HMS Hector (1774)

HMS Hector was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 27 May 1774 at Deptford.

Career
On 10 January 1778 she captured French merchant ship "Thomas Koulican" (or Kouli Kan) at (46°N, -9°W). On 9 May 1801 Hector, HMS Kent (1798), and HMS Cruelle (1800) unsuccessfully chased the French corvette Heliopolis, which eluded them and slipped into Alexandria.

Because Hector 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 General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorised in 1850 for all surviving claimants.

Fate
Hector was converted for use as a prison ship in 1808, and was broken up in 1816.