HMS Topaze ( 1793 ) HMS " Topaze " was a Royal Navy 32 - gun frigate , originally completed in 1791 as a French . In 1793 Lord Hood ' s fleet captured her at Toulon . The Royal Navy took her into service under her existing name . She was broken up in 1814 . British service . French Revolutionary Wars . In August 1795 , " Topaze " was commissioned under the command of Captain Stephen George Church . She sailed for Halifax in March 1796 . On the morning of 28 August " Topaze " was part of a British squadron that was sitting becalmed about four leagues from Cape Henry when they spotted three strange vessels . was the closest to them and signaled that they were enemy frigates . The British were not able to set out in pursuit until midday . " Topaze " was the first to catch the breeze and outdistanced her companions . She caught up with the laggard after about five and half hours . The French vessel fired a broadside and then surrendered . and " Bermuda " then took possession of the prize and accompanied her to Halifax while the rest of the squadron pursued , unsuccessfully , the other two French frigates . When " Assistance " took possession the French vessel she turned out to be the " Elizabeth " , of twenty - four 12 - pounder and twelve 8 - pounder ( or 9 - pounder ) guns , and with a crew of 297 men . The Royal Navy did not purchase " Elizabeth " . She was an Indiaman , i . e . , a merchant vessel , that the French government had bought and apparently was " an indifferent sailer " . In 1800 " Topaze " captured a few small prizes , one of them being the galliot " Louisa " , which came into Plymouth on 30 May . " Topaze " and sailed for the West Indies on 13 February 1801 as escorts to a large convoy . Church died in August in the West Indies , of a fever . In 1801 she came under the command of Captain Robert Honyman , who had come out to Jamaica on during the summer . Honyman then sailed " Topaze " back to England , where she served on the Irish station . Napoleonic Wars . In April 1803 " Topaze " was commissioned under Captain Willoughby Lake . On 4 June the " Providence " came into Plymouth . " Topaze " had captured her while she was sailing from Charlestown to Ostend with a cargo of rice and cotton . On 25 September 1804 , " Topaze " encountered and captured the French letter of marque ship " Minerve " , of Bordeaux , which was sailing to Martinique . She was pierced for 18 guns , but carried only fourteen 9 - pounders , and had a crew of 111 men . Then some six months later , on 13 February 1805 , " Topaze " captured and brought into Cork the ketch - rigged " General Augereau " , of Bayonne . " General Augereau " was armed with fourteen 12 - pounder carronades , and had a crew of 88 men . She had been cruising 47 days but had taken no prizes . Apparently " General Augereau " was notorious for her past success , and particularly the capture of the West Indiaman , " William Heathcote " . On 7 May 1805 , Lake and " Topaze " captured the Spanish privateer " Napoleon " , of St . Sebastian . " Napoleon " was pierced for 20 cannon but was armed with ten 9 - pounder guns and four 18 - pounder carronades ; she had a crew of 108 men . She was out of Bordeaux in the 57th day of her first cruise during which she had captured the letter of marque " Westmoreland " , of Liverpool , after a sharp action , and the brig " Brunswick " , which had been sailing from Honduras . Then on 20 May , " Topaze " captured the Spanish privateer brig " Fenix " , also of St . Sebastian . " Fenix " armed with 14 guns and had a crew of 85 men . She was ten days out of Vigo and had taken no prizes . By June 1806 Captain Anselm John Griffiths had taken command of " Topaze " on the Irish station . He sailed her to the Mediterranean on 8 January 1808 . In 1809 she joined the forces operating in the Adriatic campaign of 1807 - 1814 . When the French despatched the frigates " Danaé " and " Flore " from Toulon to the Adriatic , " Topaze " and " Kingfisher " intercepted them on 12 March . Despite bringing the French to action , the British were unable to prevent them reaching Corfu and then sailing north to augment French defences in the Adriatic . " Topaze " sustained no casualties or meaningful damage . On 31 May , off Demata , Albania , boats from " Topaze " attacked a French coastal convoy under the fortress of St . Maura . The boats captured : Her boats destroyed four vessels whose names were unknown : All the vessels , except " Joubert " , were carrying government - owned cargoes of timber and brandy for Corfu . The boat action took place under heavy fire with the result that " Topaze " lost one man killed and one man wounded . After this action Captain Henry Hope took command of " Topaze " and operated off the coast of Spain . On October 1809 , a squadron under Rear Admiral George Martin , of Collingwood ' s fleet , chased an enemy convoy off the south of France . They succeeded in driving two of the three escorting ships of the line , " Robuste " and " Lion " , ashore near Frontignan , where their crews burnt them after dismantling them and stripping them of all usable material . The crews of the third ship of the line , " Borée " , and the frigate " Pauline " escaped into Sète . The transports that had been part of the convoy , including the armed storeship " Lamproie " , of 18 guns , two bombards ( " Victoire " and " Grondeur " ) , and the xebec " Normande " , sailed into the Bay of Rosas where they hoped that the castle of Rosas , Fort Trinidad and several shore batteries would protect them . On 30 October " Tigre " , " Cumberland " , " Volontaire " , " Apollo " , " Topaze " , " Philomel " , " Tuscan " and sent in their boats . By the following morning the British had accounted for all eleven vessels in the bay , burning those they did not bring out . Some of the British boats took heavy casualties ; " Topaze " lost four men killed and eight men wounded . On January 1813 prize money was awarded to the British vessels that took part in the action for the capture of the ships of war " Grondeur " and " Normande " , and of the transports " Dragon " and " Indien " . A court declared a joint captor . Head money was also paid for the " Grondeur " and " Normande " and for the destruction of " Lemproye " and " Victoire " . On 9 December " Topaze " rescued 100 men from the garrison at Marbella when it fell to the French . On 21 June 1810 , the boats of and " Topaze " captured two vessels in the bay of Martino in Corsica . A landing party captured a battery of three guns that protected the entrance to the bay . They were able to capture and render the guns unserviceable , and kill or wound a number of the garrison . The British lost one man killed and two wounded in the action . On 24 August " Topaze " captured the " Centinelle " . " Topaze " was also involved in the Battle of Fuengirola in October 1810 . On 11 October Hope and " Topaze " took Lord Blayney from Gibraltar to Ceuta . two days later they left , escorting a division of gunboats and some transports carrying artillery , a battalion of the 89th Regiment of Foot ( " Blayney ' s Bloodhounds " ) , the Spanish Imperial Regiment of Toledo and some others to Fuengirola to attack a Polish garrison there . The battle proved a defeat for the Anglo - Spanish force and Blayney himself was captured . In November 1810 Captain John Richard Lumley took command of " Topaze " . His successor was Captain Edward Harvey . He sailed " Topaze " off Corfu until December 1812 when he escorted a convoy back to Britain . " Topaze " was in poor condition when he paid her off in February 1812 . Fate . In 1812 , HMS " Topaze " was laid up at Portsmouth , and she was broken up in 1814 .