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Built as fifth rate frigate by John Dudman, Deptford on the Thames for the Royal Navy.
One of the four frigates ordered on 24 May 1794 after a design made by Sir John Henslow.
June 1794 keel laid down.
24 September 1795 launched.
Tonnage 926 ton (bm), dim. 142.9 x 38.3 x 13.5½ft. Draught 15.0ft maximum.
Armament: upper-deck 26 – 18pdrs., quarter-deck 8 – 9pdrs. and 6 – 32 pdrs. carronades. Forecastle 2 – 9pdrs. and 4 – 32pdrs carronades.
Crew 264.
Completed between 27 October and 23 December 1795 at the Deptford Drydock.
October 1795 commissioned under command of Captain Robert Barlow.

After completing a unit of Pellew’s squadron off the Irish coast.
10 January 1797 took the French corvette (16 gun) L’ATALANTA off the Scillies, and on 22 December 1797 the French 36 gun La NÉRÉIDE.
From October till December 1798 under repair at Plymouth.
11 October 1799 together with HMS REVOLUTIONNAIRE she took the 26 gun French privateer Le BOURDELAIS and the 18 gun privateer Le GRAND FERRAILLEU.
21 February 1800 captured the French privateer armed with 14 guns La BELLE GARDE and the 22 gun L’HEUREUX on 11 March 1800.
January 1801 command was taken over by Captain Thomas Baker.
19 February 1801 at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon in a position about 6 miles eastward of Gibraltar, she sighted the French frigate AFRICAINE armed with 40 guns and under command of Captain. Majendie, the AFRICAINE carried ordnance and also around 400 troops as reinforcements for the French army in Egypt.
In the battle what followed about two and a half hours later on close range, the guns of the PHOEBE caused havoc on board the AFRICAINE, killing more as 340 soldiers and crew.
She surrendered 09.30 p.m. and later taken in the Royal navy as HMS AFRICAINE.
The PHOEBE lost only 3 crew and had 10 men wounded. Her masts and rigging were badly damaged but she could proceed to Port Mahon, Minorca a British Naval basis at that time.
June 1801 repaired at Plymouth.
June 1802 under command of Capt. James Shephard.
September 1802 re-commissioned under command of Capt. Thomas Bladen Capel.
28 September 1802 sailed for the Mediterranean.
April 1805 when Nelson was pursuing the French fleet from Toulon to the West Indies, the PHOEBE together with 5 frigates and 2 bombs covered Sicily, Sardinia and the route to Egypt.
Later that year she joined the ships which blockaded Cadiz.
21 October 1805 was at the Battle of Trafalgar but took not part in any action but remained an observer and after the battle she assisted the damaged French SWIFTSURE and the Spanish BAHAMAS during the storm that followed the battle.
January 1806 under command of Capt. James Oswald.
01 April 1806 arrived at Portsmouth for a refit there. Thereafter used in the North Sea and Channel.
18 January 1808 sailed for the Mediterranean.
April1809 under command of Capt. Hassard Stackpole in the Baltic.
August 1809 under command of Capt. James Hillyer.
Under repair at Plymouth from March till June 1810.
18 June 1810 sailed for the East Indies.
December 1810 at reduction of Mauritius.
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20 May 1811 in Schomberg’s squadron in the Battle off Madagascar, it was the last battle between a French squadron under command of François Roquebert and a Royal Navy squadron during the Napoleonic Wars, East of the Cape of Good Hope.
After the battle which was won by the Royal Navy the PHOEBE had 7 men killed and 24 wounded. The French lost two ships the RENOMMÉE and the NÉRÉIDE.

Between June and September 1811 she took part in the Java, Dutch East Indies operations, where 15 Dutch gunboats were captured or lost, and Java was occupied by British forces, after the surrender was signed on 17 September 1811.
09 April 1812 as escort of a convoy from Great Britain to Quebec.
23 December 1812 took US privateer HUNTER armed with 14 guns.
Between 1813 and 1814 in search for the 32 gun USS ESSEX, the ESSEX was at least captured during a battle off Valparaiso on 28 March 1814.

August 1815 laid up at Plymouth.
From January 1823 till October 1826 used as a receiving and slop ship at Plymouth.
27 May 1841 Sold to Joshua Crystall for £1.750 for breaking up.

British Indian Ocean Territory 2005 26p sg?, scott?.

Sources: Info received from Mr. Erhard Jung. Wikipedia http://www.ageofnelson.org/MichaelPhill ... p?ref=1707. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817 by Rif Winfield. Geschiedenis van Nederland ter Zee by Mollema.

The stamp 26p sg 320