HMS Antigua was a French frigate launched in 1779. She became a privateer that the British captured in 1804. She served the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 as a prison ship

Prison ship

A prison ship, historically sometimes called a prison hulk, is a vessel used as a prison, often to hold convicts awaiting transportation to penal colonies. This practice was popular with the British government in the 18th and 19th centuries....

 from 1804 to 1816, when she was broken up.

French service

Antigua began her career as the Galathée-class French frigate Railleuse. She was built in Bordeaux to a 32-gun design by Raymond-Antoine Haran and launched in 1779. She became the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 privateer

Privateer

A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...

 Egyptienne, a 36-gun ship with a crew of 120 based at Bordeaux

Bordeaux

Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...

.

Capture

On 23 March 1804, the British 18-gun sloop

Sloop

A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....

 Osprey gave chase to four ships which turned out to be a frigate and three merchant ships. Osprey badly damaged the frigate Egyptienne in a close, 80-minute action near Barbados

Barbados

Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...

 before Egyptienne used her superior speed to escape. Osprey lost one man killed and 16 wounded in the action and her hull and rigging were badly damaged.

On the 25th, Osprey and the British 18-gun sloop Hippomenes

HMS Hippomenes (1803)

HMS Hippomenes was a former Dutch corvette built in Vlissingen in 1797 for the Batavian Republic. The British took her in 1803 and she served with the Royal Navy until sold in 1813. With the Royal Navy she participated in two notable single-ship actions in the West Indies.-Dutch service:Hippomenes...

 recaptured the Reliance, one of several prizes that Egyptienne had taken. From the prize master the British found out the identity of the vessel that Osprey had fought.

On 25 March 1804 or 27 March 1804 Hippomenes captured the damaged Egyptienne after a 54-hour chase followed by a three-hour, 20-minute single-ship action

Single-ship action

A single ship action is a naval engagement fought between two warships of opposing sides, excluding submarine engagements; called so because there is a single ship on each side...

. Egyptienne was under the command of M. Placiard and had a crew of 255 men. After Hippomenses captured Egyptienne, the British found out that she had lost eight men killed and 19 wounded in the fight with Osprey. Hippomenes had only one man slightly wounded.

British service and fate

The British took Egyptienne into service as HMS Antigua as there was already an Egyptienne in the Royal Navy. Because Egyptienne was twenty-five years old, and battered, the Navy decided against sending her to sea again. Lieutenant James Middleton commissioned her in December 1808 and commanded her until 1815. From December 1808 Antigua served as a prison hulk

British prison hulks

Prison hulks were decommissioned ships that authorities used as floating prisons in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were especially popular in England. The term "prison hulk" is not synonymous with the related term, convict ship...

until scrapped in 1816.