HMS Northumberland (1798)

HMS Northumberland was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at the yards of Barnard, Deptford and launched on 2 February 1798.

Northumberland, HMS Alexander (1778), HMS Penelope (1798), HMS Bonne Citoyenne (1796), and the brig HMS Vincejo (1799) shared in the proceeds of the French polacca Vengeance, captured entering Valetta, Malta on 6 April. .

Because Northumberland served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 8 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorized in 1850 to all surviving claimants.

Northumberland participated in the Battle of San Domingo, where she was damaged, and suffered 21 killed and 74 wounded, the highest casualties of any British ship in the battle.

On 22 November 1810, Northumberland, while in the company of HMS Armada, a 74-gun third rate, captured the 14-gun French privateer ketch La Glaneuse.

She received a measure of fame when she transported Napoleon I into captivity on the Island of Saint Helena. Napoleon had surrendered to Captain Frederick Maitland of HMS Bellerophon, on 15 July 1815 and was then transported to Plymouth. Napoleon was transferred from the Bellerophon to the Northumberland for his final voyage to St. Helena because concerns were expressed about the suitability of the ageing ship. HMS Northumberland was therefore selected instead.

She was converted to a hulk in February 1827, and returned to Deptford to be broken up in 1850.

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