HMS Terpsichore (1785)

Print by Thomas Whitcombe depicting HMS Terpsichore capturing Mahonesa on 13 October 1796
History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Terpsichore
Ordered	29 July 1782
Builder	James Betts, Mistleythorn
Laid down	November 1782
Launched	17 December 1785
Completed	By November 1786
Fate	Broken up in November 1830
General characteristics
Class and type	32-gun Amazon-class fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen	6824⁄94 bm
Length	126 ft (38.4 m) (overall) 103 ft 8 in (31.6 m) (keel)
Beam	35 ft 1+1⁄2 in (10.7 m)
Depth of hold	12 ft 2 in (3.7 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	220
Armament	Upper deck: 26 × 12-pounder guns QD: 4 × 6-pounder guns + 4 × 18-pounder carronades Fc: 2 × 6-pounder guns+ 2 × 18-pounder carronades

HMS Terpsichore was a 32-gun Amazon-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built during the last years of the American War of Independence, but did not see action until the French Revolutionary Wars. She served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, in a career that spanned forty-five years.

Terpsichore was launched in 1785, but was not prepared for active service until the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793. She was initially sent to serve in the West Indies where in 1794 Captain Richard Bowen took command. Bowen commanded Terpsichore until his death in 1797, and several of her most memorable exploits occurred during his captaincy. Terpsichore served mostly in the Mediterranean, capturing three frigates, and in 1797 went as far as to attack the damaged Spanish first rate Santísima Trinidad, as she limped away from the Battle of Cape St Vincent. Santísima Trinidad mounted 136 guns to Terpsichore's 32, and was the largest warship in the world at time. Terpsichore inflicted several casualties, before abandoning the attack.

Terpsichore passed through several commanders after Bowen's death at Tenerife, and went out to the East Indies, where her last commander was Captain William Augustus Montagu. Montagu fought an action with a large French frigate in 1808, and though he was able to outfight her, he was not able to capture her. Terpsichore returned to Britain the following year, and spent the last years of the war laid up in ordinary. She survived in this state until 1830, when she was broken up.