HMS Lively (1756)

HMS Lively was a 20-gun post ship of the Royal Navy, launched in 1756. During the Seven Years' War she captured several vessels, most notably the French corvette Valeur in 1760. She then served during the American Revolutionary War, where she helped initiate the Battle of Bunker Hill. The French captured her in 1778, but the British recaptured her 1781. She was sold in 1784.

Seven Years' War

Lively was commissioned in July 1756 under Captain Francis Wyatt. In November 1756 she captured the French privateer Intrépide, of Nantes, and her prize, the Charming Molly, which had been sailing from Malaga to Bristol. Intrépide was armed with eight guns and 10 swivel guns, and had a crew of 75 men. Lively brought the two vessels into Plymouth. Around this time she also recaptured the merchant vessel Pike, of Liverpool.

Lively sailed for Jamaica on 31 January 1757. In March 1759 she was under the command of Captain Frederick Maitland, at Jamaica.

On 17 October 1760 she was with Hampshire and Boreas when they intercepted five French vessels in the Windward Passage. On 18 October Lively used her sweeps to catch up with the sternmost enemy vessel, the French 20-gun corvette Valeur. Valeur had a crew of 160 men under the command of a Captain Talbot. In the hour-and-a-half fight before Valeur struck, Lively had two men killed and no wounded; Valeur had 38 killed and 25 wounded, including her captain, master and boatswain. Boreas captured Sirenne, and Hampshire chased the merchant frigate Prince Edward on shore where her crew set fire to her, leading her to blow up. On 19 October, Hampshire, with Lively and Valeur, cornered the King's frigate Fleur de Lis in Freshwater Bay, a little to leeward of Port-de-Paix; her crew too set her on fire. The merchant frigate Duc de Choiseul, of 32 guns and 180 men under the command of Captain Bellevan, escaped into Port-de-Paix.

HMS Lively

Sixteen ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Lively. Another was planned, but renamed before being launched:

HMS Lively (1794)

HMS Lively was a 32-gun fifth-rate Alcmene-class frigate of the British Royal Navy launched on 23 October 1794 at Northam, Devon. She took part in three actions that would in 1847 qualify for the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal, one a single-ship action, one a major battle, and one a cutting-out boat expedition. Lively was wrecked in 1798.

Service

Lively was commissioned in October 1794 under Captain Viscount Lord Garlies. On 4 March 1795 she captured the French corvette Espion about 13 leagues off Ushant. Espion was armed with eighteen 6-pounder guns and had a crew of 140 men. She was five days out of Brest on a cruise. Captain George Burlton, acting in the absence of Lord Garlies, who was sick on shore, commanded Lively. Four days later Lively recaptured the ship Favonius.

On 13 March 1795 she captured the French corvette Tourtourelle. Lively sighted three vessels and headed for the larger one, which tacked to meet her. After three hours of exchanging fire the French vessel was so disabled that she struck. She turned out to be the 28-gun corvette Tourtourelle, under the command of Captain Guillaume S. A. Montalan. She had lost 16 men killed and 25 wounded; Lively had only two men wounded. The British took Tourtourelle into service as HMS Tourterelle. The Admiralty would recognize the action in 1847 with the award of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Lively 13 March 1795".

HMS Lively (1900)

HMS Lively was a B-class torpedo boat destroyer of the British Royal Navy. She was built speculatively by Laird, Son & Company, Birkenhead, pre-empting further orders for vessels of this type, and was bought by the navy in 1901.

Operational history

HMS Lively was commissioned at Devonport by Lieutenant James Rose Price Hawksley on 13 May 1902, with the crew of the HMS Ostrich, taking that ship´s place in the Instructional flotilla

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