HMS Leda, launched in 1800, was the lead ship of a successful class of forty-seven British Royal Navy 38-gun sailing frigates. Ledas design was based on the French , which the British had captured in 1782. (Hébé herself was the name vessel for the French s. Hébé, therefore, has the rare distinction of being the model for both a French and a British frigate class.) Leda was wrecked at the mouth of Milford Haven in 1808, Captain Honeyman was exonerated of all blame, as it was a pilot error. French Revolutionary Wars Captain George Johnstone Hope commissioned Leda in November 1800. In 1801 he sailed her in the English Channel and to the coast of Egypt. On 12 March 1801, Leda recaptured the slave ship , Captain Watson, a 20-gun letter of marque that had sailed from Demerara for Liverpool some six weeks previously in company with and . These two vessels were also slave ships and letters of marque, all carrying valuable cargoes of sugar, coffee, indigo and cotton. During the voyage Union started to take on water so her crew transferred to Bolton. Then Bolton and Dart parted company in a gale. Next, Bolton had the misfortune to meet the French privateer Gironde, which was armed with 26 guns and had a crew of 260 men. Gironde captured Bolton in an hour-long fight that killed two passengers and wounded Watson and five men. Although Gironde was damaged, she had suffered no casualties. Bolton was also carrying ivory, a tiger, and a large collection of birds, monkeys, and the like. Then on 5 April Leda captured the French ship Desiree, of eight men and 70 tons. She was sailing from Bordeaux to Brell with a cargo of wheat. Four days later Leda recaptured the Portuguese ship Cæsar, of 10 men and 100 tons. Cæsar had been sailing from Bristol to Lisbon with a cargo of sundries when the French privateer Laura had captured her. Lastly, on 1 May, Leda captured the French privateer Jupiter. Jupiter, of 90 tons, was armed with 16 guns and had a crew of 60 men. She was from Morlaix on cruise. On the same day Leda recaptured the Portuguese vessel Tejo. Then on 2 September Leda captured Venturose. Because Leda served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 8 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval