HMS Minerva (1780)

HMS ''Minerva'' was a 38-gun fifth-rate Royal Navy frigate. The first of four s, she was launched on 3 June 1780, and commissioned soon thereafter. In 1798 she was renamed ''Pallas'' and employed as a troopship. She was broken up in 1803.

Service as HMS ''Minerva''

Captain Charles Fielding commissioned ''Minerva'' in April 1780, for the Channel. At some point ''Minerva'' captured the French brig ''Jupiter''. Between 24 and 27 December 1780, ''Minerva'' captured the ''Thomas en Jank'', the ''Yonge Frone Teglaar'', and the ''Zeepost''.

On 11 April 1781, ''Minerva'' was serving with Vice-Admiral George Darby's Channel Fleet off Cape St Vincent when the British spotted three vessels. Darby sent , , and ''Minerva'' in pursuit, but the three vessels, which turned out to be enemy frigates, made it safely to Cadiz. Some time thereafter vessels of the Fleet made attacks on some gunboats, during which ''Minerva'' had some men badly wounded. ''Minerva'' was among the many ships of Darby's Fleet that shared in the prize money for the capture of , the Spanish frigate ''Santa Leocadia'', and the French brig ''Trois Amis''.

The next day, Darby's squadron of 29 ships of the line, and the 100 store ships from England laden for the relief of Gibraltar that they were escorting, entered the bay there. Later, on 9 June ''Minerva'' sailed with the Lisbon trade.

On 9 October 1781, ''Minerva'', , , and captured the American privateer ''Hercules''. The next day ''Minerva'' and ''Monsieur'' captured the American privateer ''Jason''.

In early 1782 Captain the Honourable Thomas Pakenham assumed command of ''Minerva''. On 11 March 1782, ''Minerva'' and captured the brig ''Pearl'' off Oporto.

On 28 October ''Minerva'' was among the British ships that shared in the capture of the Dutch East Indiaman ''Young Susanna'', off Ceylon.

''Minerva'' was present at the action off Cuddalore on 20 June 1783, but as a transport she was not involved in the fighting. As a storeship she was transporting military stores and provisions in support of the British Army which was planning to attack Cuddalore.

Recommissioned in 1790 under Captain Robert Sutton, she sailed for the East Indies on 27 December. In the beginning of November 1791, ''Minerva'', Commodore William Cornwallis, accompanied by the 36-gun frigate ''Phoenix'', Captain Sir Richard Strachan, and , Captain Isaac Smith, was in the roads at Tellicherry, a fort and anchorage situated a few leagues south of Mangalore. ''Phoenix'' was ordered to stop and search the , which was escorting a number of merchant ships believed to be carrying military supplies to support Tippu Sultan. ''Résolue'' resisted ''Phoenix'' and a brief fight ensued before ''Résolue'' struck her colours. The French captain insisted on considering his ship as a British prize, so Cornwallis ordered Strachan to tow her into Mahé and return her to the French commodore.

French Revolutionary Wars

In 1793, Captain J. Whitby took command of ''Minerva'', which was flying Rear Admiral Cornwallis's flag. On 24 June she took the ship ''Citoyen'' off Cuddalore.

From 1 August 1793, together with three East Indiamen — , ''Warley'', and — ''Minerva'' blockaded the Port of Pondicherry while the army besieged the fort. The governor initially refused to surrender, so on 20 August the British began a bombardment. The governor surrendered the town on 23 August. During the siege, ''Minerva'', with the admiral on board, chased off the French frigate ''Sybile'', which had attempted to reach the town. ''Sybille'' had had 150 artillerymen on board so chasing her off was helpful to the siege. The British vessels also captured a vessel "from the islands" that was bringing in military supplies.

''Minerva'' returned to Britain and was paid off in April 1794. In July 1795, Captain Thomas Peyton recommissioned her for service in Strachan's squadron, which was attached to the main British fleet.

In September 1796 Gilbert Elliot, the British viceroy of the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom, decided that it was necessary to clear out Capraja, which belonged to the Genoese and which served as a base for privateers. He sent Lord Nelson in , together with ''Gorgon'', ], the Cutter (boat), cutter ''Rose'', and troops of the 51st Regiment of Foot to accomplish this task in September. On their way, ''Minerva'' joined them. The troops landed on 18 September and the island surrendered immediately. On 27 September, ''Minerva'' was in company with the hired armed cutter when they captured two Spanish vessels, the ''Santa Francisco Xavier'' and the ''Nostra Senora de la Miserecordia''.

On 13 November 1796, ''Minerva'' and , encountered the French corvette ''Etonnant'' off Barfleur and drove her ashore. ''Etonnant'' carried eighteen 18-pounders and was a new vessel on her first cruise. She was carrying naval and military stores from Havre to Brest.

On 19 April 1797, the hired armed cutter with , ''Minerva'', and in company, captured the American ship ''Favourite''. Later that month, ''Diamond'' and ''Minerva'' grounded near Cape Barfleur and both had to be docked for repairs when they returned to port.

Still, in October ''Minerva'' and captured the ''Marselloise'' as she was sailing from Guadeloupe to France. They then took the richly laden former into Martinique.

Service as troopship HMS ''Pallas''

Between July 1797 and May 1798, the Admiralty converted ''Minerva'' into a troopship armed en flûte and renamed her ''Pallas''. , the lead ship of the s, had just been wrecked, freeing the name. Captain John Mackellar recommissioned ''Pallas'' in February 1798.

In May 1798, ''Pallas'' (though still known as ''Minerva'' in the dispatches) participated in Home Popham's expedition to Ostend. The British Army force of about 1,300 were landed to destroy the locks and sluice gates on the Bruges canal to prevent the French from moving gunboats and transports from Flushing to Ostend and Dunkirk, off Genoa. Keith was blockading and bombarding Genoa when he decided to send in boats under the cover of the bombardment to try to cut-out some armed French vessels. At 1am on the 21st the boats succeeded in boarding, carrying, and bringing off the largest galley, the ''Prima''. She had fifty oars and a crew of 257 men, and was under the command of Captain Patrizio Galleano. She was armed with two brass 36-pounder guns and had 30 brass swivel guns stored below deck, together with a large quantity of side arms and small arms. The British suffered only four men wounded, one of whom was from ''Pallas''.

Then on 30 May, ''Pallas'' recaptured the English (Minorcan) tartane ''Rosario'', which was sailing from Leghorn to Minorca, in ballast. Two days later ''Pallas'' captured a Ragusan ship sailing from Leghorn to Barcelona with a cargo of sundries. On 7 June ''Pallas'' captured the ''Ardita'' off the coast of Italy. Amongst other cargo she was carrying statuary.

From 8 August 1801, ''Pallas'' was involved in transporting a portion of the British Army under General Coote from Cairo to the west of Alexandria. The Siege of Alexandria ended on 30 August with the capitulation of Alexandria. Because ''Pallas'' served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 8 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants.

Fate

''Pallas'' was paid off in May 1802 and put in ordinary. She was broken up at Chatham in March 1803.Winfield (2008).

Notes, citations, and references

Notes

Citations

References
*Cornwallis, Charles Cornwallis, Marquis & Charles Derek Ross (ed.) (1859). ''Correspondence of Charles, first Marquis Cornwallis''. (London: J. Murray)
*Gardiner, Robert (1994) ''The Heavy Frigate''. (London: Conway Maritime Press).
*James, William & Frederick Chamier (1837) ''The naval history of Great Britain: from the declaration of war by France in 1793 to the accession of George IV''. (London: R. Bentley).
*

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minerva (1780)
Minerva-class frigates
Ships built in Woolwich