HMS Mars (1794)
HMS Mars, launched in 1794 at
Deptford, was a 74-gun
third-rate ship of the line of the
Royal Navy.
In the early part of the
French Revolutionary Wars she was assigned to the Channel Fleet. In 1797 under Captain
Alexander Hood she was prominent in the
Spithead mutiny. In 1798 she fought a famous single-ship duel with the French
seventy-four Hercule, in the dusk near the
Pointe du Raz on the coast of
Brittany.
Hercule attempted to escape through the Passage du Raz but the tide was running in the wrong direction and she was forced to anchor, giving Captain Hood the chance to attack at close quarters. The two ships were of equal force, but
Hercule was newly commissioned, and after more an hour and a half of bloody fighting at close quarters she struck her flag, having lost over three hundred men. On
Mars 31 men were killed and 60 wounded. Among the dead was Captain Hood.
Mars fought at
Trafalgar where she was heavily damaged as she took fire from five different
French and
Spanish seventy-fours. Among the 3 officers and 25 crew killed in action was her captain,
George Duff.
In
1806, on service in the Channel fleet she took part in an action off Chasseron which led to the capture of four French ships. She afterwards served off
Portugal and in the
Baltic Sea.
Mars was decommissioned in
1813 and broken up in
1823.
*William James,
Naval History of Great Britain, 1793–1827.
*
