HMS Blake was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 23 August 1808 at Deptford and named in honour of Admiral Robert Blake. On 26 September, Blake and Franchise provided naval support to a land attack, at night, on Tarragona by troops under the command of General Joaquín Ibáñez Cuevas, Baron d'Eroles. The attack was successful, and resulted, inter alia, in the capture of several small vessels. The Spanish troops suffered three men killed and eight wounded' the British had no casualties whatsoever. Captain Edward Codrington, of Blake, conveyed to Baron d'Eroles and to Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean, that the officers and crew declined any prize money from the action, in favour of the Spanish troops, "in admiration of the valo