''Alcide'' was a 64-gun
ship of the line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...
of the
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
, launched in 1742. The captain of the vessel was Toussaint Hocquart, for the re-enforcement campaign that was sent to
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
in May 1755.
On
8 June 1755, ''Alcide'' was captured by HMS ''Dunkirk'' and HMS ''Torbay'' of Vice-Admiral
Edward Boscawen's squadron, and commissioned into the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
in 1757 as the
third-rate
In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third r ...
HMS ''Alcide''.
HMS ''Alcide'' was sold out of the navy in May 1772. However, it perhaps remained in service in some form because on 10 July 1772 according to the UK, Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices' Indentures, 1710–1811, Robert Mellefent was apprenticed as a carpenter to Ebenezer Holland to serve on the ship.
Pichon's Lettres et Memories sure Cap Breton, p. 248
/ref>
See also
* List of ships captured in the 18th century
During times of war where naval engagements were frequent, many battles were fought that often resulted in the capture of the enemy's ships. The ships were often renamed and used in the service of the capturing country's navy. Merchant ships were ...
* Father Le Loutre's War
Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755), also known as the Indian War, the Mi'kmaq War and the Anglo-Mi'kmaq War, took place between King George's War and the French and Indian War in Acadia and Nova Scotia. On one side of the conflict, the Briti ...
Notes
References
*Lavery, Brian, ''The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650–1850.'' Conway Maritime Press, 2003. .
*Winfield, Rif, ''British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates''. Seaforth Publishing, 2007. .
Ships of the line of the French Navy
Alcide (1755)
1743 ships
Captured ships
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