HMS Brilliant (1779)
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His Majesty's Ship Brilliant, of 28 guns: Engaging and Beating off Two Republican Frigates
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| History | |
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 Great Britain
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| Name: | HMS Brilliant |
| Ordered: | 9 October 1776 |
| Builder: | Henry Adams, Bucklers Hard |
| Laid down: | February 1777 |
| Launched: | 15 July 1779 |
| Completed: | 4 September 1779 (at Portsmouth Dockyard) |
| Commissioned: | July 1779 |
| Fate: | Broken up November 1811 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate |
| Tons burthen: | 599 82⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 33 ft 8 in (10.3 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 11 ft 0 in (3.35 m) |
| Sail plan: | Full-rigged ship |
| Complement: | 200 officers and men |
| Armament: |
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HMS Brilliant was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Brilliant was first commissioned in July 1779 under the command of Captain John Ford.
Brilliant was stationed at Gibraltar during the Great Siege. In June 1782 the garrison there launched 12 gunboats. Each was armed with an 18-pounder gun, and received a crew of 21 men drawn from Royal Navy vessels stationed at Gibraltar. Brilliant provided crews for six: Defiance, Dreadnought, Resolution, Revenge, Spitfire, and Thunder.
On 13 and 14 September and 11 October, the garrison destroyed a number of floating batteries. In December 1784 there was a distribution of £30,000 in bounty money for the batteries and the proceeds of the sale of ships stores, including those of San Miguel. A second payment of £16,000 followed in November 1785. A third payment, this of £8,000 pounds, followed in August 1786. June 1788 saw the payment of a fourth tranche, this of £4,000.Brilliant's officers and crew shared in all four.
Between July 1796 and October 1798 Brilliant's captain was Henry Blackwood. On 27 July, at Tenerife, Brilliant observed the frigates Vertu and Régénérée preparing to sail for Rochefort. At 6, the French frigates sailed and started firing on Brilliant; Régénérée was closing in on her opponent when Vertu, which had sailed large, touched the wind; Régénérée imitated her manoeuver, but lost her mizzen and bowsprit, allowing Brilliant to flee. Vertu gave chase, but could not overhaul her opponent and returned to Tenerife. There, Régénérée replaced her rigging, and both frigates eventually arrived in Rochefort on 5 September.
On 8 September 1800 Brilliant sent the prize Dragon into Plymouth. She was a packet of 14 guns, bound for L'Orient from Guadeloupe and carrying a cargo of cocoa, coffee, indigo and cotton.
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