HMS Monarch was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 20 July 1765 at Deptford Dockyard. Monarch had a very active career, fighting in her first battle in 1778 at the First Battle of Ushant and her second under Admiral Rodney at Cape St. Vincent in 1780. She fought in the van of Graves' fleet at the Battle of the Chesapeake in 1781 under Captain Francis Reynolds. In early 1782 was actively engaged at the Capture of Sint Eustatius, the Battle of Saint Kitts, the Battle of the Saintes and, the Battle of the Mona Passage. In 1795 she was deployed as part of the small fleet under Admiral George Elphinstone that captured the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch East India Company at the Battle of Muizenberg. In 1797 Monarch was Vice Admiral Richard Onslow's flagship at