HMS Belleisle (1761)
_RMG_J3188.png) Plan of Belleisle drawn in 1761, a captured French East Indiaman, prior to being fitted as a 64-gun third rate, two-decker.
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
.svg){kind=small} France | |
| Name | Belleisle |
| Launched | 1760 |
| Captured | 3 April 1761, by Royal Navy |
.svg){kind=small} Great Britain | |
| Name | HMS Belleisle |
| Acquired | 3 April 1761 |
| Fate | Sold, 1819 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type | 64-gun third-rate ship of the line |
| Tons burthen | 149426⁄94 (bm) |
| Length | 168 ft 5+1⁄2 in (51.3 m) (gundeck) |
| Beam | 45 ft 0+1⁄2 in (13.7 m) |
| Depth of hold | 20 ft 7 in (6.27 m) |
| Propulsion | Sails |
| Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
| Armament | 64 guns of various weights of shot |
Belleisle was the French East Indiaman Bertin, launched in 1760 that the British Royal Navy captured in 1761 and commissioned as the third rate HMS Belleisle.
Capture
[edit]HMS Hero and HMS Venus captured Bertin on 3 April 1761 and sent her into Plymouth. There the Royal Navy purchased her.[1] (The prize crew from Hero shared in the proceeds of Venus and Hero's capture of the French privateer Lyon on 6 April 1761.)[2]
Career
[edit]Belleisle was fitted in August 1761 and fitted in 1762.[1] She shared in the prize money awarded to the British squadron that captured the French East Indiaman St Priest on 11 March 1762.[3] Belleisle was paid off in July 1763.[1]
She was fitted as a guard ship at Plymouth in January 1764, and then as a troopship in May 1765 and again in March 1768. Between March 1771 and April 1772 she underwent a small to middling repair at Plymouth.[1]
Between August 1776 and January 1777, she again underwent fitting as a guard ship. She was refitted between December 1777 and February 1778. She twice underwent fitting at Plymouth for the East Indies in April to June 1778 and in February 1779.[1]
Between March and June 1772 she was at Chatham, receiving an all-carronade armament and the masts of a 60-gun ship. She was paid off in March 1783.[1]
Fate
[edit]Belleisle was converted to a lazarette between August and December 1784. She was later transferred to Customs and struck from the Navy List. She was sold on 3 February 1819.[1]
Citations
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h Winfield (2008), p. 103.
- ^ "No. 10221". The London Gazette. 26 June 1762. p. 4.
- ^ "No. 10325". The London Gazette. 25 June 1763. p. 4.
References
[edit]- Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-246-7.