Tartar was designed by Sir Thomas Slade and based on Lyme of 1748, "with such alterations as may tend to the better stowing of men and carrying for guns."
The ship was first commissioned in March 1756 under Captain John Lockhart, and earned a reputation as a fast sailer during service in the English Channel. She made many captures of French ships during the Seven Years' War, including 4 in 1756 and 7 the following year.[1]
Vessels captured or sunk by Tartar during the Seven Years' War
During the peace that followed, the ship sailed to Barbados carrying a timekeeper built by John Harrison, as a part of a series of experiments used to determine longitude at sea.[4]
Roebuck with Phoenix, Tartar and three smaller vessels passing forts Washington and Lee on the Hudson River, in the run up to the Battle of Fort Washington
She went on to see further service during the French Revolutionary War. On 14 December the French frigate Minerve captured off the island of Ivica the collier Hannibal, which was sailing from Liverpool to Naples. However, eleven days later, Tartar recaptured Hannibal off Toulon and sent her into Corsica.[9]
Tartar, showing alterations made in 1790 during repairs at Chatham by Mr Nicholson's Yard. The decks were raised, as shown by the ticked red lines.
Tartar was part of the fleet under Lord Hood that occupied Toulon in August 1793. With HMS Courageux, Meleager, Egmont and Robust, she covered the landing, on 27 August, of 1500 troops sent to remove the republicans occupying the forts guarding the port.[10][11] Once the forts were secure, the remainder of Hood's fleet, accompanied by 17 Spanish ships-of-the-line which had just arrived, sailed into the harbour.[12]Tartar was wrecked off Saint-Domingue on 1 April 1797.[3]
Notes
^One contemporary newspaper report gives the name of this privateer as Phillip.[2]
^ abcdefgh"Ireland". The Oxford Journal. Oxford, United Kingdom: W. Jackson. 6 August 1757. p. 2. Retrieved 10 January 2018 – via The British Newspaper Archive.