Phaeton (carriage) The Keystone Cops drove phaetons, either Model Ts or Model As. In Frances Burney's novel, "Evelina" (1778), young gentlemen race their phaetons on the public highways of Clifton, near Bristol, not without incident. In Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", Mr Collins says of Lady Catherine De Bourgh's daughter, "she is perfectly amiable, and often condescends to drive by my humble abode in her little phaeton and ponies." In Anne Brontë's "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" (1848), Mr. Huntingdon drives a "light phaeton" that comes "bowling merrily up the lawn" (Ch. 18). The sporty character of the carriage reflects Huntingdon's devil-may-care
HMS Phaeton (1782) HMS Phaeton (1782) HMS "Phaeton" was a 38-gun, "Minerva"-class fifth rate of Britain's Royal Navy. This frigate was most noted for her intrusion into Nagasaki harbour in 1808. John Smallshaw (Smallshaw & Company) built "Phaeton" in Liverpool between 1780 and 1782. She participated in numerous engagements during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars during which service she captured many prizes. Francis Beaufort, inventor of the Beaufort Wind-Scale, was a lieutenant on "Phaeton" when he distinguished himself during a successful cutting out expedition. "Phaeton" sailed to the Pacific in 1805, and returned in 1812. She was finally sold on