HMS Leander was a 50 gun, fourth rate ship of the line of the Portland Class and was built at the Royal Dockyard at Chatham.


The Portland Class was a group of ten 50 gun, fourth rate ships of the line designed by Sir John Williams, Co-Surveyor of the Navy. Of the ten ships of the Portland Class, five were built in Kent shipyards and three of them, HMS Portland, HMS Bristol and HMS Leopard, were built at the Sheerness Royal Dockyard. HMS Leander was the only ship of the class to be built at the Chatham Royal Dockyard and the last of the five, HMS Isis, was built under contract by John Henniker at his Chatham shipyard. Their design was based on that of HMS Romney, designed by Williams' Co-Surveyor, Sir Thomas Slade and launched in 1762 from the Woolwich Royal Dockyard.


Up until the mid-1750s, the 50 gun fourth rate ship of the line was the smallest of the Royal Navy's ships of the line. From then, they were seen as being too small and weak to stand in a line of battle against the larger and more heavily armed French and Spanish ships of the line. They continued to be of use however, in the shallow waters off Northern Europe and North America and they were of particular use against the smaller and less heavily armed ships of the line operated by the Dutch Navy and for that reason, the Royal Navy continued to build and operate small numbers of them into the early 19th century. At the end of the 18th century, a new type of warship appeared, the Heavy Frigate. These ships, mounting upwards of 40 guns and carrying 24pdr long guns and heavy carronades both outsailed and outgunned the 50 gun ship of the line and by the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, they had largely disappeared from front line service in the Royal Navy. Those ships which avoided being broken up or converted into hulks continued in service in supporting roles, as troopships or storeships.


The order for what was to become HMS Leander was placed with the Chatham Royal Dockyard on 25th July 1776. Once the 1/48 scale drawings had been expanded to full size on the Mould Loft Floor and the moulds made, the first keel section was laid at Chatham on Saturday 1st March 1777. At the time the construction started, what had started as protests and riots in Britain's American colonies over the issue of what the colonists saw as unfair and illegal taxation had escalated into a full-scale armed rebellion. Earlier that year, the Americans had forced the British to evacuate Boston and the old enemy across the Channel had begun to supply the American rebels with arms and money. The early stages of construction had been overseen by Mr Israel Pownall, Master Shipwright at Chatham. When he left the post in April 1779, he handed the project over to his successor, Mr Nicholas Phillips. Phillips supervised the completion and launch of HMS Leander and the ship was duly launched with all due ceremony into the River Medway on Saturday 1st July 1780. After she had been launched, she was secured to a mooring buoy, where her guns, masts and miles of rigging were installed. Shortly before her launch, in June 1780, Captain Thomas Shirley was appointed in command and while the ship was fitting out, he oversaw the recruitment of her officers and crew. A ship like HMS Leander would have had five Lieutenants ranked in order of seniority, First, Second, Third etc. There would have been a Captain of Marines assisted by a Lieutenant of Marines and the ships Marines wold have come aboard as an unit. The rest of the crew, the Senior Warrant Officers such as the Sailing Master, the Boatswain, Purser, Gunner, Cook and Surgeon were appointed by the Admiralty, but their Mates were chosen by the Captain. The seamen were recruited by the Captain and First Lieutenant from the men brought aboard the Receiving Ship by the press gangs and those who volunteered for service.


Captain Shirley was an experienced commander who had not held a command since the end of the Seven Years War when he had paid off the 12pdr armed 32 gun frigate HMS Lark in March of 1763. Since the end of that war, he had been on half-pay.


On 1st July 1780, HMS Leander was declared complete and commissioned into the Channel Fleet. By the time the ship commissioned, her construction and fitting out had cost a total of £26,831.1s.3d. On completion, HMS Leander was a ship of 1,052 tons. She was 146ft long on her upper gundeck, 119ft 7in long at the keel and 40ft 8in wide across the beam. Her hold was 17ft 5in deep, she drew 11ft of water at the bow and 15ft 11in at the rudder. She was armed with 22 24pdr long guns on the lower gundeck, 22 12pdr long guns on the upper gundeck, 2 6pdr long guns and 2 24pdr carronades on the forecastle with 6 6pdr long guns and 2 24pdr carronades on the quarterdeck with 6 12pdr carronades on the poop deck. In addition to these, there were a further dozen half-pounder swivel guns attached to the forecastle and quarterdeck handrails and in the fighting tops. This meant that although rated as a 50 gun ship, she actually carried 62. HMS Leander was manned by a crew of 350 officers, men, boys and Royal Marines.


Portland Class Plans


Orlop and Lower Gundeck Plans:





Framing Plan:





Inboard Profile and Plan:





Sheer Plan and Lines:





Starboard Quarter view of the Navy Board Model of HMS Portland. HMS Leander would have been identical:





Starboard Bow view of the Navy Board Model of HMS Portland:





A couple of weeks after being declared complete, on 20th July 1780, HMS Leander sailed for the West Indies.


Since the Glorious Revolution of 1688, when King James II had been forced to abdicate the British throne in favour of his sister Mary and her Dutch husband, William, Prince of Orange, the wars between the Dutch and the British had ended and Britain and Holland had become firm allies. With Holland's decline as a trade and military superpower, that alliance had been tested when the Dutch had remained firmly neutral in the Seven Years War and had refused to join the British in the escalating American War of Independence. The entry of France into the war on the American side had led to the Dutch seeking to exploit their neutrality and facilitate trade between the American rebels and the French. Increasing tensions between the former allies led to the Affair of Fielding and Bylandt, where the British had fired on a Dutch convoy heading down the English Channel on 31st December 1779. The following year, the alliance broke down completely and in December 1780, the British declared war on Holland starting the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War. In order to force a rapid Dutch capitulation, the British immediately embarked on a strategy of starving the Dutch of trade and therefore money, by attacking and seizing their overseas colonies and trading posts. As part of this strategy, Captain Shirley was ordered to take his ship, in company with the 6pdr armed 14 gun ship-sloop HMS Alligator and seize trading posts on the Dutch Gold Coast, or modern-day Ghana. In addition to the two warships, Captain Shirley also had under his command a number of transport ships carrying two regiments of independently raised troops commanded by Captain Kenneth MacKenzie, who belonged to the 78th Regiment of Foot, the Seaforth Highland Regiment.


In November 1781, HMS Leander and the force were making their way south along the African coast off modern-day Senegal, HMS Leander sighted the French transport ship Officieuse. Captain Shirley immediately ordered a chase and in her attempt to escape the British ship, the Officieuse ran aground on the sand bar at Casamance and was wrecked. In his dispatches, sent later, Captain Shirley estimated the value of the Officieuse to be about £30,000.


The force arrived at Africa in January 1782 and anchored off the British slaver outpost at Cape Coast Castle in modern-day Ghana on 5th February. During the stopover, Captain Shirley planned the attacks. The first target was the castle at Elmina, Ghana. This castle overlooks a harbour which served a major Dutch slaving outpost and the British force arrived there on 15th February 1782. A heavy surf prevented the British troops from landing for three days, but the landings were completed on 18th February. The troops were to attack the castle by land while the warships were to launch a diversionary attack on the nearby Fort St Jago. Unfortunately for the British, the wind prevented HMS Leander from closing within firing range until 20th February. At noon on 20th February 1782, Captain Shirley ordered that the signal to commence the attack be hoisted and HMS Leander opened fire on the fort. The exchange of fire between HMS Leander and Fort St Jago continued until nightfall and resumed the following morning, when Captain MacKenzie led his men to the attack on the castle at Elmina. Captain MacKenzie and his men were caught in a crossfire between the fort and the castle and were forced into a very rapid retreat. By 11:30 on 21st February, it was clear that the attack had failed and the troops were re-embarked and the ships left the scene. This failure did not deter Captain Shirley from pressing on with his mission and over the course of March 1782, the British attacked and seized Dutch trading posts and forts at Moree on 2nd March, Courmantine on 6th, Apam on 16th, Senya Beraku on 23rd and Accra on 30th. In all cases, British troops were left behind to garrison the forts and control the trading posts. His mission complete, Captain Shirley sent the transport ships back to the UK, escorted by HMS Alligator, which was also tasked with taking his dispatches about the operation back. On their way back to Britain, the convoy was attacked and taken by the French frigate La Fee. Captain Shirley also sent the former Dutch governors back to Holland on the transport ship Mackerel, flying cartel flags. He sent a second set of dispatches to the UK with his First Lieutenant, Mr Van Court aboard the Mackerel knowing that as a cartel ship, she was protected by international law and wouldn't be attacked by the enemy. After the success of his campaign, Captain Shirley received orders to return to the Caribbean.


In January 1783, Captain Thomas Shirley was appointed to command the 90 gun second rate ship of the line HMS Union as flag-captain to Admiral Sir Hugh Pigot. Pigot had recently been appointed as Commander-in-Chief of the West Indies Station replacing Vice-Admiral Sir George Rodney who had returned to the UK following his victory at the Battle of the Saintes the previous April. Shirley was replaced in command of HMS Leander by Captain John Willet Payne


On 18th January 1783, HMS Leander was escorting a convoy which included a cartel ship, when they were attacked by a large French ship of the line. Displaying an almost insane level of courage, Captain Payne ordered that HMS Leander attack the much larger and more powerful French ship and try to protect the convoy and drive her off. After a firefight which went on from midnight until almost 2am and which saw both ships badly damaged, the French ship left the scene. The identity of the French ship is not known for certain, but rumours at the time indicated that she may have been La Couronne of 80 guns, which put into Puerto Rico in a damaged condition some days later. This ship was renamed Ca Ira after the French Revolution and was captured by Captain Horatio Nelson in HMS Agamemnon at the Battle of Genoa on 14th March 1795. She was too badly damaged to be put into front line service in the Royal Navy and was instead used as a hospital ship until she was destroyed by an accidental fire on 11th April 1796.


On 4th March 1783, HMS Leander captured the French merchant brig La Bella Juditta. On the 30th March, HMS Leander was in company with the 74 gun third rate ship of the line HMS Hercules, the 44 gun two-decker HMS Dolphin, the 9pdr armed 28 gun frigates HMS Enterprise and HMS Nemesis and the armed store-ship Sally when they captured the Dutch merchant ship Arend op Zee.


In September 1783, Captain Payne was replaced in command by Captain John Reynolds. By this time, the war was beginning to wind down. Peace talks had started in Paris in April 1782. On September 3rd 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed by the warring parties, to be effective from May 12th 1784. The war had been a disaster for the British. Although they had won victories all over the world, they had been forced to give up their colonies in America and recognise the United States of America as an independent sovereign nation. In April 1784, HMS Leander paid off into the Ordinary at Portsmouth.


Once in the Portsmouth Ordinary, HMS Leander was the responsibility of the Master Attendant of the Dockyard. The Master Attendant was a senior Warrant Officer, one of the most senior Sailing Masters in the Royal Navy. The ship was manned by a skeleton crew comprising of senior Warrant Officers, the Boatswain, the Gunner, the Carpenter and the Cook. The first three men were entitled to have two servants each, with the Cook being entitled to one. The ship also had a Purser appointed, but he was allowed to live ashore within a reasonable distance of the Dockyard, but was not entitled to have any servants. Any servants he did have had to be paid from his own pocket. In addition to these men, the ship also had a crew of 14 seamen, all rated at Able Seaman. All these men were allowed to have their families live aboard with them. Any work beyond the capabilities of these men was carried out by gangs of labourers sent from the Dockyard.


HMS Leander was taken into the Royal Dockyard at Portsmouth in June 1785 for repairs which were completed six months later at a cost of £8,466.12s.5d, when she returned to the Ordinary.


In August 1786, HMS Leander recommissioned under Captain Sir James Barclay, was taken into the Royal Dockyard at Portsmouth and was fitted for sea at a cost of £4,465. The work was completed in November 1786 and the ship sailed for Halifax, Noval Scotia on 9th April 1787. On arrival, she became flagship to Rear-Admiral Herbert Sawyer, Commander-in-Chief North America Station. In August 1788, HMS Leander returned to the UK with Rear-Admiral Sawyer and Captain Barclay and paid off at Portsmouth. She immediately recommissioned under Captain Joseph Peyton jr as flagship to Rear-Admiral Joseph Peyton, the captain's father. On 22nd December 1788, the ship sailed for the Mediterranean. The ship was in the Mediterranean for a year before returning to the UK and paying off back into the Portsmouth Ordinary.


July 1789 saw the French Revolution, the following year brought the Spanish Armaments Crisis and the Russian Armaments Crisis and on 1st February 1793, the French Revolutionary War began.


It was to be May 1795 before HMS Leander recommissioned under Captain Maurice Delgarno and was fitted for sea. By now, the 50 gun ship of the line was considered obsolete except in the shallow waters of the North Sea, off northern Europe, so HMS Leander recommissioned into the North Sea Fleet under the ultimate command of the veteran Admiral Sir Adam Duncan.


On 12th May 1796 HMS Leander was operating with the fleet and stood by while the Dutch 36 gun frigate Argo was captured by the 18pdr armed 36 gun frigate HMS Phoenix along with the Dutch brig Mercury. On 22nd October 1796, HMS Leander also stood by when the 12pdr armed ex-French 36 gun frigate HMS COncorde captured the Dutch Vrow Hendrica and by agreement between the captains, her crew shared the prize money for this capture.


In November 1796, Captain Delgarno was replaced in command by Captain Thomas Boulden Thompson. Captain Thompson was a senior captain in the Royal Navy at the time and had been born in Barham, Kent. His uncle, Edward Thompson had been an accomplished Commander in the Royal Navy during the American War of Independence and after the war, carved out a  successful career as a playright. He was given his first command, the 14 gun ship-sloop HMS Kingfisher in 1771 and had used his influence to arrange for the young Thomas to join the Royal Navy as a Midshipman-in-Ordinary, rated as an Able Seaman in 1778 when he was aged just 12. Captain Thompsom received orders to join the Mediterranean Fleet under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir John Jervis and on 7th January 1797, the ship sailed to Gibraltar in company with a convoy to do just that. HMS Leander did not arrive in the Mediterranean in time to participate in the Second Battle of Cape St Vincent, which had occurred on 14th February.


On 15th July 1797, HMS Leander joined a squadron under one of Sir John Jervis' squadron commanders, newly knighted and promoted to Rear-Admiral, the man who had been largely responsible for the British victory at St Vincent, Sir Horatio Nelson. Nelson was flying his command flag in the 74 gun third rate ship of the line HMS Theseus and in addition to the flagship and HMS Leander, Nelson also had under his command HMS Cullodden and HMS Zealous, both third rate ships of 74 guns, the 18pdr armed frigates HMS Seahorse of 38 guns and HMS Emerald of 36 guns, the 12pdr armed 32 gun frigate HMS Terpsichore, the hired armed cutter Fox of ten guns and the mortar-boat Ray. Previously, Jervis had attempted to attack the Spanish naval base at Cadiz following his victory at Cape St Vincent, but had been driven off by heavily armed Spanish gunboats which had mounted a stout defence of the base and had damaged a number of the attacking British ships. Following this setback, Jervis had shifted his attention to the Spanish treasure ships coming from South America. He had received intelligence that they often stopped at Santa Cruz de Tenerife on their way back to Spain. In April, the British had conducted a surprise night-time raid on Tenerife and had managed to capture one French and one Spanish ship. Encouraged by this success, Jervis ordered Nelson to lead a full-scale amphibious assault on Santa Cruz and capture the port, denying it to the treasure ships in the hope that he could then catch them in the open sea. The British force had over 400 guns and nearly 4,000 men at its disposal.


At Santa Cruz, the Spanish commander, Lieutenant-General Antonio Guiterrez de Otero Y Santayana was convinced that following the raid, a bigger attack would follow and had spent the months between April and July 1797 having his troops strengthen the city's defences. Forts were rebuilt, additional earthworks were thrown up and the numbers of guns in the batteries overlooking the harbour were increased. In all, the General managed to raise some 1,700 men from the island to man the defences.


The British attack force arrived off Santa Cruz on 17th July and Nelson drew up his plan of attack. The attack would occur in two phases. Phase one would see the frigates approach the shore at night and land a force of sailors and Marines in the darkness, who would then attack the shore batteries and capture Fort Paso Alto under covering fire from the frigates. At the same time, a second landing party of more men would capture the harbour. Phase two would see the ships of the line enter the harbour and seize any Spanish merchant ships and their cargoes. If the city had not surrendered by this point, then the first landing force would march on the city and take it, catching the defenders in a pincer movement. The attack began in the evening of 21st July and it began to go wrong from the beginning. The approaching British boats were seen in the clear night. Out of range of the heavy guns on the ships, the boats were coming in without covering fire and the Spanish exploited this to their advantage. The Spanish shore batteries opened fire on the approaching boats and destroyed some of them, while the British frigates were unable to make much headway against the strong currents. Under heavy fire, the British retreated back to the ships. They tried again, this time with the boats towing the frigates inshore. 1,000 men landed on Valle Seco beach under fire, but without horses to pull the heavy guns, became stranded on the beach. On 23rd July, there was a heavy exchange of small-arms and gunfire between the guns on Fort Paso Alto and the British on the beach. In the meantime, the Spanish General ordered that men from the fortress overlooking the harbour be moved to the Fort out of sight of the British. Nelson, seeing that the attack had failed, recalled the force to the ships. He was livid. He called his captains aboard the flagship and outlined a new plan of attack, which he would lead in person. In the meantime, General Guiterrez managed to guess Nelson's next move and transferred his soldiers and militia out of Fort Paso Alto back to the batteries overlooking the harbour. Again, the British were unable to see the troop movements. At 22:30, the British attacked the harbour and were again seen on the way in. The Spanish opened fire with all they had and the British fell under a rain of small-arms and cannon-fire. The British boats were caught in a cross-fire and many were sunk. In addition, the Fox was badly hit and also sunk with the loss of her commander, Lieutenant John Gibson and 17 men drowned. Eventually, the British sailors and Marines made it ashore and quickly spiked the guns near the beach. A force led by Captain Richard Bowen of HMS Terpsichore chased the fleeing Spanish soldiers into the town, but they hadn't got far before they were cut down by a hail of grapeshot. Some of that same grapeshot hit Nelson in the arm as he was coming ashore. It appeared that the entire town had been fortified with shots seemingly coming from every window. Nelson himself had been badly wounded, so much so that when he returned to HMS Theseus, the ship's Surgeon amputated his right arm immediately. His men were faring no better. They were pinned down in the town and the Spanish General had managed to reinforce his artillery and was now bringing more heavy fire down on the British. Eventually, Captain Thomas Troubridge of HMS Cullodden was forced to ask the Spanish for terms of withdrawal. General Guiterrez was an old-school soldier who believed that a brave and honourable foe should be allowed to withdraw with honour when they realise that they're beaten. At 07:00 on 25th July, an agreement was signed where the Spanish General would allow the British to withdraw back to their ships with arms and colours in exchange for a promise by the British not to burn the town of Santa Cruz and never again to attack the Canary Islands. General Guiterrez even loaned a pair of schooners to the British to aid them in their retreat. In addition, Nelson agreed that one of his ships would carry the General's dispatches about the failed British attack back to Spain and in late July, HMS Emerald entered Cadiz harbour under a flag of truce to deliver General Guiterrez's dispatches.


In the Battle of Santa Cruz, HMS Leander lost seven men killed including her Royal Marine officers and six, including Captain Thompson, wounded. A further man was reported missing.


Sir John Jervis was furious, but he concluded that the attack had failed because of a lack of proper resources and overconfidence on the part of the British force and attached no blame to Nelson for the failure of the attack. The British for their part, stuck to their promise and never again attacked the Canary Islands.


After the Battle of Santa Cruz, HMS Leander was assigned to the blockade of Cadiz. At about this time, the Royal Navy maintained a firm control of the Atlantic Ocean. The same cannot be said of the situation in the Mediterranean, where the French had gained control. The French government had appointed one of it's up and coming generals, Napoleon Bonaparte to command an operation where a vast armada of ships would land a 35,000 strong army on the shores of Egypt. After establishing a base in Egypt, Bonaparte would then command an overland operation to march this huge army to India, where it would join up with local forces opposed to growing British control of that vast empire and eject the British from it.


Sir John Jervis, by now made Earl St Vincent, ordered Nelson, now flying his command flag in the 74 gun third rate ship HMS Vanguard, to go into the Mediterranean with a force of ten ships of the line to discover what the French were up to. During the evening of May 24th 1798, HMS Leander was one of a further nine ships of the line sent to reinforce Nelson's force. The reinforcements came under the command of Captain Thomas Troubridge in HMS Cullodden and once they had joined up with Nelson's force, the Rear-Admiral had under his command HMS Vanguard, HMS Orion, HMS Cullodden, HMS Bellerophon, HMS Minotaur, HMS Defence, HMS Alexander, HMS Zealous, HMS Audacious, HMS Goliath, HMS Majestic, HMS Swiftsure and HMS Theseus, all of 74 guns, plus HMS Leander and the 18 gun, 6pdr armed ex-French brig-sloop HMS Mutine. Such was the shortage of frigates in the Royal Navy at the time, that Lord St Vincent was unable to spare any for Nelson's fleet. Once his force was complete, Nelson spent the next two months scouring the eastern Mediterranean, searching for the French fleet, passing them in the night on one occasion and missing them by a few hours on others. Nelson received intelligence that the French fleet was in Alexandria. He arrived at Alexandria on 28th June, but left after discovering the French weren't there. They arrived the following day, unseen by the British. After landing the troops, the French naval commander, Vice-Admiral Francois-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers had decided to anchor his fleet of warships further along the coast, in Aboukir Bay. This was because he felt that the harbour at Alexandria was too shallow for the larger ships in his fleet.


By this time, Nelson was searching the Egyptian coast for the French and 14:00 on 1st August 1798, lookouts on HMS Zealous spotted the French at anchor in Aboukir Bay and reported back to Nelson in HMS Vanguard. Brueys had anchored his fleet in what he thought was a strong defensive position, close to the shore and had prepared his ships to fight to seaward. He had made a mistake however in positioning his ships too far apart and had underestimated the skill and daring of the British and in particular, that of their commander.


Nelson formulated a plan whereby half his fleet would pass through the gaps in the French line and anchor inshore of the French, using two anchor cables so they could adjust their arcs of fire, while the rest would pass the seaward side of the French line, catching them in a murderous crossfire. Nelson would have known that HMS Leander was too small and weak to take on a French ship of the line under these circumstances. He would also have been painfully aware of the immense firepower of the French flagship, the mighty L'Orient of 120 guns. Captain Thompson was ordered to support the seventy-fours engaging L'Orient.


In the late afternoon on 1st August 1798, the British bore down on the French line. Battle was joined at 18:20 when the leading French ships Guerrier and Conquerant opened fire on HMS Goliath and HMS Zealous. HMS Bellerophon missed her station and found herself under the guns of the giant French flagship. She was quicky reduced to a floating wreck by L'Orient's massive broadsides, but did severe damage to the bigger French ship in response. Brueys was severely wounded in the face and hands by splinters and debris from HMS Bellerophon's broadsides. HMS Majestic also missed her station and came under heavy fire from the Tonnant (80) while almost colliding with Heureux (74). Unable to stop in time, HMS Majestic's bowsprit became entangled in Tonnant's rigging. The ship came under intense small-arms fire from the Tonnant and her captain, Captain George Blagdon Westcott was shot and killed. On the way in, the last ship in the British line, HMS Cullodden ran aground and despite the efforts of her crew in their boats, HMS Mutine and HMS Leander, she remained stuck fast. Unable to get HMS Cullodden refloated, Captain Thompson ordered that HMS Leander continue and get stuck in and the ship ended up between the French ships Peuple Souverain (74) and Franklin (80). With HMS Defence on one side, HMS Orion on the other and HMS Leander across her stern, it wasn't long before the Peuple Souverain was battered into surrender.


At about 20:20, Admiral Brueys was struck in the midriff by a cannon ball which virtually cut him in half and he died on the quarterdeck of L'Orient 15 minutes later. At 22:00, the massive French flagship exploded after having been seen by British ships to be on fire. The explosion was so huge that the concussion opened the seams of the nearest ships and burning wreckage started fires aboard HMS Alexander and HMS Swiftsure as well as the French ship Franklin. The shockwave of the explosion was so powerful that it opened the seams of the ships nearest to her. Although the fires were quickly brought under control, the effects of the explosion caused all the ships engaged in the battle to cease firing for ten minutes. By midnight, only the Tonnant remained in action. Her commander, Commodore Aristide Aubert Du Petit Thouars continued his fight against HMS Majestic and by 03:00, his ship was a dismasted wreck. Du Petit Thouars had lost both his legs and an arm, but remained in command, propped up on deck in a bucket of wheat. He had ordered that his colours be nailed to the stump of the mizzen mast to prevent them from being struck. At sunrise, about 04:00, the fighting between Tonnant and HMS Majestic resumed. By this time, HMS Alexander had drifted nearby, as had the French ships of the line Guillaume Tell (80), Genereux (74) and Timoleon (74). In the meantime, Du Petit Thouars had died of his wounds. Briefly outnumbered, the battered British ships were soon joined by HMS Goliath and HMS Theseus and between them, they forced the Tonnant to surrender. After this, the remaining French ships which were able to escape did so.


The Battle of the Nile, otherwise known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay was a stunning British victory. On the morning of 2nd August, Nelson stated "Victory is not a name strong enough for such a scene" and Able Seaman John Nicholl of HMS Goliath wrote in his journal "I went on deck to view the state of the fleets, and an awful sight it was. The whole Bay was covered with dead bodies, mangled, wounded and scorched, not a bit of clothes on them except their trousers."


The tracks of the ships during the Battle of the Nile:





The Battle of the Nile, the Approach to the French Line by Thomas Whitcombe:





In the Battle of the Nile, HMS Leander suffered casualties of 14 men wounded. It was as well the ship suffered no fatalities, when her wounded men are taken into account, she was almost 30 men short of her complement.


Following the battle, Captain James Saumarez in HMS Orion was tasked with taking the prizes back to Gibraltar. Of the 13 ships in the French fleet, nine had been captured, two were later destroyed by the British because they were beyond repair and two, the Genereux and the Guillaume Tell escaped. Captain Thompson was tasked with taking Nelson's dispatches back to Lord St. Vincent and he also sent his flag-captain, Captain Edward Berry in HMS Leander to personally deliver them.


After their escape from the slaughter at Aboukir Bay, the Guillaume Tell headed for Malta, then in French hands and the Genereux made for Corfu, also in French hands. On the 18th August 1798, HMS Leander was on her way to the rendezvous with Lord St Vincent and was six miles off the west coast of Goza di Candia on the island of Crete when her lookouts sighted a large ship headed directly towards her. Although HMS Leander was laying becalmed, the stranger seemed to be heading up fast under a breeze from the south. The stranger was quickly identified as being a French ship of the line of 74 guns. Having aboard a large number of wounded from the Battle of the Nile and being short-handed, Captain Thompson had no wish to confront the larger and significantly more powerful French ship, which was identified as being the Genereux, on her way to Corfu. He attempted run away from the French ship, but the Genereux outsailed HMS Leander and quickly caught up. Realising that there was no escape, Captain Thompson ordered that his ship prepare to meet the enemy. In an attempt to deceive the British ship, the Genereux first hoisted Neopolitan colours and then Turkish, but the British didn't fall for it. Once the Genereux had worked her way within range and despite being outgunned and outnumbered, Captain Thompson bowed to the inevitable and ordered his ship to shorten sail. At 9am, the Genereux fired a shot across HMS Leander's bow, to which the British ship responded with a full broadside. A furious firefight then followed for the next 90 minutes until, at 10:30, Captain Lejoillie of the Genereux decided to board HMS Leander. By now, HMS Leanders's mizzen mast was laying over the starboard quarter, the fore topmast was over the port bow, the fore yard and main yard had both fallen to the deck and the ship was almost unmanageable. The Genereux came alongside HMS Leander at the port bow and her crew attempted to storm the forecastle, but were repeatedly driven off with heavy losses by intense and accurate small-arms fire by the British and in particular, the ship's remaining Royal Marines. These were commanded by their Sergeant as no comissioned Marine officers had yet come aboard to replace those killed at Tenerife. The French ship continued firing at point blank range until a breeze came up which enabled the two ships to move away. HMS Leander's crew managed to use their remaining sails to work their ship across the Genereux's stern. The British did not lose this opportunity and every starboard side gun which was able to, fired into the Frenchman's vulnerable and unprotected stern. The wind died away again and the Genereux drifted, still firing furiously, so that she was off HMS Leander's port bow. Due to the wreckage of the foremast, HMS Leander was not able to reply and was suffering more damage and her main topmast was shot away.


By 15:30, HMS Leander had run out of ammunition and her gunners were reduced to loading the remaining guns with scrap metal and glass fragments. With the enemy across her bows, by now pretty much dismasted, her hull leaking badly from the many shot holes and many men killed or wounded and with Captain Thompson himself badly wounded, things were looking desperate. The Frenchman closed the range and hailed HMS Leander inviting the British to surrender. The three-times wounded Captain Thomson conferred with Captain Berry, who himself was wounded, with a piece of human skull embedded in his arm and the two captains agreed that they should surrender. To indicate their surrender, they had a French tricolour attached to a pike. Thus, HMS Leander became the only British ship of the line to surrender to a French ship of the line after being defeated in single combat on open waters in the whole period of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.


The fight had not been one-sided. Genereux had had her mizzen topmast shot away and the foremast was only just managing to remain standing. The British had suffered relatively heavy casualties, with 35 killed and 57 wounded. The Frenchman had suffered terribly, with 100 killed and 180 wounded. All that pent-up anger and frustration would come out after the French boarded HMS Leander.


Genereux had had all her boats destroyed by the British fire, so the only way they could accept the surrender was for a midshipman and the French Boatswain to swim across to the British ship. Immediately that the surrender had been agreed then the French, when they came aboard began to systematically plunder the ship, taking all but the clothes the sailors stood in. This included the tools of Mr Mulberry the Surgeon, whose tools were taken while he was treating the wounded. Captain Thompson, despite having a musket ball in his arm, ordered one of the boats to be repaired and launched and was pulled across to the French ship, where he insisted that Captain Lejoillie come aboard HMS Leander and put an end to the looting. On arrival on HMS Leander, the French captain merely joined in, helping himself to all of Captain Thompson and Captain Berry's possessions. When Captain Berry complained that a pair of ornate pistols had been stole, the French captain merely replied "I'm sorry, but, the fact is, that the French are good at plunder".


The capture of HMS Leander by C.H. Seaforth. In this painting, HMS Leander is the ship behind Le Genereux, in the foreground:





The French put half the surviving British sailors into the Genereux and replaced them with a French prize crew, putting both sets of men to work repairing the ships while the Genereux slowly towed HMS Leander to Corfu. Once at Corfu, the French continued to deny the British wounded medical care and only gave them bread and water. 


On 28th August, panic broke out amongst the French when a British warship was sighted. This was in fact, HMS Mutine which was on her way to deliver another set of Nelson's dispatches to Lord St Vincent. Mr Thomas Capel, Master and Commander in HMS Mutine assumed that the pair of ships he had sighted were the Genereux and the Guillaume Tell, so steered clear, flying French colours.


Captain Thompson only received treatment for his wounds after HMS Leander's Surgeon was smuggled aboard the Genereux and soon after that, the senior warrant officers and commissioned officers of HMS Leander were exchanged. The exception to this was Mr Thomas Jarrat, the Carpenter who was forced to stay behind because he refused to help the French by supplying them with the dimensions of HMS Leanders masts and spars. The rest of the men were detained on Corfu and refused French attempts to enlist them into the French Navy.


Once the men reached the UK, the story came out and the press had a field day with lurid descriptions of the monstrous treatment meted out by the French. Captain Thompson and his crew were lauded for their defiance of the French and for their bravery in taking on a much larger and more powerful enemy vessel. Captains Thompson and Berry and the rest of the officers of HMS Leander faced the inevitable Court Martial for the loss of their ship, held aboard the 64 gun ship of the line HMS America at Sheerness. They were all honourably acquitted. In delivering their verdict, the Court Martial Board announced:


"The Court having heard the evidence brought forward in support of Captain Thompson's narrative of the capture of Leander, and having very maturely and deliberately considered the whole, is of opinion, that the gallant and almost unprecedented defence of Captain Thompson, of his majesty's late ship Leander, against so superior force as that of the Généreux, is deserving of every praise his Country and this Court can give; and that his conduct, with that of the officers and men under his command, reflects not only the highest honour upon himself and them, but on their Country at large, and the court does therefore most honourably acquit Captain Thompson, his officers, and ship's company; and he and they are most honourably acquitted accordingly".


In December 1798, Captain Berry was knighted by King George III, followed in January 1799 by Captain Thompson. Berry was appointed to command the 80 gun third rate ship of the line HMS Foudroyant and returned to the Mediteranean to serve once more as Nelson's flag captain, while Captain Thompson was appointed to command the 74 gun third rate ship of the line HMS Bellona in the Channel Fleet.


The French managed to repair the now ex-HMS Leander and put her into service under her British name, the ship becoming Le Leander. Under French colours, the ship remained at Corfu. On 28th February 1799, Corfu was attacked by a joint Turkish and Russian force. The attackers quickly seized the island of Vido, lying across the mouth of Corfu harbour. On the port of Corfu being blockaded by a Russian squadron, Captain Lejoillie attempted unsuccessfully again to press Le Leander's former British crew into French service, being told to his face by Able Seaman George Bannister "No, you damned French rascal, give us back our little ship, and we'll fight you again until we sink".


Le Leander and the corvette La Brune attempted to drive the Russo-Turkish force off, but were themselves driven off and damaged by the Russians and Turks. Le Leander and La Brune were captured by the attackers when the French on Corfu surrendered on 3rd March. The Russian Tsar ordered that Le Leander be returned to the British while La Brune was given to the Turks.


In June 1799, Sir Adam Drummond, Master and Commander in the 6pdr armed 16 gun ship-sloop HMS Bulldog was appointed in HMS Leander with orders to take her from Corfu to Deptford to be refitted for British service and the ship arrived the following September. Such was the workload at the Deptford Royal Dockyard that it was to be July 1801 before the work could begin. Such was the poor quality of the French repairs to the extensive damage the ship had sustained during the Action of 18th August 1798 that the work wasn't completed until June of 1802 at a cost of £24,962.


HMS Leander recommissioned into the Royal Navy in May 1802 under Captain James Oughton, whose previous commands had included the 24 gun post-ship HMS Sphinx, HMS Leander's sister-ship HMS Isis and the 98 gun second-rate ship of the line HMS Windsor Castle. Under Captain Oughton, the ship sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia to take up the role as flagship to Vice-Admiral Sir Andrew Mitchell, Commander-in-Chief of the North America and West Indies Station. Captain Oughton remained in command until August 1803, when he was replaced by Captain Francis William Fane for three months and from November 1803 by Captain Alexander Skene. Between June and November 1804, HMS Leander in company with the 24pdr armed 40 gun heavy frigate HMS Cambrian were blockading two French frigates in New York, Le Presidente and Le Revolutionnaire. The two French frigates succeeded in escaping the blockade in November, but while the two ships were off New York, they recaptured the British merchant vessel Hibberts on 16th August 1804.


After the recapture of the Hibberts, HMS Leander went through a succession of commanders. Captain George Collier replaced Captain Skene briefly, then Captain Oughton resumed command for a short while before Captain John Talbot took command of the ship at the end of November 1804.


On 17th February 1805, the British 12pdr armed 32 gun frigate HMS Cleopatra under Captain Sir Robert Laurie had been taken by the French 18pdr armed 40 gun frigate La Ville de Milan in a long and bloody fight near Bermuda which had seen both ships battered to floating wrecks. HMS Cleopatra had chased the larger and more powerful French frigate for 32 hours before bringing her to action and being defeated by the French ship's much heavier armament and greater weight of numbers. On 23rd February, at noon, lookouts high in HMS Leander's masts sighted two ships in the far distance to the south. Captain Talbot ordered more sail to be made so that they could close with the two strangers and have a closer look at them. In increasingly hazy conditions, they lost sight of the two vessels but at 14:30, the smaller of the of the two vessels was sighted again. She was seen to be a frigate, sailing under a jury rig. Half an hour later, the second vessel was also sighted. She was seen to be a much larger frigate also sailing under a jury rig. At about 15:15, the two frigates were seen to close with each other. Each fired a single gun and hoisted French colours. At about 16:00, HMS Leander was within range and the two frigates separated, sailing in different directions. At about 16:30, Captain Talbot ordered that one of HMS Leander's upper gundeck 12pdrs fire a warning shot and after a few minutes, the smaller frigate, now identified as being the now ex-HMS Cleopatra hauled down the French colours and surrendered. HMS Cleopatra's original British crew were released by the French prize crew and took back possession of their ship. On seeing this, Captain Talbot ordered that they follow HMS Leander and immediately set off in pursuit of the larger French frigate, which they caught up with at about 17:30. The larger French ship, identified as the Ville de Milan surrendered without firing a shot. In his report, Captain Talbot stated that "It is not possible, for officers to speak in stronger terms than the French officers do, in praise of Sir Robert Laurie's perseverance in so long a chase, except it is, in the praise they bestow upon him, his officers, seamen, and marines, for their gallant conduct during so long and severe an action". If the Ville de Milan had not been so badly damaged during her action against HMS Cleopatra, it is almost certain that she could either have outsailed HMS Leander and escaped, or would have been able to fight the British two-decker on pretty much equal terms and perhaps have emerged victorious. As things were, the Ville de Milan was in no condition to fight.  HMS Cleopatra was recommissioned into the Royal Navy and served until 1814 when she paid off at Deptford and was broken up. The Ville de Milan was taken into the Royal Navy as HMS Milan and served until 1812 when she was laid up in the Ordinary. She was broken up at Chatham in 1815.


From May of 1805, HMS Leander resumed her station off New York, cruising outside American territorial waters, stopping and searching merchant vessels for cargoes either bound for or from France. On 3rd June, she seized the merchant vessel Nancy. On the 6th, she seized the merchant vessel Elizabeth, on the 7th, the Volunteer and on the 12th, the Vengeance.


By April 1806, HMS Leander had come under the command of Captain Henry Whitby and had been reinforced off New York by HMS Cambrian and by the 24pdr carronade-armed 18 gun ship-sloop HMS Driver. At 14:00 on 25th April, Captain Whitby went aboard HMS Cambrian to dine with her commander, Captain John Nairne, leaving his ship in the care of the First Lieutenant, Mr John Cowan. At about 15:00, with the Sandy Hook Lighthouse some 15 miles away, the squadron sighted a large number of sails about 12 miles from the New Jersey shore. Soon after 16:00, by which time Captain Whitby had returned to his ship, HMS Cambrian fired warning shots at the nearest of the vessels and then sent men in boats to board and inspect them for contraband. HMS Leander passed astern of HMS Cambrian and set off after a ship, a few brigs and some schooners which were heading towards the shore. Firing warning shots as she closed with them, she launched her boats with men, who proceeded to board and inspect them once they had heaved to. All the vessels except the ship, the Aurora, were allowed on their way. The Aurora was found to be carrying goods from Havana bound for America and was detained and sent to Halifax with a prize crew. While HMS Leander was sailing towards the shore firing warning shots, a small coasting sloop (a single-masted merchant vessel with no bowsprit), the Richard, was sailing along the New Jersey shore on her way to New York. One of the shots fired at the Aurora by HMS Leander overshot and struck the Richard and a large splinter struck John Pierce, the helmsman under the chin and decapitated him. John Pierce was the brother of the vessel's Master, Jessie Pierce. On the Richard's arrival in New York, all hell broke loose, with John Pierce's body and head paraded through the streets. Later on, a party of seamen from HMS Leander were in the city having bought provisions for the ship and were attacked by a mob. The provisions they had bought were seized by the mob and given to the poor. Some of the ship's officers were also ashore and they were seized, thrown into a New York prison for their own protection and secretly released later. There were protests in the streets where the Union Flag was burned. A Grand Jury was assembled and without any attempt to hear the British side of the story; that it was a tragic accident, the Grand Jury indicted Captain Whitby and his officers for murder and issued warrants for their arrest. On 14th June, the President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson intervened and issued a proclamation barring HMS Leander, HMS Cambrian and HMS Driver from ever entering American territorial waters again. Jefferson issued orders that the three British ships were to immediately leave American waters and that the ban also extended to any ships which might be commanded by the three British officers in the future. Later on, in an attempt to defuse the situation with the Americans, the Admiralty ordered Captain Whitby to face a Court Martial, charged with the murder of John Pierce. The Court Martial Board didn't take long to acquit him, there was not a shred of evidence that the death of John Pierce was in any way deliberately caused by Captain Whitby.


The Richard Affair was the first in a series of events which caused diplomatic relations with the United States of America to break down, resulting in the outbreak of war in July 1812.


In May 1806, Captain Whitby was replaced in command by Captain Salusbury Pryce Humphreys, who received orders to take HMS Leander back to Halifax, where she was to take up the role of Flagship to the Commander-in-Chief North America and West Indies Station, Vice-Admiral George Cranfield Berkeley. In September 1806, Captain Humphreys was appointed to command HMS Leander's sister-ship HMS Leopard (see the link above) and was replaced by Captain Richard Raggett, who had orders to take the ship back to the UK. It was during Captain Humphreys' term in command of HMS Leopard that the Leopard-Chesapeake Affair occurred, another incident which was to contribute to the outbreak of war with the United States.


On arrival in the UK in October 1806, HMS Leander was paid off into the Portsmouth Ordinary. By now, the 50 gun, 4th rate ship of the line was completely obsolete and with few exceptions, the type was being withdrawn from front line service. In October 1810, HMS Leander was taken into the Royal Dockyard at Portsmouth and was converted into a hospital ship.


On 3rd May 1813, a new ship was ordered by the Navy Board, to be built by Wigram, Wells and Green at Blackwall. The new ship was to be a heavy, spar-decked frigate, with 30 24pdr long guns on her gundeck with four more on the foremost part of the spar deck with the rest of the spar deck carrying 26 42pdr carronades. A few days after the order was placed, the Admiralty decided that the new ship was to be called 'Leander' and to free up the name, the subject of this tale was renamed to HMS Hygeia. The new ship was launched at Blackwall on 10th November 1813.


HMS Hygeia survived in her role as a hospital ship at Portsmouth until she was sold on 14th April 1817 and broken up.