She was briefly flagship of both Admiral Mark Milbanke and Vice-Admiral Sir Andrew Mitchell during her career, and was present at the Battle of Navarino.

Ordered on 30 April 1795, Cambrian was designed by Sir John Henslow and built by George Parsons of Bursledon.

[5] Five days later, in the evening of 16 January, Sir Edward Pellew's squadron captured the French privateer Inconcevable.

She was 36 days out of Brest and during that time had capture only one ship, a large American vessel named Providence, which had a cargo of cotton and sugar.

"[10] Four days later, Cambrian recaptured Dorothea, a Danish brig sailing from Amsterdam to Tangiers with a cargo of bale goods.

[11] Some months later, on 9 March, Triton, St Fiorenzo, Naiad, and Cambrian captured the French merchant ship Victoire.

[12] On 9 October 1799, Cambrian was among the several vessels that shared in the capture of the Spanish brig Nostra Senora de la Solidad.

Stag captured one, the letter of marque Heureux Premier, which was armed with 10 brass 6-pounder guns, and which was sailing from Cayenne to Bordeaux with a cargo of red dye, cotton, cocoa, coffee, and sugar.

[20] Then on 5 May Cambrian and Fisgard captured the French brig corvette Dragon, pierced for 14 guns but armed with 10, and with a crew of 72 men under the command of Lieutenant de Vaisseau Lachurie.

[21] Eleven months later, on 5 April 1801, Cambrian recaptured the letter of marque Nancy, which the French privateer Braave had captured three days earlier.

That same month Cambrian came to serve as flagship to Admiral Mark Milbanke and later (July to March 1803) Vice-Admiral Sir Andrew Mitchell while on the North America and West Indies Station.

[27] Four days later Cambrian captured the schooner Alexander (or Alexandre), which was armed with eight guns and had a crew of 68 men under the command of Charles La Marque.

[30] Then in May 1805, Cambrian transferred to the Halifax station, where she harassed French and Spanish shipping and captured several privateers and merchantmen.

[31] On 13 June her boats, under the command of Lieutenant George Pigot, boarded and captured the Spanish privateer schooner Maria, of 14 guns and 60 men.

[b] She surrendered in shoal water and if not for the efforts of Lieutenant Pigot in one of Cambrian's boats, Matilda's entire crew might have been lost.

He arrived off the harbour the day before and took the Matilda twelve miles up the St Marys River to attack three vessels reported to be there.

[32] Pigot was unable to extricate himself and his prizes from the river until 21 July, but during the entire period he remained in command except when he was getting his wounds dressed.

For his efforts Pigot received a promotion to commander, and the Lloyd's Patriotic Fund awarded him a medal and a plate worth £50.

While under his command she, along with Leander and the ship-sloop Driver, was engaged in searching American vessels coming from foreign ports, for enemy property and contraband.

[40] Cambrian continued to cruise, including sailing to Charlestown to lift a blockade of the port by three French privateers.

[42][e][f] In October her captain was James Deans (acting),[42] while Paget took up Admiral Gambier's offer to let him return to Britain in Nightingale with the duplicate despatches announcing Denmark's capitulation.

[42] On 5 September 1810 Cambrian sailed from Tarragona with General Doyle and two xebecs carrying Spanish soldiers and some cannons.

When it turned out that an assault on the fort was impossible, on 10 September Doyle led a landing party of soldiers and marines from the frigates to attack a battery of four 24-pounder guns (two mounted) at Bega (or Bagur).

On 17 September Cambrian left Palamós with the French cannon and prisoners that had been captured, together with Spanish General O'Donnell, who had been shot in the leg during the battle.

On 14 April boats from Cambrian cut out a settee carrying grain from Port Vendee to Barcelona that had sheltered under the protection of batteries on the Medes Islands.

[58] In 1825 Cambrian was lead vessel of a small squadron in anti-piracy operations in the Archipelago, at Alexandria, and around the coasts of Syria.

[60] On 27 July 1826 Cambrian's boats captured a pirate bombard and burnt a mistico on the Cycladic island of Tinos.

[58] In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Navarino" to all surviving claimants from the action.

In January 1828, Cambrian was again involved in the suppression of piracy as part of a squadron under Commodore Sir Thomas Staines.

[68][70][o] This article includes data released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported UK: England & Wales Licence, by the National Maritime Museum, as part of the Warship Histories project.