Baltic Service
She was laid down at Sheerness in 1782 and was commissioned in 1799 under the command of Captain G. Lumsdaine. She sailed from Yarmouth on 9 August 1800, with a squadron under Vice-Admiral Archibald Dickson in Monarch bound for Denmark. Because of lack of wind the faster sailing vessels had to tow the slower ones and it was 15 August before they reached the Skaw. The next day the whole squadron advanced as far as the mouth of the Sound where the Danes had anchored three 74-gun ships, later increased to four, between Cronberg Castle and the Swedish shore. Because of gales the Admiral sheltered his squadron in Elsinor Roads then went in Romney as far as Sophienburg to talk with Lord Whitworth who was negotiating with the Danish ministers. When matters were resolved the squadron returned to Yarmouth in September.
In 1801, under the command of Captain John Lawford, Polyphemus was with the fleet that bombarded Copenhagen on 2 April. Polyphemus lost midshipman James Bell, four seamen and one marine. The boatswain (Edward Burr), twenty seamen, and four marines were wounded. The division of the North Sea fleet commanded by Admiral Thomas Graves in Polyphemus returned to Yarmouth from the Baltic Sea on 13 July and then sailed to join Admiral Dickson's squadron blockading the Dutch fleet in the Texel.
Read more about this topic: HMS Polyphemus (1782)
Famous quotes containing the word service:
“Let not the tie be mercenary, though the service is measured in money. Make yourself necessary to somebody. Do not make life hard to any.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)