HMS Indefatigable was one of the 64-gun third-rate ships-of-the-line designed by Sir Thomas Slade in 1761 for the Royal Navy. She was built as a ship-of-the-line, but most of her active service took place after her conversion to a 44-gun razee frigate. She had a long career under several distinguished commanders, serving throughout the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. She took some 27 prizes, alone or in company, and the Admiralty authorised the issue of four clasps to the Naval General Service Medal in 1847 to any surviving members of her crews from the respective actions. and was never commissioned in that role.
Design modification
In 1794, she was razéed; her upper gun deck was cut away to convert her into a large and heavily armed frigate. The original intention was to retain her twenty-six 24-pounder guns on her gundeck, and to mount eight 12-pounder guns on her quarterdeck and a further four on her forecastle, which would have rated her as a 38-gun vessel. However, it was at this time that the carronade was becoming more popular in the Navy, and her intended armament was altered on 5 December 1794 with the addition of four 42-pounder carronades to go on her quarterdeck and two on her forecastle. Indefatigable was thereafter rated as a 44-gun fifth-rate frigate, along with and , which were converted at about the same time.
French Revolutionary Wars
Captain Sir Edward Pellew
thumb|[[Portrait of Sir Edward Pellew by Thomas Lawrence, 1797.]]
Indefatigable was first commissioned in December 1794 under Captain Sir Edward Pellew. He commanded her until early 1799.
On 9 March 1795, Indefatigable, , and captured numerous French prizes: Temeraire, Minerve, Gentille, Regeneration, and a brig and sloop of unknown names. In October, the Dutch East Indiaman Zeelilee was wrecked in the Isles of Scilly with the loss of 25 of her 70 crew. Indefatigable rescued the survivors.
On 20 March 1796, Indefatigable and her squadron chased three French corvettes, of which the Volage of 26 guns ran ashore under a battery at the mouth of the Loire.
Between 11 and 21 March Indefatigables squadron captured the vessels Favorite Sultana, Friends, Providence, Four Marys, Aimable Justine, and Nouvelle Union. They also destroyed two unnamed brigs and a chasse maree.
On 13 April 1796, Indefatigable was in pursuit of a French frigate. Pellew signalled to Révolutionnaire to cut her off from the shore. Révolutionnaire then captured the French frigate Unité after having fired two broadsides into her. Unité had nine men killed and 11 wounded; Révolutionnaire had no casualties. The Royal Navy took the frigate into service as HMS Unite.
thumb|left| fighting HMS Indefatigable
On the morning of 20 April 1796, Indefatigable sighted the French 44-gun frigate off the Lizard. Indefatigable, Amazon, and Concorde chased Virginie, with Indefatigable catching her just after midnight on 21 April after a chase of 15 hours and . Apparently, Duke of York also shared in some or all of the prize money. In 1847, the Admiralty authorised the issue of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Indefatigable 20 Apl. 1796". Each was under the command of an ensign de vaisseau and both vessels had left Brest two days earlier for a six-week cruise, but had not yet taken any prizes.
In September 1796, Indefatigable, Phoebe, Révolutionnaire, and Amazon captured five Spanish ships.
On 1 October, Indefatigable, Amazon, Révolutionnaire, Phoebe, and Jason shared in the capture of the Vrow Delenea Maria. The next day, Pellew and Indefatigable captured the privateer schooner Ariel of Boston off Corunna. Earlier, Pellew had recaptured the brig Queen of Naples, which had been sailing from Lisbon to Cork. From her, he learned that there were two privateers around Corunna, one of which had captured a brig from Lisbon with a cargo of bale goods two days earlier. On 7 January, Indefatigable and Amazon captured the Emanuel. The battle ended with Droits de l'Homme being driven onto shore in a gale. Amazon also ran onto the shore; still, almost her entire crew survived both the battle and the grounding and were captured. Despite being embayed and having damaged masts and rigging, Indefatigable was able to repair the damage and beat off the lee shore, showing excellent seamanship. She had only 19 officers and men wounded, with most of those not being serious.
On 11 May, Indefatigable in company with Phoebe, , , and Duke of York captured Nouvelle Eugénie. She was a razee privateer of 16 guns and carried a crew of 120 men. She was four days out of Nantes on a 30-day cruise, but had taken no prizes. The Royal Navy took her into service as .
On 21 July, the Duke of York returned, having chased a French privateer lugger into the hands of Lieutenant Bray, who commanded the Revenue Cutter Hind. Hind also recaptured a sloop that the privateer had captured. The lugger was armed with two guns and carried a crew of 25 men.
On 14 October, Indefatigable arrived at Teneriffe. There at midnight she captured the French brig corvette . Ranger was armed with 14 guns and carried a crew of 70 men. She had been carrying dispatches to the West Indies, which she was able to destroy before capture. The next day, Pellew captured a Spanish schooner carrying a cargo of fish. Indefatigable was short of water, so he put the crew of Ranger on board the schooner (though not Rangers officers) and sent them ashore at Santa Cruz.
Five days later, in the evening of the 16th, Pellew's squadron captured the French privateer Inconcevable.
On 28 January, Indefatigable and Cambrian captured the privateer Heureuse Nouvelle. She was armed with 22 guns and had a crew of 130 men. She was 36 days out of Brest and, during that time, had captured only one ship, a large American vessel named the Providence which had a cargo of cotton and sugar. Pellew sent Cambrian in pursuit. Duke of York also shared in the capture.
At daylight on 4 August, Indefatigable sighted the privateer Heureux together with a prize and gave chase.
Indefatigable captured the French corvette Vaillante while cruising in the Bay of Biscay on 8 August, after a chase of 24 hours, which was under the command of Lieutenant de Vaisseau La Porte. The corvette fired a few shots before she struck. She was armed with twenty-two 9-pounder guns and had a crew of 175 men. She had left Rochefort on 1 August, and the Île de Ré on the 4th, where she had picked up 25 banished priests, 27 convicts, and a Madame Rovere and family, all of whom she was taking to Cayenne. She was only 18 months old, coppered, and a fast sailer. The British took her into service as . On 15 November 1798, Indefatigable captured Mercurius.
On 14 January 1799, Indefatigable recaptured Argo, Rich, master, which had been sailing from Gothenburg for Boston when a French privateer had captured her. After her recapture Argo arrived at Falmouth.
More captures or recaptures of merchantmen followed. Indefatigable, , and recaptured the Providence on 10 January 1799, the Pomona on 5 February, and the Wohlfarden on 9 February.
Subsequent commanders
From March 1799 until the end of 1800 Indefatigable was under the command of Captain Henry Curzon. On 31 May she captured the brig Vénus. Indefatigable was apparently also in company with Fisgard and Diamond.
On 9 October 1799 Indefatigable, Diamond, Cambrian, , Nymphe and shared in the capture of the Spanish brig Nostra Senora de la Solidad. Then on 7 November Nymphe, Indefatigable and Diamond shared in the recapture of the ship Brailsford.
Then on 6 January 1800 Indefatigable shared with , , and Stag in the capture of the French brig Ursule. On 11 February Indefatigable captured the Vidette.
On 12 June 1800, Indefatigable captured the French privateer brig Vengeur. She was armed with six long 4-pounders and ten 18-pounder carronades, and carried a crew of 102 men. She was two days out of Bordeaux and sailing for the coast of Brazil. Vengeur was sailing in company with three letters of marque – a ship, a brig and a schooner – that were bound for Guadeloupe. On 11 June Vengeur had captured the Jersey-privateer lugger Snake. Indefatigable shared the prize money with Sirius.
On 3 July Indefatigable recaptured the brig Cultivator, from the French. Eleven days later, Indefatigable and Sirius captured the French ship Favori.
Indefatigable then was with Sir John Borlase Warren's squadron at Ferrol. She apparently did not participate in the attack on a fort at the bay of Playa de Dominos (Doniños) on 25 August 1800.
On 22 October Indefatigable, took the French 28-gun frigate off the Portuguese coast. Indefatigable and Fisgard shared the prize money with Boadicea, Diamond, , and the hired armed schooner .
In January 1801 Indefatigable was under Captain Matthew Scott. Indefatigable was part of the squadron that shared by agreement in the prize money from the Temeraire, which had captured on 30 May. Similarly, the same vessels shared by agreement in Dashers capture of Bien Aimé on 23 July 1801. Indefatigable was then paid off later that year. Indefatigable was laid up in ordinary at Plymouth in March to April 1802, as a result of the peace of October 1801.
Napoleonic Wars
Following the resumption of hostilities, Indefatigable was fitted out for sea between July and September 1803. She was recommissioned under Captain Graham Moore, younger brother of Sir John Moore of Rifle Brigade and Corunna fame.
On 9 August 1804 Indefatigable was in sight when recaptured the West Indiaman off Bayonne.
Action of 5 October 1804
thumb|Capture and destruction of four Spanish frigates, 5 October 1804, the battle of [[Cabo de Santa Maria (Faro)|Cabo de Santa María]]
Indefatigable, with Moore as commodore, and frigates , , and intercepted four Spanish frigates off Cadiz under the command of Rear-Admiral Don Joseph Bustamente, Knight of the Order of St. James, on 5 October 1804. The Royal Navy took Medea into service as and Clara as .
The value of the treasure was very large and, if it had been treated as Prize of War, then Moore and his fellow captains would have become extremely wealthy. As it was, the money and ships were declared to be "Droits of Admiralty" on the grounds that war had not been declared. Hence the captains and crew shared a relatively small ex gratia payment of £160,000 for the bullion, plus the proceeds of the sale of the hull and cargo.
Normal operations
In October 1805 Indefatigable, now under Captain John Tremayne Rodd (−1809), was part of the blockade of Brest. One boat each from the ships of the line of the squadron, plus three boats each from Indefatigable and entered the Gironde on 15 July 1806 to attack two French corvettes and a convoy. The vessels claiming prize money included and the hired armed lugger , in addition to the various ships of the line and frigates. This cutting out expedition resulted in the participants qualifying for the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "16 July Boat Service 1806". On 5 December 1807 Indefatigable captured the Pamelia. Then on the day after Christmas, Indefatigable and captured the American ship Eliza.
On 7 January 1808 Indefatigable and Tribune captured the French galiot Fanny and her cargo.
Then on 31 July, Indefatigable, in company with the gun-brig ,
On 19 August Indefatigable, still in company with Conflict, captured Adele. In December a distribution of £10,000 was payable for the proceeds from Diane and Adele. On 1 and 9 September 1808 Indefatigable captured two American ships, Sally and Peggy. and were in company with Indefatigable at the time. On 1 November Indefatigable captured Bonne Louise. At the time of the capture, Amazon, Iris, , and Goldfinch were in sight. They shared with Indefatigable in the proceeds for the hull, but not the bounty money for the captured crew.
Indefatigable arrived at the Basque Roads on 25 February. While there she captured two vessels, the Danish ship Neptunus on 24 March and the French ship Nymphe on 28 March. For the capture of Neptunus, Indefatigable was in company with the sloops and . Foxhound was also in company for the capture of Nymphe.
Four months later, on 6 May Indefatigable captured two French chasse marees, Camilla and Bonne Rencontre; and were in company. Next, Indefatigable recaptured Flora on 13 June. On 20 October Indefatigable re-captured the Portuguese brig Intrigua.
On 15 January 1811, captured Matilda and her cargo. Indefatigable and were in sight.
Then in June 1812, under Captain John Fyffe, Indefatigable was on the South American station, where she visited the Galápagos Islands. During this cruise she gave the second largest island, now known as Santa Cruz island, its English name – Indefatigable.
By July Indefatigable was back in Portsmouth. When news of the outbreak of the War of 1812 reached Britain, the Royal Navy seized all American vessels then in British ports. Indefatigable was among the Royal Navy vessels then lying at Spithead or Portsmouth and so entitled to share in the grant for the American ships Belleville, Janus, Aeos, Ganges, and Leonidas seized there on 31 July 1812.
On 17 September Indefatigable, , , , , and Cretan shared in the capture of Dankbarheide. When the gun-brig Hearty detained the Prussian vessel Friede on 29 September, Indefatigable, Desiree, Primrose, Cretan, Drake, were either in company or sharing by agreement.
Indefatigable was reported to have been at Lima on 11 July 1815, about to sail for the Galápagos Islands.
Fate
Indefatigable was finally paid off in 1815. She was broken up at Sheerness in August 1816.
Legacy
Indefatigable is the namesake of Indefatigable Island, the alternative English name of Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos Archipelago.
Prizes
{| class="wikitable" style="width:85%; align-center"
!colspan="6" | Vessels captured or destroyed for which Indefatigables crew received full or partial credit
|-
! Date|| Ship || Nationality|| Type ||Fate || Ref.
|-
|9 March 1795
|Temeraire
|frameless|upright=0.15 French
|Merchant ship
|Captured
|