HMS Mediator ( 1782 ) HMS " Mediator was a " Roebuck " - class 44 - gun fifth rate of the Royal Navy . She was built and served during the American War of Independence , but was reduced to a storeship and renamed HMS " Camel in 1788 . She spent the French Revolutionary and part of the Napoleonic Wars in this guise , until being broken up in 1810 . Built as the revival of a design that had fallen out of favour as naval architecture developed , " Mediator " was intended to operate in the shallow waters of the North American coastline . Her first significant action was fought off the European coastline however , when her captain , James Luttrell attacked and defeated an American and French convoy off Ferrol , taking two ships as prizes . Resisting an attempt by his prisoners to seize his ship , Luttrell returned home to public applause and praise from King George III . " Mediator " s next commander , Cuthbert Collingwood , was a close friend of Horatio Nelson , and served with him in the West Indies . There he helped Nelson to enforce the Navigation Acts , causing controversy with the local civil and naval authorities . In 1788 she left front - line service for good , and was converted into a storeship , being renamed " Camel " . " Camel " saw important service in the French Revolutionary Wars , making several voyages to the fleets in the Mediterranean and serving under several officers who would becoming prominent in the navy . She also made trips further afield , returning to the West Indies on occasion , as well as making voyages to the Cape of Good Hope to deliver supplies to the armies there . While making one such trip , she was attacked at anchor by a powerful French frigate . Her crew , together with that of a sloop also anchored in the bay , mounted a strong defence , and despite being damaged , forced the French ship to withdraw . She spent her last days making voyages to the various hotspots around the globe , before being finally withdrawn from service and broken up in 1810 . Design and construction . Small two - decked warships , usually classed as fourth rate s had largely fallen out of favour by the second half of the eighteenth century , and by the end of the century even the smaller third rate s of 64 guns were being phased out . The American War of Independence led to a revival in the concept of the smaller two decked designs , as their shallow draught but comparably heavy armament compared to frigate s , made them suitable for coastal warfare in the shallow waters of the North American coastline . The " Roebuck " class was a revival of a 1769 design by Sir Thomas Slade , with nineteen ships ordered to the design during the war , and classed as fifth rates , but not as frigates , as they carried their main armament on two decks , rather than one . " Mediator " was ordered from the commercial shipbuilder Thomas Raymond , of Northam , on 3 December 1779 . She was laid down there in July 1780 and was launched on 30 March 1782 . " Mediator " was then taken into Portsmouth Dockyard on 7 April that year for fitting out and having her bottom copper sheathed . The work was completed by 15 June , " Mediator " having cost £12 , 133 . 4 . 5d to build , with a further £137 . 15 . 1d spent on extra works , which together with the costs for fitting her for service came to a total of £22 , 412 . 12 . 0d . She was commissioned in April under the command of Captain James Luttrell . American War of Independence . Convoy action . On 12 December Luttrell was cruising off Ferrol when a convoy of five sails was sighted , which stood to when Luttrell approached and formed a line of battle . The force consisted of several American and French privateer frigates , storeships and transport vessels under the command of Nicolas Baudin , intending to deliver reinforcements and supplies to America . Baudin , commanding from the 36 - gun " Aimable Eugénie " , had at his disposal the former 64 - gun ship " Ménagère " , now armed " en flute " and mounting 34 - guns , the " Dauphin Royal " of 28 guns , and two American vessels , the 24 - gun " Alexander " under Stephen Gregory , and the 14 - gun brig " American " . Together the five ships had nearly 600 men and considerably more guns than the " Mediator " . Luttrell closed the ships , and exchanged fire with them , eventually breaking their line and forcing them to flee . Luttrell then cut off the " Alexander " and forced her to surrender , before pursuing the remaining ships . By the evening he had caught up with the " Ménagère " and after an exchange of fire , forced her to surrender . The surviving ships were still in sight on the morning of 13 December , but Luttrell had a large number of prisoners to guard , and with the hostile Spanish coast nearby , decided to head for a British port with his prizes . He had taken 340 prisoners , and only had 190 men to guard them . Six men had been killed and four wounded on " Alexander " , while " Ménagère " had four killed and eight wounded . There were no casualties on " Mediator " , their opponents having being aiming at their masts and rigging in an attempt to disable the British ship . The captured prisoners made an attempt to seize the " Mediator " during the voyage to Britain , but prompt action by the ship ' s officers quashed the rising without bloodshed . Captain Gregory was shown to be the main instigator of the plot , and he and several accomplices were placed in irons for the remainder of the voyage . Luttrell was later praised by King George III , who wrote to Lord Keppel , the First Lord of the Admiralty , that " The skill as well as bravery shown by Captain Luttrell . . . deserve much approbation . " Marine artists Thomas Luny and Dominic Serres created depictions of " Mediator " attacking the convoy . Luttrell remained in command towards the end of the American War of Independence , until May 1783 when Captain Cuthbert Collingwood succeeded him . Collingwood spent the next three years as " Mediator " s captain . Collingwood and the peace . Collingwood , a close naval friend of Horatio Nelson , had previously commanded the 64 - gun . He received orders to go out to the West Indies , there to protect British interests in the Caribbean and to enforce the Navigation Acts which now applied to American ships trading with British colonies . Collingwood sailed in late September for Antigua , carrying John Moutray , the new commissioner for English Harbour , and his wife Mary . Also aboard his ship as Collingwood ' s servant was Jeffrey Raigersfeld , the son of Baron Raigersfeld , the secretary and " chargé d ' affaires " to the Austrian ambassador to London . Collingwood was joined by Nelson , now commanding the 28 - gun in July 1784 , with Nelson becoming the senior officer on the station . Together with Collingwood ' s younger brother Wilfred , who had arrived on the station in command of the 14 - gun sloop , the officers decided to take a firm stance on implementing the Navigation Acts , despite the apparent unwillingness to do so by the more senior officers , such as Moutray , the station ' s commander Admiral Sir Richard Hughes , and the Governor of the Leeward Islands , Thomas Shirley . Hughes and Shirley were both making money from the trade . Matters came to a head on 15 December 1784 when Collingwood ordered an American merchant vessel to be detained as it approached St . John ' s . The American master complained to Shirley , who referred the matter to the island ' s attorney - general . Collingwood held firm in his enforcement of the acts , and the matter was eventually passed on to Admiral Hughes . Hughes ordered a compromise . The arrival of foreign vessels was to be reported , but only acted on if the governor so ordered . Given Shirley ' s reluctance to do so , the compromise was unsatisfactory to Nelson and the brothers Collingwood . Collingwood continued to use " Mediator " to intercept foreign trade , seizing the " Lovely Ann " , flying an Irish flag , in February , and an American brig named " Dolphin " in June 1785 . Incensed , the merchants of the island threatened Collingwood and Nelson with writs for wrongful seizure , and both were pursued by lawyers for a time . " Mediator " sailed for Barbados towards the end of the 1785 hurricane season , but was becalmed off La Désirade for a night . The following day she was struck by a sudden squall that laid her on her beam ends . Further damage occurred when A terrible crash took part in the fore part of the ship , accompanied by a tremendous explosion and stench of sulphur , deep groans followed , - sixteen men upon the main deck were knocked down , some were apparently dead and others groaning ; relief was instantly afforded , and in about four hours after all were apparently well again . A lightning ball had struck the fore topmast , passed into the pigsty , and through the galley into the waist , where it burst and overthrew seventeen men ; eleven pigs in the sty before the mast were killed , belonging to the Captain ; the silver buckles in the shoes of the gunner were melted into wire , and himself was knocked out of the roundhouse forward . Despite the dramatic nature of the lightning strike , no one was killed , except for the pigs , which Collingwood gave to the crew as a reward for their work in repairing the foremast . Collingwood took " Mediator " back to English Harbour to be careened in early 1786 , and then returned to England to be paid off in August 1786 . Storeship . This marked the end of " Mediator " s role as a front - line fighting ship . The Admiralty made the decision in an order dated 19 December 1787 to have her undergo a large repair and refit to repurpose her as a storeship . Her sister ship was also chosen to undergo the same process . " Mediator " was refitted between January 1788 and July 1789 for the sum of £11 , 658 . Both her and " Janus " were renamed on 3 March 1788 to fit their latest role , with " Mediator " being renamed " Camel " and " Janus " being renamed " Dromedary " . The guns on " Camel " s lower gundeck were removed , leaving her with twenty 9 - pounder guns on her upper deck and four 6 - pounder guns were fitted onto her quarterdeck . " Camel " did not return immediately to service , but was briefly recommissioned during the Russian Armament in April 1791 , under Commander Charles Patton . When the period of tension passed without breaking into open war , " Camel " was paid off in September that year . The outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars was the next opportunity for active service , and " Camel " was recommissioned in February 1793 under Commander Benjamin Hallowell , who took her out to the Mediterranean in May that year to join the fleet under Admiral Lord Hood . Hallowell was promoted to post - captain on 30 August 1793 , shortly after his arrival , and became acting captain of the 74 - gun . " Camel " remained in the Mediterranean until her return to England in April 1794 , at which time Commander Joseph Short became her captain . Short ' s command lasted from May 1794 until January 1795 , with Commander Edward Rotheram taking over on 27 January 1795 . Rotheram sailed " Camel " back to the Mediterranean in February , and after serving with the fleet on this station , was back in England by summer the following year . Commander William Haggit replaced Rotheram at Woolwich in July 1796 , though was in turn superseded by Commander Thomas Caulfield in November that year , as " Camel " returned for another stint in the Mediterranean . Commander John Lee was captain of " Camel " by July 1797 , during which time she was serving on the Lisbon station . She returned to England in June 1798 , after which she made two voyages to the Cape of Good Hope , the first in October 1798 and the second in May 1799 . Battling " Preneuse " . " Camel " had been used to carry stores and supplies to the Cape for the use of the army under General Francis Dundas , which was fighting the Third Frontier War . On 20 September she was anchored in Algoa Bay with the 16 - gun sloop . Both captains , Lee of " Camel " and Samuel Gooch of " Rattlesnake " , were onshore with a number of their men , supporting the army . At 4 pm a strange sail was seen approaching the bay , flying the Danish flag . The ship entered the bay and approached the British ships , where upon it was approached by a guard boat from " Camel " , who planned to board her . As they approached , the British sailors saw armed men aboard and realised the ship was a large frigate ; they immediately returned to " Camel " . A British privateer schooner , the " Surprise " , had also passed by the strange ship , and discovered she was a French frigate . The " Surprise " sailed for the " Rattlesnake " to report this . With Lee and Gooch ashore , command devolved to First Lieutenant William Fothergill of " Rattlesnake " . After warning shots fired from both " Camel " and " Rattlesnake " elicited no response , both ships prepared for action . By 8 . 30 pm the French frigate , which was the 40 - gun " Preneuse " under Captain Jean - Marthe - Adrien l ' Hermite , had manoeuvred close to " Rattlesnake " . Fothergill fired a broadside at her , supported by " Camel " , and a general action broke out . The ships exchanged fire for over three hours , with " Preneuse " concentrating her fire on " Camel " , until having sustained a shot below the waterline and having six feet of water in the hold , " Camel " s crew were forced to abandon the guns to work the pumps . " Preneuse " then turned her attention to " Rattlesnake " , and a fierce cannonade was exchanged until 3 . 30 am on the morning of 21 September , when " Preneuse " stopped firing and bore away , to the surprise of the British . She then left the bay and sailed away , ending the engagement . Both " Camel " and " Rattlesnake " had sustained damage to their masts , sails and rigging , and had several holes in their hulls . Casualties were comparatively light however , with six men wounded on " Camel " and two men killed , one man mortally wounded and six or seven slightly wounded on " Rattlesnake " . Both Lee and Gooch had made several attempts to return to their ship , but were unable to launch their boats due to the raging surf on the beach . Seeing " Preneuse " bear away apparently damaged , Lee sent news of the attack on to Table Bay . The 54 - gun put to sea to intercept the French ship , but " Preneuse " was able to repel her after bad weather prevented " Jupiter " from outmaneuvering " Preneuse " . The 74 - gun and the 50 - gun finally caught up with " Preneuse " on 11 December 1799 , driving her ashore and causing her destruction . Later service . " Camel " returned to England in August 1800 , with Commander Matthew Buckle becoming her new captain in December that year . She went out to the West Indies in April 1801 , returning to England in February the following year . She was paid off in September 1802 and spent the Peace of Amiens laid up . With the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars , " Camel " was recommissioned under Commander John Ayscough in June 1803 and returned to the West Indies later that year . She was back in England in April 1804 , with Ayscough superseded by Commander Thomas Garth in May . " Camel " was initially based in the North Sea until November 1804 , when she sailed to the Mediterranean . She returned in June 1805 , and was under Commander John Joyce from October that year . " Camel " recommissioned in May 1808 under sailing master Duncan Weir , and returned to the Cape of Good Hope . She was back supporting military efforts on land at the Battle of Corunna in 1809 . She was removed from service shortly afterwards and was broken up at Deptford in December 1810 , after 28 years of service . Notes . a . Winfield ' s " British Warships in the Age of Sail " has " Capt . John Luttrell " instead , confusing James Luttrell with his elder brother John , later third Earl of Carhampton . This is a common occurrence according to J . K . Laughton in the " Dictionary of National Biography " . b . The post on " Mediator " was the start of a long career in the navy for Jeffrey Raigersfeld . After service as a young lieutenant aboard some years before she won fame under Lord Cochrane , Raigersfeld rose eventually to be a rear - admiral , albeit as a yellow admiral . He also wrote his autobiography , entitled " The Life of a Sea Officer " , which includes details of his time on " Mediator " . c . Nelson was soon involved in a quarrel with Moutray over rank and privilege . Moutray was the more senior post - captain at English Harbour , but was on half - pay . When Moutray raised a commodore ' s broad pennant aboard , Nelson ordered him to strike it .