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Inconstant, 1783
Type: 5th rate frigate ; Armament 36-gun - 18-pounder
Launched : 1783 ; Disposal date or year : 1817
Complement: 267
Notes:

14 Jul 1793 sailed with the Channel fleet from St. Helen's. On the 18th to the west of the Scilly Isles and subsequent manoeuvres.

31 Jul 1793 briefly sighted, but was unable to close the French fleet ; returned to Torbay on 10 Aug.

23 Aug 1793 the Channel Fleet sailed to escort the Newfoundland trade, West Indian convoys in home waters.

27 Oct 1793 sailed in search of the French fleet and squadrons. 18 Nov brief skirmish with a French squadron : by mid-December the fleet had returned to Spithead.

17 Jun 1794 the British frigates Inconstant, Leda, and Tartar in sight off island of Miconi, in the Mediterranean.

9 Mar 1795, the Mediterranean fleet sailed from Leghorn, sighting the French fleet the following day. At daylight on the 13th Adm Hotham sent out the signal for a general chase which ended the following day with the capture of the Ca-Ira and Censeur and the fleets heading off in opposite directions. [Captain Thomas Francis Freemantle].

Circa 8 Aug 1795, Captain Nelson on a cruise along the coast of Italy with a small squadron, including the Inconstant. On the 26th, in the vicinity of Vado, the boats of the squadron cut out or destroyed a number of vessels, without the loss of a man..

27 Dec 1795 Captain Troubridge's squadron, including the Inconstant, when off Cape Matapan, chased the Badine, a part of M. Ganteaume's squadron. The Badine anchored close off the town; and on the next day the Lowestoffe anchored alongside of her. On the 31st of December Commodore Troubridge, with the remainder of his squadron, anchored in the harbour of Milo, and subsequently steered for Smyrna.

April 1796 captured the French corvette Unité, subsequently purchased into the RN as the frigate Surprise.

27 Jun 1796 The Inconstant, Captain Thomas Francis Fremantle, with store-ships call at Leghorn to take onboard British residents etc., and fleet stores, just in advance of the arrival of the French army.

8 Mar to 2 Sep 1801 Services off the coast of Egypt.

18 Jan -7 Mar 1804 the French were in possession of Gorée. On the 8th the small French force surrendered.

May 1805 Guernsey

Portsmouth 24 Jan 1811 Sailed for South America.

Deal 25 Aug 1811 Arrived from off Flushing.

Deal 8 Sep 1811 Sailed for off Flushing.

Deal 16 Oct 1811 Arrived from off Flushing.

Deal 3 Nov 1811 Sailed for off Flushing.

Deal 6 Dec 1811 Sailed for Portsmouth.

Portsmouth 12 Dec 1811 Arrived with an outward-bound convoy from the Downs.

Portsmouth 8 Jan 1812 Went out of the harbour to Spithead.

Portsmouth 14 Jan 1812 Sailed to resume station off Boulogne.

Deal 15 Jan 1812 Arrived from Portsmouth.

Deal 1 Mar 1812 Sailed to resume her station off the French coast.

Deal 6 Nov 1812 Arrived from off Flushing.

Portsmouth 22 Feb 1813 Arrived from a cruise of the Western Islands.

Portsmouth 12 May 1813 Remains with the East India and Brazil fleets, the wind having gone to the SW.

Portsmouth 2 Jun 1813 Sailed with the convoy for the East Indies, Rio Janeiro and the Cape of Good Hope.

Falmouth 6 Jun 1813 This morning appeared off this port with 550 sail of merchant vessels under convoy for Spain, Portugal, Mediterranean, Brazils, North America, and West Indies, and were joined from hence by a number of merchantmen.

Deal 27 Dec 1813 Arrived from the Baltic.

Portsmouth 10 Jul 1815 Arrived from Rio Janeiro.

Portsmouth 19 Dec 1816 Sailed for the coast of Africa.

Portsmouth 13 Sep 1817 Arrived from Brighton.

Portsmouth 29 Sep 1817 Goes into dock tomorrow.

Portsmouth 14 Oct 1817 Taken into dock to be repaired, but found so defective is expected to be broken up.

17th of January-8th of March 1804
On the 17th of January, late in the evening, a French squadron commanded by Lieutenant Jean-Michel Mahé, consisting of the armed ship Oncle-Thomas, of 20 guns, and the schooners Renommée of 14, Oiseau of 10 guns, and Rosalie, Vigie, and another, of two each, fitted out at Cayenne, and having on board 565 officers, soldiers, and sailors, anchored off the British settlement of Gorée. The officer commanding there, Colonel Fraser, had at his disposal only 54 white men including officers, and made the best dispositions in his power for resisting an attack.

On the 18th, at 3 A. M., eight boats from the squadron disembarked 240 troops upon the rocks to the eastward of the town, where the surf happened to be unusually low. An engagement immediately ensued ; when, after a loss of 19 men killed and wounded on the part of the British (most of whom were in a sickly state), and 75 on the part of the French, Colonel Fraser surrendered on a capitulation, and the port was taken possession. of by the troops and seamen of Lieutenant Mahé.

The French remained in quiet possession of their conquest until the 7th of March, in the morning, when the British 18-pounder 36-gun frigate Inconstant, Captain Edward Stirling Dickson, accompanied by a store-ship and three transports, arrived off the settlement. The appearance of English colour, on the citadel occasioned Captain Dickson to send Lieutenant Charles Pickford on shore in the cutter, to ascertain in whose possession the place was. Not having, by 10 P.M., received any information, Captain Dickson despatched three boats, manned and armed, under Mr. Runciman, midshipman, to cut out a ship in the harbour. The service was executed, under a heavy fire from the batteries, which sank one of the boats and wounded one of the men. The strength of the garrison having by this means been obtained, the Inconstant weighed and stood to the westward, to prevent any succours being thrown in from Sénégal. Having, on the following day, been joined by a fourth merchant ship or transport, the three boats of the latter made the number sufficient to carry the allotted portion of troops ; and Captain Dickson commenced preparations to disembark the men on the following day ; when, at daybreak on the 8th, English colours were seen flying over French at the fort, the French garrison having the night previous capitulated with Lieutenant Pickford. Thus was the settlement of Gorée restored, without the loss of a man, to its former masters.