HMS Ajax was an Ajax-class 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the British Royal Navy. She was built by John Randall & Co of Rotherhithe and launched on the Thames on 3 March 1798. Ajax participated in the Egyptian operation of 1801, the Battle of Cape Finisterre in 1805 and the Battle of Trafalgar, before she was lost to a disastrous fire in 1807 during the Dardanelles Operation.
Watercolour of HMS Ajax, in the collections of the National Maritime Museum; no artist or date given
Battle of Cape Finisterre, by William Anderson, c.1810
Duckworth's squadron forcing the Dardanelles
Battle of Cape Finisterre (1805)
In the Battle of Cape Finisterre off Galicia, Spain, the British fleet under Admiral Robert Calder fought an indecisive naval battle against the combined Franco-Spanish fleet which was returning from the West Indies. In the ensuing battle the British captured two Spanish ships of the line, but failed to prevent the joining of French Admiral Pierre de Villeneuve's fleet to the squadron of Ferrol and to strike the shattering blow that would have freed Great Britain from the danger of an invasion. Calder was later court-martialled and severely reprimanded for his failure and for avoiding the renewal of the engagement on 23 and 24 July. At the same time, in the aftermath Villeneuve elected not to continue on to Brest, where his fleet could have joined with other French ships to clear the English Channel for an invasion of Great Britain.
Admiral Sir Robert Calder's action off Cape Finisterre, 23 July 1805, William Anderson
Defiance, Windsor Castle, Prince of Wales, Repulse, Raisonable, and Glory, an engraving after Thomas Whitcombe
Day after the action - British frigates have two Spanish prizes, the Firme and the San Rafael under tow on the right. Painting by William Anderson