HMS Lively was a 32-gun fifth-rate Alcmene-class frigate of the British Royal Navy launched on 23 October 1794 at Northam, Devon. She took part in three actions that would in 1847 qualify for the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal, one a single-ship action, one a major battle, and one a cutting-out boat expedition. Lively was wrecked in 1798.
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Lively was commissioned in October 1794 under Captain Viscount Lord Garlies.[1] On 4 March 1795 she captured the Espion about 13 leagues off Ushant. Espion was armed with eighteen 6-pounder guns and had a crew of 140 men. She was five days out of Brest on a cruise.[2][Note 1] Captain George Burlton, acting in the absence of Lord Garlies, who was sick on shore, commanded Lively.[3] Four days later Lively recaptured the ship Favonius.[4]
On 13 March 1795 she captured the French frigate Tourterelle. Lively sighted three vessels and headed for the larger one, which tacked to meet her. After three hours of exchanging fire the French vessel was so disabled that she struck. She turned out to be the 28-gun frigate Tourterelle, under the command of Captain Guillaume S. A. Montalan. She had lost 16 men killed and 25 wounded; Lively had only two men wounded.[3] The British took Tourterelle into service. The Admiralty would recognize the action in 1847 with the award of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Lively 13 March 1795".[5]
Lively also captured the other two vessels that Tourterelle had been escorting. They had been prizes to Espion.[3]
Lively was present at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent under the command of Captain Lord Garlies. She and three other British frigates jointly fired on a Spanish ship-of-the-line that had gotten separated from the rest,[6] but other than that Lively took no significant part in the combat and suffered no losses. Her main function was to repeat signals. She did take possession of the San Ysidro (or San Isidro), one of the Spanish vessels that surrendered.[6] In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "St. Vincent" to all surviving claimants from the battle.[7]
In 1797 Captain Benjamin Hallowell assumed command.[1] On 29 May, during the battle for Santa Cruz, Lieutenant Thomas Hardy led a cutting out party using boats from Minerve and Lively to capture the French 16-gun corvette Mutine.[8] The cutting out party boarded and captured the vessel; they then sailed her out of the port to the British fleet under heavy fire from shore and naval guns. Hardy was wounded during the action, as were 14 of the other British officers and men in the cutting out party.[8] The British subsequently commissioned Mutine under her existing name with Hardy as commander.[9] In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issuance to all surviving claimants of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "29 May Boat Service 1797".[10]
On 5 January 1798, Mercury captured the 16-gun privateer Benjamin. Alcmene, Thalia and Lively joined the chase and shared in the capture.[11]
On 12 April 1798, she was under the command of Captain James Nicoll Norris when she was wrecked on Rota Point off Cadiz.[1] She and Seahorse were patrolling to intercept any ships trying to enter or leave the port. During the night she grounded and despite all efforts by Seahorse, she could not be pulled off. In the morning of 14 April it became apparent that Spanish gunboats were marshaling, while shore batteries started to fire on the British vessels and the boats transferring the crew to Seahorse;[12] In the process, only one man was lost.[13] Morris then set fire to Lively as he left.[12] The subsequent court martial acquitted Morris and his officers of all blame.