French frigate Cumberland (1747)

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Cumberland.

History
Great Britain
Name	Duke of Cumberland
Namesake	Duke of Cumberland
Builder	England
France
Name	Cumberland
Fate	Retired in 1758
France
Name	Mars
Fate	Lost in late 1758 or 1759.
General characteristics
Class and type	East Indiaman
Tons burthen	250 or 499(bm)
Length	33.1 metres
Beam	8.4 metres
Depth of hold	4.4 metres
Propulsion	Sail
Complement	4 officers and 110 to 180 men
Armament	20 × 6-pounder guns or 8-pounder guns 4 × 4-pounder guns

Cumberland (or Duc de Cumberland) was a 24-gun frigate of the French Navy, originally the East Indiaman Duke of Cumberland.

Career

On 21 June 1747, the frigates Mutine and Galatée captured Duke of Cumberland off Groix. She was then brought into French naval service as Cumberland.

On 24 February 1748, Cumberland departed for Ile de France and Ile Bourbon under Captain Mézédern, and with La Motte-Picquet as her first officer. After she had called at A Coruña, Cumberland encountered a British 36-gun frigate, leading to an inconclusive battle where she lost 25 killed or wounded. After a 122-day voyage, Cumberland reached Île Bourbon, and then Île de France. From there, she departed for a cruise off India on 20 October 1748.

On 9 February 1749, she arrived at Pondichery with the squadron under Suffren.

In March 1758, the Navy sold her in Brest to a particular for use as the merchantman Mars. She was lost in late 1758 or 1759.

References

• Demerliac, Alain (2004). La Marine de Louis XV: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1715 à 1774 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 2-906381-19-5.
• Levot, Prosper (1866). Les gloires maritimes de la France: notices biographiques sur les plus célèbres marins (in French). Bertrand.
• Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours 1 1671–1870. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.