Lot Essay
The two-decker H.M.S. Albion was one of the nine 'Fame' class Third Rates designed by Henslow and ordered for the Royal Navy at the turn of the eighteenth century. Built at Perry's Yard, Blackwall, Albion's keel was laid in June 1800 and she was launched on 17 June 1802. Measured by her builder at 1,743 tons, she was 175 feet in length with a 47½ foot beam, and mounted seventy-four guns of varying calibre. Commissioned with a full crew of 640 men and placed in the Channel Fleet, her first recorded action was on 28 May 1803 when, in company with H.M.S. Minotaur and another '74', she chased, engaged and captured the French 36-gun frigate Franchise which was susbequently added to the navy under her own name.
In service throughout the remaining years of the Napoleonic Wars, Albion then took part in the famous bombardment of Algiers on 27 August 1816 which resulted not only in the destruction of the Barbary Corsairs based there, but also in the release of about 1,650 enslaved prisoners, many of whom were European Christians captured years before. In the thick of the action, Albion's commander, Captain Coode, was severely wounded but she still managed to fire off 4,110 round shot during the ten-hour bombardment which culminated in the surrender of the city. Eleven years of peace ensued until Albion was again in action, this time at Navarino on 20 October 1827. This too involved an Allied fleet and resulted in the independence of Greece from Turkish rule although it was also memorable as the very last major sea battle of the age of sail. After Navarino, Albion was growing old and in 1831 she was briefly hulked to become a lazaretto [quarantine ship] at Portsmouth prior to being broken up in 1836.
In service throughout the remaining years of the Napoleonic Wars, Albion then took part in the famous bombardment of Algiers on 27 August 1816 which resulted not only in the destruction of the Barbary Corsairs based there, but also in the release of about 1,650 enslaved prisoners, many of whom were European Christians captured years before. In the thick of the action, Albion's commander, Captain Coode, was severely wounded but she still managed to fire off 4,110 round shot during the ten-hour bombardment which culminated in the surrender of the city. Eleven years of peace ensued until Albion was again in action, this time at Navarino on 20 October 1827. This too involved an Allied fleet and resulted in the independence of Greece from Turkish rule although it was also memorable as the very last major sea battle of the age of sail. After Navarino, Albion was growing old and in 1831 she was briefly hulked to become a lazaretto [quarantine ship] at Portsmouth prior to being broken up in 1836.