HMS Aigle (1801)

History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Aigle
Ordered	15 September 1798
Builder	Balthazar and Edward Adams
Cost	£14,335
Laid down	November 1798
Launched	23 September 1801
Commissioned	December 1802
Fate	Broken up
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Aigle-class fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen	970 84⁄94 (bm)
Length	146 ft 2 in (44.6 m) (gun deck) 122 ft 1 in (37.2 m) (keel)
Beam	38 ft 8 in (11.8 m)
Depth of hold	13 ft 0 in (4.0 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Fully Rigged Ship
Complement	264
Armament	Gun deck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 4 × 9-pounder guns + 8 × 32-pounder carronades Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades

HMS Aigle was a 36-gun, fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Ordered on 15 September 1799 and built at Bucklers Hard shipyard, she was launched 23 September 1801. More than fifty of her crew were involved in the Easton Massacre when she visited Portland in April 1803 to press recruits. Her captain and three other officers stood trial for murder but were acquitted. Much of Aigle's career as a frigate was spent trying to keep the English Channel free of enemy warships and merchant vessels. On 22 March 1808, she was first into the action against two large French frigates, compelling one to seek the shelter of the Île de Groix batteries and forcing the other onto the shore.

Aigle saw action at the Battle of Basque Roads in April 1809, when Captain Thomas Cochrane's partially successful action began with an attacking force of fireships against a French fleet, anchored off the Île-d'Aix. Initially providing support to the fireships' crews, Aigle went on to help force the surrender of the stranded French vessels Ville de Varsovie and Aquilon. In July 1809, Aigle took part in the Walcheren Campaign, an amphibious operation against the Kingdom of Holland, carrying out a two-day long bombardment of Flushing that led to its capitulation on 15 August. The campaign was ultimately a failure and the British forces withdrew in September.

In October 1811, Aigle was sent to the Mediterranean, where she and her crew raided the island of Elba before being asked to provide naval support during the invasion and occupation of the city of Genoa. Refitted in January 1820, her square stern was replaced with a circular one, giving her a wider angle of fire and improved protection at the rear. Converted to a corvette in 1831, she returned to the Mediterranean under Lord Clarence Paget. In 1852, she became a coal hulk and receiving ship before being used as a target for torpedoes and sold for breaking in 1870.