Loss of Ajax From January 1806 Ajax was under the command of Captain Henry Blackwood. On 1 February 1807 Ajax joined Admiral Sir John Duckworth's squadron at Malta to participate in the Dardanelles Operation. During the operation an accidental fire destroyed Ajax. The fire began on the evening of 14 February 1807 while Ajax was anchored off Tenedos. The fire began in the bread-room where the purser and his assistant had negligently left a light burning. As the fire burned out of control, the officers and crew were forced to take to the water. Although 380 people were rescued, 250 lost their lives that night, including many of the crewmen who had been at Trafalgar. Ajax burned through the night and then drifted on to the island of Tenedos where she blew up the following morning. Several theories for the cause of the fire were advanced including spontaneous combustion of the ship's coal and a spark falling into hay stored in the cockpit. A court martial cleared Captain Blackwood. Horsham Museum The Shelley Gallery at Horsham Museum, Horsham, United Kingdom, displays a model of Ajax. Notes Citations References Allardyce, Alexander (1882) Memoir of the Honourable George Keith Elphinstone, K.B., Viscount Keith, Admiral of the Red. (Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood) External links Phillips, Michael - Ships of the Old Navy - HMS Ajax (1798). 1798 ships Ajax-class ships of the line Ships built in Rotherhithe Maritime incidents in 1807 Ship fires Shipwrecks in the Aegean Sea Shipwrecks of Turkey