HMS Blanche (1786)

HMS Blanche tows the captured Pique into port, depicted by Robert Dodd
History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Blanche
Ordered	9 August 1782
Builder	Thomas Calhoun & John Nowlan, Bursledon
Laid down	July 1783
Launched	10 July 1786
Completed	By 25 April 1789
Honours and awards	Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Blanche 4 Jany. 1795"[1]
Fate	Ran aground on 28 September 1799 Declared a total loss
General characteristics
Class and type	32-gun Hermione-class fifth rate
Tons burthen	722 48⁄94 bm
Length	129 ft (39.3 m) (overall) 107 ft 0+1⁄2 in (32.6 m) (keel)
Beam	35 ft 7+1⁄2 in (10.9 m)
Depth of hold	12 ft 7 in (3.84 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	220
Armament	Upper deck: 26 × 12-pounder guns QD: 4 × 6-pounder guns + 4 × 18-pounder carronades Fc: 2 × 6-pounder guns + 2 × 18-pounder carronades

HMS Blanche was a 32-gun Hermione-class fifth rate of the Royal Navy. She was ordered towards the end of the American War of Independence, but only briefly saw service before the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793. She enjoyed a number of successful cruises against privateers in the West Indies, before coming under the command of Captain Robert Faulknor. He took the Blanche into battle against a superior opponent and after a hard-fought battle, forced the surrender of the French frigate Pique. Faulknor was among those killed on the Blanche. She subsequently served in the Mediterranean, where she had the misfortune of forcing a large Spanish frigate to surrender, but was unable to secure the prize, which then escaped. Returning to British waters she was converted to a storeship and then a troopship, but did not serve for long before being wrecked off the Texel in 1799.