HMS Mediator (1782)

HMS 'Mediator' engaging French and American vessels, 11-12 December 1782, an 1783 work by Thomas Luny of the Action of 12 December 1782
History
UK
Name:	HMS Mediator
Ordered:	3 December 1779
Builder:	Thomas Raymond, Northam
Laid down:	July 1780
Launched:	30 March 1782
Completed:	By June 1782
Renamed:	Camel on 3 March 1788
Reclassified:	Storeship from 1788
Fate:	Broken up in December 1810
General characteristics
Class and type:	Roebuck-class 44-gun fifth rate
Tons burthen:	887  53⁄94 bm
Length:	140 ft (43 m) (gundeck) 115 ft 9.75 in (35.2997 m) (keel)
Beam:	37 ft 11.5 in (11.570 m)
Depth of hold:	16 ft 5 in (5.00 m)
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Complement:	300
Armament:	As fifth rate 44 guns: Lower gundeck: 20 × 18-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 22 × 9-pounder guns Forecastle: 2 × 6-pounder guns As storeship 24 guns Upper gundeck: 20 × 9-pounder guns Quarterdeck: 4 × 6-pounder guns

HMS Mediator was a Roebuck-class 44-gun fifth rate of the Royal Navy. She was built and served during the American War of Independence, but was reduced to a storeship and renamed HMS Camel in 1788. She spent the French Revolutionary and part of the Napoleonic Wars in this capacity before being broken up in 1810.

Built as the revival of a design that had fallen out of favour as naval architecture developed, Mediator was intended to operate in the shallow waters of the North American coastline. Her first significant action was fought off the European coastline however, when her captain, James Luttrell attacked and defeated an American and French convoy off Ferrol, taking two ships as prizes. Resisting an attempt by his prisoners to seize his ship, Luttrell returned home to public applause and praise from King George III. Mediator's next commander, Cuthbert Collingwood, was a close friend of Horatio Nelson, and served with him in the West Indies. There he helped Nelson to enforce the Navigation Acts, causing controversy with the local civil and naval authorities. In 1788 she left front-line service for good, and was converted into a storeship, being renamed Camel.

Camel saw important service in the French Revolutionary Wars, making several voyages to the fleets in the Mediterranean and serving under several officers who would becoming prominent in the navy. She also made trips further afield, returning to the West Indies on occasion, as well as making voyages to the Cape of Good Hope to deliver supplies to the armies there. While making one such trip, she was attacked at anchor by a powerful French frigate. Her crew, together with that of a sloop also anchored in the bay, mounted a strong defence, and despite being damaged, forced the French ship to withdraw. She spent her last days making voyages to the various hotspots around the globe, before being finally withdrawn from service and broken up in 1810.