[2] On 6 July Captain Fellowes was at the Battle of Maida, having been ordered to join the troops by Rear-Admiral Sir Sidney Smith to act as liaison with the Navy should the Army have had to retire.

However, she and the 19 transports (out of 33) that she was escorting got separated from the rest of the expedition and arrived at Abu Qir Bay too late to participate meaningfully.

On 3 June 1808, Rear Admiral Thornbrough sent Sir Francis Laforey in Apollo to negotiate with the Supreme Junta of the Balearic Isles.

Between 30 and 31 October 1809, in the Battle of Maguelone[8] boats from Apollo participated in the attack by Hallowell's squadron on vessels of a French convoy that had taken refuge in the Bay of Rosas where they hoped that an armed storeship of 18 guns, two bombards and a xebec would provide them protection.

[b] In 1811 Apollo returned to the Mediterranean, fighting a large number of small-scale actions and raiding various French-held islands.

[14] The British had defeated a French naval force on 13 March at the Battle of Lissa and wanted to establish a base there with Robertson as its first Governor.

[15][c] On 21 December Apollo was in company with the brig-sloop Weazel when the two vessels chased a trabaccolo under the protection of the tower of San Cataldo, the strongest such on the coast between Brindisi and Otranto.

[17] Between 18 January and 3 February 1813, Apollo, together with the privateer Esperanza and four gunboats, and some 300 troops under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel G. D. Robertson, captured Augusta and Carzola Islands.

That day the British also captured seven vessels in the Channel, sailing to Ragusa and Cattaro, principally with grain, which was in short supply there.

[19][d] On 19 March, boats from Apollo and Cerberus destroyed several vessels, a battery and a tower three miles northwest of the port of Monopoli near Bari.

[21] Then on 11 April, Apollo and Cerberus took Devil's Island, near the north entrance to Corfu, and thereby captured a brig and a trabaccolo bringing in grain.

The gunboat also carried the colonel and chief of engineers of Corfu, (reportedly men of great ability), who were returning after having been to Parga and Pado to improve the fortifications there.

[23] On 6 February 1814, Apollo and Havannah were at anchor outside Brindisi while the French frigate Uranie was inside the port, on fire.

When Apollo appeared on the scene and made signs of being about to enter the port, Uranie's captain removed the powder from his ship and set her on fire.

As a result, the British force, which included inter alia men from the 2nd Greek Light Infantry from Cephalonia, from the Royal Corsican Rangers, the 35th Regiment of Foot, and marines and seamen from the Apollo, captured 122 enemy troops as well as a small, well-designed fort of three guns.

In March 1840 she carried the main body of the 56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot to Canada, where they reinforced the garrison there during the Northeastern Boundary Dispute.

[35] In October 1845 she carried the 73rd (Highland) Regiment of Foot to South Africa,[36] but was diverted to land troops in Montevideo as part of the intervention in the Uruguayan Civil War,[37] and returned to England with despatches and wounded men in April 1846.

[38] In June 1856, the 1st Battalion, The Rifle Brigade embarked on Apollo at Balaclava at the end of the Crimean War for their return to England.

[1] The figurehead of HMS Apollo, depicting the Greek and Roman god of the same name, is bare chested, draped in a pale blue material loosely in the style of the toga.

Apollo is frequently depicted in a laurel wreath or crown[39] in all three roles as patron of poetry, musical performance and skilled-based athletics.

[40] After her transformation, Apollo is said to have made the tree sacred and vowed to always wear laurel as clothing, thus always keeping her close.

[43] The trailboards of HMS Apollo - left behind when the figurehead was cut from the ship during the breakup process in 1856 - potentially held motifs of the rejected bow and arrow from the first design.

[44] Both are commonly used in depictions of Apollo who was also the god of archery, and would have been used to distinguish him from other perhaps more generic looking Greek-inspired figureheads, which became a popular theme of design in the 1800s.

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