HMS Foxhound (1806)
Introduction '''HMS ''Foxhound''''' was an 18-gun  built by King at Dover and launched in 1806.She participated in the battle of the Basque Roads in early 1809 and foundered later that year.
Service Commander Pitt Burnaby Greene, late commander of the hired armed brig ,  commissioned ''Foxhound'' in May 1807.On 26 August ''Foxhound'' captured the Danish vessel ''Adetheid Margaretha''. Two days later she captured the Danish vessels ''Gimlé'' and ''De Gode''.On 28 June 1808 ''Foxhound'' captured the French chasse maree ''Susanne''. Then on 11 January 1809 ''Foxhound'' recaptured the Hamburg ship ''Vierininguen''.On 17 March 1809, ''Foxhound'' joined Admiral Lord Gambier's  Channel fleet anchored off the Basque Roads. The British plan was to use the 60 vessels (of all kinds) to attack the French fleet lying within. The 15 French vessels there, commanded by Vice-Admiral Zacharie Allemand, lay behind a boom protected by 30 guns.During this time ''Foxhound'' participated in the capture of two vessels, the Danish ship ''Neptunus'' on 24 March and the French ship ''Nymphe'' on 28 March. For the capture of ''Neptunus'', ''Foxhound'' was in company with  and the sloop . ''Foxhound'' was also in company with ''Indefatigable'' for the capture of ''Nymphe''.On 11 April, two explosion ships, twelve fire ships, accompanied by bomb vessels and escorted by men-of-war, some 27 vessels in all, under the command of Captain Lord Cochrane, broke the boom under a heavy fire. ''Foxhound'' covered the bomb vessel  near the Île-d'Aix, which was making a diversionary attack. The British main attack captured two French vessels and two were blown up, all with a total loss to the British of only eight men killed and 24 wounded. Still, Cochrane was highly critical of Gambier's failure to act more aggressively. (Gambier had earlier objected to the plan to use explosion (Cochrane's invention) and fire ships, calling it "a horrible and anti-Christian mode of warfare". )Two of ''Foxhound''s sister ships,  and  were also present at the Basque Roads. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the then-surviving participants in the battle the Naval General Service Medal with the clasp "Basque Roads 1809".In 1809 Commander James Mackenzie replaced Greene. On 16 May ''Foxhound'' sailed for Quebec with a convoy.
Fate While still under Mackenzie's command, ''Foxhound'' was returning from Halifax when she foundered in the Atlantic with the loss of all on board. The loss occurred in August, and perhaps on 31 August 1809.The vessels in company were unable to render any assistance.
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