French frigate Psyché ( 1804 ) Psyché was a 36 - gun vessel built between February 1798 and 1799 at Basse - Indre ( Nantes ) as a privateer . As a privateer she had an inconclusive but bloody encounter with HMS " Wilhelmina " of the Royal Navy , commanded by Commander Henry Lambert , off the Indian coast in April 1804 . The French then brought her into service in June 1804 as the frigate " Psyché " . In February 1805 she encountered " San Fiorenzo " , under the command of the same Henry Lambert , now an acting captain . After a sanguinary engagement of over three hours , " Psyché " surrendered . The British took her into service as HMS " Psyche " . In British service she captured several prizes and took part in the capture of Mauritius and in an operation in Java . She was broken up at Ferrol in 1812 . Merchant . In 1802 , " Psyché " campaigned in the Indian Ocean as a merchantman under Captain Jacques Bergeret . Privateer . On 9 April 1804 , while under the command of Captain Trogoff , she encountered HMS " Wilhelmina " , which was escorting the country ship " William Petrie " to Trincomalee . The " Psyché " outgunned the " Wilhelmina " , which was armed " en flûte " . She had only 21 guns : eighteen 9 - pounder and two 6 - pounder cannon , and one 12 - pounder carronade . " Psyché " carried 36 cannon , a broadside that was more than double that of " Wilhelmina " : twenty - four 12 - pounder guns , two 6 - pounders and ten 18 - pounder carronades . " Psyché " also had a crew of 250 men , compared with " Wilhelmina " s 124 . Nevertheless Captain Henry Lambert of " Wilhelmina " sailed towards " Psyché " to give the " William Petrie " a chance to escape . Light winds meant that the engagement did not begin until 11 April , when both ships opened fire , exchanging broadsides and attempting to tack around to rake their opponent . After several hours fighting , " Psyché " broke off and fled . Both ships had sustained heavy damage , the " Wilhelmina " to her masts and rigging , while " Psyché " was reduced to a near - sinking condition . " Wilhelmina " had nine of her crew wounded , three mortally and six slightly , while " Psyché " lost ten killed and 32 wounded , 13 of them mortally . " Wilhelmina " put into port , while the " William Petrie " also arrived safely at her destination . French naval service . In June 1804 Decaen purchased " Psyché " for the French Navy at Réunion . On 10 January 1805 , under Captain Jacques Bergeret , she captured the country ship " Elisa " . On 14 February , she captured the country ships " Pigeon " and " Thetis " . Bergeret armed " Pigeon " with 4 guns and gave her a crew of 34 men under the command of lieutenant Ollivier . On 14 February , " Psyché " , " Pigeon " and " Thetis " encountered HMS " San Fiorenzo " , now under the command of Captain Henry Lambert ( acting ) , off the Malabar Coast of India . The French abandoned " Thetis " as " San Fiorenzo " approached and Lambert put a prize crew aboard her under the command of a midshipman , and continued his pursuit . At ten minutes past eight , " San Fiorenzo " and " Psyché " started to exchange broadsides at about a cable length ( 185 m . ) from each other . After one hour , " San Fiorenzo " could hardly govern ; Bergeret seized the opportunity to manoeuver and rake her , but as " Psyché " had lost all her carronades and several guns , her fire was ineffective . After " San Fiorenzo " managed train her guns on " Psyché " again , the superiority of " San Fiorenzo " s artillery led Bergeret to attempt a boarding . At 9 : 45 , the two frigates sailed side by side and for twenty minutes French boarding parties attempted to storm " San Fiorenzo " , but British small arms fire repelled them . A fire breaking out in the orlop deck of " Psyché " further distracted her crew from the fight . At this point , " Pigeon " fired four to five shots to distract " San Fiorenzo " , before escaping into the night . Around 11 : 00 or 11 : 30 , the two frigates parted , both unmanageable , and " Psyché " with only two guns still operable . Both crews attempted to repair their ships and around midnight , " San Fiorenzo " had effected her repairs and came to re - engage the hapless and ungovernable " Psyché " . Seeing the hopelessness of his position , Bergeret sent ensign Hugon on a boat to negotiate a capitulation , offering to surrender " Psyché " in exchange for the British permitting his crew to keep their personal weapons and effects and to stay aboard overnight to attend to the wounded . Lambert accepted the terms and Bergeret struck his colours at midnight . " Psyché " had 57 killed and 70 wounded out of her crew of 240 men ; " San Fiorenzo " had 12 killed and 36 wounded . In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp " San Fiorenzo 14 Feby . 1805 " to any still surviving claimants from the action . British naval service . " Psyché " entered British service as HMS " Psyche " , being commissioned under Commander William Woolridge in about August 1805 . Under Woolridge " Psyche " took a number of small prizes in 1806 : Captain Fleetwood Pellew took command in 1807 . His father , Rear - Admiral Sir Edward Pellew , " Commander in Chief of His Majesty ' s Ships and Vessels in the East Indies " , sent " Psyche " and " Caroline " to reconnoitre the port of Surabaya . On 30 August they captured a ship from Batavia and from her learned the disposition of the Dutch military ships in the area . " Psyche " proceeded to Samarang while " Caroline " pursued another vessel . " Psyche " arrived at Samarang at midnight and next morning her boats captured and brought out from under the fire of shore batteries an armed 8 - gun schooner and a large merchant brig . However , " Psyche " had seen three more Dutch vessels , one of them a warship , and so Pellew destroyed the two captured vessels and at mid - day set out after the three other vessels . By 3 : 30 on 1 September " Psyche " had caught up with the Dutch vessels and run them ashore . She went as close as the water depth would allow , anchored and exchanged fire with them . All three surrendered quickly . One that she captured was the 24 - gun corvette " Scipio " , which had a crew of 150 men . " Scipio " was badly shot up and her commander , Captain - Lieutenant Jan Hendrik Correga , had been mortally wounded . The largest armed merchant ship was the " Resolutie " , of 700 tons . She had a valuable cargo and as passengers the colours and staff of the Dutch 23rd European Battalion . The third vessel was the brig " Ceres " , of 12 guns and 70 men . Pellew had too few men to be able to deal with the prisoners so he paroled the officers to the governor of Samarang and gave up the all the other men against a receipt . The British took " Scipio " into service under her existing name , but then renamed her " Samarang " . Captain John Edgcumbe assumed command at Bombay in 1808 . He then sailed " Psyche " to the Persian Gulf with Brigadier - General John Malcolm and his staff on an embassy to the Persian Empire . There , during the four hottest months of the year , " Psyche " provided protection for the British embassy at Abusheer . At the beginning of 1809 , a detachment of troops from the 56th ( West Essex ) Regiment of Foot came on board " Psyche " to serve as marines . " Psyche " returned to Bombay and then convoyed troops to Pointe de Galle . From there she went to Columbo to embark troops for Travancore to suppress a mutiny among the native troops in 1809 . " Psyche " silenced some batteries and her boats destroyed several vessels , suffering one man wounded in the process . Later , " Psyche " captured two vessels transporting elephants to the mutineers . Next , " Psyche " accompanied " Doris " to Manila in search of two French frigates , and to induce the government of the Philippines to side with Spain against France . After they returned to Prince of Wales Island , " Psyche " escorted their Dutch prize to Bombay . In 1810 " Psyche " transported Brigadier - General Malcolm on a second embassy to Persia . She then sailed to the Cape of Good Hope before sailing to Rodrigues where the British were assembling a fleet to attack Isle de France ( now Mauritius ) . On 29 November the force landed at Grand Baie ; the island surrendered on 3 December . Between May and August 1811 " Psyche " participated in an expedition to Java under Rear Admiral Sir Robert Stopford . While there , Edgcumbe succumbed to hepatitis and had to be invalided back to Britain . Captain Robert Worgan George Festing , who had been serving on shore with the Army , received promotion to Post - captain on 9 October 1811 and assumed command of " Psyche " . In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the award of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp " Java " to any surviving participants that claimed it . Fate . In 1812 Festing sailed " Psyche " to Europe . That same year she was sold at Ferrol to be broken up . M . Santos , the purchaser , took possession on 6 August . Her crew was repatriated to Britain on the transport " Bideford " .