page_title: HMS Pegasus (1779)
section_title: French Revolutionary Wars
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Pegasus (1779) / Service / French Revolutionary Wars
caption_attribution_description: HMS Defence Glorious First of June English: The 74-gun HMS Defence at the Glorious First of June, dismasted and damaged, taking raking fire from the French 74-gun Tourville, while exchanging fire with the 74-gun Mucius Scævola stationed before her to her right side. Mucius Scævola please refer to the Wikipedia article for en:HMS Defence (1763 particulary *Debritt, John (1801) A collection of state papers relative to the war against France now carrying on by Great Britain and the several other European powers .... (Printed for J. Debrett). *Gossett, William Patrick (1986) The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793–1900, Mansell ISBN&#58; 0-7201-1816-6.&#32;
context_page_description: HMS Pegasus was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth rate. This frigate was launched in 1779 at Deptford and sold in 1816. Pegasus had a relatively uneventful career and is perhaps best known for the fact that her captain from 1786 to 1789 was Prince William Henry, the future King William IV. By 1811 Pegasus was a receiving ship at Chatham; she was sold in 1816.
context_section_description: On 14 July 1793 Pegasus sailed with the Channel fleet from St. Helen's. On 18 July she was west of the Scilly Isle. On 31 July she briefly sighted but was unable to close the French fleet, so she returned to Torbay on 10 August. Thirteen days later she was with the Channel Fleet, escorting the Newfoundland trade and West Indian convoys while they were in home waters. By 23 October she was sailing in search of the French fleet and squadrons. On 18 November the Fleet in a brief skirmish with a French squadron; by mid-December the fleet had returned to Spithead.
  In May–June 1794 the Channel Fleet fought the Battle of the Glorious First of June, during which it captured six ships of the line and sank a seventh. On 13 June the fleet arrived back in home ports. While under the command of Robert Barlow, who had been posted to Pegasus, she had served as a repeating ship for Admiral Howe's signals at the battle. Barlow transferred to the frigate Aquilon as a reward. At the battle, Pegasus had as passenger Nicholas Pocock, the maritime artist.
  On 14 February 1795 the Channel fleet sailed from Torbay for a brief cruise and to see various convoys safe out of the Channel.
  In May 1796 news reached Admiral Adam Duncan, operating in the North Sea, that a Dutch squadron consisting of the 36-gun Argo and three brigs and a cutter had departed Flickerve, Norway, bound for the Texel. Duncan despatched a squadron of his own to intercept them, consisting of the frigate Phœnix, under Captain Lawrence William Halsted, the 50-gun HMS Leopard, Pegasus and the brig-sloop HMS Sylph, all under the overall command of Halsted. The British intercepted the Dutch at 5am on 12 May, with Phoenix and Leopard chasing Argo, while Pegasus and Sylph made after the brigs. Leopard eventually fell some way behind, and consequently it was Phoenix alone that brought Argo to the Action of 12 May 1796. Meanwhile, Pegasus and Sylph forced two of the brigs aground and took the small vessel accompanying the Dutch, which turned out to be a former British vessel, Duke of York. They then captured the third brig, the 16-gun Mercury. The Royal Navy took both Argo and Mercury into service, the Argo becoming Janus while Mercury became HMS Hermes.
  In 1800, under Capt. John Pengelly, Pegasus was fitted out as a troopship, armed en flûte. Between 8 March and 2 September 1801 Pegasus participated in the siege of Alexandria. Because Pegasus served in the navy's Egyptian campaign, her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorised in 1850 to all surviving claimants.
caption: HMS Defence at the Battle of the Glorious 1st of June 1794, by Nicholas Pocock
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