HMS Aeolus (1801)

History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Aeolus
Ordered	28 January 1800
Builder	Mrs Frances Barnard, Deptford
Laid down	April 1800
Launched	28 February 1801
Completed	By 10 April 1801
Honours and awards	Naval General Service Medal with clasps 4 Novr. 1805[1] Martinique[2]
Fate	Broken up in October 1817
General characteristics
Class and type	32-gun Amphion-class fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen	91876⁄94 (bm)
Length	144 ft 3 in (44.0 m) (overall) 121 ft 9 in (37.1 m) (keel)
Beam	37 ft 8 in (11.5 m)
Depth of hold	12 ft 6 in (3.8 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	254
Armament	Upper deck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 2 × 6-pounder guns + 8 × 24-pounder carronades Fc: 2 × 6-pounder guns + 2 × 24-pounder carronades

HMS Aeolus was a 32-gun Amphion-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1801 and served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and the War of 1812.

Ordered during the last years of the French Revolutionary Wars, Aeolus was at first engaged in convoy work, before being sent out to the West Indies, where she took part in operations off Saint-Domingue and blockaded the French ships in the harbours. She was involved in the chase of the 74-gun Duquesne after she put to sea, and assisted in her capture. Aeolus returned to operate off the British coast, and was part of Sir Richard Strachan's squadron in late 1805. The squadron encountered part of the fleeing Franco-Spanish fleet that Nelson had decisively defeated two weeks previously at the Battle of Trafalgar, and after bringing them to battle, captured the entire force.

After spending time off Ireland and North America, Aeolus was in the Caribbean in 1809, and took part in the capture of Martinique. Deployed with Captain Philip Broke's squadron after the outbreak of the War of 1812 Aeolus took part in the capture of USS Nautilus, the first ship either side lost in the war, the pursuit of USS Constitution and the capture of the American privateer Snapper. Aeolus was used as a storeship at Quebec after the end of the war, and after returning to Britain was laid up as the Napoleonic Wars drew to a close. She was finally sold in 1817.