HMS Defence (1815)
# HMS Defence (1815)

HMS Defence was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 25 April 1815 at Chatham.

She was converted to serve as a prison ship in 1849. Defence was badly damaged by an accidental fire, probably caused by spontaneous combustion in a recently delivered load of coal, at Woolwich on 14 July 1857.</ref> The fire was extinguished by scuttling the ship. and while it was not totally destroyed the remains were broken up later.

## Citations

* 1 2 3 Lavery, Ships of the Line vol. 1, p. 189.
* 1 2 The Hobart Town Mercury, 30 Oct 1857, p2
* 1 2 Gosset (1986), p. 114.
