''Téméraire'' was a
74-gun
The "seventy-four" was a type of two- decked sailing ship of the line, which nominally carried 74 guns. It was developed by the French navy in the 1740s, replacing earlier classes of 60- and 62-gun ships, as a larger complement to the recently-de ...
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 ...
, ordered in December 1747 to a design by
François Coulomb, and built at Toulon by his cousin, the constructor Pierre-Blaise Coulomb; she was launched on 24 December 1749.
Her 74 guns comprised:
28 x 36-pounders on the lower deck
30 x 18-pounders on the upper deck
10 x 8-pounders on the quarterdeck
6 x 8-pounders on the forecastle.
under
Admiral Boscawen
Admiral of the Blue Edward Boscawen, PC (19 August 171110 January 1761) was a British admiral in the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament for the borough of Truro, Cornwall, England. He is known principally for his various naval commands duri ...
captured ''Téméraire'' at the
Battle of Lagos
The naval Battle of Lagos took place between a British fleet commanded by Sir Edward Boscawen and a French fleet under Jean-François de La Clue-Sabran over two days in 1759 during the Seven Years' War. They fought south west of the Gulf of Cà ...
on 18 August 1759. She was thus taken 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 ...
and recommissioned 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 ''Temeraire''.
By 1780 she was used as a floating battery used to protect the harbour at
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
. She was sold in 1783.
[Famous Fighters of the Fleet. Edward Fraser, 1904, p.217]
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 ...
Fate
''Temeraire'' was sold out of the navy in 1784.
Notes
References
*Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. .
*Winfield, Rif and Roberts, Stephen S., ''French Warships in the Age of Sail 1626-1786: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates''. (Seaforth Publishing, 2017) .
Temeraire (1749)
Ships of the line of the Royal Navy
1749 ships
Captured ships
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