HMS Temeraire (1798)

HMS Temeraire was a 98-gun second-rate ship of the line of Royal Navy. Launched in 1798, she served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, mostly on blockades or convoy escort duties. She only fought in one fleet action, the Battle of Trafalgar, but became so well known for that action and the ship's subsequent depictions in art and literature that she has been remembered as The Fighting Temeraire.

Built at Chatham Dockyard, Temeraire began her naval service blockading Brest with the rest of the Channel Fleet. Missions were tedious and seldom relieved by engagements with the French Navy. The first incident of note came when several members of her crew, hearing rumours they were to be sent to the West Indies at a time when peace with France seemed imminent, refused to obey orders. The mutiny eventually failed and a number of mutineers were tried and executed. Laid up after the Peace of Amiens, Temeraire returned to active service following the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars, again serving in the Channel Fleet and participating in Horatio Nelson's blockade of the Franco-Spanish fleet in Cádiz in 1805. At the Battle of Trafalgar, fought on 21 October, the ship went into action immediately astern of Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory. During the battle Temeraire came to the rescue of the beleaguered Victory, and fought and captured two French ships of the line, winning public renown in Britain.

After undergoing substantial repairs, Temeraire participated in blockades of the French navy and supported British operations on the Spanish coast. She went to the Baltic Sea in 1809, defending convoys against attacks by Danish gunboats, and by 1810 was off the Spanish coast again, helping to defend Cádiz against a French siege. Her last action occurred off Toulon, when she came under fire from French shore batteries. Temeraire returned to Britain in 1813 for repairs, but was laid up. She was converted to a prison ship and moored in the River Tamar until 1819. She was subsequently brought to Sheerness and served as a receiving ship, then a depot ship and finally a guard ship. The Admiralty ordered her to be sold in 1838, and she was towed up the Thames to be broken up.

This final voyage was depicted in a 1839 J. M. W. Turner painting titled The Fighting Temeraire, which was greeted with critical acclaim. The painting was voted Britain's favourite painting in a BBC radio poll in 2005 and appeared briefly in the 2012 James Bond movie Skyfall. A reproduction of the painting appears on the back of the Bank of England £20 note issued in 2020.