HMS Hermione ( 1782 ) HMS " Hermione " was a 32 - gun fifth - rate frigate of the Royal Navy . She was notorious for having the bloodiest mutiny in British naval history , which saw her captain and most of the officers killed . The mutineers then handed the ship over to the Spanish , where she remained for two years , before being cut - out and returned to Royal Navy service under the names " Retaliation " and then " Retribution " . Early years . HMS " Hermione " was the lead ship of a six ship class of frigates designed by Edward Hunt , termed the " Hermione " class . She was launched on 9 September 1782 from Teast ' s of Bristol , having cost £11 , 350 . 14 s . 4 d ( equal to £ today ) to build , with a further £4 , 570 . 2s . 2d ( equal to £ today ) spent on dockyard expenses , and £723 . 16s . 9d ( equal to £ today ) on fitting out . She was commissioned initially under Captain Thomas Lloyd , who commanded her until she was paid off in April 1783 . She recommissioned that same month under Captain John Stone , who sailed her to Nova Scotia on 17 October , after which she was paid off in 1785 . " Hermione " may have then been recommissioned under Captain William H . Ricketts during the Spanish Armament of 1790 , though this is uncertain . She did however undergo a repair between October 1790 and June 1792 , followed by a period spent refitting at Chatham Dockyard until January 1793 . She was recommissioned in December 1792 under Captain John Hills , under whom she sailed to Jamaica on 10 March 1793 . She served in the West Indies during the early years of the French Revolutionary Wars . On 4 June , " Hermione " , under Hills , participated in the British attack on Port - au - Prince , where she led a small squadron that accompanied the troop transports . " Hermione " had five men killed and six wounded in the attack . The British captured the town and its defences , and in taking the port they also captured a large number of merchant vessels . " Hermione " was among the vessels that shared in the capture on 17 July of the " Lady Walterstasse " . Hills died from yellow fever ( fatal " Black Vomit " ) , at Port Royal , Jamaica , in September 1794 . Captain Philip Wilkinson replaced Hills and was himself replaced in February 1797 — the year of the Spithead and Nore mutinies — by Captain Hugh Pigot . Pigot was a cruel officer who meted out severe and arbitrary punishment to his crew . During a nine - month period , as captain of his previous command he ordered at least 85 floggings , the equivalent of half the crew ; two men died from their injuries . " Hermione " was sent to patrol the Mona Passage between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico . Under Pigot , she destroyed three privateer s at Puerto Rico on 22 March 1797 . On 20 April " Hermione " was the lead ship in a squadron formed of the 32 - gun frigates and , the 14 gun brig , and the cutter . The squadron cut out nine ships at the Battle of Jean - Rabel without suffering any casualties . On 6 September 1797 and in company with and she captured a Spanish 6 - gun packet ship with troops on board . Mutiny . Midshipman David Casey was an experienced junior officer who had distinguished himself to Captain Pigot during the previous months , but his disrating was one of the primary triggers to the mutiny . About a week before the mutiny , Casey was at his station on the main top , and the captain noticed that a gasket , one of the ties that held the sail securely , had not been tied by one of the sailors under his supervision . Casey was brought before the captain , and apologised for the oversight and took responsibility for it . The captain demanded that Casey apologise on his knees , a completely unacceptable and debasing demand for a gentleman . Casey refused to be humiliated in such a way . Pigot offered him one more opportunity and when Casey once more refused , the captain ordered that Casey receive 12 lashes ( more commonly a sailor ' s punishment than that of a junior officer ) , and he was disrated , which would effectively end his career as a naval officer . Casey was a popular officer amongst the crew and they felt that he was punished unfairly . The topmen began to plot mutiny . Pigot had also developed the practice of frequently flogging the last sailor down from working aloft . On 20 September 1797 , Pigot ordered the topsails to be reefed after a squall struck the ship . Dissatisfied with the speed of the operation because " these would be the yard - arm men , the most skilful topmen " he gave the order that the last men off the yard would be flogged . This policy was particularly unreasonable as the men would be spaced along the yard , and the two whose stations were furthest out would always be the last down . Three young sailors , in their haste to get down , fell to their deaths on the deck . One of the sailors hit and injured the master , Mr . Southcott . Pigot ordered their bodies thrown into the sea with the words " throw the lubbers overboard " ; a particularly offensive insult in the seaman ' s vocabulary . He then instructed two bosun ' s mates to flog the rest of the topmen when they complained . The topmen were also flogged the next morning . The combination of the humiliation of Casey , the deaths of the topmen , and the severe punishment of the rest of the sailors appears to have driven the crew to mutiny . These factors , however , were arguably the final events in a series of harsh and brutal punishments by the captain . Dudley Pope , in his book " The Black Ship " , argues that it was not Pigot ' s cruelty that drove the men to mutiny but the general injustice that he showed in his favouritism to some and overly harsh punishment of others . Had Pigot remained more even - handed in his leadership , the mutiny might have been avoided . The evening of 21 September 1797 , a number of the crew , drunk on stolen rum , rushed Pigot ' s cabin and forced their way in after overpowering the marine stationed outside . They hacked at Pigot with knives and cutlass es before throwing him overboard . The mutineers , probably led by a core group of just 18 men , went on to murder another eight of " Hermione " s officers : the first lieutenant , Samuel Reed , the second lieutenant , Archibald Douglas , the third lieutenant , Henry Foreshaw , the marine commander , Lieutenant McIntosh ; Bosun William Martin , Purser Pacey , Surgeon Sansum , and the captain ' s clerk . Two midshipmen were also killed , and all the bodies were thrown overboard . Three warrant officer s survived , the gunner and carpenter were spared because they were considered useful to the ship , and Southcott the master was spared so he could navigate . Southcott lived to be a key witness , along with Casey , who was also spared , and their eyewitness accounts and testimony were key to the trials of many of the mutineers . Three petty officer s joined the mutiny , one midshipman , Surgeon ' s Mate Cronin , and Master ' s Mate Turner . Fearing retribution for their actions , the mutineers decided to navigate the ship toward Spanish waters . One reason the master ' s life was spared was Turner could not navigate the ship properly without his help . The " Hermione " sailed to La Guaira , where they handed the ship over to the Spanish authorities . The mutineers claimed they had set the officers adrift in a small boat , as had happened in the mutiny on the " Bounty " some eight years earlier . The Spanish gave the mutineers just 25 dollars each in return , and presented them with the options of joining the Spanish army , heavy labour , or refitting their ship . The Spaniards took " Hermione " into service under the name " Santa Cecilia " ; her crew included 25 of her former crew , who remained under Spanish guard . Recapture and renaming . Meanwhile , news of the fate of " Hermione " reached Admiral Sir Hyde Parker when HMS " Diligence " captured a Spanish schooner . Parker wrote to the governor of La Guaira , demanding the return of the ship and the surrender of the mutineers . Meanwhile he despatched under Captain Henry Ricketts to commence negotiations . He also set up a system of informers and posted rewards that eventually led to the capture of 33 of the mutineers , some of whom were tried aboard , and at least one aboard . Of these , 24 were hanged and gibbet ted , one was transported , and eight were acquitted or pardoned . To Parker ' s fury , Admiral Richard Rodney Bligh had issued pardons to several mutineers . Parker forced Bligh to resign and return to Britain . " Santa Cecilia " , under the command of Captain Don Ramon de Chalas , had meanwhile sat in Puerto Cabello until Captain Edward Hamilton , aboard cut her out of the harbour on 25 October 1799 . The Spanish casualties included 119 dead ; the British took 231 Spaniards prisoner , while another 15 jumped or fell overboard . Hamilton had 11 men injured , four seriously , but none killed . Hamilton himself was severely wounded . For his daring exploit , Hamilton was made a knight by letters patent , a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath ( 2 January 1815 ) , and eventually became a baronet ( 20 October 1818 ) . The Jamaica House of Assembly awarded him a sword worth 300 guineas , and the City of London awarded him the Freedom of the City in a public dinner on 25 October 1800 . In 1847 , the Admiralty awarded Hamilton a gold medal for the recapture of " Hermione " and the Naval General Service Medal with the clasp , " Surprise with Hermione " , to the seven surviving claimants from the action . Return to British service . Parker renamed " Santa Cecilia " the " Retaliation " . In late 1799 or early 1800 , " Retaliation " captured four vessels . These were the two American brigs " Gracey " , sailing from Trinidad bound for Baltimore with a cargo of sugar , honey , and hides , and the " Peggy " , sailing from Cartagena to New York with a cargo of sugar , coffee , cotton , fustick , and hides , and the Danish sloop " Sisters " , which was sailing from Jamaica to Baltimore with a cargo of sugar , and which had just left St Thomas . The Admiralty then renamed her " Retribution " on 31 January 1800 . She was recommissioned in September 1800 at Jamaica under Captain Samuel Forster . Apparently before that she detained an American schooner sailing from Port Republic with a cargo of coffee and logwood . On 1 October , , and " Retribution " were in company when they captured the " Aquila " . Fate . " Retribution " subsequently sailed to Britain and was fitted at Woolwich in October 1803 for service for Trinity House at a cost of £484 , equal to £ today . She was broken up at Deptford in June 1805 .