HMS Phaeton (1782)

Contemporary Japanese drawing of HMS Phaeton (Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture)
History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Phaeton
Operator	Royal Navy
Ordered	3 March 1780
Builder	John Smallshaw, Liverpool
Laid down	June 1780
Launched	12 June 1782
Completed	27 December 1782
Commissioned	March 1782
Honours and awards	Naval General Service Medal with clasp "1 June 1794"[1] "27 Oct. Boat Service 1800".[2]
Fate	Sold for breaking up 26 March 1828
General characteristics
Class and type	Minerva-class frigate
Tons burthen	944 (bm)
Length	141 ft 0 in (42.98 m)
Beam	39 ft 0 in (11.89 m)
Depth of hold	13 ft 10 in (4.22 m)
Propulsion	Sail
Complement	280
Armament	Upper deck: 28 × 18-pounder guns QD: 8 × 9-pounder guns + 6 × 18-pounder carronades Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 4 × 18-pounder carronades

HMS Phaeton was a 38-gun, Minerva-class fifth rate of Britain's Royal Navy. This frigate was most noted for her intrusion into Nagasaki harbour in 1808. John Smallshaw (Smallshaw & Company) built Phaeton in Liverpool between 1780 and 1782. She participated in numerous engagements during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars during which service she captured many prizes. Francis Beaufort, inventor of the Beaufort Wind-Scale, was a lieutenant on Phaeton when he distinguished himself during a successful cutting out expedition. Phaeton sailed to the Pacific in 1805, and returned in 1812. She was finally sold on 26 March 1828.