HMS Phoenix (1783)
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HMS Phoenix was a 36-gun Perseverance-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. The shipbuilder George Parsons built her at Bursledon and launched her on 15 July 1783. She served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and was instrumental in the events leading up to the battle of Trafalgar. Phoenix was involved in several single-ship actions, the most notable occurring on 10 August 1805 when she captured the French frigate Didon, which was more heavily armed than her. She was wrecked, without loss of life, off Smyrna in 1816.
An 1805 watercolor (shown here in black and white) probably depicting HMS Phoenix in chase of Didon
The Engagement between H.M.S. Phoenix and the French Frigate Didon, 10 August 1805, Thomas Luny, 1829, Ashmolean Museum
The battle-scarred HMS Phoenix and Didon shortly after their engagement on 10 August 1805, depicted by Thomas Whitcombe
Phoenix beating into Marsamashet Harbor, Malta, by J. Bushman
George Parsons (shipbuilder)
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George Parsons was an English shipbuilder.
Plaque at Rockport, Mass
Image: Elephant postcard