French Revolutionary Wars Ardent was commissioned in May 1796 under the command of Captain
Richard Rundle Burges as a part of the fleet of Admiral
Adam Duncan. On 11 October 1797 she took part in the
Battle of Camperdown.
Ardent was in the Weather column of the fleet, and lost forty-one men killed, including Captain Burges, and 107 wounded. Burges was killed only ten minutes after bringing
Ardent into the line of battle, with her duel with the larger Dutch ship
Vrijheid resulting in higher casualties than any other ship. By the end of the battle,
Ardent had ninety-eight cannonballs in her hull, and her masts were so damaged that she could not set sail and had to be towed home by
HMS Bedford. Burges was replaced by Captain
Thomas Bertie, who took
Adamant to join the squadron of
William Mitchell off the Dutch coast in August 1797. She was one of the first five ships of the fleet to engage the enemy and during the drawn out battle half of her main deck
carronades, with which her battery had been replaced, were put out of action. For the rest of the
French Revolutionary Wars Ardent was part of a squadron charged with guarding the
Thames estuary. The corvette's crew ran her ashore and then set fire to her prevent the British from capturing her. Captain
Winthrop of
Ardent described
Bayonnaise as a frigate of 32 guns and 220 men, which had been sailing from
Havana to
Ferrol. Actually,
Bayonnaise was armed
en flute with only six 8-pounder guns, and was returning from the Antilles. On 18 February 1804, still part of Pellew's squadron,
Ardent recaptured the ship
Eliza. By September 1804
Ardent was part of the
Dungeness squadron of Rear-Admiral
Thomas Louis watching
Boulogne. ==Fate==