HMS Hermes 7
The very impressive looking third rate 74 gun ship was launched on the 15th April 1816 as HMS Minotaur and became HMS Hermes in 1866
Despite a 53 year lifespan she was never commissioned for sea service. Instead she was put in to reserve at Sheerness until 1842 then used as a receiving ship for Naval conscripts. 1st of April 1859 saw her as a guardship in Sheerness harbour commanded by Captain Edward Pellew Halstead, and in 1861 she was converted into a holding ship for passengers from merchant vessels suspected of bringing in disease (cholera).
5 years later she was sailed to Gravesend to serve as a hospital ship for cholera when in July 1866 she became HMS Hermes before being broken up 3 years later at Sheerness dockyard.
HMS Minotaur on moorings, Sheerness, and the '1 o'clock boat' in the foreground, 25 January 1851