First
commissioned in May 1790,
Romulus was under the command of
Captain Thomas Lennox Frederick until she was
paid off in September 1791. Following Britain's entry into the
French Revolutionary War in February 1793,
Romulus was recommissioned under Captain
John Sutton and
refitted at Portsmouth in April. On the twenty-second of that month she set sail for the
Mediterranean where she joined
Admiral William Hotham's squadron.
Romulus took a
polacca on 20 August, while in the company of the 64-gun , the 74-gun and the 50-gun and on 28 August she took part in the
occupation of Toulon, receiving a share of the prize money for the ships captured there. With the 32-gun , she captured a French
gunboat on 16 November and during the evacuation in December,
Romulus provided covering fire while
Robust and the 74-gun removed allied troops from the waterfront.
Corsica Early in 1794
Romulus, with the 104-gun , 98-gun , 90-gun , , , , , all of 74 guns, the 40-gun , 32-gun , 28-gun and
Meleager, supported the troops under
Major-General Sir David Dundas that captured the town of San Fiorenzo in the Gulf of
St Florent,
Corsica. There they found the
scuttled French frigate
Minerve on 19 February, and were able to refloat her. She was taken into service as the 38-gun .
Romulus shared in the
prize money for both the frigate and for the naval stores captured in the town. The British fleet under Hood was laying off
Bastia in early June 1794 when word was received that seven French
ships-of-the-line and five frigates had broken out of Toulon. Setting off in pursuit, with 13 ships-of-the-line and four frigates, including
Romulus, the British spotted their quarry on 10 June, and by dawn the next day had closed the distance to . Wishing to avoid conflict with a superior force, the French sought shelter in
Gourjean Bay. When they arrived at the anchorage at about 14:00, the only British ship close enough to engage was the 28-gun frigate which was beaten off by the fire from the rearmost French vessels and the two forts guarding the entrance. A plan was formulated to capture or destroy the French fleet with
Romulus,
Dido,
Juno,
Meleager and the 74-gun , attacking the four enemy frigates. The scheme was delayed by contrary winds and tides and then cancelled after the French fortified their position by landing guns and establishing batteries on the shore. Hood returned to Corsica, arriving at
Calvi on 27 June with
Victory,
Princess Royal and two 74s, having left the remainder of the fleet under Hotham. The force, comprising nine ships-of-the-line and four frigates, including
Romulus was supposed to
blockade the bay, but was blown off station during a storm, and the French escaped back to Toulon.
Battle of Genoa ,
Gloucestershire Later in August 1794, Captain
George Hope was appointed to
Romulus, and in November Hood left for England, leaving Hotham as the
Commander-in-Chief. Hotham immediately ordered his ships to sea and on 10 March the advanced British frigates spotted the French fleet at some distance. Making their way back to Toulon against the wind, the French had with them the recently captured 74-gun , which had been undergoing repairs at Corsica and was sailing under a
jury rig when taken on
8 March. The British had been in pursuit for two days when on the night of 12 March a storm developed. Two French ships of the line,
Berwick and
Mercure, were damaged and had to be escorted to Gourjean Bay by two frigates, leaving the opposing fleets roughly equal in strength and number. Seeing that the French were intending to avoid battle, the next morning Hotham, who had hitherto been trying to
form line, ordered a
general chase, and at 08:00 the 80-gun at the rear of the French fleet, collided with the 80-gun
Victoire and its fore and main topmasts collapsed overboard. The leading British ship was the 36-gun frigate, under Captain
Thomas Fremantle, which reached the damaged
Ça Ira within an hour of the collision and opened fire at close range, causing further damage. Seeing the danger, the French frigate
Vestale fired upon
Inconstant from a distance before taking the limping
Ça Ira in tow. The chase continued throughout the day and night with the British
van sporadically engaging with the French
rearguard.
Ça Ira dropped further and further behind the main body of the French force; to better protect the damaged ship,
Vestale was replaced with a ship of the line, the 74-gun . By morning the fleets were south-west of
Genoa with the British rapidly gaining on the French.
Ça Ira and
Censeur had fallen a long way back from the French fleet, and Hotham sent his two fastest ships after them.
Captain and the 74-gun did not arrive simultaneously however, and were both repulsed, although further damage was inflicted on the French stragglers in the process. As more British ships arrived, the French fleet broke off the engagement and left
Ça Ira and
Censeur to their fate. Hotham was content with the capture of these prizes and made no attempt to pursue the fleeing French. After the action, the British fleet anchored in the
Gulf of La Spezia to make repairs, but on 17 March was struck by a heavy gale. The badly damaged
Illustrious, which had been taken in tow by
Meleager, broke free and grounded near
Avenza. On 20 March, the weather had abated sufficiently to effect a rescue.
Romulus,
Tarleton,
Lowestoffe, and teams of ship's boats, successfully removed all of the crew and most of the ship's stores without casualties but were unable to save the irreparably damaged ship. Once the wreck had been cleared, it was set on fire and abandoned. Following temporary repairs to the battle and storm damaged British Fleet,
Romulus and her compatriots left Spezia bay on 25 March and arrived the next day at San Fiorenzo, where further work was carried out to the afflicted ships. Upon completion on 18 April, Hotham's ships, minus the two prizes,
Ça Ira and
Censeur, set sail for Livorno and anchored in the roads there on 27 April. She took another prize in January the following year, and a further vessel in July 1796.
Romulus was also in sight when the 32-gun captured the Danish ship,
Concordia on 27 February 1796, and was therefore entitled to a share of the spoils. In January 1797,
Romulus assisted in the evacuation of the island of
Elba along with 40-gun under
Commodore Horatio Nelson,
Dido and 32-gun ; the storeships
HMS Dromedary and , and two sloops. On 29 January the squadron left
Portoferraio, with 12
transports bound for
Gibraltar but on that evening,
Minerve and
Romulus left the convoy to carry out a surveillance of the enemy ports and coast. The two frigates travelled first to Corsica, evacuated by the British in October the previous year. Finding nothing of any consequence in San Fiorenzo Bay, Nelson decided to investigate Toulon. Arriving on 1 February, two days were spent in the roads and looking into the port but there was no sign of the enemy fleet, and the few ships that were there were not in a seaworthy condition. The frigates subsequently sailed to
Barcelona, where they flew French
colours in the hope of tempting out any ships within. This
ruse de guerre was not successful however, and with the wind being contrary for
Minorca, the two British vessels sailed instead for
Cartagena. Finding it empty also, Nelson surmised that the combined Spanish and French fleet had gone west and was operating outside the Mediterranean.
Minerve and
Romulus therefore, rejoined the rest of the squadron at Gibraltar on 10 February. With the 36-gun ,
Romulus captured the 20-gun
corvette Nuestra Senora del Rosario off
Cádiz on 24 May 1797. The two British ships approached under
false colours and did not reveal their true identity until they were alongside; at which point the Spanish vessel struck, without a shot being fired.
Romulus and
Mahonesa made a further capture on 10 September when, this time with the assistance of
Romulus' sister ship, the 36-gun , they took the French brig,
Espoir. In February 1798,
Romulus sailed for
England, under Captain
Henry Heathcote, where she paid off.
Troopship on 8 March 1801 During mid-1799,
Romulus was recommissioned as a
troopship and sent to the Mediterranean under
Commander John Culverhouse. On 30 September,
Romulus was in sight when a
privateer took a Swedish brig, and was therefore entitled to a share of the prize money. She served in the Navy's
Egyptian campaign, landing troops at
Aboukir bay on 8 March 1801, where she came under fire, which killed one of her crew and wounded another. On 3 December, while Culverhouse was recovering from an illness,
Lieutenant Thomas Staines was appointed to the command of
Romulus to ferry the
64th Regiment of Foot from
Alexandria to
Malta.
Romulus paid off at the end of the war in 1802. == Later service and fate ==