HMS Defence was a 74-gun third rate built for the Royal Navy in the 1810s. Completed in 1815, she was never commissioned and served as a prison ship beginning in 1851. Badly damaged by a fire in 1857 the ship was broken up for scrap in 1858.
History HMS Defence was ordered on 23 March 1809 and laid down in May 1812 at Chatham Dockyard. She was launched on 25 April 1815 and served as a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line.
In 1849, she was converted to serve as a prison ship. On 14 July 1857, Defence was badly damaged by an accidental fire at Woolwich, likely caused by spontaneous combustion in a recently delivered load of coal.The Hobart Town Mercury, 30 Oct 1857, p. 2 The fire was extinguished by scuttling the ship, and the remains were subsequently broken up later that year.Gosset, p. 114
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