Built as a 5th Rate frigate by Thomas Calhound and John Nowlan at Burlesdon, England for the Royal Navy
09 August 1782 ordered.
July 1783 keel laid down.
10 July 1786 launched under the name HMS BLANCHE.
Tonnage 722 tons (bm)., dim. 129 x 39.5 x 12.7Ft.
Armament: under deck 26 - 12pdrs., quarter deck 4 - 6pdrs. and 4 - 18pdrs. carronades. Forecastle 2 - 6pdrs. and 2 - 18pdr. carronades.
Crew 220.
August 1786 coppered and fitted out at Portsmouth, then laid up.
25 April 1789 completed in Portsmouth.
January 1789 commissioned.
After completed sailed out for the Leeward Islands in the West Indies on 12 May 1789.June 1792 returned and paid off.
Fitted out and repaired at Deptford from July till October 1792.
September 1792 re-commissioned under command of Capt. Christopher Parker
26 November 1792 sailed for the Leeward Islands.
01 October 1793 she took the 12 gun privateer Le VENGEUR, 08 October 1793 the privateer La REVOLUTIONNAIRE and on 30 December 1793 the 22 gun privateer Le SANS-CULOTTE.
She was with the British fleet, which captured Martinique in 1794.
30 December 1794 under command of Capt Robert Faulknor took a large schooner at Deseada.
January under command of Capt. Charles Sawyer.
06 January 1795 she captured the French La PIQUE, in this fight she lost 8 men under which Capt. Faulknor, and had 21 men wounded.
17 April 1795 took a small privateer off Santa Lucia.
From August 1795 till October 1795 got a refit in Portsmouth.
December 1795 sailed for the Mediterranean.
June 1796 under command of Capt. D'Arcy Preston.
19 December 1796 she engaged the Spanish frigate CERES (40-guns) and brought her colors down but could not take possession of her due to the arrival of several other enemy ships.
1797 Under command of Capt Henry Hotham.
20 November 1797 took the 14 gun privateer Le COUREUR when on the Lisbon Station.
27 December 1797 took the 6 gun privateer Le BAYONNAISE.
August 1798 paid off.
1799 Store ship.
June till August 1799 fitted out at Portsmouth as troopship, under command of Cmdr. John Ayscough
She was lost on the Dutch coast off Texel.1799 She was under command of Capt. John Ayscough, and accompanied the expedition under Vice Admiral Mitchell and Sir Ralp Abercromby to Holland and continued with the fleet until the surrender of the Dutch Texel squadron. On 27 Sept. he followed the orders of Capt. Lawford of the HMS ROMNEY and got under weigh at 1 pm from the Mars Diep to escort a convoy home. At 4 pm the pilot put her ashore on the Middel Plaat in it Schulpen Gat, they soon got her off, but at 6 o'clock she was aground again about 2 miles n.n.w of Kijkduin. This time it was the top of high water and it was the following morning before they could be hauled off and steered on the course that the pilot directed. Almost at once they ran on to the Dalrymple Shoal about one cable from the black buoy marking it. The depth of water was only 8 to 10 ft. and the depth of the HMS BLANCHE was 17 feet. Capt. Ayscough signaled for boats with anchors and hawsers and for schuyts to offload the guns and heavy store, but because the sea was breaking over the ship and there was so much motion this proved impossible and several boats were overset and lives were lost attempting it. When the ship threatened to broach he ordered first the main mast and then mizzenmast to be cut away. Two boat sails were rigged on the poop to steer the ship if she drifted over the shoal, which she did about 4 pm, but as she was taking in water, the only chance for saving the ships company was to run her on shore in the Nieuwe Diep. Here the tide ebbed and flowed into her and her whole frame was hogged so that it was impossible to remove her. A court martial was held at Sheerness on 1 Nov. 1799 which found that HMS BLANCHE was lost through the fault of the pilot and that the captain, the officers and crew showed great professional skill in getting her off and saving the stores and the lives of the people. They were all honorably acquitted except the pilot and during the same month Capt. Ayscough was appointed to HMS INCONSTANT
Gambia 2001 7d sg?, scott?
Source: http://www.cronab.demon.co.uk/B2.htm British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817 by Rif Winfield.