HMS Foudroyant

1798-1897

Lord Nelson's flagship from 1799-1800, HMS Foudroyant was involved in the efforts to return the evacuated Neapolitan royal family from Palermo to Naples following its earlier invasion by French troops. Upon return, in the Bay of Naples, King Ferdinand IV hoisted the royal standard on board the Foudroyant. The ship was in Naples harbour when Nelson began his affair with Emma Hamilton and he later used his flagship for a pleasure cruise round the Mediterranean with the "tria juncta in uno"(Emma's husband Sir William's term for the trio of Nelson, Emma and himself.)

Bought out of service in 1892 and then resold to German shipbreakers prompting a storm of public protest, Arthur Conan Doyle's voice among them. After a successful campaign to save her she was used as a youth training vessel and a tourist attraction. Six years later in 1897 she was wrecked during a violent storm off the coast of Blackpool, all 27 of her crew taken off safely by the Blackpool lifeboat.

"Go barter to the knacker's yard,
the steed that has outlived its time!
Send hungry to the pauper ward,
the man who served you in his prime!
But when you touch the Nation's store,
be broad your mind and tight your grip.
Take heed! And bring us back once more,
our Nelson's ship."