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HMS Elephant — 74-gun Third Rate

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HMS Elephant — 74-gun Third Rate

Generated illustration. Not a historical photograph. A British 74-gun two-decker of the Copenhagen generation. Not a named portrait of the ship.

Overview

Elephant was the British 74-gun two-decker Nelson Horatio — Biography Overview used as his inshore flag at the Battle of Copenhagen 1801 — Overview on 2 April 1801. The battle overview already says he transferred from HMS St George — 98-gun Second Rate because that ship was too deep for the King’s Deep channel, and that Captain Thomas Foley had Elephant.1

Specifications

FeatureDetail
Guns74
TypeBritish two-decker ship of the line
FleetParker’s Baltic fleet, inshore squadron 2 April 1801

A 74 is the same rate-family as HMS Captain — 74-gun Third Rate, not a First Rate Ship of the Line — Class Overview.

Service

This note covers 2 April 1801 only. Launch yard, earlier commissions, and later fate stay on RESEARCH_QUEUE.

Hardy Thomas Masterman — Captain HMS Victory in St George had sounded the channel overnight on 1 April. At dawn Nelson took twelve ships into the King’s Deep from Elephant. Three ships — Bellona, Russell, and Agamemnon — ran aground, leaving nine. Around 1pm Hyde Parker — British Admiral hoisted Signal 39 from HMS London; Nelson, on Elephant, kept Signal 16 flying. The truce letter went ashore later that afternoon.2

Sources

Same Battle

Cross-Domain

Footnotes

  1. Transfer, draught, Foley: Battle of Copenhagen 1801 — Overview. ↩

  2. Soundings, grounding, signals: same battle note. Do not add a launch year until a page is licensed. ↩

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