Channel Fleet, 1794–1803 Galatea was commissioned in May 1794 under the command of Captain
Richard Goodwin Keats. She then joined the
Channel Squadrons under
Sir Edward Pellew and
Sir John Borlase Warren.
Galatea took part in the capture or destruction of a number of French warships. On 23 August, the squadron ran the French ships
Volontaire,
Espion, and
Alerte on to the shore along the coast of France and destroyed them.
Galatea, , , and shared in the capture of the French
cutter Quartidi on 7 September. They also shared in the recapture of the Swedish brig
Haesingeland on 16 September.
Galatea was among the vessels in sight when
Artois captured the frigate of 40 guns and 370 men at the
action of 21 October 1794. She was on her first cruise, barely a week out of LeHavre. Prize money exceeded £16,000. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS
Revolutionaire. From January into February
Galatea was under the temporary command of Captain F. Cole. Between 13 and 26 February 1795, the squadron under Captain Sir
John Borlase Warren in , captured nine vessels off the Île de
Groix, near
Lorient: • Sloop
Petit Jean; • Brig
St. Pierre; • Brig
Deux Frères; • Ship
Petite Magalène; •
Pacquet boat De Cayenne; • Schooner
Curieuse (name latter corrected to
Coureuse; she was a vessel belonging to the
National Convention government), of eight brass guns; • Lugger
Liberté; • Lugger
Gloire; and • Brig transport
Biche (National Convention). The squadron also burnt seven vessels and scuttled four. In his letter listing the vessels, Warren particularly thanked Keats for his efforts.
Coureuse, American-built, was escorting this convoy from Brest to
Nantes with clothing for the army. The frigates
Artois,
Galatea and , and the
hired armed lugger Duke of York assisted
Pomone in the capture. The British latter scuttled two more of the brigs that were of little value, but took the other four vessels as prizes, with being taken into service briefly as a dispatch vessel in the Mediterranean.
Galatea,
Anson,
Artois and
Pomone shared in the capture of
Jean Amie,
François Bernard and
Lune on 15 and 27 February 1795. Between 13 February and 2 March, the same four British ships shared in the capture of the
Petit Jean,
Adélaïde, and
Aimalie.
Galatea participated in the unsuccessful
invasion of France at Quiberon Bay between 23 June and 21 July. She therefore was among the myriad vessels that shared in the proceeds of the capture of the
Harmony and
Rachel on 1 and 4 July 1795.
Galatea was also among the vessels of Pellew's squadron that shared in the recapture, on 9 October, of the ship
Kent.
Galatea,
Artois,
Anson and
Pomone, which was under the command of Sir
John Borlase Warren, who commanded the squadron, attacked a French convoy of some 60 vessels, including its escort of four frigates, a corvette, the armed store ship
Étoile and a gun-brig, on 20 March 1796. In his letter, Sir John exaggerated the French strength; actually the British outgunned them. On 29 March
Galatea recaptured the ship
Fortitude. Then
Galatea,
Pomone,
Artois and
Anson shared in the capture of several vessels. •
América (6 April); •
Jean Marie (18 April); • French ship
Robuste (26 April): •
Pacific (14 May); On 23 August 1796 the squadron was cruising near the Garonne when a French frigate hove in sight. Notwithstanding the difficulty of the navigation in shoal waters Captain
Richard Goodwin Keats and
Galatea pursued the frigate. The French pilot on board declared himself incapable of piloting the ship in the shoal waters, but Keats persevered taking responsibility for conning his ship and chased the enemy through the night in squally winds, rain and lightning, passing between the Chevrier bank and the lighthouse before making all sail in pursuit right over the shoals of Arcachon on which the French frigate struck and was immediately wrecked. In the morning they were joined by the ' 'Artois' ' and
Sylph. Boats from
Artois and
Galatea were sent with a boarding party. The frigate turned out to be the
Andromaque, of forty-four 12-pounder guns (though pierced for 48), most of which her crew thrown overboard. She had a crew of 300 men, many of whom jumped overboard and who drowned in their attempt to reach the shore. The boarding party took prisoner
Andromaques captain and officers, and rescued a number of Portuguese prisoners who had been the crews of two Brazilian ships that her squadron had captured. A boarding party from
Sylph fired into her bottom to prevent re-floating and set fire to
Andromaque as they left; she was completely burnt. Shortly after this encounter the squadron returned to Falmouth on Admiralty orders to reinforce the squadrons off Brest. such was the widespread public expectation that the gallant western frigate squadron would continue its well publicised harassment of the enemy the admiralty wrote they were 'intending by and by to release you from the fleet and send you cruising again on your old ground." Next,
Galatea,
Pomone,
Artois and
Anson shared in the capture of even more vessels: • Brig (name unknown), chasse marees
Maria Theresa and
Providence (11 December); On 19 November,
Galatea was among the vessels that shared in the capture of the
Bergen. On 15 July, took the 22-gun privateer
Duguay-Trouin.
Galatea shared in the capture. On 19 July,
Doris and
Galatea recaptured the Portuguese ship
Nostra Senora de Patrocinio e Santa Anna. At some point they also recaptured the Portuguese ship
Nostra Senora de Conceiçao e Navigantes. A little over a month later, on 22 August 1797
Galatea recaptured the brig
Friends Adventure. Then on 6 November she captured the 14-gun
Venturier, the former . In January 1800
Galatea escorted a convoy from Cork through the Channel to the Downs. On a stormy night, Lieutenant Donald Campbell and six men took a boat to take possession of a Spanish
letter of marque that
Galatea had caught. Because of the weather it took them an hour to get to her and then as they boarded her waves stove in their boat. Still, the seven men took control of
Pensée and her 20-man crew. However, for the next ten days the weather blocked Campbell from contact with
Galatea. Campbell therefore had to navigate
Pensée while keeping control of a group of prisoners that outnumbered his men by almost three to one. This feat and his good service record led to Lieutenant Campbell being promoted to
first lieutenant of in 1802 or 1803. On 3 January 1801,
Galatea escorted
Hibernia into Plymouth from Belfast.
Hibernia was a linen ship worth £100,000, and was carrying as a passenger
Mr. J. Dalway, Member of Parliament from Belfast. On their way the two vessels encountered very bad weather off the
Isles of Scilly. On 21 April 1801
Galatea recaptured
Kenyon.
Kenyon had been en route from
Jamaica to
Liverpool with a cargo worth £40,000, when the French captured her. recaptured
Kenyon and the three other prizes, which the French again captured. After re-recapturing
Kenyon,
Galatea searched for the other three; there is no report of her having recaptured them, so she was apparently unable to find them. After this, Captain George Wolfe assumed command, having been appointed in April 1801. On 1 July
Galatea came into Plymouth after a cruise of 18 weeks in the Atlantic and off the
western islands. Then during October and November she was on a 28-day cruise in the
Bay of Biscay. Here she not only endured fifteen severe gales, but on 1 and 2 November she nearly foundered. Hurricane-force winds sent her
mizzen mast and the main and foretop masts over the side, even though she had no sails set. Furthermore, when the mizzen mast went it took one seaman to go overboard with it and severely injured others. When the winds died down on 3 November, Byng sailed
Galatea for
Cork. There he
jury rigged a mizzen-mast, main, and foretop-mast.
Galatea finally reached Plymouth on 22 November. She spent the first quarter of 1802 sailing between Cork and Plymouth and was paid off on 28 April 1802. On 30 July she sailed in company with and for the
Isle of Wight. There they were to pick up Dutch troops to return to Holland.
Galatea and several other frigates then returned to Plymouth from
Den Helder on 3 September. On 14 September she sailed for Spithead carrying discharged seamen. She then returned discharged marines to Plymouth. Subsequently, she cruised on patrols looking for smugglers. In April 1803 Captain
Henry Heathcote assumed command while
Galatea was being fitted out at Portsmouth. On 8 July she sailed to take up position as guardship off
The Needles.
Caribbean, 1804–1809 In February 1804
Galatea sailed to the
West Indies as escort to a convoy of merchant vessels. On 19 May she recaptured , which was carrying plantation stores. On 3 August the French privateer schooner
Elizabeth, of six guns, arrived at
Dominica.
Galatea had cut her out at Guadeloupe. The next attempt to cut out a French vessel went badly. On 14 August
Galatea attempted to cut out the French
privateer Général Ernouf, which had been the British
sloop-of-war Lilly.
Général Ernouf was sheltering at
the Saintes near
Guadeloupe where shore batteries could protect her. The attack was a debacle for the British, who failed completely in their attempt. On 18 September
Galatea captured
Mercury. In July 1805
Galatea came under the command of Captain Murray Maxwell at
Jamaica. By September
Galatea was under the command of Captain
George Sayer. On 11 September she shared with ,
Africaine, , , and the schooner in the proceeds of the capture of the brig
Hiram . In February 1806
Galatea recaptured the merchantman , which a French privateer had captured as
Shipley was sailing to Dominica.
Galatea sent
Shipley into Barbados. The French privateer was the former Royal Navy schooner . On 18 August 1806 Lieutenant M'Culloch used
Galateas barge to pursue a
schooner several miles up a river near
Puerto Cabello, Venezuela. The schooner resisted the boarding party until she lost her commander and a crew member, at which time she surrendered. She proved to be a Spanish privateer with three long 6 and 4-pounder guns, some
swivel guns, and
musketoons. M'Culloch blew her up as he could not safely bring her out. He did return with the prisoners.
Galatea suffered one man wounded in the affair. Then between 9 and 11 October a cutting-out party in three boats under the command of Richard Gittins, the first lieutenant, brought out four Spanish schooners that were sheltering under three batteries at Barcelona (Colombia). Although the cutting-out party was under fire from the batteries for one and a half hours, it suffered no casualties.
Galatea captures Lynx On 3 January 1807
Galatea captured a schooner.
Galatea sent her boats under the command of her first lieutenant William Coombe, together with Lieutenants Harry Walker and Robert Gibson,
Master's Mates John Green and Barry Sarsfield, 50 seamen and 20 marines. The Royal Navy took
Lynx into service as
Heureux. The Patriotic Society awarded Coombe and several of the other British officers swords worth 50 guineas, but Coombe did not live to receive it. In 1849 the Navy awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "21 Jan. Boat Service 1807" to all surviving claimants from the action. Some two months after the capture of
Lynx, on 3 March,
Galatea captured an open boat. Then in October
Galatea captured several Danish ships: • 12 October: with the brig , under the command of Commander William Coombe, she captured the schooner
John and Joseph; • 13 October: with the brig she captured the brig
Catharini; • 17 October: again with
Pert, she captured the brig
Amalia; • 18 October: with she captured the Danish ship
Johann Smidt Senior, Hans Jansen Hammer, master.
Galatea shared with
Hart,
Pert,
Circe,
Cygnet and others in the proceeds of the Danish schooner
Danske Patriot, captured on 20 October. In December
Galatea was part of the squadron under Admiral Sir
Alexander Cochrane that
captured the Danish islands of
St Thomas on 22 December and
Santa Cruz on 25 December. The Danes did not resist and the invasion was bloodless. ==Fate==