HMS Captain (1787)
HMS Captain capturing the San Nicolas and the San Josef at the Battle of Cape St Vincent, 14 February 1797
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| History | |
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 UK
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| Name: | HMS Captain |
| Ordered: | 14 November 1782 |
| Builder: | Batson, Limehouse Yard |
| Laid down: | May 1784 |
| Launched: | 26 November 1787 |
| Honours and awards: |
Participated in: |
| Fate: | Burned and broken up, 1813 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Canada class third rate ship of the line |
| Tons burthen: | 1638 63⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: | 170 ft (52 m) (gundeck) |
| Beam: | 46 ft 9 in (14.25 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 20 ft 6 in (6.25 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Full rigged ship |
| Complement: | 550 officers and men |
| Armament: | |
HMS Captain was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 26 November 1787 at Limehouse. She served during the French revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars before being placed in harbour service in 1799. An accident caused her to burn and founder in 1813. Later that year she was raised and broken up.
At the start of the French Revolutionary War, she was part of the Mediterranean fleet which occupied Toulon at the invitation of the Royalists in 1793 before being driven out by Revolutionary troops in an action where Napoleon Bonaparte made his name. During this operation Captain was deployed in the Raid on Genoa. In June 1796, Admiral Sir John Jervis transferred Captain Horatio Nelson from HMS Agamemnon into Captain. Jervis appointed Nelson commodore of a squadron that was first deployed off Livorno during Napoleon's march through northern Italy.
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 Nelson, in Captain, together with the transport Gorgon, Vanneau, the 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. Later that month Nelson oversaw the British withdrawal from Corsica.
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Wikipedia