HMS York was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line

Ship of the line

A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...

 of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, launched on 24 March 1796. She had originally been laid down at Barnard's Deptford

Deptford

Deptford is a district of south London, England, located on the south bank of the River Thames. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne, and from the mid 16th century to the late 19th was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Navy Dockyards.Deptford and the docks are...

 yard as an East Indiaman named Royal Admiral, but the shortage of naval shipping caused by the outbreak of the Revolutionary War

French Revolutionary Wars

The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...

 with France prompted her purchase and eventual commissioning under her new name in 1796.

As a 64-gun ship, she was a small third rate, and this factor combined with her unusual build resulting from her conversion from a mercantile craft to a warship to make a slightly ungainly and awkward ship. She spent much of her early career in the Caribbean Sea

Caribbean Sea

The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....

, where she had her only contact with the enemy when she captured the small French schooner Fancy near St Thomas

Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

Saint Thomas is an island in the Caribbean Sea and with the islands of Saint John, Saint Croix, and Water Island a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands , an unincorporated territory of the United States. Located on the island is the territorial capital and port of...

.

She departed Woolwich

Woolwich

Woolwich is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.Woolwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created...

 under Captain Henry Mitford on the 26 December 1803 for a routine patrol in the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

, but in January 1804 she struck Bell Rock

Inchcape

Inchcape or the Bell Rock is a notorious reef off the east coast of Angus, Scotland, near Dundee and Fife . Bell Rock Lighthouse, an automatic lighthouse, occupies the reef...

 in the North Sea off Arbroath

Arbroath

Arbroath or Aberbrothock is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the council area of Angus in Scotland, and has a population of 22,785...

, and sank with the loss of all 491 men and boys on board. Mitford was the second son of the historian William Mitford

William Mitford

William Mitford , English historian, was the elder of the two sons of John Mitford, a barrister and his wife Philadelphia Reveley.-Youth:...

.