| dbo:abstract |
HMS Romulus was a 36-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. At the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars, Romulus was despatched to the Mediterranean where she became part of the fleet under Lord Hood, initially blockading, and later occupying, the port of Toulon. She played an active role during the withdrawal in December, providing covering fire while HMS Robust and HMS Leviathan removed allied troops from the waterfront. With three other frigates and 13 ships-of-the-line, Romulus chased a smaller French fleet into Gourjean Bay in August 1794. Kept away by the batteries on the shore, Hood returned to Corsica with four ships, leaving Romulus and the remainder to form a blockade. This ultimately failed due to bad weather and the French ships escaped.Following an action on 14 March 1795, boats from Romulus assisted in the rescue of stores and crew from HMS Illustrious, which had been badly damaged during the battle and subsequent storm. In January 1797, Romulus was in the small squadron, under Commodore Horatio Nelson that evacuated the island of Elba. While the escaping convoy was escorted to Gibraltar, Romulus, with Nelson's ship Minerve, carried out a surveillance of the enemy ports and coast. On 24 May 1797, in a ruse de guerre, she captured a Spanish 20-gun corvette. Sneaking up under false colours with another British frigate, the Spanish vessel was taken without a shot being fired. She was converted to a troopship in mid-1799 and served in the Navy's Egyptian campaign, landing troops at Aboukir bay on 8 March 1801. She paid off at the end of the war in 1802. When hostilities resumed, Romulus was converted into a floating battery, standing guard first at Woolwich, then Hollesley Bay near East Anglia and finally Leith. During the later half of 1810, Romulus was converted to a troopship once more and in 1812 was back in the Mediterranean. In July 1813 she had a short-lived appointment as a hospital ship in Bermuda. She paid off that December, was recommissioned a final time, and was finally broken up on the island in November 1816. (en) |
