HMS Foxhound was an 18-gun built by King at Dover and launched in 1806. She participated in the battle of the Basque Roads

Battle of the Basque Roads

The Battle of the Basque Roads, also Battle of Aix Roads was a naval battle during the Napoleonic Wars off the Island of Aix...

 in early 1809 and foundered later that year.

Service

Commander Pitt Burnaby Greene commissioned her in May 1807. On 26 August Foxhound captured the Danish vessel Adetheid Margaretha. Two days later she captured the Danish vessels Gimlé and De Gode.

On 28 June 1808 Foxhound captured the French chasse maree Susanne. Then on 11 January 1809 Foxhound recaptured the Hamburg ship Vierininguen.

On 17 March 1809, Foxhound joined Admiral Lord Gambier's

James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier

Admiral of the Fleet James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier GCB was an admiral of the Royal Navy, who served as Governor of Newfoundland, and as a Lord of the Admiralty, but who gained notoriety for his actions at the Battle of the Basque Roads.-Early career:Gambier was born in New Providence, The...

  Channel fleet anchored off the Basque Roads. The British plan was to use the 60 vessels (of all kinds) to attack the French fleet lying within. The 15 French vessels there, commanded by Vice-Admiral Zacharie Allemand

Zacharie Allemand

Zacharie Jacques Théodore Allemand, was a French admiral.- Early career :Allemand was born to a captain of the East Indian Company. Orphaned at an early age, he started his sailing career at 12 as an apprentice on Superbe, an East Indiaman...

, lay behind a boom protected by 30 guns.

During this time Foxhound participated in the capture of two vessels, the Danish ship Neptunus on 24 March and the French ship Nymphe on 28 March. For the capture of Neptunus, Foxhound was in company with and the sloop . Foxhound was also in company with Indefatigable for the capture of Nymphe.

On 11 April, two explosion ships, twelve fire ship

Fire ship

A fire ship, used in the days of wooden rowed or sailing ships, was a ship filled with combustibles, deliberately set on fire and steered into an enemy fleet, in order to destroy ships, or to create panic and make the enemy break formation. Ships used as fire ships were usually old and worn out or...

s, accompanied by bomb vessels and escorted by men-of-war, some 27 vessels in all, under the command of Captain Lord Cochrane

Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald

Admiral Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, 1st Marquess of Maranhão, GCB, ODM , styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a senior British naval flag officer and radical politician....

, broke the boom under a heavy fire. Foxhound covered the bomb vessel

Bomb vessel

A bomb vessel, bomb ship, bomb ketch, or simply bomb was a type of wooden sailing naval ship. Its primary armament was not cannon —although bomb vessels carried a few cannon for self-defence—but rather mortars mounted forward near the bow and elevated to a high angle, and projecting their fire in a...

  near the Île-d'Aix

Île-d'Aix

Île-d'Aix is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department off the west coast of France. It occupies the territory of small island of Île d'Aix in the Atlantic. It is a popular place for tourist day-trips during the summer months.-Location:...

, which was making a diversionary attack. The British main attack captured two French vessels and two were blown up, all with a total loss to the British of only eight men killed and 24 wounded. Still, Cochrane was highly critical of Gambier's failure to act more aggressively. (Gambier had earlier objected to the plan to use explosion (Cochrane's invention) and fire ships, calling it "a horrible and anti-Christian mode of warfare".)

Two of Foxhounds sister ships, and were also present at the Basque Roads. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the then-surviving participants in the battle the Naval General Service Medal with the clasp "Basque Roads 1809".

Fate

While under the command of Commander James MacKenzie, Foxhound was returning from Halifax

City of Halifax

Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

when she foundered in the Atlantic with the loss of all on board. The loss occurred in August, and perhaps on 31 August 1809. The vessels in company were unable to render any assistance.