FOUDROYANT (80) 1798 Built in 1798, Plymouth.

  Guardship in 1820.

  1798 Capt. Sir Thomas Byard, 06/1798.Channel station. Sir Thomas died on 30 October 1798.

  1798 Capt. Elphinstone, 12/1798.Flagship of Vice Ad. Lord Keith, 1799 Capt. Thomas Hardy, until 12 October 1799, Lord Nelson's flagship, Mediterranean.
Nelson moved his flag from VANGUARD (74) to FOUDROYANT at Palermo on 6 June 1799.

  Capt. Sir Edward Berry returned to the Mediterranean in the autumn of 1799 and took command of FOUDROYANT.
On 18 February the following year he was able to take part in the capture of his old opponent the GENEREUX (74) by which he had been taken prisoner in August 1798.

  Earlier Lord Keith, learning that the French were to attempt running reinforcements into Malta, had disposed his blockading ships to cover likely landing places. FOUDROYANT, AUDACIOUS (74) and NORTHUMBERLAND (74) were to chase to windward, Lion to cover the passage between Gozo and Malta, while QUEEN CHARLOTTE (104), PHAETON (38), MINORCA (18) and a  napolitan frigate kept close inshore off Valetta.At daylight on the 18th Lord Nelson in FOUDROYANT, in company with NORTHUMBERLAND, AUDACIOUS and CORSO (14), saw the ALEXANDER in chase of a line-of-battle ship, three frigates and a corvette. One of the frigates, VILLE DE MARSEILLE, struck after a few shots were fired at her, and Captain Gould of AUDACIOUS and Captain Ricketts of CORSO took charge of her. She was loaded with salt meat, brandy, wine, clothing, stores, etc. Success, being to leeward, raked the line-of-battle ship with several broadsides, suffering several casualties as she did so. When FOUDROYANT and NORTHUMBERLAND came up the former fired two shot and the enemy fired a broadside and struck her colours. She was the GENEREUX, bearing the flag of Rear Admiral Perree, carrying troops for the relief of Malta.The enemy squadron had sailed from Toulon on the 7th with nearly 4,000 troops and supplies.The other ships escaped back to France.Lord Nelson sent Andrew Thompson, 1st lieutenant of FOUDROYANT, to take charge of the prize.

  Lord Nelson was taken ill at the beginning of March 1800 while off Malta and Captain Berry landed him at Palermo on the 16th.On the 18th he nearly died with the swelling of some vessels of the heart.  FOUDROYANT sailed on the 21st without him.

  On 29 March the GUILLAUME TELL (80), the only remaining ship which had escaped from Aboukir Bay, taking advantage of a strong southerly gale, sailed from Valetta in darkness after the moon had set.The British batteries on Malta immediately set off signal rockets and she was sighted by Captain Blackwood of the PENELOPE (24) and the news passed to Captain Dixon of LION (64) by MINORCA.  LION gave chase, guided solely by the gunfire of PENELOPE, and sent up a rocket and a showed a blue light every half hour to give a direction for the rest of the squadron. FOUDROYANT layed the enemy alongside and was nearly unrigged by a broadside but she replied with a triple-shotted broadside which crashed through the side of the French ship. The GUILLAUME TELL’s main and mizzen masts were brought down and, at the same time, so were FOUDROYANT's fore-top-mast, jib boom and maintop-sail yard, and all her sails were in tatters. The French ship refused to surrender until she had become a floating hulk with 200 men killed and wounded.
FOUDROYANT's loss was 8 men killed and 61 wounded.Among the latter were Captain Berry, who was slightly wounded in the foot but did not leave the deck; Lieut. John Aitken Blow; Philip Bridge, Boatswain; Messrs. Edward West, Granville Proby, Thomas Cole, midshipmen. The crippled condition of LION and FOUDROYANT made it necessary for Captain Blackwood to take charge of the prize and tow her to Syracuse.
FOUDROYANT expended 161 barrels of gunpowder, 1200 32-pound round shot, 1240 20-pound ditto, 100 18-pound ditto, and 200 12-pound ditto during the engagement.
PENELOPE and VINCEJO (18) received naval medals for their part in the action.

  On 24 April 1800 FOUDROYANT took Lord Nelson who was in Palermo, to Syracuse, arriving on the 30th. She was at Malta from 20 May until 1 June when she returned to Palermo.
On 5 June FOUDROYANT carried the Queen of Naples, her suite and Lord Nelson to Livorno, where they arrived on the evening of the 14th. in a fresh gale.
By this time FOUDROYANT was in a bad state of repair and badly in need of a refit. The idea of removing her caused panic in the palace but Nelson struck his flag at the end of the month and returned home overland with Sir William and Lady Hamilton, and the ship went to Minorca for a refit.  At the end of the year Sir Edward sailed for home in the PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.

  1801 Captain Syevenson, flagship of Vice Admiral Lord Keith, Commander in Chief, Mediterranean.

  On 22 February 1801 Lord Keith's fleet of warships and transports sailed from the harbour of Marmarice and reached Aboukir Bay on 2 March after encountering severe westerly gales on the passage.On the 8th, the landings began and by evening the whole army was ashore. FOUDROYANT had one seaman killed and one wounded.  Another seaman was wounded on 13 March when serving ashore with Sir William Sidney Smith’s naval brigade.

  1801 Captain John Clarke Searle, flag captain to Lord Keith during the Egyptian campaign, returned to Portsmouth with that officer on 3 July 1802. FOUDROYANT was relieved of quarantine the following day, and his lordship landed.

  On 14 July FOUDROYANT arrived at Plymouth from Spithead.

  On 3 August she was paid off and laid up in ordinary.
On 14 December FOUDROYANT and SALVADOR DEL  MUNDO (112) were hauled alongside the Jetty Head, preparatory to going into dock to be repaired.They had to wait for Tonnant to come out of the large North Dock, and the completion of the breaking up of COURAGEUX.

  1803 Under repair at Plymouth.
On 19 June she was commissioned at Plymouth by Captain Rodd.
Later Rear Admiral Dacres hoisted his flag on her.He struck it again on 29 October and shifted to Prince, while Rear Ad. Sir Thomas Graves hoisted his flag, as Rear Admiral of the White, at the mizzen of FOUDROYANT.

  At the beginning of November, FOUDROYANT, now commanded by Captain Spicer, remained at the lower moorings in the Hamoaze because the wind was blowing so hard from the E. N.E., but on the 12th she managed to move into Cawsand Bay.
On the 24th, Jamica, turning out of Cawsand Bay, got foul of FOUDROYANT.

  She sailed to join the Channel fleet, but was back on the 26 December after a hurricane from the south-west hit the area on Christmas morning, wrecking shipping in Cawsand Bay and continued until the end of the year. FOUDROYANT lost her fore top-sail-yard and top-gallant-mast, with some slight damage to her upper works. She had been the most to leeward of any of the fleet and great fears had been entertained for her safety since the IMPETUEUX (78) was at one time rolling with her quarter-deck guns in the water. FOUDROYANT ran down a Dutch galliot in the Channel, but the crew were saved. Lighters were sent into Cawsand Bay from the dockyard with spars, spare anchors, cables, cordage and guns of all sorts, to repair the damage.
FOUDROYANT and MARS (74) attempted to sail on the evening of the 6 January, but the wind dropped to a complete calm which lasted through the next day.

  In February Rear Admiral Graves relieved Rear Admiral Collingwood in command of the inshore squadron off Brest.
The fleet was divided into three squadrons, inshore, providing the close blockade, offshore, providing support, and the cruising squadron, intercepting supplies.
FOUDROYANT returned to Plymouth for a refit on 26 March.

  1804-5 Captain Christopher John Williams Nesham, Flagship of Rear Ad. Sir Thomas Graves.

  1805 Capt. Peter Paget, Sir Thomas Graves.
FOUDROYANT was at anchor in Quiberon Bay in January 1805, when the schooner Felix brought the news that five days earlier, on 12 January, an enemy squadron had sailed from Rochefort.One three-deckers, five two-deckers, two frigates and two brigs had vanished into the stormy Atlantic.Sir Thomas made sail but found it impossible to weather the shore on either tack and was forced to re-anchor his squadron in the bay.
FOUDROYANT received some damage and, on the night of Friday 15 February, she was completely stripped and went into dock in Plymouth to be examined, the Admiral's flag still flying at the mizzen.The damage was not as bad as first thought and, with several gangs of shipwrights and caulkers working night and day on her, she was hauled out again on the Monday morning, her bottom repaired and newly caulked and coppered.Immediately she came out Thunderer was taken in to have her bottom examined.
The French ships under Rear Admiral Missiessy, many suffering major damage from the weather, crossed to the West Indies and reached Martinique on 22 February.After capturing 33 British merchant vessels and making an abortive attempt on Dominica, the French Admiral received orders to return to Rochefort.On arrival there, on 20 May, he found that he was supposed to have remained at Martinique to await Villeneuve.

  In April FOUDROYANT was in port under repair, but available at 24 hours notice, and in the first week of June Rear Admiral Graves was ordered to take BARFLEUR (90), WINDSOR CASTLE (98), REPULSE (64), TRIUMPH (74), WARRIOR (74), RAISONNABLE  (64) and EGYPTIENNE (44), under his orders, and blockade Rochefort.
At the end of 1805 Captain Wilson Rathborne was appointed to FOUDROYANT out of the Santa Margaritta, but he was unwilling to move from a cruising frigate to a blockading ship and Captain Loring, who was appointed to succeed him, refrained from taking command until their Lordships changed their orders.Captain Puget was appointed instead.

  1806 Captain Douglas, Flagship of Vice Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren.
On 13 March 1806 London, stationed to the windward of the squadron, made the signal for a strange sail.Sir John ordered the squadron to wear, and soon observed the London in action with a large ship and a frigate, an action which continued as the enemy attempted to escape.The Amazon joined in, attacking the frigate, and when the rest of the squadron came up the two struck their colours.An officer came on board FOUDROYANT with Admiral Linois' sword and informed Sir John that the ships were LE MARENGO (80) and LA BELLE POULE (40), returning to France from the East Indies.  LE MARENGO was conducted into port by FOUDROYANT's first lieutenant, Booty Harvey, who was promoted to commander in May.Both prizes were taken into the Royal Navy.

  1807 Captain Norborne Thompson, blockading the coast of Portugal. 1809 Flagship of Sir W. Sidney Smith at Rio de Janeiro.
Cdr. John Davie commanded her from January until May 1809, acting until the return of Captain Yeo, who was to be flag captain when he returned from a cruise.

  1811 Captain R. T. Hancock, flagship of Vice Ad. Hon. M. De

  Courcy, Brazils.Returned in the autumn of 1812.

  Taken from  Michael Philip's Ships of the Old Navy.