HMS Amfitrite (1804)

'The Blanche frigate, lost among the Breakers'
History
Spain
Name:	Amfitrite
Fate:	Captured on 25 November 1804
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Amfitrite
Acquired:	By capture on 25 November 1804
Renamed:	HMS Blanche in 1805
Honours and awards:	Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Blanche 19 July 1806"
Fate:	Wrecked off Ushant on 4 March 1807
General characteristics
Class and type:	38-gun fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen:	1,036 tons
Length:	150 ft (46 m)
Beam:	40 ft (12 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Armament:	38 guns

HMS Amfitrite was a 38-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had previously served with the Spanish Navy before she was captured during the Napoleonic Wars and commissioned into the Royal Navy. The Admiralty renamed her HMS Blanche after she had spent just over a year as Amfitrite. She was the only ship in the Navy to bear this specific name, though a number of other ships used the conventional English spelling and were named HMS Amphitrite. Her most notable feat was her capture of Guerriere in 1806. Blanche was wrecked in 1807.

Amfitrite was sailing off the Spanish Atlantic coast in November 1804, when the 74-gun third rate HMS Donegal, then watching the port of Cadiz under the command of Captain Richard Strachan, spotted her. Donegal gave chase and after 46 hours, Amfitrite lost her mizzen-top-mast, which enabled Donegal to overhaul her.

The engagement lasted only eight minutes, and resulted in a number of deaths, including that of the Spanish captain, who fell to a musket ball. The Amfitrite surrendered and after being searched, was found to be laden with stores and carrying dispatches from Cadiz to Tenerife and Havana.

She was taken over and later commissioned into the Navy as HMS Amfitrite. In early 1805, she was commanded by Robert Corbet. She was renamed HMS Blanche on 3 December 1805.

Captain Thomas Lavie took command of Blanche in 1806 and patrolled off the English coast, protecting English shipping from French privateers and raiders. On 28 March 1806, a French squadron consisting of the French frigates Guerrière, Revanche and Sirène, and the brig-corvette Néarque, all under the command of Amand Leduc, were dispatched from Lorient, with orders to attack and destroy British and Russian whalers in the Arctic, off Greenland. Guerrière became separated from the rest of the squadron, but was able to capture and burn several whaling vessels. By 16 July, news of her activities, including a recent sighting off the Faroe Islands reached Captain Lavie aboard Blanche, then off the Shetland Islands. Blanche quickly sailed to the reported area and on 18 July, sighted Guerrière. By this point Guerrière was carrying 50 guns, to the Blanche's 46.