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HMS ''Apollo'', the fourth ship of the Royal Navy to be named for the Greek god Apollo, was a fifth-rate frigate of a nominal 36 guns. She was the name ship of the s. ''Apollo'' was launched in 1799 and wrecked with heavy loss of life in 1804. ==French Revolutionary Wars== ''Apollo'' was built at Deptford Wharf in 1799, taking her name from the fifth-rate , which had been wrecked off Holland in January. She was commissioned in October under Captain Peter Halkett — who had commanded the previous ''Apollo'' when she was lost — and was posted to the West Indies, cruising there and escorting convoys to Britain.〔Winfield 2008), p.155.〕 While she was escorting a convoy on 11 January 1800 ''Apollo'' saw a suspicious vessel some distance away. After a four-hour chase she captured the Spanish warship ''Aquilla''. ''Aquilla'' was pierced for 22 guns on the main deck but had only four mounted. She was under the command of Don Mariano Merino and was on a cargo voyage from Buenos Ayres to A Coruña. At the time, the sloop was in company with ''Apollo''. At daybreak on the 15th, ''Apollo'' sighted a vessel that proceeded to attempt to evade closer scrutiny. After a short chase ''Apollo'' recaptured the ''Lady Harwood'', which had been part of the convoy that ''Apollo'' was escorting, but which had gotten separated on 1 January at the onset of gale. On 13 January the French privateer ship ''Vautour'', of 20 guns had captured her.〔 ''Apollo'' captured the ''Cantabria'' (or ''Cántabro''), of 18 guns, off Havana on 27 January.〔 In at least one account the vessel is described as the "Cantabrian Spanish ship of 18 guns".〔Ralfe (1828), p.334.〕 Between 20 May and 19 September, ''Apollo'' captured two vessels: *Spanish warship of 18 guns and 110 men, with "a valuable cargo";〔This may well be the same vessel as the ''Cantabbria'' captured on 27 January, given the vagaries of record keeping at the time.〕 and a *Spanish xebec sailing from Malaga to Vera Cruz. On 10 November, ''Apollo'' chased a xebec and then, coming up on a brig, chased and captured her. The brig was the ''Resolution'', a sloop of war, of 18 guns and 149 men, under the command of Don Francisco Darrichena.〔 She was the former British navy cutter ''Resolution'' and had sailed from Vera Cruz three days earlier. After securing the prize, ''Apollo'' set out after the xebec, sighting her an hour after daybreak.〔 ''Apollo'' finally captured the xebec ''Marte'', of 75 tons,〔 at three in the afternoon. She had been sailing from Vera Cruz for Havana. ''Apollo'' towed ''Resolution'' until 27 November, when she lost her mast. ''Resolution'' was in such an irreparable state Halkett destroyed her.〔 Then on 7 December ''Apollo'' captured the schooner ''St Joseph'', of 70 tons.〔 In addition to these three vessels, between 3 August 1800 and 3 January 1801, ''Apollo'' captured two other Spanish merchant vessels: *brig ''Santa Trinidad'', of 140 tons, carrying dry goods; *polacre ''V. Del Carmen'', of 100 tons, carrying dry goods. On 18 February 1801 ''Apollo'' captured the French 14-gun privateer ''Vigilante''.〔 Head money for ''Aquilla'', ''Cantabria'' and ''Vigilante'' was paid in August 1828. First-class shares were worth ₤77 18s 3d (''Aquilla''), ₤163 18s 5¾d (''Cantabria''), and ₤61 18s 6d (''Vigilante''); fifth-class shares, the shares of an able seaman, were worth 4s 8d, 9s 10½d and 4s 0½d. In mid-July 1801 ''Apollo'' picked up the crew of from Veracruz, Veracruz. ''Meleager'' had wrecked on the Triangles Shoals in the Bay of Campeche on 9 June but the crew had been able to take to the boats in time and sail to Veracruz.〔Hepper (1994), p.98.〕 ''Apollo'' returned to Portsmouth in March 1802 to be paid off after the Peace of Amiens. However, she was rushed into commission again in October of that year, for service on the Irish station under Captain John William Taylor Dixon.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「HMS Apollo (1799)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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