HMS ''Merlin'' on 16 December.


''Meleager''

''Meleager'' was commissioned in November 1806 under the command of Captain John Broughton, initially to
cruise A cruise is any travel on a cruise ship. Cruise or Cruises may also refer to: Tourism * Booze cruise * Music cruise * River cruise Aeronautics and aircraft * Cruise (aeronautics), a distinct stage of an aircraft's flight * Aviasouz Cruise, a R ...
in the North Sea. On 16 November 1807 the frigate sailed to the West Indies Station as escort to a convoy. Having arrived, ''Meleager'' cut out the French 1-gun privateer ''Renard'' from Santiago de Cuba on 8 February 1808, and then captured the Spanish 5-gun privateer ''Antelope'' on 19 February. Broughton handed over to Captain Frederick Warren in April. ''Meleager'' was wrecked on Bare Bush Key off Jamaica on 30 July, with three men drowned.


''Iphigenia''

Construction of ''Iphigenia'' was cancelled on 26 July 1805, but reinstated on 20 January 1806. The ship was commissioned in May 1808 by Captain
Henry Lambert Captain Henry Lambert RN (died 4 January 1813) was an officer of the British Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. During his career, Lambert served in numerous ships and several military actions wit ...
, under whom ''Iphigenia'' sailed to the Cape of Good Hope Station on 28 January 1809. As such she participated in the successful
invasion of Île Bonaparte The Invasion of Île Bonaparte was an amphibious operation in 1810 that formed an important part of the British campaign to blockade and capture the French Indian Ocean territories of Île Bonaparte (now Réunion) and Isle de France (now Mauri ...
on 8 July 1810, but was subsequently captured by the French at the battle of Grand Port on 28 August. The French took ''Iphigenia'' into service as ''Iphigénie'', and on 6 December she was recaptured by the British at the
invasion of Isle de France The Invasion of Isle de France was a complicated but successful British amphibious operation in the Indian Ocean, launched in November 1810 during the Napoleonic Wars. During the operation, a substantial military force was landed by the Royal N ...
. Captain Thomas Caulfield was given command of ''Iphigenia'' to sail her home, and the ship was paid off in April 1811. She received a refit at Portsmouth between November 1811 and February 1812, and was recommissioned in January of the latter year by Captain
Lucius Curtis Admiral of the Fleet Sir Lucius Curtis, 2nd Baronet, KCB, DL (3 June 1786 – 14 January 1869) was a senior officer of the Royal Navy during the nineteenth century. The son of Sir Roger Curtis, 1st Baronet, Lord Howe's flag captain at the ...
. ''Iphigenia'' with a convoy to the East Indies Station on 25 March 1812. While there command of the frigate changed to Captain
Fleetwood Pellew Admiral Sir Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds Pellew CB KCH (13 December 1789 – 28 July 1861) was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He was the son of Captain Edward Pellew, who later ...
, who took ''Iphigenia'' to serve in the Mediterranean on 6 December. In February of the following year Captain Andrew King replace Pellew, with the ship continuing in the Mediterranean. Having returned to England, ''Iphigenia'' received a series of repairs at Plymouth between June and September 1815. She returned to the East Indies a month later, with Captain John Tancock assuming command some time after, sailing to the Mediterranean in May 1816. ''Iphigenia'' received another repair at Plymouth between January and June 1818, coming under the command of Captain Hyde Parker in March. Parker sailed the frigate to Jamaica. Having returned to England ''Iphigenia'' was recommissioned under Captain Sir Robert Mends in June 1821, under whom she joined the
Africa Station The Commander-in-Chief, Africa was the last title of a Royal Navy's formation commander located in South Africa from 1795 to 1939. Under varying titles, it was one of the longest-lived formations of the Royal Navy. It was also often known as the C ...
. The ship was retired from service in 1832, being converted into a training ship between December of that year and July 1833. She was used as such by the
Marine Society The Marine Society is a British charity, the world's first established for seafarers. In 1756, at the beginning of the Seven Years' War against France, Austria, and Saxony (and subsequently the Mughal Empire, Spain, Russia and Sweden) Britain urg ...
until 1848, and was broken up at Deptford in April 1851.


''Lowestoft''

''Lowestoft'' was cancelled on 26 July 1805 before being laid down.


''Salsette''

''Salsette'' was originally named ''Pitt''; she was the first Royal Navy vessel to be constructed from teak. Commissioned at Bombay in 1805 by Captain
Walter Bathurst Walter Bathurst (1764?–20 October 1827), was a captain in the British Royal Navy who was killed at the Battle of Navarino. Biography His father was one of the thirty-six children of Sir Benjamin Bathurst MP, the younger brother of Allen, fir ...
, the frigate joined the East Indies Station. Between 1805 and 1806 she participated in the blockade of Mauritius, with Captain James Giles Vashon succeeding Bathurst in the latter year. In February 1807 Vashon was replaced by Captain George Waldegrave, and on 19 February the ship's name was changed to ''Salsette''. The frigate then returned to England for a refit at Portsmouth. This took place between January and 17 March 1808, after which ''Salsette'' sailed to serve in the Finnish War, again under the command of Bathurst. She stayed in the Baltic until 1809. In 1810 Commander Henry Montresor took command, some time later in the year handing over to Commander William Bertie. Bertie was drowned in December, with Commander John Hollingworth replacing him. In 1811 Hollingworth was in turn replaced by Captain
Henry Hope Henry Hope (1735–1811) was an Amsterdam merchant banker born in Braintree, Massachusetts. He emigrated to the Netherlands to join the family business Hope & Co. at a young age. From 1779, Henry became the manager of Hope & Co. and he participa ...
, who captured the French 2-gun privateer ''La Comete'' in the Mediterranean on 21 April 1812, and the French 16-gun privateer ''Le Mercure'' off the Isle of Wight on 14 October of the same year. In December Captain John Bowen assumed command, sailing ''Salsette'' to the East Indies Station on 25 March 1813. Captain Joseph Drury succeeded Bowen in 1815, and in June 1816 the ship was laid up at Portsmouth. ''Salsette'' was housed over in November 1823 but remained in the navy list. She was turned into a lazarette in July 1831 for service at
Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...
, and then in October 1835 became a receiving ship at Woolwich. The ship moved to Sheerness Dockyard on 7 September 1869, and was later broken up at Chatham on 20 March 1874.


''Doris''

''Doris'' was originally named ''Salsette'' while under construction, but was later renamed ''Pitt''. The ship was finally named ''Doris'' on 26 August 1807 after the Royal Navy accepted her. She was commissioned at Bombay in 1808 by Captain Christopher Cole, joining the East Indies Station. In 1810 Cole was replaced by Captain William Lye, and the ship participated in the invasion of Isle de France in December of that year. Continuing on station, she was also present at the capture of Java in September 1811. In the following year ''Doris'' came under the command of Commander John Harper to sail home. She arrived at Plymouth on 8 November and between December 1812 and March 1813 was refitted. Recommissioned in January of the latter year under Captain Robert O'Brien, the ship sailed to the China Station on 25 March. O'Brien left the ship in 1815 and in the following year was replaced by Captain John Allen. By 1817 ''Doris'' had returned to England, where she received a repair at Sheerness between October 1817 and April 1818. She was fitted for sea between March and June 1821, having been recommissioned in March by Captain Thomas Graham. The frigate joined the South America Station, where Graham died in April 1822. He was replaced by Captain Frederick Vernon, who in turn handed over to Captain William Hope Johnstone in 1824. ''Doris'' was paid off in January 1825, but recommissioned a month later under Captain Sir John Sinclair. Sinclair commanded the frigate until 1829, when in April she was sold at Valparaiso for $5,590 because of her poor condition.


''Orlando''

''Orlando'' was commissioned in June 1811 by Captain John Clavell, who sailed her to the Mediterranean on 20 November. Clavell was temporarily replaced in command by Commander
Charles Orlando Bridgeman Vice-Admiral the Hon. Charles Orlando Bridgeman (5 February 1791 – 13 April 1860) was a Royal Navy officer who saw active service in the Napoleonic Wars and the Greek War of Independence. Life Bridgeman was a younger son of Orlando Bridgeman ...
in 1815, and the ship was fitted out for foreign service at Deptford between June and September of that year. Clavell then returned to ''Orlando'', with the frigate joining the East Indies Station. She was paid off at Trincomalee in 1818, where she was fitted as a hospital ship towards the end of 1819. ''Orlando'' was sold at Trincomalee in March 1824 for 7,000
rupees Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...
.


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References

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{Perseverance class frigate Fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy Ship classes of the Royal Navy