The first HMS Bellerophon of the
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
was a 74-gun
third-rateIn the British Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks . Years of experience proved that the third rate ships embodied the best compromise between sailing ability , firepower, and cost...
ship of the lineA ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...
launched on 6 October 1786 at
FrindsburyFrindsbury is part of the Medway Towns conurbation in Kent, southern England. It lies on the opposite side of the River Medway to Rochester, and at various times in its history has been considered fully or partially part of the City of Rochester. Frindsbury refers to both a parish and a manor....
on the
River MedwayThe River Medway, which is almost entirely in Kent, England, flows for from just inside the West Sussex border to the point where it enters the Thames Estuary....
, near Chatham. She was built at the shipyard of Edward Greaves to the specifications of the Arrogant, designed by Sir Thomas Slade in 1758, the lead ship in what eventually became the 12-ship
Arrogant classThe Arrogant-class ships of the line were a class of twelve 74-gun third rate ships designed by Sir Thomas Slade for the Royal Navy.-Design:...
. History has it that the First Lord of the
AdmiraltyThe Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
at the time,
John MontaguJohn Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, PC, FRS was a British statesman who succeeded his grandfather, Edward Montagu, 3rd Earl of Sandwich, as the Earl of Sandwich in 1729, at the age of ten...
, 4th
Earl of SandwichEarl of Sandwich is a 17th century title in the Peerage of England, nominally associated with Sandwich, Kent. It was created in 1660 for the prominent naval commander Admiral Sir Edward Montagu. He was made Baron Montagu, of St Neots in the County of Huntingdon, and Viscount Hinchingbrooke, at the...
, had a penchant for Greek and Roman mythology and plucked the name from
LemprièreJohn Lemprière , English classical scholar, lexicographer, theologian, teacher and headmaster...
's
Classical DictionaryThe Bibliotheca Classica , or Classical Dictionary containing a full Account of all the Proper Names mentioned in Ancient Authors is the best-known work of John Lemprière, an English classical scholar. Edited by various later scholars, the dictionary long remained a readable if not absolutely...
. He directed that the vessel be named for the Greek warrior
BellerophonBellerophon or Bellerophontes is a hero of Greek mythology. He was "the greatest hero and slayer of monsters, alongside of Cadmus and Perseus, before the days of Heracles", and his greatest feat was killing the Chimera, a monster that Homer depicted with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a...
who rode the winged horse
PegasusPegasus is one of the best known fantastical as well as mythological creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine horse, usually white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. He was the brother of Chrysaor, born at a single birthing...
and slew the monster
ChimeraThe Chimera or Chimaera was, according to Greek mythology, a monstrous fire-breathing female creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of multiple animals: upon the body of a lioness with a tail that ended in a snake's head, the head of a goat arose on her back at the center of her...
.
Early history
She fought at the battle of The Glorious First of June in 1794, under the command of Captain
William Johnstone HopeVice Admiral Sir William Johnstone Hope, GCB was a prominent and controversial British Royal Navy officer and politician in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Britain, whose career experienced fleet actions, disputes with royalty, party politics and entry to both Russian and British...
, where she lost 4 killed and 27 wounded. In 1798 she fought at the
Battle of the NileThe Battle of the Nile was a major naval battle fought between British and French fleets at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt from 1–3 August 1798...
under Captain
Henry D'Esterre DarbyAdmiral Sir Henry D'Esterre Darby, KCB, was an officer in the Royal Navy. He was the second son of Jonathan Darby IV Esq., of Leap Castle, in King's County, Ireland. He was the nephew of Vice Admiral George Darby...
, who was wounded early in the action; she lost 49 killed and 148 wounded. She also fought at the
Battle of TrafalgarThe Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
in 1805, becoming one of the most famous British ships of the
Napoleonic WarsThe Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
.
A letter to Henry D'Esterre Darby, her captain at the battle of the Nile, from Admiral
NelsonHoratio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB was a flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was noted for his inspirational leadership and superb grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics, which resulted in a number of...
, commander of the fleet at the battle, survives:
- 'My Dear Darby,
- I grieve for your heavy loss of Brave fellows, but look at our glorious Victory. We will give you every assistance as soon as you join us, till then God Bless You.
- Ever yours faithfully,
- Horatio Nelson
- Aug 3rd 1798
- We shall both I trust soon get well.'
Her crew affectionately called the vessel the Billy Ruffian (or Billy Ruff'n). At
TrafalgarThe Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....
she was the fifth in Admiral Collingwood's southern division and thus was heavily engaged, battling the French L'Aigle to a bloody standstill at the cost of her captain John Cooke dead, 26 other crew killed and 123 wounded. Command was ably assumed by her first lieutenant
William Pryce CumbyCaptain William Pryce Cumby CB RN was an officer in the Royal Navy whose excellent service during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars was highlighted when he was thrust into the limelight following his service at the battle of Trafalgar...
, who safely steered the battered ship back to
GibraltarGibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
. On board during the battle was future
ArcticThe Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
explorer
John FranklinRear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...
, serving as a young
midshipmanA midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...
.
Napoleon's surrender
She achieved further fame on 15 July 1815 when Napoleon Bonaparte surrendered to Captain
Frederick MaitlandRear Admiral Sir Frederick Lewis Maitland, KCB was an officer in the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He rose to the rank of rear admiral and held a number of commands...
of the Bellerophon and was transported to
TorbayTorbay is an east-facing bay and natural harbour, at the western most end of Lyme Bay in the south-west of England, situated roughly midway between the cities of Exeter and Plymouth. Part of the ceremonial county of Devon, Torbay was made a unitary authority on 1 April 1998...
where the ship anchored off
BrixhamBrixham is a small fishing town and civil parish in the county of Devon, in the south-west of England. Brixham is at the southern end of Torbay, across the bay from Torquay, and is a fishing port. Fishing and tourism are its major industries. At the time of the 2001 census it had a population of...
on 24 July. There Maitland received orders from Admiral
Lord KeithGeorge Keith Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith was a British admiral active throughout the Napoleonic Wars.-Career:Fifth son of the 10th Lord Elphinstone, he was born in Elphinstone Tower, near Stirling, Scotland...
. He was '...most positively ordered to prevent every person whatever from coming on board the ship you command, except the officers and men who compose her crew.'
In response to his orders, Captain Maitland refused to allow the usual visits of the boats full of traders with supplies of fresh food. John Michelmore, aboard one of the boats hoping to sell bread, saw a sailor in one of the lower gunports who signalled to them and then set adrift a small bottle containing a message that Bonaparte was aboard. He and the baker rowed ashore and the news quickly spread. While Maitland still kept boats from actually coming alongside, there were no further attempts to conceal the Emperor's presence. After two days, Bellerophon received orders to proceed to
PlymouthPlymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
harbour where Lord Keith was anchored aboard his flagship HMS Ville de Paris. Napoleon remained on board Bellerophon and the ship was still kept isolated from the throngs of curious sightseers by two guardships anchored close at hand. On 4 August, Lord Keith ordered Bellerophon to go to sea and await the arrival of
HMS NorthumberlandHMS Northumberland was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at the yards of Barnard, Deptford and launched on 2 February 1798....
which had been designated to take Napoleon into exile on St Helena. On 7 August, Napoleon left the Bellerophon where he had spent over three weeks without ever landing in England and boarded Northumberland which then sailed for St Helena.
Eventual fate
From 1815, Bellerophon served as a
prison shipA prison ship, historically sometimes called a prison hulk, is a vessel used as a prison, often to hold convicts awaiting transportation to penal colonies. This practice was popular with the British government in the 18th and 19th centuries....
at
SheernessSheerness is a town located beside the mouth of the River Medway on the northwest corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 12,000 it is the largest town on the island....
. She was renamed Captivity in 1824, sold on 12 January 1836 and broken up at Surrey Canal Wharf,
RotherhitheRotherhithe is a residential district in inner southeast London, England and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is located on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping and the Isle of Dogs on the north bank, and is a part of the Docklands area...
.