HMS Galatea was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy designed by George Parsons at Bursledon and launched in 1794. Before she was broken up in 1809 she captured numerous prizes and participated in a number of actions, first in the Channel and off Ireland (1794–1803), and then in the Caribbean (1802–1809), including one that earned her crew the Naval General Service Medal.
Service history
Channel Fleet, 1794–1803 Galatea was commissioned in May 1794 under the command of Captain Richard Goodwin Keats. She then joined the Channel Squadrons under Sir Edward Pellew and Sir John Borlase Warren.
Galatea took part in the capture or destruction of a number of French warships. On 23 August, the squadron ran the French ships Volontaire, Espion, and Alerte on to the shore along the coast of France and destroyed them.
Galatea, , , and shared in the capture of the French cutter Quartidi on 7 September. They also shared in the recapture of the Swedish brig Haesingeland on 16 September.
Galatea was among the vessels in sight when Artois captured the frigate of 40 guns and 370 men at the action of 21 October 1794. She was on her first cruise, barely a week out of LeHavre. Prize money exceeded £16,000. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Revolutionaire.
From January into February Galatea was under the temporary command of Captain F. Cole. On 31 January 1795, the squadron captured the Dutch East India Ship Ostenhuyson.
Between 13 and 26 February 1795, the squadron under Captain Sir John Borlase Warren in , captured nine vessels off the Île de Groix, near Lorient: Sloop Petit Jean; Brig St. Pierre; Brig Deux Frères; Ship Petite Magalène; Pacquet boat De Cayenne; Schooner Curieuse (name latter corrected to Coureuse; she was a vessel belonging to the National Convention government), of eight brass guns; Lugger Liberté; Lugger Gloire; and Brig transport Biche (National Convention). The squadron also burnt seven vessels and scuttled four. In his letter listing the vessels, Warren particularly thanked Keats for his efforts.
Coureuse, American-built, was escorting this convoy from Brest to Nantes with clothing for the army. The frigates Artois, Galatea and , and the hired armed lugger Duke of York assisted Pomone in the capture. The British latter scuttled two more of the brigs that were of little value, but took the other four vessels as prizes, with being taken into service briefly as a dispatch vessel in the Mediterranean.
Galatea, Anson, Artois and Pomone shared in the capture of Jean Amie, François Bernard and Lune on 15 and 27 February 1795. Between 13 February and 2 March, the same four British ships shared in the capture of the Petit Jean, Adélaïde, and Aimalie.
Then Galatea took the ship-corvette Expédition on 16 April 1795. Expédition, of 16 guns and 110 men, was formerly a British packet. She was part of a convoy that Pellew's squadron had chased and was one of several small vessels they captured that day.
Galatea participated in the unsuccessful invasion of France at Quiberon Bay between 23 June and 21 July. She therefore was among the myriad vessels that shared in the proceeds of the capture of the Harmony and Rachel on 1 and 4 July 1795. Galatea was also among the vessels of Pellew's squadron that shared in the recapture, on 9 October, of the ship Kent.
Galatea, Artois, Anson and Pomone, which was under the command of Sir John Borlase Warren, who commanded the squadron, attacked a French convoy of some 60 vessels, including its escort of four frigates, a corvette, the armed store ship Étoile and a gun-brig, on 20 March 1796. The British captured Étoile, which was under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Mathurin-Théodore Berthelin. She was armed with thirty 12-pounder guns and had a crew of 160 men. The British also captured a ship and four brigs belonging to the convoy. In the engagement Galatea lost two men killed and six wounded and her losses represented the only British casualties. In his letter, Sir John exaggerated the French strength; actually the British outgunned them.James (1837), Vol. 1, pp. 320–1.
On 29 March Galatea recaptured the ship Fortitude. Then Galatea, Pomone, Artois and Anson shared in the capture of several vessels. América (6 April); Jean Marie (18 April); French ship Robuste (26 April): Pacific (14 May); Lodoiska (22 May); Friendschap (25 May). Fantaisie (25 May); Then Galatea, Pomone, Artois and Anson shared in the capture of the chasse marees Charlotte and Véronique on 16 August. Six days later, the same four vessels plus the lugger Argus captured the Jonge Duisse.
On 23 August 1796 the squadron was cruising near the Garonne when a French frigate hove in sight. Notwithstanding the difficulty of the navigation in shoal waters Captain Richard Goodwin Keats and Galatea pursued the frigate. The French pilot on board declared himself incapable of piloting the ship in the shoal waters, but Keats persevered taking responsibility for conning his ship and chased the enemy through the night in squally winds, rain and lightning, passing between the Chevrier bank and the lighthouse before making all sail in pursuit right over the shoals of Arcachon on which the French frigate struck and was immediately wrecked. In the morning they were joined by the ' 'Artois' ' and Sylph. Boats from Artois and Galatea were sent with a boarding party. The frigate turned out to be the Andromaque, of forty-four 12-pounder guns (though pierced for 48), most of which her crew thrown overboard. She had a crew of 300 men, many of whom jumped overboard and who drowned in their attempt to reach the shore. The boarding party took prisoner Andromaques captain and officers, and rescued a number of Portuguese prisoners who had been the crews of two Brazilian ships that her squadron had captured. A boarding party from Sylph fired into her bottom to prevent re-floating and set fire to Andromaque as they left; she was completely burnt.James (1837)< Vol 1, pp. 343–5.
Shortly after this encounter the squadron returned to Falmouth on Admiralty orders to reinforce the squadrons off Brest. such was the widespread public expectation that the gallant western frigate squadron would continue its well publicised harassment of the enemy the admiralty wrote they were 'intending by and by to release you from the fleet and send you cruising again on your old ground." Next, Galatea, Pomone, Artois and Anson shared in the capture of even more vessels: Brig (name unknown), chasse marees Maria Theresa and Providence (11 December); Spanish brig recaptured (14 December); and Spanish brig Divina Pastora (17 December);
Also in 1796, Galatea, as a member of the fleet under Admiral Colpoys, shared in the capture of the privateer Franklin. On 19 November, Galatea was among the vessels that shared in the capture of the Bergen.
Pomone, Galatea, Anson and Artois recaptured the whaler Mary South on 25 April 1797. On 15 May, Pomone, Galatea and Artois detained the Count Bernstoff.
A month and a half later, on 30 June 1797, Captain George Byng had assumed command of Galatea and was her captain when she captured the privateer lugger Argonaute off Cape Clear. Argonaute was armed with two brass 6-pounder guns and ten swivel guns. She had a crew of 36 men and was 14 days out of Granville but had not taken any prizes.
On 15 July, took the 22-gun privateer Duguay-Trouin. Galatea shared in the capture.
On 19 July, Doris and Galatea recaptured the Portuguese ship Nostra Senora de Patrocinio e Santa Anna. At some point they also recaptured the Portuguese ship Nostra Senora de Conceiçao e Navigantes.
A little over a month later, on 22 August 1797 Galatea recaptured the brig Friends Adventure. Then on 6 November she captured the 14-gun Venturier, the former . There being a already in service, when the Royal Navy took Galateas prize into back into service they gave her the name HMS Venturer.
In 1799, Galatea was stationed off Southern Ireland. On 26 December she was in company with Loire when they captured the American ship Favorite.
In January 1800 Galatea escorted a convoy from Cork through the Channel to the Downs. On a stormy night, Lieutenant Donald Campbell and six men took a boat to take possession of a Spanish letter of marque that Galatea had caught. Because of the weather it took them an hour to get to her and then as they boarded her waves stove in their boat. Still, the seven men took control of Pensée and her 20-man crew. However, for the next ten days the weather blocked Campbell from contact with Galatea. Campbell therefore had to navigate Pensée while keeping control of a group of prisoners that outnumbered his men by almost three to one. This feat and his good service record led to Lieutenant Campbell being promoted to first lieutenant of in 1802 or 1803.
On 3 January 1801, Galatea escorted Hibernia into Plymouth from Belfast. Hibernia was a linen ship worth £100,000, and was carrying as a passenger Mr. J. Dalway, Member of Parliament from Belfast. On their way the two vessels encountered very bad weather off the Isles of Scilly.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 5, p. 92.
On 21 April 1801 Galatea recaptured Kenyon. Kenyon had been en route from Jamaica to Liverpool with a cargo worth £40,000, when the French captured her. recaptured Kenyon and the three other prizes, which the French again captured. After re-recapturing Kenyon, Galatea searched for the other three; there is no report of her having recaptured them, so she was apparently unable to find them.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 5, p. 460.
After this, Captain George Wolfe assumed command, having been appointed in April 1801. On 1 July Galatea came into Plymouth after a cruise of 18 weeks in the Atlantic and off the western islands.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 6, p. 253. Then during October and November she was on a 28-day cruise in the Bay of Biscay. Here she not only endured fifteen severe gales, but on 1 and 2 November she nearly foundered. Hurricane-force winds sent her mizzen mast and the main and foretop masts over the side, even though she had no sails set. Furthermore, when the mizzen mast went it took one seaman to go overboard with it and severely injured others. When the winds died down on 3 November, Byng sailed Galatea for Cork. There he jury rigged a mizzen-mast, main, and foretop-mast. Galatea finally reached Plymouth on 22 November.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 6, pp. 431–2.
She spent the first quarter of 1802 sailing between Cork and Plymouth and was paid off on 28 April 1802. On 30 July she sailed in company with and for the Isle of Wight. There they were to pick up Dutch troops to return to Holland.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 7, p. 172.
Galatea and several other frigates then returned to Plymouth from Den Helder on 3 September. On 14 September she sailed for Spithead carrying discharged seamen.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 8, pp. 259–60. She then returned discharged marines to Plymouth.Naval Chronicle, Vol. 8, p. 263. Subsequently, she cruised on patrols looking for smugglers.
In April 1803 Captain Henry Heathcote assumed command while Galatea was being fitted out at Portsmouth. On 8 July she sailed to take up position as guardship off The Needles.naval Chronicle, Vol. 10, p. 172.
Caribbean, 1804–1809 In February 1804 Galatea sailed to the West Indies as escort to a convoy of merchant vessels. On 19 May she recaptured , which was carrying plantation stores. A month later, on 25 June, she recaptured the English ship , which was carrying a cargo of slaves and ivory.
On 3 August the French privateer schooner Elizabeth, of six guns, arrived at Dominica. Galatea had cut her out at Guadeloupe.Lloyd's List №4495/