HMS ''Plantagenet'' 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). Rating When the rating system was f ...

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 tactics in the Age of Sail, naval tactic known as the line of battl ...

of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, launched on 22 October 1801 at

Woolwich Woolwich () is a town in South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was mainta ...

. She was designed by Sir William Rule as one of the 'large class' 74s, and was the only ship built to her draught. As a large 74, she carried 24-pounder guns on her upper gun deck instead of the 18-pounder guns found on the middling and common class 74s.

Career

In 1803 she and captured the French privateer sloop ''Atalante'', of 22 guns, after a chase of nine hours. ''Plantagenet'' took off 90 Frenchmen and put a prize crew of 20 Englishmen, under the command of Lieutenant Batt, on board ''Atalante''. After the two vessels had separated, 68 Frenchmen, who had concealed themselves below decks, rose and attempted to retake their vessel. The British were able to subdue the Frenchmen, but not before one British sailor had been shot dead by one of his crewmates, who had mistaken the dead man for a Frenchman. The later report described ''Atalante'' as being armed with sixteen 6-pounder guns and 160 men. She had been out of Bordeaux five days but had captured nothing. The Royal Navy took ''Atalante'' into service as . In June 1804 ''Plantagenet'', Captain De Courcy, escorted the China Fleet of the British

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from

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back to England. This was the fleet that had scared off a French squadron of warships in the

Battle of Pulo Aura The Battle of Pulo Aura was a minor naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars fought on 14 February 1804, in which a large British East India Company (EIC) convoy intimidated, drove off and chased away a powerful French Navy squadron. Although the ...

. On 27 September 1810 ''Plantagenet'' and shared in the capture of the Danish schooner ''Toujours Fidele''. On 12 March 1812, as the merchant ship was returning from Lima and Cadiz, the French privateer ''Amelia'' captured her. However, recaptured ''Ramoncita''. The salvage money notice stated that ''Virago'' had been in company with , , , and ''Plantagenet''. During the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

, as the ship was moored near

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, attempts were made to destroy her with

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

es built to

Robert Fulton Robert Fulton (November 14, 1765 – February 24, 1815) was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the world's first commercially successful steamboat, the (also known as ''Clermont''). In 1807, that steamboat ...

's specifications, but this came to nothing. On 16 December 1813, ''Plantagenet''s boats captured the American

letter of marque A letter of marque and reprisal () was a Sovereign state, government license in the Age of Sail that authorized a private person, known as a privateer or French corsairs, corsair, to attack and capture vessels of a foreign state at war with t ...

schooner ''Rapid'', off Havana. ''Rapid'', Captain James Frazier, had been launched at Talbot County, Maryland in 1813. She was of 115 tons (bm), had a crew of 20, and was armed with one nine-pounder gun.

Fate

''Plantagenet'' was broken up in 1817.

Notes

Citations

References

* * Lavery, Brian (1983) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. .

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Plantagenet (1801) Ships of the line of the Royal Navy 1801 ships War of 1812 ships of the United Kingdom