HMS ''Zealous'' 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 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 ...

, built by Barnard of

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and launched on 25 June 1785. She served in a number of battles of the

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and the

Napoleonic Wars 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 ...

, notably the Battle of the Nile, where she engaged the French ship , helping to force her surrender. She was later cruising off Cadiz in 1801. She missed out on the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...

, having been dispatched to

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for resupply. After Trafalgar, ''Zealous'' continued in the blockade of Cadiz. On 25 November 1805, detained the

Ragusan Ragusan may refer to: * citizen of the Republic of Ragusa hr, Sloboda se ne prodaje za sve zlato svijeta it, La libertà non si vende nemmeno per tutto l'oro del mondo"Liberty is not sold for all the gold in the world" , population_estimate ...

ship ''Nemesis'', which was sailing from Isle de France to

Leghorn, Italy Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

, with a cargo of spice, indigo dye, and other goods. ''Zealous'' shared the prize money with ten other British warships. ''Zealous'' was later assigned to convoy duty in the

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Fate

After 31 years of service she was broken up in December 1816.

Notes

References

* * Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. . Ships of the line of the Royal Navy Arrogant-class ships of the line 1785 ships {{UK-line-ship-stub