# HMS Hercule > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/HMS_Hercule > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/HMS_Hercule.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hercule > Source revision: 1346201194 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Téméraire class ship of the line}} {{other ships|French ship Hercule|HMS Hercules}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}} {{Infobox ship |section1={{Infobox ship/image |image=Fight of the Poursuivante mp3h9426.jpg |image_caption=''Hercule'' at the [action of 28 June 1803](/source/action_of_28_June_1803) }} |section2={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header= |country=France |flag={{Shipboxflag|France|naval}} |name=''Hercule'' |namesake=[Hercules](/source/Hercules) |ordered=14 August 1793 |builder=[Lorient](/source/Lorient) shipyard |laid_down=June 1794 |launched=5 October 1797 |acquired= |commissioned= |decommissioned= |completed=March 1798 |in_service= |out_of_service= |renamed= |captured=21 April 1798 |struck= |reinstated= |honours= |notes= }} |section3={{Infobox ship/career |hide_header=title |country=Great Britain |flag={{shipboxflag|Kingdom of Great Britain|naval}} |name=HMS ''Hercule'' |namesake= |acquired=21 April 1798 |commissioned= |decommissioned= |in_service= |out_of_service= |renamed= |captured= |struck= |reinstated= |fate=Broken up in December 1810 |honours= |notes= }} |section4={{Infobox ship/characteristics |hide_header= |header_caption={{cite web |url=http://dossiersmarine.free.fr/fs_v_V4.html |title=La marine de Napoléon III : classe Téméraire – caractéristiques |first=Alain |last=Clouet |work=dossiersmarine.free.fr |year=2007 |accessdate=4 April 2013 |language=fr |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130323150546/http://dossiersmarine.free.fr/fs_v_V4.html |archivedate=23 March 2013 |df=dmy-all }} |class={{sclass|Téméraire|ship of the line}} |displacement=3,069 [tonneaux](/source/tonneaux) |tons_burthen=*1,537 [port tonneaux](/source/port_tonneaux) French service *1,876 [bm](/source/Builder's_Old_Measurement) British service{{Colledge: Ships RN|year=2006 |page=161}} |length={{convert|55.87|m|ft}} (172 [pied](/source/Pied_du_roi)) |beam={{convert|14.90|m|ftin}} |draught={{convert|7.26|m|ft}} (22 [pied](/source/Pied_du_roi)) |propulsion=Up to {{convert|2485|m2|sqft|abbr=on}} of sails |armament=*74 guns: *Lower gundeck: 28 × [36-pounder long gun](/source/36-pounder_long_gun)s *Upper gundeck: 30 × [18-pounder long gun](/source/18-pounder_long_gun)s *Forecastle and Quarter deck: **16 × [8-pounder long gun](/source/8-pounder_long_gun)s **4 × 36-pdr [carronade](/source/carronade)s }} }} '''HMS ''Hercule''''' was a [74-gun](/source/74-gun) [third rate](/source/third_rate) [ship of the line](/source/ship_of_the_line) of the [Royal Navy](/source/Royal_Navy). She was previously '''''Hercule''''', a {{sclass|Téméraire|ship of the line|4}} ship of the line of the [French Navy](/source/French_Navy), but was captured on her maiden voyage in 1798, and spent the rest of her career as a British ship. She was broken up in 1810. ==French career and capture== During her maiden journey, on 21 April 1798, and just 24 hours out of port, she was captured by the British ship {{HMS|Mars|1794|6}} after a violent fight at the [Battle of the Raz de Sein](/source/Battle_of_the_Raz_de_Sein), off [Île de Sein](/source/%C3%8Ele_de_Sein) near Brest. ''Hercule'' attempted to escape through the Passage du Raz, but the tide was running in the wrong direction, and she was forced to anchor, giving the British the chance to attack at close quarters. The two ships were of equal force, both [seventy-four](/source/seventy-four_(ship))s, but ''Hercule'' was newly commissioned; after more than an hour and a half of bloody fighting at close quarters she [struck her colours](/source/Striking_the_colors) at 10.30 pm, having lost — by her own officers' estimate — 290 men killed and wounded. On ''Mars,'' 31 men were killed, including her captain, [Alexander Hood](/source/Alexander_Hood_(Royal_Navy_officer)), and 60 wounded. Captain [Louis Lhéritier](/source/Louis_Lh%C3%A9ritier) of ''Hercule'' was wounded by sabre and spike leading his boarding party.{{cite book | first = Danielle et Bernard | last = Quintin | year = 2003 | chapter = | title = Dictionnaire des capitaines de Vaisseau de Napoléon | isbn = 2-901952-42-9 | oclc = | pages = 242–243 | publisher = S.P.M. }} The ''Hercule'' was recommissioned in the [Royal Navy](/source/Royal_Navy) as HMS ''Hercule''. ==British career== In mid-1803, the squadron under Captain [Henry William Bayntun](/source/Henry_William_Bayntun), consisting of {{HMS|Cumberland|1774|2}}, ''Hercule'', {{HMS|Bellerophon|1786|2}}, {{HMS|Elephant|1786|2}}, and {{HMS|Vanguard|1787|2}} captured ''[Poisson Volant](/source/HMS_Flying_Fish_(1803))'' and {{HMS|Superieure|1803|2}}.{{London Gazette|issue=15620|page=1228|date=13 September 1803}} The Royal Navy took both into service. In May 1803, ''Hercule'''s captain [Solomon Ferris](/source/Solomon_Ferris) died suddenly on board the ship. {{main|Action of 28 June 1803}} On 28 June 1803, during the [Blockade of Saint-Domingue](/source/Blockade_of_Saint-Domingue) in the Caribbean ''Hercule'' was under First Lieutenant John B. Hills, acting captain as Ferris had died a month before. She encountered the French frigate {{ship|French frigate|Poursuivante|1798|2}} and the corvette {{ship|French corvette|Mignonne|1797|2}}, and attempted to capture ''Poursuivante''. However, the latter outmaneuvered and delivered [raking fire](/source/raking_fire) to assure her escape. ''Hercule'' was stricken across its rigging and dropped out of the fight. [Louis-Philippe Crépin](/source/Louis-Philippe_Cr%C3%A9pin) painted the sails, sky, smoke and fire in his relevant seascape. {{HMS|Goliath|1781|6}} then captured ''Mignonne''. ''Hercule'', under Captain Dun, participated in the failed attempt in January 1804 to capture [Curaçao](/source/Cura%C3%A7ao). [[File:H.M.S. Theseus Vice Admiral Dacres, after a Hurricane which happened in Septr 1804, in the West Indies. Plate 4 RMG PU6030.tiff|thumb|''[Theseus](/source/HMS_Theseus_(1786))'', (seen in the foreground) after a Hurricane she was caught in off San Domingo between 4 and 11 September 1804. Both ''Theseus'' and ''Hercule'' (seen in the background) were badly damaged, but eventually survived to reach [Port Royal](/source/Port_Royal) on 15 September]] ''Hercule'', was caught in a [Hurricane](/source/1804_Antigua%E2%80%93Charleston_hurricane) off San Domingo between 4 and 11 September 1804, both she and HMS ''[Theseus](/source/HMS_Theseus_(1786))'' were badly damaged, but eventually survived to reach [Port Royal](/source/Port_Royal) on 15 September. ==Fate== She was broken up in 1810.Roche, p.240 ==See also== * [List of ships captured in the 19th century](/source/List_of_ships_captured_in_the_19th_century) * [List of ships of the line of France](/source/List_of_ships_of_the_line_of_France) ==Citations== {{reflist|colwidth=30em}} == References == *{{Cite book|first=Jean-Michel |last=Roche |year=2005 |title=Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours|volume=1: 1671-1870 |isbn=978-2-9525917-0-6 |oclc=165892922|publisher=Roche|trans-title=Dictionary of French Warships from Colbert to Today }} * {{cite book |first=Rif|last=Winfield|title=[British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates](/source/British_Warships_in_the_Age_of_Sail)|publisher=Seaforth|year=2007|isbn=978-1-86176-246-7}} *Winfield, Rif and Roberts, Stephen S. (2015) ''French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786-1861: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates.'' Seaforth Publishing. {{ISBN|978-1-84832-204-2}} == External links == * {{Commons category-inline|HMS Hercule (ship, 1798)}} * {{cite web |url=http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/18-1900/H/02230.html |title=HMS Hercule |first=P. |last=Benyon |work=Index of 19th Century Naval Vessels |year=2011 |access-date=21 January 2008 |archive-date=7 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207144455/http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/18-1900/H/02230.html |url-status=dead }} {{DEFAULTSORT:Hercule (1798)}} Category:Ships of the line of the French Navy Category:Ships of the line of the Royal Navy Category:Téméraire-class ships of the line Category:1797 ships Category:Captured ships Category:Ships built in Lorient --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [HMS Hercule](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hercule) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hercule?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.