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OWEN GLENDOWER (36) Built in 1808, Humber.
Hulk in 1842.

    She was the first ship to be built with the round stern advocated by Sir Robert Seppings to give extra strength. This was rebuilt in the normal square fashion during a refit in 1822.
  • 1810 Capt. William SELBY Channel.
    On 10 March she was lucky enough to come across a French privateer lugger in the act of boarding a schooner.
    Capt. SELBY gave chase but the French refused to surrender until the lugger was half full of water and two men had been killed and three wounded. She was the CAMILLE of Boulogne with only six of her fourteen guns mounted.
  • At the beginning of October she was escorting a convoy off the Lizard when, in a thick fog on the 1st., she was boarded by by the master and crew of one of the ships in the convoy who informed Capt. SELBY that he had been captured by a French privateer cutter. When the fog cleared the privateer was discovered only a short distance away. She surrendered after a cannonade which left several men wounded and proved to be the INDOMPTABLE of Roscoff, formerly the SWAN of Cowes, with 18 guns and 120 men.
    The convoy ship was retaken.
  • 1811 Capt. Brian HODGSON.
    In October she was at Spithead with orders for the East Indies.
  • 1812 Flagship of Vice Ad. Sir S. HOOD in the East Indies.
    Returned to England in the spring of 1816 and laid up in Chatham.
  • 1819 Capt. Hon.
    Robert SPENCER, 08/1819.
    He brought with him nearly all the officers and 18 young gentlemen from his previous ship, the GANYMEDE.
    Although the frigate was nominally ready for sea with a full crew on board, the captain found things far from satisfactory. He spent 10 weeks re-rigging and re-fitting. One fifth of the crew were discharged and about the same number lost through sickness and desertion. When at last she sailed for Spithead she was found to cranky but this was cured by re-stowage.
  • She sailed for South America on 16 November 1819.and arrived in Rio on 19 December, the record 33 days passage including a stay of 24 hours in Funchal, Madeira.
    On 30 December they left for Montevideo and Buenos Aires where Sir Thomas HARDY was waiting for her as his flagship. After a long stay at Buenos Aires OWEN GLENDOWER was sent to St. Helena so that Capt. SPENCER could provide an independent report on the conditions under which Napoleon was living (Sir Thomas shifted his flag to CREOLE). She returned to Montevideo and began preparations for rounding the Horn. Although it was summer in the southern hemisphere they encountered a severe gale before arriving at Valparaiso on 22 January 1822.
  • Capt. SPENCER's orders were to find Capt. William SHIRREFF of ANDROMACHE, commanding the British squadron on the station.
    He was a close friend of Lord COCHRANE who, after a scandal in England concerning financial fraud, now commanded the Chilean navy. Spain had been complaining that Capt. SHIRREFF had not been strictly neutral in her disputes with her former colonies and Capt. SPENCER was ordered to make sure that he either returned home of his own free will or under arrest. Three previous captains had already been sent out on the same mission. The last, Capt. SEARLE of HYPERION, making a large profit for himself by taking home half a million pounds sterling which had been waiting on ANDROMACHE coming out of dock.
  • OWEN GLENDOWER was joined at Valparaiso by Sir Thomas HARDY in CREOLE and, when Capt. SPENCER found ANDROMACHE off Peru the rebel went home without a fuss.
    The ship spent three months off Spanish Peru and made a visit to the Galapagos Islands. While they were at Callao the Chilean fleet made an attack on the port but the forces were inadequate for the task and Lord COCHRANE was forced to retire. Capt. SPENCER moved the OWEN GLENDOWER to expose one Chilean ship which had tried to take cover behind her. What force could not achieve blockade could and soon Spain was force to enter into the discussions with the rebels on board OWEN GLENDOWER which led to the formation of the Republic of Peru. The negotiations were completed on board CONWAY after Capt. SPENCER's recall.
  • OWEN GLENDOWER sailed for home with freight worth about 400,000 pounds sterling. Off the Azores they came across an American ship from Smyrna which had neither food nor water. Capt. SPENCER sent them some over and informed them that they had a fair wind for Flores which was only a few hours away.
  • They arrived at Spithead on 19 January 1822 and, after a much needed refit which included rebuilding Sir Robert Seppings' stern, she took Earl Spencer to Copenhagen to invest the Danish King with the Order of the Garter. Two or three weeks later they were at Falmouth determining the longitude of the place before making a fast passage to Madeira to determine the longitude of Funchal.
    She was paid off at Chatham.
  • She was re-commissioned by Capt. Sir Robert MENDS in November 1822 for service on the coast of Africa.
  • 1824 Capt. John FILMORE, (act.) pending the appointment of Capt. Hood Hanway CHRISTIAN in September. He hoisted his broad pendant as commodore of the squadron at the Cape of Good Hope.
  • 1827 Out of commission at Chatham.


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