HMS Melampus was a Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate that served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

The Admiralty ordered Melampus from James Martin Hillhouse, of Bristol on 17 April 1782 as a 38-gun fifth rate.

[3] During this time Melampus participated in the action of 23 April 1794, during which the British took three vessels, Engageante, Pomone, and Babet.

Strachan sent in the boats from the vessels in his squadron while Melampus and the ships provided covering fire.

The French crews abandoned their vessels at the approach of the British and eventually the shore battery also stopped firing.

The cutting out party retrieved all the vessels, save a small sloop, which was hard ashore and which they burnt.

Etna was armed with eighteen 12-pounder guns and had a crew of 137 men under the command of Citizen Joseph La Coudrais.

Rayon was armed with six carriage guns and eight coehorns, and had a crew of 54 men under the command of Jean Baptiste Leonard Gosselin.

She had sailed from Cherburg ten hours earlier intending to cruise between the Lizard and Cape Clear for six weeks.

She was armed with twenty 9-pounder guns and two 18-pounders, and had a crew of 195 men under the command of Citizen Delageneaux, a capitaine de frégate.

[3] On 2 June, Melampus, in company with Juno, captured the French letter of marque Volant, of 140 tons, armed with eight guns, and having a crew of 49 men.

She was recommissioned in August 1804 under the command of Captain Stephen Poyntz, and commenced cruises off the French coast.

[e] Frisk succeeded in capturing Gunvessel n° 288, armed with one 24-pounder gun, and with a complement of 25 men (20 being troops from the 44th Regiment), all under the command of enseigne de vaisseaux P.

[21] Rhoda succeeded in capturing the lugger Gunvessel n °313, armed with one 24-pounder gun, and with a complement of 22 men (18 of them soldiers), under the command of enseigne auxiliaire Frederick Widsmann.

[23] On 25 June Loire had been chasing a French frigate privateer for some twelve hours when Melampus and Brilliant came up and cut-off the quarry, forcing her to surrender.

[26] Melampus was present, whilst serving as part of a squadron under her old commander Sir Richard Strachan, at the destruction of the 74-gun Impétueux on 14 September 1806.

She was a new vessel and was sailing from Cherburg with a cargo of 570 barrels of flour and a great quantity of gunpowder intended for the relief of to San Domingo.

On her way she had captured and sunk two British brigs that had been sailing from Newfoundland to Lisbon, the Hannibal and the Priscilla, both of Dartmouth.

Bearnais was armed with sixteen 24-pounder carronades and had a crew of 109 men (including 30 soldiers), under the command of Monsieur Montbazen, Lieutenant de vaisseau.

Bearnais was a new vessel and was sailing from Bayonne to Guadeloupe with a cargo of flour and military stores, some of which she had thrown overboard during the pursuit.

In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Guadaloupe" to all surviving claimants from the campaign.

Melampus was in company with the sloop Driver when they captured a French corvette brig letter of marque on 28 May.

The vessel was the Fantôme, of 300 tons burthen (bm), pierced for 20 heavy carronades, and with a crew of 74 men.

van de Capellen that joined a British fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Exmouth in the bombardment of Algiers.

In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Algiers" to the 1328 surviving British claimants from the action.