HMS Amazon (1795)

She had a short but eventful career during the French Revolutionary War, which she spent in the Channel and Western Approaches, part of a frigate squadron under Sir Edward Pellew.

Frigates of the period were three-masted, full-rigged ships that carried their main battery on a single, continuous gun deck.

[8] Work began in June at Rotherhithe by John and William Wells & Co, when the 119 feet 5+1⁄2 inches (36.4 m) keel was laid down.

[b] Carronades were lighter so could be manoeuvred with fewer men, and had a faster rate of fire but had a much shorter range than the long gun.

[6] Launched on 4 July, under Captain Robert Carthew Reynolds, she joined Sir Edward Pellew's frigate squadron, watching the port of Brest for any attempt by the French fleet to put to sea.

[13] Amazon, Indefatigable, the 44-gun Argo, the 38-gun Révolutionnaire and the 36-gun Concorde[12] were cruising off Ushant, late in the afternoon of 13 April, when a ship was seen to windward.

Révolutionnaire eventually cut off the quarry, which turned out to be the French 32-gun frigate, Unité, and after a brief exchange of fire, forced her to surrender.

With Argo in Plymouth and Révolutionnaire on her way home with her prize, the three remaining British frigates were lying-to off The Lizard, when the 40-gun Virginie was spotted.

[16] Two French navy corvettes were sighted about eight leagues off Ushant while Indefatigable, Amazon, Concorde, Revolutionaire, and the 36-gun Phoebe, were cruising on 12 June.

[20][21] On 11 December, Amazon was despatched to England with news that seven French ships of the line had arrived in Brest, while Phoebe was sent to apprise Vice-Admiral John Colpoys.

[22] The ships were part of the preparation for an invasion of Ireland, a joint plot between the French Directory and the Society of United Irishmen to establish a republic in the country.

[29] At 04:00 on 14 January, land was suddenly sighted ahead and the frigates broke off the attack and headed in opposite directions.

Amazon, going north, and more severely damaged, was unable to wear and ran aground at Audierne Bay, Isle Bas.

Sir Edward Pellew; whose frigate squadron Amazon spent her entire career in.
Amazon (right) and Indefatigable (left) fighting the Droits de l'Homme (centre), by Léopold Le Guen (1853)