HMS Ganges (1782)

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HMS Ganges was an 74-gun 3rd rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy launched on March 30, 1782 on the Thames. She was the first ship of the Navy to bear the name.

She was begun in April 1780, at Blackwall on the Thames, and completed some two years later. She had a company of some 590 men.

She saw active service from 1782 to 1811, in Europe and the West Indies; she took at least one prize, the French 24-gun corvette Jacobin. She was present at the Battle of Copenhagen, and commanded by Captain Thomas Fremantle. Also aboard were a contingent of soldiers from the 49th foot, commanded by Isaac Brock. They were supposed to storm the forts at Copenhagen, but the outcome of the naval battle made such an assault unnecessary.

She was commissioned as a prison ship on December 12th 1811, for holding prisoners of war, transferred to the Board of Transport in 1814, and broken up at Plymouth in 1816.

See HMS Ganges for other ships of the Royal Navy with this name.

The HMS Ganges Association Website has a timeline of the activities of the Ganges.