him into exile. The Admiralty was concerned that the ageing ship was unsuitable for the long voyage to the South Atlantic, and the 74-gun was selected for the task. On 4 August, Lord Keith ordered Bellerophon to go to sea and await the arrival of HMS Northumberland. On 7 August Napoleon thanked Maitland and his crew for their kindness and hospitality, and left Bellerophon where he had spent over three weeks without ever landing in England. He boarded Northumberland, which then sailed for Saint Helena. Captain Maitland's account of the time Napoleon spent on board his ship was published in 1826. Prison hulk and disposal Having discharged Napoleon, Bellerophon sailed to Sheerness, and anchored there on 2 September. There she was paid off for the last time, and stripped of her guns and masts. With no further need for many ships following the end of the Napoleonic Wars, Bellerophon joined a number of ships laid up in this manner. A report on 16 October 1815 advised moving a number of convicts previously housed aboard the former into more suitable accommodation. The report suggested that "The class of ship, which I take the liberty of observing as most suitable for this service, would be a seventy-four, of about the same dimensions as Bellerophon in the river Medway, being of easy draft of water and lofty between decks." The report was approved and the suggestion acted upon. Bellerophon was taken into Sheerness Dockyard in December 1815 and spent nine months fitting out as a prison ship. The work was completed at a cost of £12,081 and the prisoners were transferred in January 1817. Bellerophon generally held around 435 prisoners during her time in this role, although in 1823 changes in legislation resulted in the adult prisoners being transferred out of Bellerophon and the ship instead being used to house boy prisoners, with 320 arriving in early 1824. In 1824 the decision was taken to rename , an 80-gun ship launched in 1818, HMS Bellerophon. To free the name, the former HMS Bellerophon was renamed Captivity on 5 October 1824. On 23 November 1824 she was driven ashore in a storm at Portsmouth. She continued as a prison ship for boys until early 1826, when it was decided that the arrangement of the internal spaces made her unsuitable for workshops. The boys were transferred to another hulk, the former , and it was