HMS Malta (1800)

Capture of the William Tell, by Robert Dodd
History
France
Name:	Guillaume Tell
Builder:	Toulon
Laid down:	September 1794
Launched:	21 October 1795
Completed:	By July 1796
Captured:	30 March 1800, by the Royal Navy
UK
Name:	HMS Malta
Acquired:	30 March 1800
Fate:	Broken up in August 1840
General characteristics
Class and type:	80-gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	2,265 9/94 bm
Length:	194 ft 4 in (59.2 m) (overall) 159 ft 8 in (48.7 m) (keel)
Beam:	51 ft 7.5 in (15.7 m)
Depth of hold:	23 ft 4 in (7.11 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Complement:	780
Armament:	French service 30 × 36-pounder long guns 32 × 24-pounder long guns 18 × 12-pounder long guns 4 × obusiers de vaisseau British service: Lower deck: 30 x 32pdrs + 2 x 68pdr carronades Upper deck: 30 x 24pdrs Quarter deck: 18 x 24pdrs + 8 x 24pdr carronades Forecastle: 2 x 12pdrs RH: 2 x 68pdr carronades + 2 x 24pdr carronades

HMS Malta was an 80-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She had previously served with the French Navy as the Tonnant-class Guillaume Tell , but was captured in the Mediterranean in 1800 by a British squadron enforcing the blockade of Malta. Having served for less than four years for the French from her completion in July 1796 to her capture in March 1800, she would eventually serve for 40 years for the British.

Guillaume Tell took part in the Battle of the Nile, but formed part of the rear of the French fleet and saw little action. She became one of only two French ships of the line to escape the destruction of the fleet, and took refuge at Malta. She was trapped there by the British blockade, and as the island began to fall to the British, she attempted to escape. She was spotted by a patrolling British frigate and attacked, with nearby British ships of the line joining the action. After a fierce fight she struck her colours and was taken over by the British. Renamed HMS Malta after the island she was captured off she served in the Channel, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. She fought with Vice-Admiral Robert Calder's fleet at the Battle of Cape Finisterre in 1805, contributing to the capture of two enemy ships. Transferred to take part in the blockade of the French ports, she helped in the chase and capture of the French frigate Président in 1806. The last years of the war were spent as a flagship in the Mediterranean, after which she returned to Britain. She spent some time as the Plymouth guardship, and remained on active service until being reduced to a harbour depot ship, in which role she spent nearly a decade. She was finally broken up in 1840, forty years after her capture from the French.