HMS Argonaut (1782)
HMS "Argonaut was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line, in Royal Navy service during the French Revolutionary Wars and the American Revolution. Launched in 1779 as the French ship Jason", she was captured by the British in 1782 and commissioned by them in the same year. After active service against the French, she was converted to a hospital ship in 1804 and permanently moored off Chatham Dockyard. "Argonaut" was removed from navy service in 1828 and broken up in 1831. Career. French career. On 2 May 1780, she departed Brest with the 7-ship  and 3-frigate Expédition Particulière under Admiral Ternay, escorting 36 transports carrying troops to support the Continental Army in the War of American Independence. The squadron comprised the 80-gun "Duc de Bourgogne", under Ternay d'Arsac (admiral) and Médine (flag captain); the 74-gun "Neptune", under Sochet Des Touches, and "Conquérant", under La Grandière; and the 64-gun "Provence" under Lombard, "Ardent" under Bernard de Marigny, "Jason" under La Clocheterie and "Éveillé" under Le Gardeur de Tilly, and the frigates "Surveillante" under Villeneuve Cillart, "Amazone" under La Pérouse, and "Bellone". "Amazone", which constituted the vanguard of the fleet, arrived at  Boston on 11 June 1780. British career. On 8 January 1795, while under the command of Captain Alexander John Ball she captured the French Republican warship "Esperance" on the North America Station. "Esperance" was armed with 22 guns (4 and 6-pounders), and had a crew of 130 men. She was under the command of Lieutenant de Vaisseau De St. Laurent and had been out 56 days from Rochfort, bound for the Chesapeake. "Argonaut" shared the prize money with Captain Robert Murray's HMS "Oiseaux". The French ambassador to the United States registered a complaint with the President of the  United States that "Argonaut", by entering Lynnhaven bay, either before she captured "Esperance" or shortly thereafter, had violated a treaty between France and the United States. The French also accused the British of having brought "Esperance" into Lynnhaven for refitting for a cruise. The President passed the complaint to the Secretary of State, who forwarded the complaint to the Governor of Virginia. The Governor inquired into the matter of the British Consul at Virginia. The British Consul replied that the capture had taken place some 10 leagues off shore. The weather had forced "Argonaut" and her prize to shelter within  the Chesapeake for some days, but that they had left as soon as practicable. Furthermore, "Argonaut" had paroled her French prisoners when she came into Lynnhaven and if had entered American territorial waters solely to parole her French prisoners no one would have thought that objectionable. The authorities in Virginia took a number of depositions but ultimately nothing further came from the matter. Because she was captured in good order and sailed well, Rear Admiral George Murray, the British commander in chief of the North American station, put a British crew aboard and sent "Esperance" out on patrol with "Lynx  on 31 January. On 3 August 1795, Argonaut" captured the ship "Anna". Fate. "Argonaut" was placed on harbour service in 1797, and eventually broken up in 1831. Notes, citations, and references. Notes Citations Bibliography