HMS Minotaur (1793)
The shipwreck of the Minotaur, oil on canvas, by J. M. W. Turner
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| History | |
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 UK
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| Name: | HMS Minotaur |
| Ordered: | 3 December 1782 |
| Builder: | Woolwich Dockyard |
| Laid down: | January 1788 |
| Launched: | 6 November 1793 |
| Honours and awards: |
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| Fate: | Wrecked, 22 December 1810 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Courageux class ship of the line |
| Tons burthen: | 1723 (bm) |
| Length: | 172 ft 3 in (52.50 m) (gundeck) |
| Beam: | 47 ft 9 in (14.55 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 20 ft 9 1⁄2 in (6.3 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Full rigged ship |
| Armament: | |
HMS Minotaur was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 6 November 1793 at Woolwich. She was named after the mythological bull-headed monster of Crete. She fought in three major battles - Nile, Trafalgar, and Copenhagen (1807) - before she was wrecked, with heavy loss of life, in December 1810.
Minotaur fought at the battle of the Nile in 1798, engaging the Aquilon with HMS Theseus and forcing her surrender. In the battle Minotaur lost 23 men dead and 64 wounded.
Minotaur was present at the surrender of the French garrison at Civitavecchia on 21 September. She shared the prize money for the capture of the town and fortress with Culloden, Mutine, Transfer, and the bomb vessel Perseus. The British also captured the French polacca Il Reconniscento. After the French surrendered Rome on 29 September 1799, Captain Thomas Louis had his barge crew row him up the Tiber River where he raised the Union Jack over the Capitol.
In May 1800, Minotaur served as the flagship of Vice-Admiral Lord Keith at the siege of Genoa. On 28 April, the squadron captured the Proteus, off Genoa.
On 8 January 1801 Penelope captured the French bombard St. Roche, which was carrying wine, liqueurs, ironware, Delfth cloth, and various other merchandise, from Marseilles to Alexandria. Swiftsure, Tigre, Minotaur, Northumberland, Florentina, and the schooner Malta, were in sight and shared in the proceeds of the capture.
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Wikipedia