HMS Amelia (1796)

HMS Amelia Chasing the French frigate Aréthuse.
Painted in 1852 by John Christian Schetky
History
French Navy Ensign until 1789 French Navy Ensign (1790–1794) French Navy Ensign (1794–1815)France
NameProserpine
BuilderBrest, France
Laid downDecember 1784[1]
Launched25 June 1785
CommissionedAugust 1785
FateCaptured by the Royal Navy on 13 June 1796
Great Britain
Acquired13 June 1796 by capture
CommissionedAugust 1797
RenamedRenamed HMS Amelia on capture
Honors and
awards
FateBroken up in December 1816
General characteristics [4]
Class and typeHébé-class frigate
Tons burthen1,0593594 (bm)
Length151 ft 4 in (46.1 m) (overall); 126 ft 1+38 in (38.4 m)
Beam39 ft 8+78 in (12.1 m)
Depth of hold12 ft 6+12 in (3.8 m)
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Complement
  • French service: 325[1]
  • British service:284 (later 315)
Armament

Proserpine was a 38-gun Hébé-class frigate of the French Navy launched in 1785 that HMS Dryad captured on 13 June 1796. The Admiralty commissioned Proserpine into the Royal Navy as the fifth rate, HMS Amelia. She spent 20 years in the Royal Navy, participating in numerous actions in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, capturing a number of prizes, and serving on anti-smuggling and anti-slavery patrols. Her most notable action was her intense and bloody, but inconclusive, fight in 1813 with the French frigate Aréthuse. Amelia was broken up in December 1816.

  1. ^ a b c d Demerliac (1999), p. 57, #341.
  2. ^ "No. 20939". The London Gazette. 26 January 1849. p. 238.
  3. ^ "No. 20939". The London Gazette. 26 January 1849. p. 246.
  4. ^ Winfield (2008), p. 161.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference LG13902 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).