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|Ship image=Guillaume Tell PU5634.jpg
|Ship caption=Capture of the William Tell, by Robert Dodd
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HMS Malta was an 80-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She had previously served with the French Navy as the , but was captured in the Mediterranean in 1800 by a British squadron enforcing the blockade of French-occupied Malta. Having served the French for less than four years from her completion in July 1796 to her capture in March 1800, she would eventually serve the British for forty years.
Guillaume Tell took part in the Battle of the Nile, but formed part of the rear of the French fleet and saw little action. She became one of only two French ships of the line to escape the destruction of the fleet, and took refuge at Malta. She was trapped there by the British blockade, and as the island began to fall to the British, she attempted to escape. She was spotted by a patrolling British frigate and attacked, with nearby British ships of the line joining the action. After a fierce fight she struck her colours and was taken over by the British. Renamed HMS Malta after the island she was captured off she served in the Channel, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. She fought with Vice-Admiral Robert Calder's fleet at the Battle of Cape Finisterre in 1805, contributing to the capture of two enemy ships. Transferred to take part in the blockade of the French ports, she helped in the chase and capture of the French frigate Président in 1806. The last years of the war were spent as a flagship in the Mediterranean, after which she returned to Britain. She spent some time as the Plymouth guardship, and remained on active service until being reduced to a harbour depot ship, in which role she spent nearly a decade. She was finally broken up in 1840, forty years after her capture from the French.
Construction and French career
NileGuillaume Tell was built to a design by Jacques-Noël Sané at the Toulon shipyard between September 1794 and July 1796, having been launched on 21 October 1795. She was named after the folk hero William Tell. Flagship of Rear-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve she was one of the ships that accompanied Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys's fleet, carrying Napoleon Bonaparte and the French troops to invade Egypt. Guillaume Tell was anchored with Brueys's fleet in Aboukir Bay on 1 August, when they were discovered in the evening by a British fleet under Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson. Nelson ordered his fleet to attack immediately, with the British forces moving on the French van, doubling their line. Brueys was taken by surprise, having expected the British to attack his rear and centre, where he had consequently placed his heaviest ships, including the Guillaume Tell. Guillaume Tell formed part of the rear division and therefore remained out of the engagement until dawn, as the French van surrendered and the British ships moved down the line to engage the remaining ships.
Villeneuve fought on until midday on 2 August, before attempting to escape to sea with the remains of the French rear, including the Généreux and , and two frigates, but the Timoléon ran aground and had to be abandoned. Villeneuve was later criticised for not using his initiative to bring the rear to support the van earlier in the attack, but pleaded that it would not have made a difference to the outcome. The four surviving French ships escaped to Malta, with Généreux returning from there to Toulon, but Guillaume Tell became trapped at Valletta by the British blockade.
Capture
Nelson's irritation that two of the French ships of the line at the Nile had escaped him was assuaged by interception of the Généreux in February 1800 while trying to protect a squadron attempting to break the blockade of Malta. Nelson wrote in a letter to Emma Hamilton 'I have got her - Le Genereux - thank God! 12 out of the 13, only the Guillaume Tell remaining: I am after the others.' Généreux was captured after a brief action, surrendering to Nelson's flag captain, Edward Berry. Nelson, by now infatuated with Emma Hamilton, and resisting his commanding officer Lord Keith's order to move his base of operations away from Palermo, left the blockade to his subordinates while he went ashore. While he was away, Guillaume Tell prepared for sea and got under way from Valletta at 11 at night on 29 March, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral Denis Decrès. Her departure was observed by Captain Henry Blackwood aboard the frigate , who immediately engaged her, having dispatched the brig Minorca to bring up the rest of the blockading squadron.