The Impérieuse was a 40-gun Minerve class frigate 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...

. She 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...

 as HMS Imperieuse and HMS Unite.

French service and capture

In 1788, she cruised in the Middle East, and the Aegean Sea

Aegean Sea

The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...

 the two following years. She performed another cruise off the Middle East before returning to Toulon. On 11 October 1793, Impérieuse was captured off La Spezia

La Spezia

La Spezia , at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the Liguria region of northern Italy, is the capital city of the province of La Spezia. Located between Genoa and Pisa on the Ligurian Sea, it is one of the main Italian military and commercial harbours and hosts one of Italy's biggest military...

 by HMS Captain

HMS Captain (1787)

HMS Captain was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 26 November 1787 at Limehouse. She served during the French revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars before being placed in harbour service in 1799...

 and the Spanish 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...

 Bahama.

She was subsequently recommissioned 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...

 as the fifth rate frigate

Frigate

A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

 HMS Imperieuse.

Imperieuse entered service in 1795, and operated in the West Indies off Martinique

Martinique

Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...

 and Surinam for most of the French Revolutionary Wars

French Revolutionary Wars

The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...

, under the command of Captain John Poo Beresford. Returning to Britain at the Peace of Amiens, Imperieuse was renamed Unite and when the Napoleonic Wars

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

 began returned to service in the Mediterranean. Under Captain Patrick Campbell

Patrick Campbell (Royal Navy officer)

Vice-Admiral Sir Patrick Campbell, KCB was a senior British Royal Navy officer of the early nineteenth century who was distinguished by his service in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars...

 Unite was the first frigate to enter the Adriatic Sea

Adriatic Sea

The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...

 in the war and during the spring of 1808 captured a string of French and Italian gunboats and coastal merchant vessels, notably the Jeulie.

On 19 May 1810 Unite captured the French privateer Du Guay Trouin of 10 guns and 116 men.

By 1811 Unite was still operating in the Mediterranean, under Captain Chamberlayne. On 31 March, along with HMS Ajax

HMS Ajax (1809)

HMS Ajax was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 2 May 1809 at Blackwall Yard.She was converted to a blockship with screw propulsion for coastal defence in 1846....

, Unite helped capture the French supply ship Dromadaire

French corvette Dromadaire (1810)

The Dromadaire was a 24-gun store ship of the French Navy.On 29 March 1811, she departed Toulon under lieutenant Morin, carrying 8 tonnes of gunpowder and ammunition for Corfu, escorted by the frigates Adrienne and Amélie. Two days later, the ships ran across a British squadron comprising HMS Unite...

 off Corsica

Corsica

Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....

, and on 1 May, she blew up the French gunboats Giraffe and Nourrice sheltering near the island at Sagone, with the help of HMS Pomone and HMS Scout

HMS Scout (1804)

HMS Scout was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Peter Atkinson & Co. at Hull and launched in 1804. She participated in a number of actions and captured several privateers in the Mediterranean during the Napoleonic Wars. She was broken up in 1827....

.

Through the summer Unite operated off the mouth of the Tiber

Tiber

The Tiber is the third-longest river in Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Umbria and Lazio to the Tyrrhenian Sea. It drains a basin estimated at...

 and in the autumn she was once again sent to the Adriatic, participating in the Action of 29 November 1811

Action of 29 November 1811

The Action of 29 November 1811 was a minor naval engagement fought between two frigate squadrons in the Adriatic Sea during the Adriatic campaign of the Napoleonic Wars. The action was one of a series of operations conducted by the British Royal Navy and the French Navy to contest dominance over...

 at which she captured the armed storeship Persanne

French ship Persanne (1809)

The Persanne was a 24-gun Mérinos class transport of the French Navy.On 29 November 1811, Pauline ferried a cargo of 201 bronze and iron cannon, 220 iron wheels for gun carriages and numerous other military stores from Corfu to Trieste, escorted by frigates Pomone and Pauline...

.

By 1815, Unite was back in Britain in reserve at Deptford

Deptford

Deptford is a district of south London, England, located on the south bank of the River Thames. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne, and from the mid 16th century to the late 19th was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Navy Dockyards.Deptford and the docks are...

 and she remained there until converted for harbour service in 1832. Between 1841 and 1858, she was used as a prison hulk. The ship was eventually broken up in January 1858 at Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...

.