HMS Modeste ( 1793 ) HMS " Modeste " was a 36 - gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy . She had previously been a ship of the French Navy under the name " Modeste " . Launched in France in 1786 , she served during the first actions of the French Revolutionary Wars until being captured while in harbour at Genoa , in circumstances disputed by the French and British , and which created a diplomatic incident . Taken into British service she spent the rest of the French Revolutionary and most of the Napoleonic Wars under the white ensign . She served with distinction in the East Indies , capturing several privateers and enemy vessels , including the French corvette " Iéna " . She also saw service in a variety of roles , as a troopship , a receiving ship , and a floating battery , until finally being broken up in 1814 , as the Napoleonic Wars drew to a close . French service and capture . " Modeste " was a " Magicienne " - class frigate built at Toulon between February 1785 and January 1787 , having been launched there on 18 March 1786 . In September 1793 she entered the neutral port of Genoa , where according to British reports , her captain was seized by the French Republican agent in the port , who suspected the frigate as having come from the Royalist - held Toulon on some secret mission . The British had been dissatisfied with the actions of the neutral Genoa , in allowing the " Modeste " and two French tartane s to ' insult ' and ' molest ' the frigate " Aigle " while she was also in Genoa . Furthermore the French were alleged to have seized a ship travelling under an assurance of safe passage from Lord Hood . The British envoy in Genoa , Francis Drake , was instructed to seek reparations from the Genoese , and to put a stop to the shipment of grain to the French Republicans . Drake was unsuccessful , so Hood sent Rear - Admiral John Gell to Genoa with orders to capture " Modeste " , the two tartanes and any other French ships . Drake was to secure assurances from the Genoese that they would comply with Hood ' s wishes , or failing that , Gell was to blockade the port . Gell was also to travel to Leghorn and capture the French frigate " Impérieuse " , and instruct the British envoy to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany , Lord Hervey , to demand the expulsion of the French Jacobins . To back up these demands Gell had a squadron consisting of , the 74 - gun ships , and the French " Scipion " , and the smaller vessels , , , , , and . The squadron entered Genoa on 17 October and " Bedford " ranged alongside " Modeste " . Accounts then differ as to what happened next . A later French account stated that the British ship had moored alongside , and her master had civilly requested the French ship remove a boat that was hampering the British manoeuvres . The French readily agreed , but half an hour later the British captain asked the French to hoist the white flag , saying that he did not know what the tricolour was . Offended , the French refused , whereupon the British suddenly attacked the unprepared French , and captured the frigate . One British account states that " Bedford " came alongside and after warning the French not to resist , captured her after a short struggle , while another stated that while the fort was saluting the arrival of Rear - Admiral Gell , the French on " Modeste " came up on deck and behaved with such insolent gestures and language that the British attacked them . The British reported that two Frenchmen had been killed during the fighting on the tartanes , while French sources alternately reported five dead , thirty wounded , or between 30 and 40 killed . The attack outraged the Genoese , who were being threatened both by Drake and by representatives of the French republic , and created a diplomatic incident . The Genoes finally bowed to French pressure and ordered the expulsion of all foreigners , with the exception of the French . The Genoese broke all diplomatic ties ; in response Gell ' s squadron began to blockade Genoa , capturing neutral merchants bound for the city . British career . " Modeste " was taken into service with the Royal Navy , retaining her original name , and was commissioned in November 1793 under Captain Thomas Byam Martin . After some service in the Mediterranean Martin sailed her back to Britain , arriving in Portsmouth on 4 December 1794 . " Modeste " was then laid up , until being converted to a receiving ship in 1798 , and was then fitted out between August and October 1799 to sail to the Thames . On arriving at Deptford in November she was fitted out as a troopship , a process that lasted until June 1800 . She was commissioned in June that year under Commander Martin Hinton as a 24 - gun troopship . She spent some time in the Mediterranean under Hinton in 1801 . Because " Modeste " served in the navy ' s Egyptian campaign ( 8 March to 8 September 1801 ) , her officers and crew qualified for the clasp " Egypt " to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorised in 1850 for all surviving claimants . Soon she was back in Britain , being fitted out at Woolwich between September and October 1803 for service with Trinity House . The Navy next used her as a floating battery in 1804 . " Modeste " then underwent a middling repair at Woolwich between April and November 1806 and was recommissioned in October that year under Captain George Elliot . Elliot departed Britain on 15 February 1807 , bound for China and the East Indies . On 8 October 1808 he chased down and captured the 18 - gun French corvette " Iéna " while in the Bay of Bengal . " Iéna " , under the command of Captain Maurice , was bound for the Persian Gulf with despatches , and had captured several ships . When taken by " Modeste " she was carrying 25 , 000 dollars she had taken from a vessel named " Swallow " , and had also captured an Arab vessel named " Frederick " , which Elliot retook . " Iéna " had mistaken " Modeste " for another merchant vessel and had tried to close on her . On discovering her mistake she had tried to escape , but had been caught after a nine hour chase and exchange of fire that left four or five Frenchmen dead or wounded , and one man killed and one wounded on " Modeste " . On 15 July 1809 boats from " Modeste " and cut out the 8 - gun " Tuijneelar " in the Sunda Straits . Elliot then took part in the operations to capture Java between August and September 1811 . Elliot left " Modeste " in 1812 , and was succeeded by Captain James Crawford , who on 6 February 1813 captured the 14 - gun privateer " Furet " off Sicily . Fate . " Modeste " was finally placed in ordinary at Woolwich in 1813 . After a year in ordinary , she was broken up at Deptford in June 1814 .