[1] Minerve was initially commanded by Capitaine Jaques Collet, entering service during the early days of the War of the Fourth Coalition between Britain and her allies, and Napoleonic France.

In April 1806 she was part of a squadron—under Contre-amiral Zacharie Allemand and comprising five ships-of-the-line, five frigates, and four smaller vessels—anchored under the shore batteries of the Île-d'Aix awaiting the opportunity to put to sea.

Allemand ordered Minerve and three corvettes, Lynx, Sylphe, and Palinure, to meet the British frigate,[2] leading to a skirmish in which no ship incurred much damage.

Three other British vessels subsequently approached—the frigate Iris, the 16-gun sloop Hazard, and a cutter—and Capitaine Collet ended the engagement by sailing Minerve to a position under the shelter of the island's guns.

[6] Collett ordered his ships to set all sail in the hope of catching Pallas before she could escape, but Cochrane was in no hurry to leave and even attempted to draw the French on by backing his topsails and slowing down.

The crew of Kingfisher sailed in to take Pallas in tow; the latter had lost her fore topmast, jib-boom, spritsail, stunsail, and main topsail yards.

At 01:00 on 25 September Soleil's squadron were spotted near the Chassiron lighthouse by a powerful British force under Samuel Hood, comprising five 74-gun ships (Centaur, Achille, Monarch, Revenge, and Mars), the 98-gun Windsor Castle, and the 16-gun brig Atalante.

Admiral Samuel Hood's squadron—comprising ships-of-the-line, Centaur, York, Captain and Intrepid, and the frigates Alceste, Africaine, Shannon, and Success—escorted troopships into Funchal Bay on 24 December.

While at anchor about three miles to the north-west of the San Sebastián lighthouse, the British ships noticed the large convoy, escorted by 20 gun-boats and sailing close to the land so as to also benefit from the protection of a mobile artillery following on the shore.

Grasshopper, requiring less water than the frigates, was able to stand in close to the town and bombard the batteries there, while Alceste and Mercury concentrated their fire on the gun-boats, destroying two of the escorts and driving many of the merchants ashore.

[14][15] In 1808, with Napoleon controlling much of Europe, a plan was conceived by Sir Robert Adair, ambassador to Venice, to extract Pope Pius VII from Rome.

On 31 August boats from Alceste put the party ashore at Ostia, near Rome, where they made contact with a representative of the Vatican who agreed to speak to the Pope but failed to return.

Under cover of darkness, two boats from Alceste, one under Lieutenant Andrew Wilson, the other led by the ship's master, Henry Bell, attacked the shore batteries.

This was only partially successful; Wilson was unable to achieve his objective, while Bell's section managed to spike the guns of the second battery but only after taking heavy fire.

Having chased a brig into the harbour, but unable to follow due to the rocks and shallow water, the two frigates stood outside and opened fire on her and the battery protecting her.

[20][21] At the action of 29 November 1811, Alceste led the British frigate squadron that outran and defeated a French military convoy carrying a cargo of cannon.

The day before, Alceste had been stationed at the island of Lissa (now Vis), with the frigates Unité and Active, when word was received of a similar sized French squadron heading north.

[Note 3][22] It has been suggested by the British historian James Henderson that this action was a factor in Napoleon's decision to change the direction of his planned eastward expansion in 1812 from the Balkans to Russia.

[1] On 18 September 1814 she departed Plymouth as part of a squadron, with Bedford as flagship, that carried the advance guard of Major General Keane's army, which was moving to attack New Orleans.

William Amherst, the diplomat chosen to inform the emperor of the peace in Europe and to offer Britain's friendship, specifically requested Maxwell and Alceste to accompany him.

[37] Alceste was then turned towards the Loo Choo Islands, now known as the Ryukyu archipelago, dropping anchor in the Napakiang roads on the south-west side of Okinawa on 16 September 1816.

[38] Alceste required some repairs after a long journey in inclement weather so Maxwell petitioned the viceroy of Canton for permission to travel up the Tigris to a secure anchorage, unaware that Amherst's mission had been unsuccessful.

[39] The emperor's attitude towards the British envoy had been off-hand; he showed little interest in Europe or its affairs, and refused a gift from King George as he considered it insufficient.

[40] Having received an insulting message in response to his request, Maxwell decided to enter the river regardless but was soon hailed by a local mandarin who threatened to have the batteries guarding the entrance sink Alceste if she went any further.

[Note 6] Maxwell ordered the anchor dropped to prevent the ship from slipping into deeper water, an undesirable situation if the hull had been breached, which turned out to be the case.

[44] Maxwell ordered his first lieutenant, Henry Parkyns Hoppner, to take Lord Amherst and his party in two of the boats to an island, known today as Pulo Leat, three miles away.

The island's thick vegetation prevented an assessment of whether it was inhabited, and forced the boat crews to row a further three miles along the shore before finding a suitable landing spot between the mangroves.

The fire lasted throughout the night and destroyed the wreck; the following morning Maxwell sent out a boat that managed to retrieve some barrels of flour, cases of wine, and a cask of ale.

[51] Provisions were now running low, and with the rescue mission overdue, Maxwell began formulating a plan to capture sufficient proas to escape from the island.

[53] The rescue ship was Ternate, a 16-gun brig belonging to the British East India Company's navy, the Bombay Marine, despatched by Lord Amherst on the day of his arrival in Batavia.