HMS Dryad (1795)

HMS Dryad taking the French frigate Proserpine as a prize, 13 June 1796, by Thomas Whitcombe
History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Dryad
Ordered	24 May 1794
Builder	William Barnard, Deptford
Laid down	June 1794
Launched	4 June 1795
Decommissioned	13 September 1832
Out of service	1814 - 1827
Honours and awards	Naval General Service Medal (NGSM) with clasp "Dryad 13 June 1796"[1]
Fate	Harbour receiving ship 1832 - 1859 Broken up 1859
General characteristics [2]
Class and type	36-gun fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen	9246⁄94 (bm)
Length	142 ft 8 in (43.5 m) (overall); 119 ft 0 in (36.3 m) (overall)
Beam	38 ft 2+1⁄2 in (11.6 m)
Depth of hold	13 ft 5 in (4.1 m)
Sail plan	Ship rigged
Complement	264
Armament	Upper deck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 8 × 9-pounder guns + 6 × 32-pounder carronades Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 4 × 32-pounder carronades

HMS Dryad was a fifth-rate sailing frigate of the Royal Navy that served for 64 years, at first during the Napoleonic Wars and then in the suppression of slavery. She fought in a notable single-ship action in 1796 when she captured the French frigate Proserpine, an action that would later earn her crew the Naval General Service Medal. Dryad was broken up at Portsmouth in 1860.^[2]