HMS Ocean (1805)

In 1806, under the command of Captain R. Thomas, Ocean blockaded Cadiz. A squadron under Admiral Purvis took over the blockade when Lord Collingwood sailed for the Dardanelles with a diplomatic mission under Sir Arthur Paget[?]. France and Russia had signed a peace treaty in July 1806 but the Russian Vice Admiral Seniavin[?] fought on in the Adriatic. An expedition under Vice Admiral Duckworth[?] attacked Constantinople in an attempt to capture the Turkish fleet at the beginning of 1807 but withdrew after losing 29 killed and 235 wounded. He refused to join Seniavin in another attempt and sailed for Egypt to capture Alexandria on March 22. Seniavin fought a battle with the Turks at Lemnos on June 19.

At the end of August Ocean, Queen[?], Repulse[?], Canopus, Montague[?], Malta[?], Hind[?], Herald[?], Philomel[?], Delight[?], and Electra[?] were lying at anchor off the Straits. Kent was surveying Skiro[?] and Seahorse[?] was at Paros to see if either were fit for shelter for the squadron.

Sir Arthur Paget's mission to secure the return of Seniavin to the Black Sea failed when the Porte refused to listen to any propositions unless the Royal Navy left the Archipelago and the army quit Egypt. Meanwhile Russia and France had signed the Treaty of Tilsit[?] which Collingwood understood to mean that the Russian ships would come under French control so he escorted Seniavin from Corfu to the Straits of Gibraltar, being prepared to destroy them rather than let them fall into enemy hands. The Russians had to put into Lisbon where they were eventually taken into British custody.

Ocean was back off Cadiz in the spring of 1808 as the flagship of Lord Collingwood. In July he was able to report that all the French forces in Andalusia had surrendered and more than 20,000 men had either been killed or taken prisoner. In December Ocean was with the squadron off Toulon so that Lord Collingood could control the operations on the coast of Spain and the defence of the citadel of Rosas[?].

In 1817 the ship was reclassified as a 110-gun First Rate. She was retained on the Lisbon and Mediterranean stations until 1830.

In 1827, under the command of Captain Patrick Campbell, Ocean served as a guard-ship at Plymouth and then withdrew the British troops from Portugal. She was later with the Mediterranean squadron until paid off on May 15, 1830. After that, she served variously as harbour duty flagship and guardship at Sheerness[?] until 1848 when she became Flagship, Nore.

In 1852 Ocean became a coal depot ship and was finally broken up in 1875.

See HMS Ocean for other Navy ships of the same name.

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