HMS Actaeon (1778)

Actaeon's sister ship HMS Argo
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Actaeon
Namesake	Actaeon
Ordered	3 July 1776
Builder	Randall & Co, Rotherhithe
Cost	£17,940
Laid down	July 1776
Launched	29 January 1778
Completed	17 April 1778
Commissioned	January 1778
Fate	Sold 30 April 1802
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Roebuck-class fifth-rate
Tons burthen	887 8⁄94 (bm)
Length	140 ft 1+1⁄2 in (42.7 m) (gun deck) 115 ft 10+1⁄2 in (35.3 m) (keel)
Beam	37 ft 11+1⁄4 in (11.6 m)
Draught	9 ft 8 in (2.9 m) (forward) 14 ft 6 in (4.4 m) (aft)
Depth of hold	16 ft 4 in (5 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Complement	280 (300 from 1783)
Armament	Lower deck: 20 × 18-pounder guns Upper deck: 22 × 9-pounder guns Quarterdeck: Nil Forecastle: 2 × 6-pounder guns

HMS Actaeon was a 44-gun fifth-rate Roebuck-class ship of the Royal Navy launched in 1778. Commissioned in the same year, the ship served throughout the remainder of the American Revolutionary War. After initially serving in the North Sea and in the defence of the Channel Islands, in 1779 Actaeon joined the Jamaica Station, participating in the capture of Goree on 8 May as she travelled there. She spent time guarding Saint Lucia and Tobago, going to Britain to be repaired before returning to Jamaica in 1781. The ship formed part of a squadron that supported Edward Despard in his capture of the Black River settlement at the Battle of the Black River on 30 August 1782, and then returned to Jamaica to spend the rest of the war patrolling the West Indies.

Converted into a troop ship in 1787, Actaeon conveyed soldiers to various British colonies, including to Jamaica in 1790 during the Spanish Armament. Paid off in 1791, the ship was recommissioned in 1795 to serve as a receiving ship during the French Revolutionary Wars. Operating at Liverpool, the ship formed part of the Impress Service and also operated as a guard ship, seizing several Russian and Scandinavian ships in 1800 and 1801. Actaeon was sold on 30 April 1802 to be broken up.