Admiral Sir Henry Heathcote (1777-1851) joined the Royal Navy in 1790, serving in a number of ships prior to his promotion as Lieutenant in September 1796. Made Commander in 1797 and Post-Captain in 1798, he had already seen action at the capture of Corsica in 1794 and in Admiral Hotham's two fleet encounters with the French in 1795. Acting-Commander of the storeship Alliance in 1797, his first independent command was to the frigate Romulus which he brought home from the Mediterranean and paid off in 1798. Shore-based for five years, he was then appointed to the frigate Galatea and thereafter spent most of his time escorting West Indian convoys until 1808 when he transferred into the 64-gun H.M.S. Lion. His command of Lion immediately took him to the East where he served with considerable distinction until April 1812 when he assumed command of H.M.S. Scipion which he took out to the Mediterranean to take charge of the in-shore blockading squadron off Toulon. When hostilities were temporarily ended in April 1814 following Napoleon's abdication and exile to Elba, Heathcote took a squadron to Marseilles to collect British prisoners-of-war and, after conveying them to Minorca, returned home to pay off Scipion that October. Knighted in 1819 and made Rear-Admiral in 1825, successive promotions took him to the rank of Admiral in July 1851, prior to his death the next month.

H.M.S. Scipion began life as the French 74-gun L'Orient built in 1801 and subsequently renamed Le Scipion. Measured at 1,887 tons and a fine vessel in prime condition, she was captured as a prize by Sir Richard Strachan when his squadron engaged the remnants of the French fleet which had survived Trafalgar, off Cape Finisterre, on 4th November 1805. Assimilated into the Royal Navy under the same name, she proved a valuable addition to the fleet and acted as Admiral Stopford's flagship at the capture of Java in September 1811. Captain Henry Heathcote, her last commander, took her to the Mediterranean for her final commission from April 1812 until October 1814 when she was paid off and laid up prior to scrapping in January 1819.