A fine prisoner-of-war Bone Model of the 48 gun ship-of-the-line HMS "ALCESTE" French, early 19th century,the pinned and planked hull with baleen strakes, carved and decorated stern panel and painted warrior figurehead. The three masts with standing and running rigging and deck details include: belaying rails with pins, capstans, stove pipes, two long-boats, water barrel, and ship's bell in canopy, in modern glazed display case, the model 75cm (29 1/2in) long x 56cm (22in) high注脚HMS Alceste was built at Rochefort in 1804 for the French Navy as 'Minerve', an Armide-class frigate. In the spring of 1806, prior to her capture, she engaged HMS Pallas, then under Lord Cochrane. During the duel she ran aground, but Cochrane had to abort his attack when French reinforcements appeared.

The British seized her in an action on 25 September 1806, and the Royal Navy took 'Minerve' into service as Alceste in March 1807; Alceste then continued to serve throughout the Napoleonic Wars. On 29 November 1811, Alceste led a British squadron that captured a French military convoy carrying more than 200 cannon to Trieste in the Balkans. After this loss, Napoleon changed the direction of his planned eastward expansion in 1812 from the Balkans to Russia. The British historian James Henderson has suggested that the two events were linked, and may have changed the course of the war.

In 1814, Alceste was converted to a troopship and used to transport British soldiers to North America during the War of 1812. Following the Treaty of Paris in 1815, Alceste carried Lord Amherst on his 1816 diplomatic mission to China. On the return journey, she struck a reef in the Java Sea; her wreck was subsequently plundered and burned by Malayan pirates.