HMS Dictator ( 1783 ) HMS " Dictator " was a 64 - gun third - rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy , launched on 6 January 1783 at Limehouse . She was converted into a troopship in 1798 , and broken up in 1817 . French Revolutionary Wars . At the " Reduction of Trinidad " in 1797 " Dictator " participated in the later stages , not having arrived until the 18th February , the prize money awarded reflecting this late arrival . On 8 March 1801 , whilst disembarking the army at Aboukir Bay for the Egyptian campaign , one seaman was killed and a midshipman , Edward Robinson , fatally wounded . Prize money for the capture of enemy ships was usually shared with other warships in the squadron between 1801 and 1806 . Because " Dictator " served in the navy ' s Egyptian campaign between 8 March 1801 and 2 September , her officers and crew qualified for the clasp " Egypt " to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants . Napoleonic Wars . In the late summer of 1807 , " Dictator " was part of Admiral Gambier ' s fleet in the Øresund at the Battle of Copenhagen where she shared prize money with some 126 other British naval ships . She was again in Danish Waters the following year , in Admiral Hood ' s squadron of four ships - of - the - line together with some smaller vessels , tasked with maintaining the blockade between Jutland and Zealand . Her captain , Donald Campbell , ordered the sloop HMS Falcon to proceed on her successful patrols to Samsø , Tunø and Endelave . In August 1809 " Dictator " was tasked with the occupation of the Pea Islands to the east of Bornholm but ran aground en route and had to be towed back to Karlskrona for repairs . In early July 1810 , during the Gunboat War with Denmark - Norway , " Dictator " , in company with and , sighted three Danish gunboats commanded by Lieutenant Peter Nicolay Skibsted , who had captured the in April of that year . The gunboats ( " Husaren " , " Løberen " , and " Flink " ) sought refuge in Grenå , on eastern Jutland , where a company of soldiers and their field guns could provide cover . However , the British mounted a cutting out expedition of some 200 men in ten ships ’ boats after midnight on 7 July , capturing the three gunboats . In 1812 " Dictator " led a small squadron consisting of three brigs , the 18 - gun " Calypso " , 14 - gun brig - sloop " Podargus " and the 14 - gun gun brig " Flamer " . On 7 July they encountered the Danish - Norwegian vessels " Najaden " , a frigate finished in 1811 in part with parts salvaged from a ship - of - the - line destroyed in earlier battles , and three brigs , " Kiel " , " Lolland " and " Samsøe " . " Najaden " was under the command of Danish naval officer Hans Peter Holm ( 1772 – 1812 ) In the subsequent Battle of Lyngør " Dictator " destroyed " Najaden " and the British took " Laaland " and " Kiel " as prizes but had to abandon them after the two vessels grounded . The action cost " Dictator " five killed and 24 wounded . In 1847 the surviving British participants were authorized to apply for the clasp " Off Mardoe 6 July 1812 " to the Naval General Service Medal . War of 1812 . HMS " Dictator " was among Admiral Alexander Cochrane ' s fleet moored off New Orleans at the start of 1815 .