HMS Phaeton (1782)
Contemporary Japanese drawing of HMS Phaeton (Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture)
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | HMS Phaeton |
| Operator: | Royal Navy |
| Ordered: | 3 March 1780 |
| Builder: | John Smallshaw, Liverpool |
| Laid down: | June 1780 |
| Launched: | 12 June 1782 |
| Completed: | 27 December 1782 |
| Commissioned: | March 1782 |
| Honours and awards: |
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| Fate: | Sold to break up 26 March 1828. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Minerva-class frigate |
| Tons burthen: | 944 (bm) |
| Length: | 141 ft 0 in (42.98 m) |
| Beam: | 39 ft 0 in (11.89 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 13 ft 10 in (4.22 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sail |
| Complement: | 280 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Phaeton was a 38-gun, Minerva-class fifth rate of Britain's Royal Navy. This frigate was most noted for her intrusion into Nagasaki harbour in 1808. John Smallshaw (Smallshaw & Company) built Phaeton in Liverpool between 1780 and 1782. She participated in numerous engagements during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars during which service she captured many prizes. Francis Beaufort, inventor of the Beaufort Wind-Scale, was a lieutenant on Phaeton when he distinguished himself during a successful cutting out expedition. Phaeton sailed to the Pacific in 1805, and returned in 1812. She was finally sold on 26 March 1828.
Phaeton was commissioned in March 1782. Within a year she had been paid off.
In December 1792 Phaeton was commissioned under Sir Andrew Snape Douglas. In March 1793 Phaeton captured the 4-gun privateer lugger Aimable Liberté.
Then on 14 April Phaeton sighted the French privateer Général Dumourier (or Général Du Mourier), of twenty-two 6-pounder guns and 196 men, and her Spanish prize, the St Jago, 140 leagues to the west of Cape Finisterre. Phaeton was part of Admiral John Gell's squadron and the entire squadron set off in pursuit, but it was Phaeton that made the actual capture.
St Jago had been sailing from Lima to Spain when General Dumourier captured her on 11 April. In trying to fend off General Dumourier, St Jago fought for five hours, losing 10 men killed and 37 wounded, before she struck. She also suffered extensive damage to her upper works. St Jago's cargo, which had taken two years to collect, was the richest ever trusted on board a single ship. Early estimates put the value of the cargo as some ₤1.2 and £1.3 million. The most valuable portion of the cargo was a large number of gold bars that had a thin covering of pewter and that were listed on the manifest as "fine pewter".General Dumourier had taken on board 680 cases, each containing 3000 dollars, plus several packages worth two to three thousand pounds.
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Wikipedia