HMS Romulus (1785)

Romulus in full sail, c. 1806
History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Romulus
Ordered	28 December 1781
Builder	Greaves and Purnell, Limehouse
Laid down	November 1782
Launched	21 September 1785
Commissioned	May 1790
Fate	Broken up, 1816
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Flora-class fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen	87937⁄94 (bm)
Length	137 ft 2 in (41.8 m) (gun deck) 113 ft (34.4 m) (keel)
Beam	38 ft 3 in (11.7 m)
Draught	9 ft 5+1⁄2 in (2.9 m) (bow) 13 ft 6+1⁄2 in (4.1 m) (stern)
Depth of hold	13 ft 3+1⁄2 in (4.1 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	270
Armament	36 guns: Gun deck: 26 × 18-pdrs Quarterdeck: 8 × 9-pdrs + 4 × 18-pdr carronades Forecastle: 2 × 9-pdrs + 4 × 18-pdr carronades 12 × 1⁄2 pdr swivel guns

HMS Romulus was a 36-gun fifth rate frigate of the Flora class, built for the Royal Navy and launched in September 1785. At the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War, Romulus was despatched to the Mediterranean where she joined a fleet under Admiral Lord Hood, initially blockading, and later occupying, the port of Toulon. She played an active role during the withdrawal in December, providing covering fire while HMS Robust and HMS Leviathan removed allied troops from the waterfront.

With three other frigates and 13 ships-of-the-line, Romulus chased a smaller French squadron into Gourjean Bay in August 1794. Kept away by the batteries on the shore, Hood returned to Corsica with four ships, leaving Romulus, three other frigates and nine ships-of-the-line, to form a blockade. This ultimately failed due to bad weather and the French ships escaped. Following the Battle of Genoa on 14 March 1795, boats from Romulus assisted in the recovery of stores and crew from HMS Illustrious, which had been badly damaged during the action and subsequent storm.

In January 1797, Romulus was in the small squadron, under Commodore Horatio Nelson that evacuated the island of Elba. While the escaping convoy was escorted to Gibraltar, Romulus, with Nelson's ship HMS Minerve, carried out a surveillance of the enemy ports and coast. On 24 May, in a ruse de guerre, Romulus captured a Spanish 20-gun corvette. Approaching under false colours with a second British frigate, the Spanish vessel was taken without a shot being fired.

Romulus was converted to a troopship in mid-1799 and served in the Egyptian campaign, landing troops for the battle of Aboukir on 8 March 1801. She was paid off at the end of the war in 1802. When hostilities resumed in May 1803, Romulus was converted into a floating battery, standing guard first at Woolwich, then Hollesley Bay near East Anglia and finally Leith. During the later half of 1810, Romulus was converted to a troopship once more and in 1812 was back in the Mediterranean. In July 1813 she had a short-lived appointment as a hospital ship in Bermuda. She paid off that December, was recommissioned a final time, and was eventually broken up on the island in November 1816.