Lion was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line

Ship of the line

A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...

 of the French Navy

French Navy

The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...

, which later served in 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...

. She was built at Rochefort

Rochefort, Charente-Maritime

Rochefort is a commune in southwestern France, a port on the Charente estuary. It is a sub-prefecture of the Charente-Maritime department.-History:...

. She was later renamed Marat and then Formidable, with the changing fortunes of the French Revolution.

She took part in the Action of 6 November 1793

Action of 6 November 1793

The Action of 6 November 1794 was a naval battle that took place on 6 November 1794 near the Scilly Isles.A French squadron under Joseph-Marie Nielly intercepted two British ships of the line returning to England after escorting a convoy to Gibraltar...

, managing to rake

Raking fire

In naval warfare, raking fire is fire directed parallel to the long axis of an enemy ship. Although each shot is directed against a smaller target profile than by shooting broadside and thus more likely to miss the target ship to one side or the other, an individual cannon shot that hits will pass...

 HMS Alexander

HMS Alexander (1778)

HMS Alexander was a Royal Navy 74-gun third-rate. This ship of the line was launched at Deptford on 8 October 1778. During her career she was captured by the French, and later recaptured by the British. She fought at the Nile in 1798, and was broken up in 1819...

.

Fighting under captain Linois

Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand Linois

Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand, Comte de Linois was a French admiral during the time of Napoleon Bonaparte. He won a victory over the British at the Battle of Algeciras in 1801 and was reasonably successful in a campaign against British trade in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea in...

 on 23 June 1795 at the Battle of Groix

Battle of Groix

The Second Battle of Groix was a naval engagement that took place on 23 June 1795 during the French Revolutionary War off the west coast of France....

, she was captured by HMS Barfleur

HMS Barfleur (1768)

HMS Barfleur was a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, designed by Sir Thomas Slade on the lines of the 100-gun ship Royal William, and launched at Chatham Dockyard on 30 July 1768, at a cost of £49,222. In about 1780, she had another eight guns added to her quarterdeck, making...

 near the French port of Lorient

Lorient

Lorient, or L'Orient, is a commune and a seaport in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France.-History:At the beginning of the 17th century, merchants who were trading with India had established warehouses in Port-Louis...

. She was taken into service in 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...

, but because the Navy already had a Formidable

HMS Formidable (1777)

HMS Formidable was a 90-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 20 August 1777 at Chatham. During her career, her armament was increased to 98-guns....

, she was renamed Belleisle, apparently in the mistaken belief that she had been captured off Belle Île

Belle Île

Belle-Île or Belle-Île-en-Mer is a French island off the coast of Brittany in the département of Morbihan, and the largest of Brittany's islands. It is 14 km from the Quiberon peninsula.Administratively, the island forms a canton: the canton of Belle-Île...

, rather than the Île de Groix

Groix

Groix is an island and a commune in the Morbihan department of the region of Brittany in north-western France.Groix lies a few kilometres of the coast off Lorient. Several ferries a day run from Lorient to Groix....

.

Captained by William Hargood

William Hargood

Admiral Sir William Hargood KCB GCH RN was a British naval officer who served with distinction through the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars, during which he gained an unfortunate reputation for bad luck, which seemed to reverse following his...

, she was the second ship in the British lee column at the Battle of Trafalgar

Battle of Trafalgar

The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy, during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars ....

 in 1805, and as such was engaged by the Franco-Spanish ships Achille

French ship Achille (1803)

The Achille was a 74-gun French ship of the line built at Rochefort in 1803 after plans by Jacques-Noël Sané.Under the command of Captain Louis Gabriel Deniéport, she sailed at the vanguard of the French Fleet on 20 October 1805, just before the Battle of Trafalgar, and she was the first...

, Aigle

French ship Aigle

The Aigle was a 74-gun French ship of the line built at Rochefort in 1800.In 1805 she sailed to the West Indies with Algésiras where they joined a French fleet under Vice-Admiral Villeneuve....

, Neptune

French ship Neptune

Neptune was a Bucentaure-class 80-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. Built during the last years of the French Revolutionary Wars she was launched at the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars...

, Fougueux

French ship Fougueux

The Fougueux was a Téméraire class 74-gun French ship of the line built at Lorient from 1784 to 1785 by engineer Segondat.She took part in the Battle of Trafalgar, firing the first shot of the battle upon HMS Royal Sovereign. She later attempted to come to the aid of the Redoutable by engaging HMS...

, Santa Ana, Monarca and San Juan Nepomuceno. She was soon completely dismasted (the only British ship which suffered that fate), unable to manœuvre and largely unable to fight, as her sails blinded her batteries, but kept flying her flag for 45 minutes until the British ships behind her in the column came to her rescue. With 33 dead and 93 wounded, she was then towed to Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...

 after the battle by the frigate HMS Naiad

HMS Naiad (1797)

HMS Naiad was a Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate that served in the Napoleonic Wars. She was built by Hall and Co. at Limehouse on the Thames, launched in 1797 and commissioned in 1798. She served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and her last actions occurred in 1824-5. She was paid...

.

From 1811 she was in Portsmouth

Portsmouth

Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...

harbour, and in 1814 the decision was taken to have her broken up.

External links

• http://www.treeforall.org.uk/trafalgar/TrafalgarWoods/Otherwoods/Belleisle/