HMS Menelaus (1810)

HMS Menelaus was a Royal Navy 38-gun fifth rate frigate, launched in 1810 at Plymouth.

Career
Menelaus entered service in 1810 under the command of Captain Peter Parker, and within weeks of commissioning was involved in the suppression of a mutiny aboard HMS Africaine. The notoriously brutal Captain Robert Corbet had been appointed to command Africaine and the crew had protested and refused to allow him to board. The Admiralty sent three popular officers to negotiate with the crew and ordered Menelaus to come alongside. If the crew of Africaine refused to agree with the appointment of Corbet, Parker had been ordered to fire on the ship until they submitted. The crew eventually agreed to allow Corbet aboard and Menelaus was not needed. In the summer of 1810, Parker was ordered to sail for the Indian Ocean to reinforce the squadron operating against Île de France and participated in the capture of the island in December 1810.

In 1812, Menelaus was part of the blockade of Toulon in the Mediterranean and operated against coastal harbours, shipping and privateers off the southern coast of France with some success. In 1813, the frigate was transferred to the Atlantic for service convoying merchant ships to Canada in the War of 1812. Menelaus was subsequently employed in raiding American positions along the Maryland coastline, destroying a coastal convoy in September. In 1814, Parker was ordered to operate against French ships in the Atlantic and recaptured a valuable Spanish merchant ship in January.

Following the French surrender, Menelaus returned to service off the American seaboard. Menelaus 'was sent up the Chesapeake to divert the attention of the enemy in that quarter,' whilst General Ross's force was landed at Benedict. Thereafter, Peter Parker was killed at the Battle of Caulk's Field in Kent County, Maryland, on 30 August 1814. From 13 to 15 September, Menelaus was present at the Battle of Baltimore, with one of her complement, William Pritchard, being hospitalised after losing two fingers.

On 19 July 1815, Menelaus was in company with HMS Havannah (1811), HMS Rhin (1806), HMS Sealark (1811), Ferret and HMS Fly (1813) when they captured the French vessels Fortune, Papillon, Marie Graty, Marie Victorine, Cannoniere, and Printemps. The attack took place at Corrijou (Koréjou, east of Abervrach on the coast of Brittany), and during the action Ferret was able to prevent the escape of a French man-of-war brig that she forced ashore. Apparently, this cutting out expedition was the last of the war.

Later career and fate
Following Parker's death, command passed to Edward Dix and he remained on the ship until she was laid up at Sheerness in 1818. In 1820 she moved to Chatham and in 1832 became a hospital ship, becoming the quarantine ship at Sandgate Street. She was eventually sold 87 years after her construction, in 1897.

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 * Ships of the Old Navy