HMS Phaeton (1782)

Contemporary Japanese drawing of HMS Phaeton (Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture)
History
Great Britain
NameHMS Phaeton
OperatorRoyal Navy
Ordered3 March 1780
BuilderJohn Smallshaw, Liverpool
Laid downJune 1780
Launched12 June 1782
Completed27 December 1782
CommissionedMarch 1782
Honours and
awards
FateSold for breaking up 26 March 1828
General characteristics
Class and typeMinerva-class frigate
Tons burthen944 (bm)
Length141 ft 0 in (42.98 m)
Beam39 ft 0 in (11.89 m)
Depth of hold13 ft 10 in (4.22 m)
PropulsionSail
Complement280
Armament
  • Upper deck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
  • QD: 8 × 9-pounder guns + 6 × 18-pounder carronades
  • Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 4 × 18-pounder carronades

HMS Phaeton was a 38-gun, Minerva-class fifth rate of Britain's Royal Navy. This frigate was most noted for her intrusion into Nagasaki harbour in 1808. John Smallshaw (Smallshaw & Company) built Phaeton in Liverpool between 1780 and 1782. She participated in numerous engagements during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars during which service she captured many prizes. Francis Beaufort, inventor of the Beaufort Wind-Scale, was a lieutenant on Phaeton when he distinguished himself during a successful cutting out expedition. Phaeton sailed to the Pacific in 1805, and returned in 1812. She was finally sold on 26 March 1828.

  1. ^ "No. 20939". The London Gazette. 26 January 1849. pp. 236–237.
  2. ^ "No. 20939". The London Gazette. 26 January 1849. p. 246.