HMS Glatton ( 1795 ) HMS " Glatton " was a 56 - gun fourth rate of the Royal Navy . She was launched as the " Glatton " , an East Indiaman , on 29 November 1792 by Wells & Co . of Blackwell . The Royal Navy bought her in 1795 and converted her into a warship . " Glatton " was unusual in that for a time she was the only ship - of - the - line the Royal Navy armed exclusively with carronades . ( Eventually she returned to a more conventional armament . ) She served in the North Sea and the Baltic , and then as a transport for convicts to Australia . She then returned to naval service in the Mediterranean . After the end of the Napoleonic Wars the Admiralty converted her to a water depot at Sheerness . In 1830 the Admiralty converted " Glatton " to a breakwater and sank her at Harwich . East India Company service . In 1793 - 4 " Glatton " made one round trip to China for the East India Company . Her captain was Charles Drummond and her First Lieutenant was William Macnamarra . Drummond had commanded an earlier " Glatton " and would command a later one too ; Macnamarra too would go on to command a later " Glatton " on a trip to China for the Company . " Glatton " s letter of marque was dated 22 August 1793 . The letter of marque permitted her , while under Drummond ' s command , to assist in the capture of the French brig " Franc " . The next East Indiaman " Glatton " , also sailing with a letter of marque , captured a Dutch prow in the Straits of Flores in 1796 , and the ship " Copenhagen " in 1799 . Fitting out for Royal Navy service . Captain Henry Trollope commissioned her in April 1795 and he was responsible for arranging that her original armament consisted entirely of carronades instead of the standard mix of long gun s and carronades that other warships carried . His previous command , some eight years earlier , had been the 44 - gun " Rainbow " , which too had been armed entirely with carronades . With her Trollope had in 1782 taken the " Hébé " , which the British would go to use as the model for the " Leda " - class frigate s . Carronades had short , relatively thin barrels and so were half the weight of the equivalent cannon . They did not need as large gun crews and could also fire much heavier shot for their weight than a gun of the same overall weight , but at the cost of the accuracy , velocity and range of the shot . This extremely heavy armament meant that the fourth rate " Glatton " could discharge a heavier broadside than the first rate " Victory " . But , in combat " Glatton " would have to endure the fire of the enemy ' s long guns while closing the gap to point - blank range before she could effectively return fire — if indeed the enemy would allow her to approach so close . " Glatton " was originally armed with twenty - eight 68 - pounder carronades on the lower deck and twenty - eight 42 - pounder carronades on her upper deck . All were non - recoil , which is to say that they were fixed to the deck . Within a month 32 - pounder carronades replaced the 42 - pounders . However , " Glatton ' s " ports were too small to allow the larger guns to traverse properly , and she had no bow or stern chasers . Her guns therefore could only be pointed straight out the side . The month after the action in July 1796 ( see below ) , she received two 32 - pounders and two 18 - pounder carronades for her forecastle . Later , the Navy replaced the twenty - eight 68 - pounder carronades on the lower deck with twenty - eight 18 - pounder long guns , ending the experiment . Trollope was extremely happy with " Glatton " s seaworthiness , handling and general fitting out . He wrote to John Wells , the shipbuilder and her former owner , " I sincerely hope . . . we may meet with a seventy four in the Glatton . . . she would either take her or sink her in twenty minutes . " North Sea and Baltic . Under Trollope , " Glatton " first served in the English Channel where she engaged a French squadron on 15 July 1796 . The French squadron consisted of a 50 - gun ship , five frigate s ( two of 36 guns and three of 28 ) , a brig , and a cutter . " Glatton " drove the French vessels into Flushing , having lost only two men wounded , one of whom died later , and despite having at times been surrounded by the enemy and exchanging fire at less than 20 yards . The French vessels may have included " Brutus " ( a 74 - gun cut down to 46 - 50 guns ) , " Incorruptible " ( 50 guns ) , " Magicienne " ( 32 guns ) , and " Républicaine " , and one French vessel apparently sank in Flushing harbour . ( It was in this action that Captain Strangeways of the Royal Marines sustained the wound of which he died shortly thereafter , and which the illustration above commemorates . ) In March – April 1797 , Trollope kept " Glatton " s crew from joining the Nore mutiny . By threatening to fire on the 64 - gun " Overyssel " and the 40 - gun " Beaulieu " , which were in open mutiny , he convinced their crews to return to duty . In August Captain Charles Cobb took command . In April and May 1798 " Glatton " participated , with many other vessels , in the capture of sundry Dutch dogger s , schuyt s , and fishing vessels . On 4 and 5 May " Glatton " was among the vessels that captured 12 outward - bound Greenland ships . The other vessels included the hired armed cutters " Fox " and " Marshall Coburg " , though most were much larger and included , , , , among others . On 28 May " Glatton " , , " Ganges " , " America " , , , " Director " , , the hired armed cutters " Fox the First " and " Rose " when they captured the " Janus " . All the British vessels were part of the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Duncan . Next , many of the same vessels , including " Glatton " , , " Fox the First " and " Rose " , captured several more Dutch vessels : On 18 August 1798 , " Glatton " , " Veteran " , " Belliqueux " , " Monmouth " , , " Ganges " , , , the sloop , and the hired armed cutter " Rose " captured the " Adelarde " . " Glatton " was with other ships from Duncan ' s fleet , including , , , and the hired armed lugger " Rover " , and cutters " Liberty " and " Hazard " , when they captured the " Harmenie " on 21 April 1799 . " Glatton " was in company with " Kent " , , and when they captured the Dutch hoy " Johanna " on 16 May 1799 . Then in August 1799 , " Glatton " participated in the Anglo - Russian Invasion of Holland . The expedition was under the command of Admiral Adam Duncan and the Duke of York . Some 250 craft of all sizes transported 17 , 000 troops from Margate Roads and the Downs across the Channel on 13 August . Due to bad weather it was 21 August before they anchored off Kijkduin . The next day Vice Admiral Mitchell sent a summons to Vice Admiral Samuel Story , calling on him to surrender his fleet . When he declined , the Duke of York landed his army near Den Helder on 27 August under covering fire from the fleet . Den Helder was occupied the following day when the garrison evacuated the town . The expedition then took possession of 13 old warships laid up in ordinary . On 30 August , " Glatton " , , , " Veteran " , , " Belliqueux " , " Monmouth " and " Overyssel " , the Russian ship " Mistisloff " and the frigates , anchored in line ahead in the Vlieter and Mitchel again summoned Story . This time Story agreed to surrender his squadron of 12 modern warships . The Royal Navy purchased 11 of these . The Dutch surrender , without any resistance , became known as the Vlieter Incident . As a result of the surrender , Duncan ' s fleet was awarded prize money , in which " Glatton " shared . On 15 January 1800 a court martial on board the " Glatton " , in Yarmouth Roads , tried the surviving officers and crew for the loss on the Cockle Sands of the 12 - gun brig " Mastif " as she left Yarmouth Roads via the Northern Passage for Leith . Her captain , Lieutenant James Watson , and eight of his crew had been lost in the incident . The court absolved the accused for the loss of the vessel . In November , Captain George Stephen took command of " Glatton " , followed in 1801 by Captain William Bligh , formerly of HMS " Bounty " . Bligh was only captain for about a month , but during that month he sailed her to the Baltic where " Glatton " participated in the Battle of Copenhagen on 2 April 1801 . The battle cost her 17 killed and 34 wounded . In 1847 the Admiralty would award the Naval General Service Medal with clasp " Copenhagen 1801 " to all surviving claimants from the action . " Glatton " was next under Captain William Nowell and then under Captain William Birchall . In August 1801 she was fitted at Sheerness for a guardship in protected waters . Captain John Ferris Devonshire took command that same month . Convict transport to Australia . Captain Nathaniel Porlock recommissioned her in May 1802 as a convict ship . Next , Commander James Colnett assumed command and on 23 September " Glatton " left England , carrying over 270 male , and 135 female prisoners ; of these , seven men and five women died on the journey . She also carried some 30 Free Settlers . She sailed via a resupply stop at Rio de Janeiro to the penal settlement at Sydney , where she arrived on 13 March 1803 . When " Glatton " arrived about 100 of the people on board her were suffering to varying degrees from scurvy . She then returned to England , arriving on 22 September 1803 , that is , after an absence of 364 days . Because she returned via Cape Horn , she had circumnavigated the world ; her actual time at sea for this transit was 277 days . Return to naval service . Between November and December 1803 she was refitted at Woolwich for service as a man - of - war . Still under Colnett ' s command , she then served briefly as flagship for Rear Admiral James Vashon . In 1804 " Glatton " was reduced to a 44 - gun fifth rate . On 11 November she , together with , , , , " Africiane " , , the hired armed cutter " Swift " and the hired armed lugger " Agnes " , shared in the capture of the " Upstalsboom " , H . L . De Haase , Master . Captain Thomas Seccombe recommissioned " Glatton " in March 1806 and sailed for the Mediterranean on 22 November . On 19 February 1807 , " Glatton " captured the Turkish vessels " San Giovanni Pidomias " and " Codro Mariolo " . That same day " Glatton " and captured the " San Michelle " . Four days later , " Hirondelle " captured the vessel " Madonna " , with " Glatton " sharing by agreement . On 26 February " Hirondelle " captured the " San Nicollo " , and " Glatton " again shared by agreement . On 1 March , boats from " Glatton " and " Hirondelle " cut out a former French corvette in Turkish service from the port of Sigri on the island of Mitylene . The vessel was pierced for 18 guns but only 10 were mounted . The British boarding party lost five officers and men killed and nine men wounded . The next day " Glatton " and " Hirondelle " captured three other Turkish vessels , names unknown but with masters , Statio , Constantine and Papeli . On 4 March " Glatton " and " Hirondelle " captured another Turkish vessel . One week later , " Glatton " captured yet another Turkish vessel , name unknown , Ibrahim , Master . Then on 29 November " Glatton " captured several transports off Corfu that were transferring troops from Otranto to Corfu . " Glatton " removed some 300 troops before she destroyed the nine vessels they had been on . Two vessels escaped back to Otranto . " Glatton " and the brig - sloop had received information that the French had captured four Sicilian gunboats and taken them into Scylla , near Reggio , Calabria . On 31 January 1808 , as " Delight " approached the port , a strong current pushed her towards the shore and she grounded . Seccombe went on board " Delight " to supervise the recovery effort . As they were trying to free " Delight " , her boats and those of " Glatton " came under intense fire from the shore . They were unsuccessful in freeing " Delight " , and " Delight " s captain , Commander Phillip Crosby Handfield , late of " Egyptienne " , and many of his crew were killed . Although the crew took to the boats , not all were able to escape and a number of the men on her , including Seccombe , became prisoners of war . The French paroled Seccombe , who had been severely wounded , to Messina , where he died on 3 February 1808 . " Glatton " came under the command of Commander Henry Hope ( acting ) and in March 1808 under Commander Charles Irving ( acting ) . Captain George Miller Bligh then took command around December . He brought a convoy home from Malta in July and then sailed her to Sheerness for laying up in October . She sailed briefly to the Baltic in 1811 . Fate . From 1812 to 1814 " Glatton " was under R . G . Peacock ( master ) at Portsmouth . In 1814 she was converted to serve as a water depot at Sheerness . Between April and June 1830 she was fitted at Sheerness as a breakwater , and in October " Glatton " sailed for the last time , to Harwich , where she was subsequently sunk . Footnotes . Notes