French frigate Africaine ( 1798 ) Africaine was one of two 40 - gun of the French Navy built to a design by Raymond - Antoine Haran . She carried twenty - eight 18 - pounder and twelve 8 - pounder guns . The British captured her in 1801 , only to have the French recapture her in 1810 . They abandoned her at sea as she had been demasted and badly damaged , with the result that the British recaptured her the next day . She was broken up in 1816 . French service . She was commissioned on 14 September 1799 under " Capitaine de frégate " Magendie . In 1800 , she sailed to Saint - Domingue . She then sailed from Rochefort with to try to resupply the French forces in Egypt . She was carrying ordnance , stores and 400 soldiers reinforcing Napoleon ' s army in Egypt . At the Action of 19 February 1801 , , under Captain Robert Barlow , captured her east of Gibraltar . " Phoebe " , which had the weather gage , overtook " Africaine " and engaged her at close range , despite the French soldiers , who augmented the frigate ' s guns with their musket fire . " Phoebe ' s " guns inflicted more than 340 casualties on the soldiers and seaman of " Africaine " before she struck at 9 : 30PM . The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS " Africaine " . British service : the English Channel . " Africaine " was commissioned under Commander J . Stewart in April . Then in July Captain Stevenson took command , only to be replaced in September by Captain George Burlton . On 31 January 1802 she arrived in Portsmouth from Malta and sailed again to Chatham on 7 February to be paid off before being re - fitted . She arrived in at Deptford on 17 February 1802 for refitting . In November Captain Thomas Manby took command , though " Africaine " was not yet ready . When Earl St . Vincent gave Manby the appointment St . Vincent said that he did not like to see an active officer idle on shore . He had a point as while Manby was waiting for the vessel to be ready Lady Townshend presented him to Caroline , the Princess of Wales , who became friendly towards him . Rumours abounded that the Princess became too familiar with Manby and that Manby was even the father of one of her children . An investigation followed during which Manby swore an affidavit on 22 September 1806 that the rumours were " a vile and wicked invention , wholly and absolutely false " . " Africaine " was commissioned at Deptford for the North Sea in 1803 . On his way to the Nore , Manby stopped at Gravesent where he landed a press gang . Between midnight and sunrise they garnered 398 seamen . From the Nore she sailed to Hellevoetsluis where there were two French frigates ; " Africaine " maintained a blockade there for two years until the French dismantled the frigates . One day while " Africaine " was maintaining this blockade , the French general at Scheveningen had four boys shrimping in " Africaine " s jolly boat fired upon . Manby immediately seized sixty fishing boats that he then sent to Yarmouth . This cost The Hague its supplies of fish for some weeks . Also , on 20 July 1803 , " Africaine " s First Lieutenant , William Henry Dillon , landed at Hellevoetsluis in a boat from under a flag of truce . The Dutch commodore there detained Dillon until men from " Furieuse " could take him prisoner . Dillon caught a fever that almost killed him while he was on board " Fureiuse " ; when he was well again the French transferred him to their prison camp at Verdun . There he remained until September 1807 when he was exchanged . On 1 August 1803 a lightning strike on the foremast killed one man and injured three others . Manby sailed from Yarmouth on 4 October 1804 to deliver Rear Admiral Thomas Macnamara Russell out to , one of the vessels of the British flotilla watching the Dutch fleet at Texel . Manby returned on 7 October with Rear Admiral Edward Thornbrough . While she was serving in the blockade off Texel , a gale caused part of " Africaine " s rudder to break off , which then damaged the stern post . had to escort " Africaine " to Yarmouth , where winds almost drove " Africaine " ashore ; her crew had to cut away all her masts to save her . On 31 December a court martial took place in Sheerness on " Africaine " to try Captain the Honorable John Colville , the officers and ship ' s company of for the loss of their ship off Texel on 19 November . In May 1805 " Africaine " was on the Irish Station . She was then re - fitted at Sheerness and escorted a large convoy to the West Indies on 19 June 1805 , calling at Suriname , Demerara , and various islands . When she arrived in Barbados her crew of 340 men were all healthy . Then Sir Alexander Cochrane had her return to England with invalids from the hospitals in Barbados as passengers . Within two days of leaving Barbados , yellow fever broke out on board " Africaine " . The surgeon and the assistant surgeon died on the second day ; Manby himself carried out their duties dispensing , large doses of calomel on the advice of a doctor at St Kitts . Manby had an attack of the fever and it affected his subsequent health . In all , fever killed one third of the crew of 340 men during the six weeks it took to reach Falmouth . " Africaine " then spent almost six weeks in quarantine off the Scilly Islands . She then was taken out of commission at Sheerness . In early 1807 , " Africaine " fitted out at Chatham . Later , at Plymouth , Captain Richard Raggett took command . On 5 July 1807 " Africaine " sailed from England with General Lord William Cathcart to Swedish Pomerania where King Gustavus was defending his territory against an invading French army . Cathcart would take command of the land - forces for the forthcoming siege and bombardment of Copenhagen . " Africaine " arrived at the island of Rügen on 12 August where she joined Admiral Gambier ' s fleet for the attack on Copenhagen . " Africaine " s boat operated as part of the advanced squadron and had one man wounded in an action on 23 August . As part of the capitulation , the Danes surrendered their fleet . A prize crew from " Africaine " took the captured Danish frigate into the Medway . By 24 December she was at Madeira , having accompanied Sir Samuel Hood there . The British occupation was a friendly affair and the garrison surrendered without resistance on 26 September . On 11 January 1808 " Africaine " captured the Spanish felucca " Paloma " . " Africaine " then sailed to the Baltic to serve under Vice - Admiral Sir James Saumarez . East Indies : capture and recapture . In spring 1810 , " Africaine " had returned to Plymouth from Annapolis after having delivered Mr . Jackson , the British ambassador to the United States . During this period the crew threatened mutiny when informed that Captain Robert Corbet , who had a reputation for brutality , was to take command of " Africaine " . The Navy quickly suppressed the incipient mutiny and " Africaine " sailed for the East Indies with Corbet in command . During the voyage Corbet reportedly failed to train his men in the accurate and efficient use of their cannon , preferring to maintain the order and cleanliness of his ship than exercise his gun teams . After the Battle of Grand Port , which was a disaster for the British , Commodore Josias Rowley sent urgent messages to Madras and Cape Town requesting reinforcements . The first to arrive were " Africaine " and HMS " Ceylon " , both of which were sailing alone . " Africaine " was still on her way from England to Madras when on 9 September she stopped at the island of Rodrigues to replenish her water . There she heard of the debacle . By 11 September she had arrived off the Isle de France ( now Mauritius ) where she sent her boats in shore to find a passage through the reef with a view to capturing a French schooner . The boats ' crews succeeded in boarding the vessel , which turned out to be French dispatch vessel No . 23 , but had to abandon it in the face of fire from soldiers on shore that killed two men and wounded 16 . " Africaine " then sailed for the Île de Bourbon , which Corbett had learned was in British hands and where Rowley was located to drop off the casualties . " Africaine " arrived on 12 September and then sailed that evening in pursuit of some French vessels that had been sighted . Next day and captured " Africaine " in the Action of 13 September 1810 . She had been sailing with , , and trailing some distance behind . When she chased the French frigates and the brig " Entreprenante " early on the morning of 13 September , she outdistanced her companions , with unfortunate results . Early in the battle a shot took off Corbet ' s foot and his crew took him below decks . " Africaine " fought on under her remaining officers with First Lieutenant Joseph Crew Tullidge having taken command . After about two hours , with Tullidge having suffered four wounds , she struck . " Africaine " had 295 men and boys aboard , including 25 soldiers from the 86th Regiment . Of these 49 had been killed and 114 wounded . The French took Tullidge and about 90 survivors prisoner and conveyed them to Mauritius where they remained until the British took the island in December . The French lost nine killed and 33 wounded in " Iphigénie " and one killed and two wounded in " Astrée " . The next day " Boadicea " and her two companions recaptured " Africaine " . Because she was dismasted and damaged the French did not try to tow her . Also , " Astrée " had to take " Iphigénie " into tow . " Africaine " still had 70 of her wounded and some 83 uninjured of her crew aboard , as well as a ten - man French prize crew . By the time the British had recaptured " Africaine " Corbet was dead ; he had died some six hours after his foot was amputated . Later , rumors circulated that he had committed suicide because of the dishonor of defeat , or that members of the crew had killed him . From the amount of shot that was still on the vessel there was also reason to suspect that the crew had stopped shotting the cannons after the first few broadsides , perhaps in protest against Corbet . Regardless , a court martial on 23 April 1811 honorably acquitted the surviving officers and crew of the " Africaine " for the loss of their ship . In August Tullidge received a promotion to Commander . The French also captured " Ceylon " , but " Boadicea " quickly retook her too . Rowley was able to seize Jacques Hamelin and his flagship at the Action of 18 September 1810 . To get " Africiane " ready for sea again , Bertie appointed Lieutenant Edward Lloyd of " Boadicea " to supervise the repairs . To give " Africiane " new masts , Lloyd took a recaptured East Indiaman and salvaged her lower masts , yards and sails . On 14 December she sailed again with an ad hoc crew made up of 30 sailors , a company from the 87th . Regiment instead of marines , and some 120 blacks recruited from plantations on the island . During the subsequent Invasion of Isle de France , " Africaine " , under Captain Charles Gordon , late of " Ceylon " , was Vice Admiral Bertie ' s flagship . She arrived in Portsmouth on 21 March with Vice Admiral Bertie . East Indies again , and return to England . In July 1811 Capt . Brian Hodgson took command , only to be replaced the next month by Captain Edward Rodney , whose appointment was dated September 1810 . On 26 November 1811 Rodney and " Africaine " sailed for the East Indies again . On 28 August 1813 , Rodney sent in boats to take the " Annapoorny " , a merchant vessel belonging to Prince of Wales Island that the King of Acheen had seized and which claimed to be British . Some correspondence between Rodney and the King had preceded the seizure , and afterwards the King entertained the lieutenant in charge of the cutting out party and Richard Blakeny . The King was a relatively young man and had a few years earlier served for three years as a midshipman on . In May 1815 , " Africaine " and the brig were escorting six East Indiamen from Ceylon to England . One of the vessels was the ill - fated " Arniston " , which got separated from the convoy and was wrecked on the coast of South Africa with the loss of 372 lives . When " Africaine " returned to Portsmouth on 6 December 1815 , only 42 of her original crew of 350 were still on board . Earlier in 1815 , James Cooper and three of his shipmates were publicly court martial ed , then hanged on 1 February 1816 following their being found guilty of sodomy on board the ship . Two other members of her crew received a flogging for deviant sexual behavior . Fate . " Africaine " was broken up at Deptford in September 1816 . Further reading . HMS " Africaine " features prominently in " The Mauritius Command " by Patrick O ' Brian .