HMS Temeraire ( 1798 ) HMS " Temeraire " was a 98 - gun second - rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy . Launched in 1798 , she served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , mostly on blockades or convoy escort duties . She fought only one fleet action , the Battle of Trafalgar , but became so well known for her actions and her subsequent depictions in art and literature that she has been remembered as " The Fighting Temeraire " . Built at Chatham Dockyard , " Temeraire " entered service on the Brest blockade with the Channel Fleet . Missions were tedious and seldom relieved by any action with the French fleet . The first incident of note came when several of her crew , hearing rumours they were to be sent to the West Indies at a time when peace with France seemed imminent , refused to obey orders . This act of mutiny eventually failed and a number of those responsible were tried and executed . Laid up during the Peace of Amiens , " Temeraire " returned to active service with the resumption of the wars with France , again serving with the Channel Fleet , and joined Horatio Nelson ' s blockade of the Franco - Spanish fleet in Cadiz in 1805 . At the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October , the ship went into action immediately astern of Nelson ' s flagship , . During the battle " Temeraire " came to the rescue of the beleaguered " Victory " , and fought and captured two French ships , winning public renown in Britain . After undergoing substantial repairs , " Temeraire " was employed blockading the French fleets and supporting British operations off the Spanish coasts . She went out to the Baltic in 1809 , defending convoys against Danish gunboat attacks , and by 1810 was off the Spanish coast again , helping to defend Cadiz against a French army . Her last action was against the French off Toulon , when she came under fire from shore batteries . The ship returned to Britain in 1813 for repairs , but was laid up . She was converted to a prison ship and moored in the River Tamar until 1819 . Further service brought her to Sheerness as a receiving ship , then a victualling depot , and finally a guard ship . The Admiralty ordered her to be sold in 1838 , and she was towed up the Thames to be broken up . This final voyage was depicted in a J . M . W . Turner oil painting greeted with critical acclaim , entitled " The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last Berth to be broken up , 1838 " . The painting continues to be held in high regard and was voted Britain ' s favourite painting in 2005 . Construction and commissioning . " Temeraire " was ordered from Chatham Dockyard on 9 December 1790 , to a design developed by Surveyor of the Navy Sir John Henslow . She was one of three ships of the " Neptune " class , alongside her sisters and . The keel was laid down at Chatham in July 1793 . Her construction was initially overseen by Master Shipwright Thomas Pollard and completed by his successor Edward Sison . " Temeraire " was launched on 11 September 1798 and the following day was taken into the graving dock to be fitted for sea . Her hull was fitted with copper sheathing , a process that took two weeks to complete . Refloated , she finished fitting out , and received her masts and yards . Her final costs came to £73 , 241 , and included £59 , 428 spent on the hull , masts and yards , and a further £13 , 813 on rigging and stores . She was commissioned on 21 March 1799 under Captain Peter Puget , becoming the second ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name " Temeraire " . Her predecessor had been the 74 - gun third - rate , a former French ship taken as a prize at the Battle of Lagos on 19 August 1759 by a fleet under Admiral Edward Boscawen . Puget was only in command until 26 July 1799 , during which time he oversaw the process of fitting the new " Temeraire " for sea . He was superseded by Captain Thomas Eyles on 27 July 1799 , while the vessel was anchored off St Helens , Isle of Wight . With the Channel Fleet . Under Eyles ' s command " Temeraire " finally put to sea at the end of July , flying the flag of Rear Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren , and joined the Channel Fleet under the overall command of Admiral Lord Bridport . The Channel Fleet was at that time principally engaged in the blockade of the French port of Brest , and " Temeraire " spent several long cruises of two or three months at a time patrolling the area . Eyles was superseded during this period by " Temeraire " s former commander , Captain Puget , who resumed command on 14 October 1799 , and the following month " Temeraire " became the flagship of Rear Admiral James Whitshed . Lord Bridport had been replaced as commander of the Channel Fleet by Admiral Lord St Vincent in mid - 1799 , and the long blockade cruises were sustained throughout the winter and into the following year . On 20 April 1800 Puget was superseded as commander by Captain Edward Marsh . Marsh commanded " Temeraire " through the remainder of that year and for the first half of 1801 , until his replacement , Captain Thomas Eyles , arrived to resume command on 31 August . Rear Admiral Whitshed had also struck his flag by now , and " Temeraire " became the flagship of Rear Admiral George Campbell . By this time the Second Coalition against France had collapsed , and negotiations for peace were underway at Amiens . Lord St Vincent had been promoted to First Lord of the Admiralty , and command of the Channel Fleet passed to Admiral Sir William Cornwallis . With the end of the war imminent , " Temeraire " was taken off blockade duty and sent to Bantry Bay to await the arrival of a convoy , which she would then escort to the West Indies . Many of the crew had been serving continuously in the navy since the start of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793 , and had looked forward to returning to England now that peace seemed imminent . On hearing rumours that instead they were to be sent to the West Indies , around a dozen men began to agitate for the rest of the crew to refuse orders to sail for anywhere but England . Mutiny . The first open clash between the mutineers and officers came on the morning of 3 December , when a small group of sailors gathered on the forecastle and , refusing orders to leave , began to argue with the officers . Captain Eyles asked to know their demands , which were an assurance that " Temeraire " would not go to the West Indies , but instead would return to England . Eventually Rear Admiral Campbell came down to speak to the men , and having informed them that the officers did not know the destination of the ship , he ordered them to disperse . The men went below decks and the incipient mutiny appeared to have been quashed . The ringleaders , numbering around a dozen , remained determined however , and made discreet inquiries among the rest of the crew . Having eventually determined that the majority of the crew would , if not actually support a mutiny , at least not oppose it , and that the " Temeraire " s crew would be supported by the ship ' s marines as well as the crews of some of the other warships in Bantry Bay , they decided to press ahead with their plans . The mutiny began with the crew closing the ship ' s gunport s , effectively barricading themselves below deck . Having done so , they refused orders to open them again , jeered the officers and threatened violence . The crew then came up on deck and once again demanded to know their destination and refused to obey orders to sail for anywhere but England . Having presented their demands they returned below decks and resumed the usual shipboard routine as much as they could . Alarmed by the actions of the " Temeraire " s crew , Campbell met with Vice - Admiral Sir Andrew Mitchell the following day and informed him of the mutineers ' demands . Mitchell reported the news to the Admiralty while Campbell returned to " Temeraire " and summoned the crew on deck once more . He urged them to return to duty , and then dismissed them . Meanwhile discipline had begun to break down among the mutineers . Several of the crew became drunk , and some of the officers were struck by rowdy seamen . When one of the marines who supported the mutiny was placed in irons for drunken behaviour and insolence , a crowd formed on deck and tried to free him . The officers resisted these attempts and as sailors began to push and threaten them , Campbell gave the order for the marines to arrest those he identified as the ringleaders . The marines hesitated , but then obeyed the order , driving the unruly seamen back and arresting a number of them , who were immediately placed in irons . Campbell ordered the remaining crew to abandon any mutinous actions , and deprived of its leaders , the mutiny collapsed , though the officers were on their guard for several days afterwards and the marines were ordered to carry out continuous patrols . News of the mutiny created a sensation in England , and the Admiralty ordered " Temeraire " to sail immediately for Spithead while an investigation was carried out . Vice - Admiral Mitchell was granted extraordinary powers regarding the death sentence and " Temeraire " s marine complement was hastily augmented for the voyage to England . On the ship ' s arrival , the 14 imprisoned ringleaders were swiftly court - martialled in Portsmouth aboard , some on 6 January 1802 and the rest on 14 January . After deliberations , twelve were sentenced to be hanged , and the remaining two were to receive two hundred lashes each . Four men were duly hanged aboard " Temeraire " , and the remainder were hanged aboard several of the ships anchored at Portsmouth , including , , and . West Indies and the peace . After the executions , " Temeraire " was immediately sent to sea , sailing from Portsmouth for the Isle of Wight the day after and beginning preparations for her delayed voyage to the West Indies . She sailed for Barbados , arriving there on 24 February , and remained in the West Indies until the summer . During her time there the Treaty of Amiens was finally signed and ratified , and " Temeraire " was ordered back to Britain . She arrived at Plymouth on 28 September and Eyles paid her off on 5 October . Because of the drawdown in the size of the active navy as a result of the peace , " Temeraire " was laid up in the Hamoaze for the next eighteen months . Return to service . The peace of Amiens was a brief interlude in the wars with Revolutionary France , and in 1803 the War of the Third Coalition began . " Temeraire " had deteriorated substantially during her long period spent laid up , and she was taken into dry dock on 22 May to repair and refit , starting with the replacement of her copper sheathing . Work was delayed when a heavy storm hit Plymouth in January 1804 , causing appreciable damage to " Temeraire " , but was finally completed by February 1804 , at a cost of £16 , 898 . Command was assigned to Captain Eliab Harvey , and he arrived to take up his commission on 1 January 1804 . On putting to sea he sailed to join the Channel Fleet , still under the overall command of Admiral Cornwallis . " Temeraire " now resumed her previous duties blockading the French at Brest . Heavy weather took its toll , forcing her to put into Torbay for extensive repairs after her long patrols , repairs which eventually amounted to £9 , 143 . During this time Harvey was often absent from his command , usually attending to his duties as Member of Parliament for Essex . He was temporarily replaced by Captain William Kelly on 27 August 1804 , and he in turn was succeeded by Captain George Fawke on 6 April 1805 . Harvey returned to his ship on 9 July 1805 , and it was while he was in command that the reinforced Rochefort squadron under Vice - Admiral Sir Robert Calder intercepted and attacked a Franco - Spanish fleet at the Battle of Cape Finisterre . The French commander , Pierre - Charles Villeneuve , was thwarted in his attempt to join the French forces at Brest , and instead sailed south to Ferrol , and then to Cadiz . When news of the Franco - Spanish fleet ' s location reached the Admiralty , they appointed Vice - Admiral Horatio Nelson to take command of the blockading force at Cadiz , which at the time was being commanded by Vice - Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood . Nelson was told to pick whichever ships he liked to serve under him , and one of those he specifically chose was " Temeraire " . Battle of Trafalgar . " Temeraire " duly received orders to join the Cadiz blockade , and having sailed to rendezvous with Collingwood , Harvey awaited Nelson ' s arrival . Nelson ' s flagship , the 100 - gun , arrived off Cadiz on 28 September , and he took over command of the fleet from Collingwood . He spent the next few weeks forming his plan of attack in preparation for the expected sortie of the Franco - Spanish fleet , issuing it to his captains on 9 October in the form of a memorandum . The memorandum called for two divisions of ships to attack at right angles to the enemy line , severing its van from the centre and rear . A third advance squadron would be deployed as a reserve , with the ability to join one of the lines as the course of the battle dictated . Nelson placed the largest and most powerful ships at the heads of the lines , with " Temeraire " assigned to lead Nelson ' s own column into battle . The fleet patrolled a considerable distance from the Spanish coast to lure the combined fleet out , and the ships took the opportunity to exercise and prepare for the coming battle . For " Temeraire " this probably involved painting her sides in the Nelson Chequer design , to enable the British ships to tell friend from foe in the confusion of battle . The combined fleet put to sea on 19 October 1805 , and by 21 October was in sight of the British ships . Nelson formed up his lines and the British began to converge on the distant Franco - Spanish fleet . Contrary to his original instructions , Nelson took the lead of the weather column in " Victory " . Concerned for the commander - in - chief ' s safety in such an exposed position , Henry Blackwood , a long - standing friend of Nelson and commander of the frigate that day , suggested that Nelson come aboard his ship to better observe and direct the battle . Nelson refused , so Blackwood instead tried to convince him to let Harvey come past him in the " Temeraire " , and so lead the column into battle . Nelson agreed to this , and signalled for Harvey to come past him . As " Temeraire " drew up towards " Victory " , Nelson decided that if he was standing aside to let another ship lead his line , so too should Collingwood , commanding the lee column of ships . He signalled Collingwood , aboard his flagship , to let another ship come ahead of him , but Collingwood continued to surge ahead . Reconsidering his plan , Nelson is reported to have hailed the " Temeraire " , as she came up alongside " Victory " , with the words " I ' ll thank you , Captain Harvey , to keep in your proper station , which is " astern " of the Victory " . Nelson ' s instruction was followed up by a formal signal and Harvey dropped back reluctantly , but otherwise kept within one ship ' s length of " Victory " as she sailed up to the Franco - Spanish line . Closely following " Victory " as she passed through the Franco - Spanish line across the bows of the French flagship " Bucentaure " , Harvey was forced to sheer away quickly , just missing " Victory " s stern . Turning to starboard , Harvey made for the 140 - gun Spanish ship " Santísima Trinidad " and engaged her for twenty minutes , taking raking fire from two French ships , the 80 - gun " Neptune " and the 74 - gun " Redoutable " as she did so . " Redoutable " s broadside carried away " Temeraire " s mizzen topmast , and while avoiding a broadside from " Neptune " , " Temeraire " narrowly avoided a collision with " Redoutable " . Another broadside from " Neptune " brought down " Temeraire " s fore - yard and main topmast , and damaged her fore mast and bowsprit . Harvey now became aware that the " Redoutable " had come up alongside the " Victory " and swept her decks with musket fire and grenades . A large party of Frenchmen now gathered on her decks ready to board the " Victory " . " Temeraire " was brought around ; appearing suddenly out of the smoke of the battle and slipping across " Redoutable " s stern , " Temeraire " discharged a double - shotted broadside into her . Jean Jacques Étienne Lucas , captain of the " Redoutable " , recorded that " . . . the three - decker [ " Temeraire " ] – who had doubtless perceived that the " Victory " had ceased fire and would inevitably be taken – ran foul of the " Redoutable " to starboard and overwhelmed us with the point - blank fire of all her guns . It would be impossible to describe the horrible carnage produced by the murderous broadside of this ship . More than two hundred of our brave lads were killed or wounded by it . " " Temeraire " and " Redoutable " . " Temeraire " then rammed into the " Redoutable " , dismounting many of the French ship ' s guns , and worked her way alongside , after which her crew lashed the two ships together . " Temeraire " now poured continuous broadsides into the French ship , taking fire as she did so from the 112 - gun Spanish ship " Santa Ana " lying off her stern , and from the 74 - gun French ship " Fougueux " , which came up on " Temeraire " s un - engaged starboard side . Harvey ordered his gun crews to hold fire until " Fougueux " came within point blank range . " Temeraire " s first broadside against " Fougueux " at a range of 100 yards caused considerable damage to the Frenchman ' s rigging , and she drifted into " Temeraire " , whose crew promptly lashed her to the side . " Temeraire " was now lying between two French 74 - gun ships . As Harvey later recalled in a letter to his wife " Perhaps never was a ship so circumstanced as mine , to have for more than three hours two of the enemy ' s line of battle ships lashed to her . " " Redoutable " , sandwiched between " Victory " and " Temeraire " suffered heavy casualties , reported by Captain Lucas as amounting to 300 dead and 222 wounded . During the fight grenades thrown from the decks and topmasts of " Redoubtable " killed and wounded a number of " Temeraire " s crew and set her starboard rigging and foresail on fire . There was a brief pause in the fighting while both sides worked to douse the flames . " Temeraire " narrowly escaped destruction when a grenade thrown from " Redoutable " exploded on her maindeck , nearly igniting the after - magazine . Master - At - Arms John Toohig prevented the fire from spreading and saved not only " Temeraire " , but the surrounding ships , which would have been caught in the explosion . After twenty minutes fighting both " Victory " and " Temeraire " , the " Redoutable " had been reduced to a floating wreck . " Temeraire " had also suffered heavily , damaged when " Redoutable " s main mast fell onto her poop deck , and having had her own topmasts shot away . Informed that his ship was in danger of sinking , Lucas finally called for quarter to the " Temeraire " . Harvey sent a party across under the second lieutenant , John Wallace , to take charge of the ship . " Temeraire " and " Fougueux " . Lashed together , " Temeraire " and " Fougueux " exchanged fire , " Temeraire " initially clearing the French ship ' s upper deck with small arms fire . The French rallied , but the greater height of the three - decked " Temeraire " compared to the two - decked " Fougueux " thwarted their attempts to board . Instead Harvey dispatched his own boarding party , led by First - Lieutenant Thomas Fortescue Kennedy , which entered " Fougueux " via her main deck ports and chains . The French tried to defend the decks port by port , but were steadily overwhelmed . " Fougueux " s captain , Louis Alexis Baudoin , had suffered a fatal wound earlier in the fighting , leaving Commander Francois Bazin in charge . When he learned that nearly all of the officers were dead or wounded and that most of the guns were out of action , Bazin surrendered the ship to the boarders . " Temeraire " had by now fought both French ships to a standstill , at considerable cost to herself . She had sustained casualties of 47 killed and 76 wounded . All her sails and yards had been destroyed , only her lower masts remained , and the rudder head and starboard cathead had been shot away . Eight feet of her starboard hull was staved in and both quarter galleries had been destroyed . Harvey signalled for a frigate to tow his damaged ship out of the line , and came up to assist . Before " Sirius " could make contact , " Temeraire " came under fire from a counter - attack by the as - yet unengaged van of the combined fleet , led by Rear Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley . Harvey ordered that the few guns that could be brought to bear be fired in response , and the attack was eventually beaten off by fresh British ships arriving on the scene . Storm . Shortly after the battle had ended , a severe gale struck the area . Several of the captured French and Spanish ships foundered in the rising seas , including both of " Temeraire " s prizes , the " Fougueux " and the " Redoutable " . Lost in the wrecks were a considerable number of their crews , as well as 47 " Temeraire " crewmen , serving as prize crews . " Temeraire " rode out the storm following the battle , sometimes being taken in tow by less damaged ships , sometimes riding at anchor . She took aboard a number of Spanish and French prisoners transferred from other prizes , including some transferred from the " Euryalus " , which was serving as the temporary flagship of Cuthbert Collingwood . Harvey took the opportunity to go aboard the " Euryalus " and present his account of the battle to Collingwood , and so became the only captain to do so before Collingwood wrote his dispatch about the victory . Return to England . " Temeraire " finally put into Gibraltar on 2 November , eleven days after the battle had been fought . After undergoing minor repairs she sailed for England , arriving at Portsmouth on 1 December , three days before " Victory " passed by carrying Nelson ' s body . The battle - damaged ships quickly became tourist attractions , and visitors flocked to tour them . " Temeraire " was particularly popular on her arrival , being the only ship singled out by name in Collingwood ' s dispatch for her heroic conduct . Collingwood wrote A circumstance occurred during the action which so strongly marks the invincible spirit of British seamen , when engaging the enemies of their country , that I cannot resist the pleasure I have in making it known to their Lordships ; the " Temeraire " was boarded by accident ; or design , by a French ship on one side , and a Spaniard on the other ; the contest was vigorous , but , in the end the combined ensigns were torn from the poop and the British hoisted in their places . Collingwood ' s account , probably based largely on Harvey ' s report in the immediate aftermath of the battle , contained several errors . " Temeraire " had closely engaged two French ships , rather than a French and a Spanish ship , and had not been boarded by either during the action . Nevertheless the account was popular and a print was rushed out purporting to show Harvey taking the lead in clearing " Temeraire " s decks of enemy seamen . A number of artists visited the newly returned Trafalgar ships , including John Livesay , drawing master at the Royal Naval Academy . Livesay produced several sketches of battle - damaged ships , sending them to Nicholas Pocock to be used for Pocock ' s large paintings of the battle . " Temeraire " was one of the ships he sketched . Another visitor to Portsmouth was J . M . W . Turner . It is not known whether he visited " Temeraire " , though he did go aboard " Victory " , making preparatory notes and sketches and interviewing sailors who had been in the battle . The story of the " Temeraire " had become firmly ingrained in the public mind , so much so that when the House of Commons passed a vote of thanks to the men who had fought at Trafalgar , only three were specifically named . Nelson , Collingwood , and Harvey of the " Temeraire " . Mediterranean and Baltic service . The battle - damaged " Temeraire " was almost immediately dry - docked in Portsmouth to undergo substantial repairs , which eventually lasted sixteen months and cost £25 , 352 . She finally left the dockyard in mid - 1807 , now under the command of Captain Sir Charles Hamilton . Having fitted her for sea , Hamilton sailed to the Mediterranean in September and joined the fleet blockading the French in Toulon . The service was largely uneventful , and " Temeraire " returned to Britain in April 1808 to undergo repairs at Plymouth . During her time in Britain the strategic situation in Europe changed as Spain rebelled against French domination and entered the war against France . " Temeraire " sailed in June to join naval forces operating off the Spanish coast in support of anti - French forces in the Peninsular War . This service continued until early 1809 , when she returned to Britain . By now Britain was heavily involved in the Baltic , protecting mercantile interests . An expedition under Sir James Gambier in July 1807 had captured most of the Danish Navy at the Battle of Copenhagen , in response to fears that it might fall into Napoleon ' s hands , but precipitating war with the Danes . Captain Hamilton left the ship , and was superseded by Captain Edward Sneyd Clay . " Temeraire " now became the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Manley Dixon , with orders to go to the Baltic to reinforce the fleet stationed there under Sir James Saumarez . " Temeraire " arrived in May 1809 and was sent to blockade Karlskrona on the Swedish coast . While on patrol with the 64 - gun and the frigate , " Temeraire " became involved in one of the heaviest Danish gunboat attacks of the war . A party of men from " Ardent " had been landed on the island of Romsø , but were taken by surprise in a Danish night attack , which saw most of the " Ardent " men captured . The " Melpomene " was sent under a flag of truce to negotiate for their release , but on returning from this mission , was becalmed . A flotilla of thirty Danish gunboats then launched an attack , taking advantage of the stranded " Melpomene " s inability to bring her broadside to bear on them . " Melpomene " signalled for help to the " Temeraire " , which immediately dispatched boats to her assistance . They engaged and then drove off the Danish ships , and then helped the " Melpomene " to safety . She had been heavily damaged and suffered casualties of five killed and twenty - nine wounded . " Temeraire " s later Baltic service involved being dispatched to observe the Russian fleet at Reval , during which time she made a survey of the island of Nargen . After important blockading and convoy escort work , " Temeraire " was ordered back to Britain as winter arrived , and she arrived in Plymouth in November 1809 . Iberian service . After a period under repair in Plymouth , " Temeraire " was recommissioned under the command of Captain Edwin H . Chamberlayne in late January 1810 . The Peninsular War had reached a critical stage , with the Spanish government besieged in Cadiz by the French . " Temeraire " , now the flagship of Rear Admiral Francis Pickmore , was ordered to reinforce the city ' s water defences , and provided men from her sailor and marine complement to crew batteries and gunboats . Men from " Temeraire " were heavily involved in the fighting until July 1810 , when Pickmore was ordered to sail to the Mediterranean and take up a new position as port admiral at Mahón . " Temeraire " was thereafter based either at Mahón or off Toulon with the blockading British fleet under Admiral Sir Edward Pellew . Chamberlayne was replaced by Captain Joseph Spear in March 1811 , and for the most part the blockade was uneventful . Though possessing a powerful fleet , the French commander avoided any contact with the blockading force and stayed in port , or else made very short voyages , returning to the harbour when the British appeared . " Temeraire " s one brush with the French during this period came in 13 August 1811 . Having received orders to sail to Minorca , Spear attempted to tack out of Hyères Bay . As he tried to do so , the wind fell away , leaving " Temeraire " becalmed and caught in a current which caused her to drift towards land . She came under fire from a shore battery on Pointe des Medes , which wounded several of her crew . Her boats were quickly manned , and together with boats sent from the squadron , " Temeraire " was towed out of range of the French guns . She then sailed to Minorca and underwent repairs . During this period an epidemic of yellow fever broke out , infecting nearly the entire crew and killing around a hundred crewmen . Pellew ordered her back to Britain , and health gradually improved as she sailed through the Atlantic . Retirement . " Temeraire " arrived in Plymouth on 9 February 1812 and was docked for a survey several weeks later . The survey reported that she was " A well built and strong ship but apparently much decay ' d " . Spear was superseded on 4 March by Captain Samuel Hood Linzee , but Linzee ' s command was short - lived . " Temeraire " left the dock on 13 March and was paid off one week later . Advances in naval technology had developed more powerful and strongly built warships , and though still comparatively new , " Temeraire " was no longer considered desirable for front - line service . While laid up the decision was taken to convert her into a prison ship to alleviate overcrowding caused by large influxes of French prisoners from the Peninsular War campaigns . Conversion work was carried out at Plymouth between November and December 1813 , after which she was laid up in the River Tamar as a prison hulk . From 1814 she was under the nominal command of Lieutenant John Wharton . Despite being laid up and disarmed " Temeraire " and the rest of her class were nominally re - rated as 104 - gun first rate s in February 1817 . " Temeraire " s service as a prison ship lasted until 1819 , at which point she was selected for conversion to a receiving ship . She was extensively refitted at Plymouth between September 1819 and June 1820 at a cost of £27 , 733 , and then sailed to Sheerness Dockyard . As a receiving ship she served as a temporary berth for new naval recruits until they received a posting to a ship . She fulfilled this role for eight years , until becoming a victualling depot in 1829 . Her final role was as a guard ship at Sheerness , under the title " Guardship of the Ordinary and Captain - Superintendent ' s ship of the Fleet Reserve in the Medway " . This final post as flagship of the Medway Reserve involved her being repainted and rearmed , and she was used to train boys belonging to The Marine Society . For the last two years of her service , from 1836 to 1838 she was under the nominal command of Captain Thomas Fortescue Kennedy , in his post as Captain - Superintendent of Sheerness . Kennedy had been " Temeraire " s first - lieutenant at Trafalgar . Sale and disposal . Kennedy received orders from the Admiralty in June 1838 to have " Temeraire " valued in preparation for her sale out of the service . She fired her guns for the last time on 28 June in celebration of the coronation of Queen Victoria , and work began on dismantling her on 4 July . Kennedy delegated this task to Captain Sir John Hill , commander of . Her masts , stores and guns were all removed and her crew paid off , before " Temeraire " was put up for sale with twelve other ships . She was sold by Dutch auction on 16 August 1838 to John Beatson , a shipbreaker based at Rotherhithe for £5 , 530 . Beatson was then faced with the task of transporting the ship 55 miles from Sheerness to Rotherhithe , the largest ship to have attempted this voyage . To accomplish this he hired two steam tugs from the Thames Steam Towing Company and employed a Rotherhithe pilot named William Scott and twenty five men to sail her up the Thames , at a cost of £58 . Last voyage . The tugs took the hulk of the " Temeraire " in tow at 7 : 30 am on 5 September , taking advantage of the beginning of the slack water . They had reached Greenhithe by 1 : 30 pm at the ebb of the tide , where they anchored overnight . They resumed the journey at 8 : 30 am the following day , passing Woolwich and then Greenwich at noon . They reached Limehouse Reach shortly afterwards and brought her safely to Beatson ' s Wharf at 2 pm . The " Temeraire " was hauled up onto the mud , where she lay as she was slowly broken up . The final voyage was announced in a number of papers , and thousands of spectators came to see her towed up the Thames or laid up at Beatson ' s yard . The shipbreakers undertook a thorough dismantling , removing all the copper sheathing , rudder pintle s and gudgeon s , copper bolts , nails and other fastenings to be sold back to the Admiralty . The timber was mostly sold to house builders and shipyard owners , though some was retained for working into specialist commemorative furniture . Legacy . The immediate legacy of the " Temeraire " was the use of the timber taken from her as she was broken up . A gong stand made from " Temeraire " timber was a wedding present to the future King George V on the occasion of his marriage to Mary of Teck , and is held at Balmoral Castle . A barometer , gavel , and some miscellaneous timber are in the collections of the National Maritime Museum , and chairs made from " Temeraire " oak are in the possession of the Royal Naval Museum , Portsmouth , Lloyd ' s Register , London and the Whanganui Regional Museum , Whanganui . An altar , communion rail and two bishop ' s chairs survive in St . Mary ' s Church , Rotherhithe . A ship model of the " Temeraire " made by prisoners of war uses a stand made from wood taken from her , and is currently in the Watermen ' s Hall in London . Other relics of the " Temeraire " known to exist or have existed are a tea caddy made for her signal midshipman at Trafalgar , James Eaton , and sold at auction in 2000 , the frame for an oil painting by Sir Edwin Landseer titled " Neptune " , and a mantelpiece made for Beatson ' s office , supported by figures of Atlas supposedly taken from " Temeraire " s stern gallery . The mantelpiece can no longer be traced , nor can a plaque once fixed to " Temeraire " s deck commemorating Nelson ' s signal at Trafalgar , nor a wooden leg made for a Trafalgar veteran from " Temeraire " s wood . John Ruskin foreshadowed the fate of the " Temeraire " s wood in an essay which claimed that " Perhaps , where the low gate opens to some cottage garden , the tired traveller may ask , idly , why the moss grows so green on its rugged wood , and even the sailor ' s child may not answer nor know that the night dew lies deep in the war rents of the wood of the old " Temeraire " . " Art . " Temeraire " features in a number of paintings and prints , the earliest commemorating her role in the battle of Trafalgar . She can be seen at least partially in paintings of the battle by Clarkson Frederick Stanfield , John Christian Schetky , Nicholas Pocock , Thomas Buttersworth and Thomas Whitcombe . A fictionalised depiction of her launch was produced by Philip Burgoyne . Later representations of the retired " Temeraire " were also popular . Though no known contemporary image of her in the prison ship role exists , she was painted while a guardship on the Medway in 1833 by Edward William Cooke , and by William Beatson and J . J . Williams while laid up at Rotherhithe in 1838 . More recently she has been the subject of paintings by Geoff Hunt . The most famous painting of " Temeraire " was made by J . M . W . Turner and titled " The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last Berth to be broken up , 1838 " . Turner depicts the " Temeraire " on her last voyage , towed up the Thames by a small black steam tug as the sun sets . In choosing his title Turner created an enduring appellation , as previously she had been known to her crew as the " saucy " " Temeraire " . Turner presented it for exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1839 with an accompanying excerpt , slightly altered , of Thomas Campbell ' s poem " Ye Mariners of England " . The flag which braved the battle and the breeze , < br > no longer owns her . Turner ' s painting achieved widespread critical acclaim , and accolades from the likes of John Ruskin and William Makepeace Thackeray . It was Turner ' s particular favourite ; he only lent it once and refused to ever do so again . He also refused to sell it at any price , and on his death bequeathed it to the nation . It hangs today in the National Gallery , and in 2005 it was voted the nation ' s favourite painting in a poll organized by BBC Radio 4 ' s " Today " programme . Poetry and songs . The " Temeraire " became the subject of a number of poems and songs commemorating her life and fate . An early work by James Duff written between 1813 and 1819 referenced her role as a prison ship , and was set to music in 1857 under the title " The Brave Old Temeraire " . More generally , an anonymous poem entitled " The Wooden Walls of Old England " appeared in " Fraser ' s Magazine " shortly after " Temeraire " s arrival at Rotherhithe , and lamented the fate of the great sailing warships . Turner ' s painting created an enduring interest in the story of the " Temeraire " and several poems appeared in the decades following her breaking up . Gerald Massey wrote " The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to Her Last Berth " , Herman Melville produced " The Temeraire " , and Henry Newbolt wrote " The Fighting Temeraire " , with its closing lines Now the sunset ' s breezes shiver , < br > And she ' s fading down the river , < br > But in England ' s song forever , < br > She ' s the Fighting Temeraire . Notes . a . Sometimes referred to as the " Dreadnought " class . b . This " Temeraire " retained her French name after her capture , and served during the Seven Years ' War , before being sold out of the service in 1784 . c . A number of general histories , including Goodwin ' s " The Ships of Trafalgar " and Noel Mostert ' s " The Line on the Wind " , state that all 14 were hanged . Willis studied contemporary records and reports of the court - martial for his " The Fighting Temeraire " , and states only 12 of the 14 were sentenced to be hanged . Roy and Lesley Adkins offer a third account , that twenty mutineers were tried , all were found guilty and eighteen were sentenced to death , the other two were to receive one hundred and twenty lashes each . They note that at least six were hanged and possibly as many as twelve , the remainder may have had their sentences commuted to transportation . d . Lucas described the scene on " Redoutable " : In less than half an hour our ship had been so fearfully mauled that she looked like little more than a heap of debris . Judging by appearances , no doubt , the " Temeraire " , now hailed us to surrender and not prolong a useless resistance . My reply was instantly to order some soldiers who were near me to fire back ; which they did with great alacrity . At the same moment almost , the main mast of the " Redoutable " fell on board the English ship . The two topmasts of the " Temeraire " then came down , falling on board of us . Our whole poop was stove in , helm rudder and stern post all shattered to splinters , all the stern frame , and the decks shot through . All our own guns were either smashed or dismounted by the broadsides of the " Victory " and the " Temeraire " . . . The hull itself was riddled , shot through from side to side ; deck beams were shattered , port lids torn away or knocked to pieces . Four of our six pumps were so damaged as to be useless . The quarter - deck ladders were broken , which rendered communication with the rest of the ship very difficult . Everywhere the decks were strewn with dead men , lying beneath the debris . Out of a crew of 634 men we had 522 " hors de combat " ; of whom 300 were killed and 222 wounded nearly all the officers among them . . . The batteries and upper decks were practically abandoned – bare of men and were unable longer to offer any resistance . No one who had not seen the state of " Redoutable " could ever form an idea of her awful condition . Really I know of nothing on board that had not been hit by shot . e . The fall of the mainmast onto " Temeraire " also caused three French " obusier s " to fall onto her decks . Harvey promptly claimed them as souvenirs , " with which . . . to commemorate the event every year in May by firing them off from the mound at Chigwell . " f . The identity of these tugs has been difficult to determine . Winfield names only one tug , " Monarch " . Goodwin names them as " London " and " Samson " , while Willis states they were " Sampson " and " Newcastle " .