HMS Director was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 9 March 1784 at Gravesend. She was laid down speculatively in the November of 1779, and ordered by the Navy the following year. In 1797 Director was under the command of Captain William Bligh. In early 1797 he surveyed the River Humber, preparing a map of the stretch from Spurn to the west of Sunk Island. On 12 October she took part in the Battle of Camperdown, where she captured the the Dutch commander, Vice-Admiral Jan de Winter, and his flagship, Vrijheid.