HMS Leviathan was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the British Royal Navy, launched on 9 October 1790.

Service history

At the Battle of Trafalgar under Henry William Bayntun, she was near the front of the windward column led by Admiral Lord Nelson aboard his flagship, HMS Victory, and captured the Spanish ship SPANISH SHIP San Agustín. A flag said to have been flown by the Leviathan at Trafalgar is to be sold at auction by Arthur Cory in March 2016 - Bayntun is thought to have given it to his friend the Duke of Clarence (later William IV), who then gave it to Arthur Cory's direct ancestor Nicholas Cory, a senior officer on William's royal yacht HMS Royal Sovereign (1804), in thanks for helping the yacht win a race and a bet. Leviathan, HMS Pompee (1793), HMS Anson (1781), HMS Melpomene (1794), and HMS Childers (1778) shared in the proceeds of the capture on 10 September 1797 of the Tordenskiold. In 1809, she took part in the Battle of Maguelone. On 27 June 1812, Leviathan, HMS Imperieuse (1805), HMS Curacoa (1809) and HMS Eclair (1807) attacked an 18-strong French convoy at Laigueglia and Alassio in Liguria, northern Italy.

Fate

In 1816, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, she was converted into a prison ship and in 1848 was sold and broken up.