HMS Queen Charlotte was a formidable 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 17 July 1810 at Deptford. As a first-rate vessel, she was among the largest and most powerful warships of her time, serving as a symbol of British naval dominance during the early 19th century. She was built to replace the original Queen Charlotte, which had sunk in 1800. The ship’s service included a brief but historically significant deployment with the West Africa Squadron in 1816, tasked with patrolling the West African coast to suppress the transatlantic slave trade following Britain’s 1807 abolition act. During her time with the squadron, Queen Charlotte captured the French slaving vessel Le Louis on 11 March 1816 at Cape Mesurado. This seizure became notable for raising legal questions about the rights of the Royal Navy to search and seize vessels in peacetime, ultimately leading to a legal ruling by Sir William Scott that limited such actions under international law. Queen Charlotte also played a prominent role as Lord Exmouth’s flagship during the Bombardment of Algiers in 1816, demonstrating her importance in British naval operations against piracy and the suppression of the slave trade. Additionally, in 1817, her tender Linnet seized a shipment of smuggled tobacco, with crew members sharing in the prize money. The vessel’s later years saw her involved in a collision at Portsmouth in 1823, when she was driven into the ship Brothers, causing significant damage to the latter. Eventually, HMS Queen Charlotte was sold for breaking up, but her figurehead was preserved. It was mounted on a gabled end of an accommodation block near the gunnery training base on Whale Island, and after the buildings’ demolition in 2004, it was relocated to HMS Excellent. Today, the figurehead resides in the collection of the National Museum of the Royal Navy, serving as a tangible link to her distinguished maritime history.

This description has been generated using GPT-4.1-NANO based on the Vessel's wikidata information and then modified by ShipIndex.org staff.