Triton, 1796
Type: troop ship (1803) ; late 5th rate ; Armament 32
Launched at Deptford in 1796 ;
Disposal date or year : 1820
Notes:

Built of Fir.

11 Feb 1797 Triton and others captured the French privateer Jeune Emilie in the Channel.

12 Feb 1797 Triton and others captured the French privateer Difficile in the Channel.

9 Mar 1797 Robust and Triton arrive on the scene following the capture, by the San Fiorenzo and Nymphe, of the French frigate R�sistance and corvette Constance.

25 July 1797 a squadron consisting of the Pomone, Anson, Artois, Triton, Sylph, and Dolly captured the Ship Boston.

11 Aug 1797 with a squadron which destroyed one French vessel and damaged another.

27-28 Aug 1797 with a squadron which chased and captured vessels from a French convoy and damaged or destroyed the cutter Petit-Diable.

14 Oct 1797 Triton and Childers captured the French privateer Furet near Isle Bas.

Circa end of 1797 captured the French privateer Helena in the Channel.

29-30 Jun 1798 the frigates Jason, Mermaid, and Pique capture the French 40-gun frigate Seine for the loss of the latter, bilged on a sandbank and burnt. The timely arrival of the frigates Pha�ton, San-Fiorenzo, and Triton was sufficient to deter French frigates from Rochelle.

28 Sep 1798 captured the French privateer Arraign�.

31 Dec 1798 captured the French privateer Impromptu on the passage from Corunna to the Western Islands.

Dec 1798 Triton and St Fiorenzo captured the French privateer Ros�e in the Channel.

29 Jan 1799 captured a French privateer, name unknown.

30 Jan 1799 captured the French privateer Amable Victoire between Alderney and the Start.

1 Jan 1799 Capt. E. Griffith. Cruising.

9 Jan 1799 Plymouth, arrived the French brig privateer Impromptu, 14 guns, taken by the Triton

9 Jan 1799 Plymouth, departed for Portsmouth, with French prisoners.

13 Jan 1799 arrived at Spithead, from Plymouth.

30 Jan 1799 arrived in Cawsand Bay with the French privateer L'Amiable Victoire, 18 guns and 97 men, three days out, and no captures.

20 Mar 1799 Plymouth, arrived and foundered at her anchorage, near the bridge, St. Nicholas' Island, La Victoire, laden with wines, brandies, and cordage, prize to the Triton.

7 May 1799 in Plymouth Sound.

8 May 1799 Plymouth, departed for the fleet.

12 May 1799 Plymouth, arrived under a press of sail from sea and lay to the whole day, with her three topsails sheeted home to the mast, and at single anchor and hove short and reports that she had looked into Brest harbour, and saw only a guardship and a corvette.

16 May 1799 in the Sound.

17 May 1799 Plymouth, an Admiralty messenger arrived with dispatches which were put on board the Triton, which departed directly.

3 Aug 1799 Plymouth, arrived from off Cadiz with an account of the combined fleets having departed from Cadiz the 21st ult. 44 sail of the line and frigates. Captain Gore dodged them for three days, and dispatched the Emerald, 32, to Gibraltar to apprise Earl St. Vincent of the circumstance. The Triton was chaced by a Spanish, 74, but escaped by fast sailing.

27 Aug 1799 Plymouth, letters from Torbay, state the arrival there of the Right Hon. Earl Spencer, (First Lord of the Admiralty) in a private capacity. His Lordship was received with a salute of 10 guns, ships all manned; his Lordship last evening, took his passage for Weymouth, in the Triton frigate, Captain Gore.

13 Sep 1799 captured the privateer lugger, Le St. Jacques, 6, and 16 men, bound to Rochefort from L'Orient, with a cargo of shells &c.

28 Sep 1799 Plymouth, arrived Le Jacque, prize to the Triton.

15-17 Oct 1799 the chase of the Spanish frigates Santa-Brigida and Thetis, the latter with �311,690 sterling onboard, and their subsequent capture by the Naiad, Ethalion, Alcm�ne, and Triton.

20 Oct 1799 Plymouth, arrived the American ship Abigail, Hammond, for Bremen, laden with tobacco, taken by the French privateer Vengeance, 22 guns and 160 men, in lat. 49� long. 15� and retaken by the Triton frigate, in lat. 45�, long. 20�.

20 Oct 1799 Plymouth, arrived the Polly, American ship, detained by the Triton.

22 Oct 1799 Plymouth, arrived the Naiad, 31, the Alcmene, 38, and Triton, 32, with their prize, Sta. Brigida Spanish galleon frigate, 40 guns and 500 men, from Vera Cruz for Old Spain, with one million five hundred thousand dollars, registered, and a valuable cargo of drugs, arnotto, Cochineal, indigo, and sugar.

23 Oct 1799 Plymouth, went up the harbour, to go into dock, the Triton, having knocked a hole in her bottom in chase of Sta. Brigida.

11 Jan 1800 Plymouth, last night Captain Gore, of the fortunate Triton, gave a most splendid and elegant ball, at Cowley's Hotel, Dock ; where the liberality, and eccentric character of the British seaman was apparent.

14 Jan 1800 Plymouth, The nett prize money of the dollars taken on board the St. Brigida and Thetis Spanish galleon frigates, captured by the Triton, Alcmene, Naiad, and Ethalion, was paid this day by their respective agents, and is, exclusive of all expences, as follows : Captains �40,730 ; Lieutenants �5,091 ; Warrant officers �2,468 ; Midshipmen and their class �791 ; Able and ordinary seamen and marines �182. There still remains the nett produce of the hulls, stores, masts, rigging, &c. of the 2 frigates to be accounted for.

Circa Feb 1800 At Kensington Palace, in the 16th year of his age, Mr. C. Wynward, late-Midshipman in the Triton frigate died.

5 Feb 1800 Plymouth, departed with the Venturier, 18, on a cruize.

15 Feb 1800 captured the French National brig La Vidette, 14 guns, 84 men, from L'Orient, bound to Brest.

19 Feb 1800 Plymouth, arrived from Falmouth, French privateer cutter La Vidette, 14, (reputedly the former RN cutter Barracouta, taken by the French in 1793), prize to the Triton, 32, Captain Gore. Whilst the vessel appears to have been purchased into the Service, Rif Winfield in his book British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817, advises that she wasn't commissioned again.

30 Mar 1800 Plymouth, arrived from a cruise off the Penmarks, the Fowey cutter, Lt. Derby, having carried away her bowsprit in a gale of wind. She left the Triton, and Joseph cutter, cruising on that Station. They endeavoured to burn the remains of the Repulse, 64, but could not get near enough, on account of a battery which was brought to bear on our ships, and also a strong lee current, which set in at the rate of ten knots an hour.

15 Apr 1800 Plymouth, arrived the St. Sebastian, from St. Andero to Altona, detained and sent in by the Triton and Stag frigates.

19 Apr 1800 Plymouth, arrived from a cruise.

20 Jul 1800 Plymouth, letters from the Triton, 36, dated at anchor off Brest, the 16th inst., state, that the captain had recovered from a violent blow he received in his head some time since, by the fall of a block ; he retains the command of the in shore, or flying squadron, which communicates by signal to Earl St. Vincent the movements of the combined fleets, as this squadron occasionally anchors R.-Adm. Berkeley, in the Mars, 74, commands a flymg detachment offshore.

11 Aug 1800 Plymouth, letters from the fleet state that the look-out cutters venture very near the outer road of Brest without molestation. The Triton frigate, is moored next, then five frigates, five sail of the line, two sail of the line off the Black Rock, and the remainder of the fleet in line of battle in two lines; so that nothing can move without observation.

20 Aug 1800 Plymouth, arrived with the Arethusa, from off Brest, to refit.

29 Aug 1800 Plymouth, departed on a long cruize to the Southward.

26 Dec 1800 arrived Plymouth the Venus of and from Jamaica, for London, taken by La Gironde French privateer, of 32 guns, and 320 men, retaken by the Triton, Captain Gore. La Gironde had captured two other Jamaica men besides the Venus, with sugar, coffee, cotton, &c. worth each �30,000. The Triton chased La Gironde 230 miles to the southward, but lost her in the night in a gale of wind and squally weather. She also chased a French frigate, but she escaped.

8 Jan 1801 arrived Plymouth, the Triton, Capt J Gore, after five months cruize off Corunna and in the Bay.

9 Jan 1801 went into Barn Pool to refit.

5 Feb 1801 arrived Falmouth, and departed the following day on her cruise.

6 Mar 1801 fell in with a small French convoy, and on firing on them one of her guns burst, killing Lt. T. Alford, and Gunner's Mate T. Yell, 18 others being severely wounded.

11 Mar 1801 went up the Plymouth harbour to refit.

12 Mar 1801 a most melancholy accident happened on board the Triton, of 32 guns, during her late cruise off the Penmark Rocks, in chase of a cutter, as she was firing at her, the eleventh gun abaft the main mast, on the larboard side, burst, by which accident the Second Lieutenant, Mr. Alford, a gunner's mate were killed, and 18 seamen and marines badly wounded ; the deck ripped up, and the Captain's cabin much damaged. Captain Gore had Lieutenant Alford, Lieutenant Thompson, and the Purser dining with him ; on this gun being reported ready Lieutenant Alford, just went out of the cabin door, when the explosion so dreadful in its operation ................ The man who fired the gun, escaped almost unhurt. The wounded men were conveyed to the Royal Naval Hospital.

13 Mar 1801 this forenoon the remains of Lieutenant Alford, and the gunner's mate, killed by the bursting of a gun on board the Triton, 32, were conveyed from the Royal Naval Hospital to Stonehouse chapel-yard, and interred with naval and military honours. Captain Gore and all the Officers attending in deep mourning. The service was performed in a solemn manner suitable to the occasion, by the Rev. J. Bidlake, A.B. Chaplain to his Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence.

21 Apr 1801 went into the Plymouth Sound, having repaired her damage and has received all her new guns from the arsenal.

25 Apr 1801 at Plymouth was paid prior to sailing on a cruise for the coast of France.

11 Jul 1801 arrived Plymouth, the Triton, Capt Fitzgerald, from a long cruise off the coast of France, and in the Bay.

18 Jul 1801 departed Plymouth on a cruise to the Westward.

22 Sep 1801 came into Plymouth Sound La Juene Theodore, from Guadaloupe, with cocoa, coffee, &c. prize to the Triton.

29 Oct 1801 came into Plymouth Sound the Triton, from a cruise.

19 Dec 1801 went up into Plymouth harbour the Triton.

27 Jan 1802 the Triton, 32, Captain Fitzgerald, will go down into the Plymouth Sound in a day or two, from whence she is to sail on a cruise.

1 Feb 1802 the Triton has been ordered down the harbour to cruise against the smugglers, and R.-Adm Dacres, Paying Admiral and Commissioner afloat, will have to transfer his flag to another vessel remaining in Hamoaze. It is reported that the smugglers have taken to using larger vessels, lately used as privateers until the peace, which are larger and better armed than the revenue cruisers, a large lugger having recently fired into 2 revenue cruisers, and hence the use of frigates and sloops, waiting to be paid off, to deal with the problem that has now arisen.

1 Apr 1802 orders came to the Port Admiral at Plymouth to have the Indefatigable, 44 ; and the Triton, 32, stripped, previous to their being paid off.

9 Apr 1802 the Triton, 32, Captain Fitzgerald, was paid off in Hamoaze, and her crew discharged.

16 May 1802 R.-Adm. Dacres has shifted his flag from the Triton, paid off, to the Achille, 84, Capt Hardy, as second in command at this port, Plymouth.

Circa 1 Aug 1803 Capt W Cashman apptd to the Triton.

26 Sep 1803 dropped down from Hamoaze, into Cawsand Bay, whilst she completes her fitting out as a Guard Ship at The Cove of Cork, and also prepares to take a company of artillery for Cork.

27 Sep 1803 departed Plymouth, the Triton, Capt Cochrane, with a small convoy of vessels that were ready for Wexford and Waterford.

May 1805 Waterford ; Guard Ship.

Circa Mar 1809 the account for the small balance remaining following the capture of the ship Boston will be deposited in the Registry of the High Court of Admiralty.

Falmouth 26 Jul 1812 arrived from Prince Edward's Island.