![]() Contemporary Japanese drawing of HMS Phaeton (Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture)
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History | |
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Name | HMS Phaeton |
Operator | Royal Navy |
Ordered | 3 March 1780 |
Builder | John Smallshaw, Liverpool |
Laid down | June 1780 |
Launched | 12 June 1782 |
Completed | 27 December 1782 |
Commissioned | March 1782 |
Honours and awards |
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Fate | Sold for breaking up 26 March 1828 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Minerva-class frigate |
Tons burthen | 944 (bm) |
Length | 141 ft 0 in (42.98 m) |
Beam | 39 ft 0 in (11.89 m) |
Depth of hold | 13 ft 10 in (4.22 m) |
Propulsion | Sail |
Complement | 280 |
Armament |
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HMS Phaeton was a 38-gun, Minerva-class fifth rate of Britain's Royal Navy. This frigate was most noted for her intrusion into Nagasaki harbour in 1808. John Smallshaw (Smallshaw & Company) built Phaeton in Liverpool between 1780 and 1782. She participated in numerous engagements during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars during which service she captured many prizes. Francis Beaufort, inventor of the Beaufort Wind-Scale, was a lieutenant on Phaeton when he distinguished himself during a successful cutting out expedition. Phaeton sailed to the Pacific in 1805, and returned in 1812. She was finally sold on 26 March 1828.