HMS Naiad ( 1797 ) HMS " Naiad " was a Royal Navy fifth - rate frigate that served in the Napoleonic Wars . She was built by Hall and Co . at Limehouse on the Thames , launched in 1797 and commissioned in 1798 . She served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , and her last actions occurred in 1824 - 5 . She was paid off in 1826 . She then served for many years in Latin America as a depot ship , first for the Royal Navy and then for the Pacific Steam Navigation Company . She was broken up in 1898 , 101 years after her launching . Design . " Naiad " was built to a design by Sir William Rule . She was an expanded version of his " Amazon " - class frigates . French Revolutionary Wars . Captain William Pierrepoint took command of " Naiad " in April 1797 . On 3 April 1798 " Naiad " captured the " Mary and Elizabeth " . Sixteen days later , " Naiad " , and were in sight when captured the French gun - brig " Arrogante " . " Arrogante " was armed with six long 24 - pounder guns and had a crew of 92 men . The British took her into service and renamed her " Insolent " in August . Then " Naiad " and took the " Vriendfchap Beerens " on 16 May . Then on 11 August , some 42 leagues from Cape Finisterre , and after a chase of four hours , " Naiad " captured the French privateer " Tigre " , which was under the command of Stephen Bonaventure Aggaret . " Tigre " was armed with eight 4 - pounder guns and eight swivels . She had a crew of 31 men , having put another 22 men aboard the prizes that she had taken in the eight days since she had left Groire . Next , on 24 August , " Naiad " was chasing a French frigate , which chase joined . After about three hours the two British ships had caught up with the French ship , which proceeded for the next hour to fire on them with her stern chasers . She then struck . The French ship was the frigate " Décade " , with a crew of 336 men under the command of Citoyen Villeneau . " Décade " was pierced for 44 guns , but she had landed ten in Cayenne , from where she was sailing . In all , " Naiad " had chased " Décade " for 36 hours . The British took " Décade " into service . " Naiad " s success in prize - taking continued . On 5 March 1799 she captured the French privateer " Hereux Hazard " , off the Loire . " Heureux Hazard " was armed with sixteen 6 and 9 - pounder guns , but was pierced for 20 guns . She had a crew of 94 men and had left Nantes the previous day , provisioned for a three - month cruise . At the time of the capture and were in sight , and so entitled to share in the prize money . The next day " Naiad " met up with " Ethalion " , which had just that day too captured a privateer , the " Indefatigable " , of 18 guns and 120 men . " Indefatigable " too was just one day out of Nantes and provisioned for a long cruise . On 12 March " Naiad " , , and were in company when " Triton " captured the French merchant brig " Victoire " . In September " Naiad " recaptured the ship " Princess Royal " . However , " Naiad " s biggest prize was yet to come . Capture of " Thetis " and " Santa Brigada " . On 15 October 1799 " Naiad " sighted two Spanish frigates . Pierrepont gave chase and before dawn spotted them and joined the pursuit . At 7 . 00 am the two Spaniards parted company so Pierrepont followed one frigate , together with and " Triton " , which too had joined the chase , while directing " Ethalion " , to pursue the other frigate . By 11 . 30 am , " Ethalion " had caught up with her quarry and after a short engagement the Spanish vessel struck her colours . " Ethalion " had no casualties though the Spaniard had one man killed and nine wounded . " Triton " , the fastest of the three British frigates , led the chase of the second frigate . The next morning " Triton " struck some rocks as she tried to prevent her quarry from reaching port . " Triton " got off the rocks and resumed the chase despite taking on water . She and " Alcmene " then exchanged fire with the Spanish frigate , which surrendered before " Naiad " could catch up . Four large Spanish ships came out from Vigo but then retreated when the three British frigates made ready to receive them . " Alcmene " had one man killed and nine wounded , and " Triton " had one man wounded ; " Santa Brigida " had two men killed and eight men wounded . The vessel that " Ethalion " had captured turned out to be the " Thetis " , under the command of Captain Don Juan de Mendoza . She homeward - bound from Vera Cruz ( Mexico ) with a cargo of cocoa , cochineal and sugar , and more importantly , specie worth 1 , 385 , 292 Spanish dollars ( £312 , 000 ) . The vessel that " Triton " , " Alcmene " and " Naiad " had captured was the " Santa Brigada " , under the command of Captain Don Antonio Pillon . She was carrying a cargo of drugs , annatto , cochineal , indigo and sugar , and some 1 , 500 , 000 dollars . Prize money was paid on 14 January 1800 . At some point " Triton " , with " Naiad " , " Alcmene " and " Ethalion " in company , recaptured the American ship " Abigail " . On 12 September 1800 the hired armed cutter " Suwarrow " cut out the French brig " Providence " from under two batteries near Camaret Point . She was carrying wine , soap and brandy for the Brest fleet ; the capture took place under heavy fire but " Suworow " suffered no casualties . Although the third rate " Elephant " and " Naiad " were in sight , they voluntarily relinquished their share of the prize money to " Suwarrow " . In December Captain the Honorable John Murray replaced Pierrepont , who was ill . " Naiad " spent the following year cruising out of Plymouth . In December 1800 , Captain William H . Rickets replaced Murray of " Naiad " . At the beginning of May 1801 she recaptured , some 500 miles west of Cape Finisterre , the Post Office packet ship " Phoenix " , Captain Thompson . " Phoenix " had sailed from Falmouth on 15 April for New York and had the misfortune to encounter a French 40 - gun privateer on 21 April . Although he could not escape capture , Thompson was able to sink his mails before being boarded . While still a French prize , " Phoenix " also encountered the " Concarde " and the " Corneille " , two large French frigates taking troops and stores from Nantes to Egypt . After her recapture , " Phoenix " arrived safely in Plymouth on 11 May . The hired armed cutter " Earl St Vincent " shared in the capture . On the night of 16 May 1801 , boats from " Naiad " and , under the direction of " Naiad " s First lieutenant , entered the port of Marín , Pontevedra , in Galicia in north - west Spain . There they captured the Spanish corvette " Alcudia " and destroyed the armed packet " Raposo " , both under the protection of a battery of five 24 - pounders . " Alcudia " , commanded by Don Jean Antonio Barbuto , was moored stem and stern close to the fort . Her sails had previously been taken ashore so the boats had to tow her out but soon after a strong south - west wind set in and Rickets thought it necessary to set her on fire . " Naiad " and " Phaeton " suffered only four men wounded . " Naiad " returned to Plymouth on 25 May 1801 and now under the command of Captain Phillip Wilkinson sailed again on 6 June with bullocks and vegetables for the Channel fleet . She was back in Plymouth for two days at the end of August . At the end of October a violent gale almost wrecked " Naiad " near the Île de Ré . She sat for two days on shore under the guns of a French battery , which , much to the mystification of her captain and crew , did not fire on them . On the second day the French commander sent boats with spare cables and anchors and informed Wilkinson that England had signed the preliminaries of a peace treaty with France . " Naiad " then returned to Plymouth on 1 November . Napoleonic Wars . Throughout most of 1802 " Naiad " was in ordinary but on 9 September orders came down for her to be commissioned in place of to be paid off and for " Naiad " to be commissioned in " Fisgard " s place . Captain James Wallis and the crew of " Fisgard " were to transfer to " Naiad " when she was ready for commissioning . On 18 December it was announced that " Naiad " would have to supply men to , then fitting out for foreign service , if she was still short crew . Apparently they were not needed . In early 1803 , " Naiad " succeeded in taking several prizes . Her boats , with those from , cut out a new brig from among the Penmark Rocks off Brest while under fire from French batteries . They also cut out and sank a chasse - maree . These were probably the French the French brig " Jeanne " and the galiot " Balier " , which they captured on 10 May . On 19 May " Naiad " and " Hazard " captured the " Frauen Brigitta " . On 29 May , in the Bay of Biscay " Naiad " captured the French corvette " Impatiente " , which was under the command of Citizen Hypolite Arnous , Lieutenant de Vaisseau . " Impatient " was armed with 20 guns , some of which she had thrown overboard during the chase . She and her crew were sailing from Senegal to Rochefort when " Naiad " captured her . Two days later " Naiad " captured the French merchant ship " Chasseur " , of 359 tons burthen . She was under the command of Citizen Lamar , Lieutenant de Vaisseau , and was carrying sugar , cotton and coffee from San Domingo to Lorient . Next , " Naiad " and captured a French brig from the Straits and a Dutch sloop , also from the Straits , carrying drugs and medicines . " Naiad " and " Doris " also took a French corvette from Gorée laden with gum and ivory . These vessels came into Plymouth on 4 June . That same day " Naiad " arrived with two French ships and two Dutch ships that she and " Doris " had also captured . Then 2 June , " Naiad " captured " Napoleon " , a French brig from Guadeloupe bound for Nantes with sugar and coffee . On 5 July she captured the " Providence " . On 8 July she captured the brig " Prudente " , and on 8 August the brig " Anne Marie " . On 4 July Wallis sent " Naiad " s boats to cut out a French schooner lying at anchor at the Saints . Next morning , in spite of the strong tides and the many rocks and shoals in the area , they brought her out without loss as almost the entire crew , including the commander , Citizen Martres Preville , Lieutenant de Vaisseau , had fled at their approach . The prize was the " Providence " , which had only two guns mounted but was laden with 36 , 24 and 18 - pounder cannon she was taking to Brest from a foundry near Nantes . Her cargo also included some choice timber . " Naiad " returned to Plymouth from her cruise on 7 September and went in for a refit . This was completed on 2 October when she went from Barnpool out into the Sound to await orders . On 5 October she received six months of wages , and sailed the next day down the Channel , before anyone could spend any of their accumulated pay . During the following fifteen weeks " Naiad " cruised off Ferrol and Corunna with Sir Edward Pellew ' s squadron . The squadron experienced severe gales but in spite of the weather blowing them off station on several occasions , the squadron succeeded in preventing the French squadrons from Ferrol and Corunna linking up . On 29 November forced the French frigate " Bayonnaise " aground in Finisterre Bay where her crew set fire to her so that she blew up . " Naiad " was among the vessels in Pellew ' s squadron sharing , by agreement , in the head money . " Naiad " left the squadron on 8 January 1804 when they were close in to Ferrol , to carry dispatches to Admiral William Cornwallis off Ushant . She left the Admiral on 10 January and arrived back in Plymouth four days later . On 31 January 1804 Captain J . Pellew was appointed to command " Naiad " while Wallis was dangerously ill at home in Storehouse . At some point Captain Thomas Dundas took command of " Naiad " in 1804 . Her next station was with the squadron off Brest and she brought back dispatches for the Admiralty on 10 May . On 15 June a court martial ordered the Honorable Alexander Jones , then a lieutenant in " Naiad " , shot for striking Lieutenant William Dean , the senior lieutenant , during a quarrel . Dean was dismissed from the service for ungentlemanly conduct . The court recommended clemency for Jones ; ten days later he received a pardon and was restored to his former rank . ( Jones was promoted to Commander on 22 January 1806 . Dean was restored to his former rank in 1821 but died five years later . ) " Naiad " sailed for a cruise off the coast of Spain on 24 September . On 27 November , while " Naiad " was off Brest , Thomas saw some small vessels open musket fire on boats belonging to and wound two seamen . " Naiad " captured Gun - boats Nos . 361 and 369 . Each mounted one long brass 4 - pounder and one short 12 - pounder and had on board a lieutenant from the 63rd Infantry Regiment , 36 privates and six seamen . They had sailed with fourteen others from Dandiorne to Brest . Thomas sent the gunboats back to Britain under the escort of . " Naiad " returned to Plymouth on 7 January 1805 from a cruise off the coast of Spain . She brought with her a large Spanish ship with 200 , 000 dollars on board plus a valuable cargo of dry goods . This was the " Nuestra Senora de los Dolores " , which " Naiad " had captured on five days earlier . " Naiad " sailed again on 8 January on a cruise to the westward . She sent in a neutral ship flying Papenburg colours , suspected of carrying Spanish property . On 15 February " Naiad " was in sight when " Hazard " captured the Dutch schooner " Der Vriede " . Next , " Naiad " capture the " Mars " on 25 June . " Naiad " was in company with on 9 July 1805 when they captured the brig " Argo " and the sloop " Nelly " . Then on 10 September " Naiad " detained the American ship " Wells " , of eleven Men and 205 tons . " Wells " was sailing from Salem to Marseilles with a cargo of sugar and coffee . Trafalgar . Circa 1 October , the arrival of the frigates " Naiad " , , , , and off Cadiz allowed Nelson to detach them to disrupt local shipping supplying provisions for the joint fleet in Cadiz . By 10 October " Naiad " was engaged in the tactical preparations etc . for the forthcoming battle . On 20 October the combined fleet departed Cadiz . During the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October , " Naiad " was too small to take part in the battle itself . Instead , she lay to windward of the action . After the battle she towed to Gibraltar . In September 1806 Parliament voted a grant of £300 , 000 to the participants in the battle , with the crew of " Naiad " being among the beneficiaries . In 1847 , the Admiralty issued the NGSM with clasp " Trafalgar " to all surviving claimants from the battle . Post - Trafalgar . " Naiad " was in company with and the gun - brigs and when they captured the ship " William Little " , John J . P . Cbamptin , master , on 17 October 1806 . On 13 August 1807 , brought dispatches from England to " Naiad " , which was with the squadron blockading Bordeaux . Lieutenant Le Blanc , captain of " Cassandra " , left her to take the dispatches to " Naiad " . Two sudden squalls rolled " Cassandra " over on her beam ends , capsizing her . She sank stern first . Eleven men , and one woman and her child drowned . Three months later , on 10 October 1807 , " Naiad " captured the Kniphausen galliot " Vigilante " . At the time of the capture , and were in sight . In 1808 " Naiad " participated in the blockade of Brest . On 23 May was in company with " Naiad " when they captured the American packet ship " Margaret Tingey " . Between June and August " Naiad " was in Plymouth making good defects . Then " Naiad " was in company when captured the French schooner " Louise " on 9 November . On 16 December " Naiad " was still in company with " Narcissus " , when they captured two French privateers , the " Fanny " and the " Superb " while on the Home station . " Fanny " carried 16 guns and a crew of 80 men . She was under the command of Charles Hamon , who as captain of the privateer " Venus " , had captured numerous British vessels . " Fanny " was only a few hours out of Nantes on her way to the Irish coast and had made no captures . Then at midnight " Naiad " and " Narcissus " captured the French letter of marque sloop " Superb " . " Superb " was armed with four guns , had a crew of 20 men , and was sailing to Martinique with a cargo of sundries . On 7 February 1809 " Naiad " was in the squadron under the command of Commodore William Hotham and so shared in the proceeds of the capture of the French vessel " Prudent " . Then on 23 February " Naiad " was at anchor to the north - west of the Chassiron lighthouse with , and " Emerald " , the squadron now being under the command of Rear Admiral Robert Stopford in . The next day they saw eight sail - of - the - line and two frigates flying French colours and standing into the Pertuis d ' Antioche . Stopford immediately sent " Naiad " to warn Admiral Lord Gambier that the French squadron from Brest had arrive but , before she had gone a few miles , " Naiad " sighted three French frigates heading for Les Sables - d ' Olonne and signalled Stopford . Stopford left and " Emerald " to watch the enemy and went in chase of the frigates with the rest of his squadron , now strengthened by the arrival of " Amelia " and " Dotterel " . The French anchored under the protection of batteries but the fire from the British ships soon drove them ashore . By 2 March one of the French frigates was abandoned by her crew , the other two were afloat at high water but on their beam ends at low water ; a westerly swell was expected to destroy them . Stopford returned to blockade the main French force at the Ile d ' Aix until 7 March when Gambier arrived to take command . From March to October " Naiad " was under the command of Captain George Cocks ( acting ) . Captain Henry Hill then assumed command . On 22 March " Naiad " , under the command of Cocks , and in company with , captured the " Josephine " . Next , on 14 April , " Naiad " recaptured the " Renomée " . A week later she captured the " Speculation " . Then on 25 April she captured the " Maria Dorothea " . On 19 July " Naiad " was in company with when they captured the schooner " Eugenie " . On 21 October " Naiad " , now under the command of Hill , recaptured the ship " Minerva " . " Naiad " was among the vessels in sight when the schooner captured the French brig " Modeste " . On 21 January 1810 , " Naiad " captured the French chasse maree " St . Anne " . A court martial was held on board " Salvador del Mundo " in the Hamoaze On 26 and 27 March . The accused were eight petty officers and seamen from " Naiad " . The charge was that they had written mutinous letters to the Admiralty , complaining of tyrannical treatment by Hill , and had tried to induce the ship ' s company to request that they be drafted from " Naiad " . Three crew members were sentenced be hanged . One received a sentence of 150 lashes ; one of 100 ; and two of 50 lashes each around the fleet . In June Captain Wolley read a pardon to the men sentenced to death , and delivered a suitable admonition . Most of the rest of the men were also pardoned . The following year Hill left " Naiad " ; being too senior to command a frigate , he was not employed again . Then on 28 May " Naiad " recaptured the " Paragon " . Hill ' s replacement in July 1811 was Captain Philip Carteret . On 19 August , with " Naiad " in company , captured the " Woodman " . Under Carteret " Naiad " participated in an action with gunboats off Boulogne on 20 September . A large French flotilla consisting of seven praams of twelve 24 - pounder guns each , ten brigs of four long 24 - pounders guns each , and one sloop with two long 24 - pounders . The praams ' crews totalled about 120 men , and they were under the command of Rear - Admiral Baste . The praams cannonaded " Naiad " for about three - quarters of an hour before the other vessels came up and added desultory fire for another two hours . Eventually the French vessels gave up their attack and returned to the safety of anchorages under the protection of batteries . In all this " Naiad " suffered no casualties . On 21 September " Naiad " captured the 16 - gun vessel " Ville de Lyon " . " Ville de Lyon " was a praam belonging to the Boulogne Flotilla , under the command of Commodore Jean Baptiste Coupe and Captain Jean Barbaud . She was armed with twelve long 24 - pounder guns and a complement of 112 men , 60 of them soldiers from the 72 Regiment . The seven praams came out again to attack " Naiad " and the three brigs in company with her , , and . The British squadron moved to engage and " Naiad " was able to separate " Ville de Lyons " from her consorts and capture her . The brigs drove off the other praams but were unable to capture any before they again took refuge under the protection of the shore batteries . In the engagement " Naiad " suffered two men killed and 14 wounded . Carteret estimated that the French had lost 30 to 40 men killed and wounded . " Redpole " had no casualties , " Castilian " lost her first lieutenant killed and one man wounded , and " Rinaldo " had her pilot wounded . " Naiad " left Deal on 29 September 1811 to cruise off Boulogne . This cruise yielded two prizes . On 6 October she captured the French privateer lugger " Milan " in the Channel . " Milan " was armed with 16 guns , though only two were mounted , and had a crew of 42 men . She had left that morning from Dieppe . A week later " Naiad " returned with the privateer " Reinarde " , which she had captured off Dieppe . On 27 October " Naiad " sailed again and by 6 November she had captured the French privateer lugger " Requin " , which she brought in a few days later . " Requin " was armed with two guns , and had 14 stowed in the hold . She had a crew of 58 men and was out of Boulogne . On 12 April 1812 , Carteret was in his boat sailing from Portsmouth to Lymington when it upset off Cowes . Three crewmen drowned but Carteret was picked up , exhausted , and taken to Cowes . " Naiad " was paid off in Portsmouth in 1813 . She was then fitted there to raise the wreck of the merchantman " Queen Charlotte " . Later career . From July 1814 to April 1815 " Naiad " underwent major repairs at Portsmouth . Captain Robert C . Spencer commissioned her in April 1823 for the Channel and the Mediterranean and until August she underwent fitting for sea . In January 1824 , " Naiad " and " Cameleon " visited Algiers , following a violation of the British consul ' s offices , in order to demand satisfaction from the Dey . By 31 January it was apparent that British citizens living in Algiers were no longer safe so they were taken on board . On departing from the harbour , " Naiad " sighted the Algerine corvette " Tripoli " , which had recently committed depredations on Spanish trade , in contravention of the Treaty of 1816 . Fire from " Naiad " reduced " Tripoli " to a wreck . A party from " Cameleon " boarded " Tripoli " before " Naiad " ordered them to abandon the vessel . Captain Spencer of " Naiad " was particularly pleased to discover that by capturing the Algerine he had liberated 17 Spaniards that were being carried into slavery . On 18 March " Naiad " captured " Quattro Fratelli " . shared the prize money . Then on 23 May at Boma " Naiad " s boats burnt an Algerine brig of war which had sought refuge under the guns of the fortress there . The brig was armed with 16 guns , some of which had been transferred to the fort . The letter reporting the action makes no mention of casualties . On 23 February 1825 " Naiad " captured the " Muni " . shared in the prize money . On 28 May four seamen from " Naiad " were drowned off the coast of Italy . " Naiad " s captain had a monument erected for them in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome . In March 1826 Spencer and " Naiad " conducted a mission to Ibrahim Pasha , the general in command of the Ottoman forces besieging Missolonghi on the Gulf of Patras . ( This was the Third Siege of Missolonghi . ) Spencer also informed the Admiralty that the Ottoman forces had captured the town of Anatolica and Fort Vassiladi , and that Missolonghi would probably fall within a week . The town fell on 10 April . Spencer had thought , erroneously as it turned out , that the Ottomans would not slaughter civilian inhabitants . " Naiad " left Malta for England in August and was paid off in October 1826 . She then underwent a Small Repair between April and July 1828 before being laid up . Fate . In October 1846 W . I . Brown recommissioned " Naiad " and between July 1846 and January 1847 she served as a coal depot ship . first to Valparaiso , Chile in 1846 . She then served at Callao , Peru from 1851 . While at Callao she came under the command of S . Strong in December 1852 and then W . W . Dillon in December 1856 . On 2 February 1866 the Admiralty sold her to the Pacific Steam Navigation Company for 2 , 000 dollars . The " Naval Review " reported that she lasted until 1898 . If so , when " Naiad " was broken up in 1898 , she was the second longest survivor of any of the British ships at Trafalgar , after HMS " Victory " .