HMS Spartan (1806)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Spartan.

HMS Spartan was a Royal Navy 38-gun fifth-rate frigate, launched at Rochester in 1806.

Spartan's first captain was George Airie, but he was soon replaced by Captain Jahleel Brenton, who took Spartan to the Adriatic Sea for service in the Adriatic campaign. Spartan was very active in the region, attacking numerous French coastal convoys, towns and small warships and in 1809 was employed in attacks on the Ionian Islands, landing troops on Zante and Cerigo in successful amphibious operations. In 1810, Spartan was operating off Naples, and there fought and inconclusive engagement against a much larger Neapolitan squadron on 3 May for which Brenton was highly rewarded.

In 1811, Brenton's brother Edward Pelham Brenton took command and operated off the American Eastern Seaboard during the War of 1812, attacking shipping off Cape Sable but otherwise having little success against American merchant ships. In 1814, Spartan returned to Portsmouth, where command passed to Phipps Hornby, who briefly served with her in the Mediterranean. With the end of the war in 1815, Spartan was kept in the Mediterranean under Captain William Furlong Wise and in 1818 was able to negotiate compensation of $35,000 from the Dey of Algiers following the depredations of Algerian pirates. In 1819 and 1820, Spartan visited the Caribbean and North America before she was laid up and then broken up in 1822.

Notes

• Ships of the Old Navy