HMS Bienfaisant (1758)

History
France
Name	Bienfaisant
Launched	1754
Captured	25 July 1758, by Royal Navy
Great Britain
Name	HMS Bienfaisant
Acquired	25 July 1758
Fate	Broken up, 1814
Notes	Participated in: Battle of Cape St Vincent
General characteristics
Class and type	64-gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen	13607⁄94 (bm)
Length	153 ft 9 in (46.9 m) (gundeck)
Beam	44 ft 6 in (13.6 m)
Depth of hold	19 ft 4 in (5.9 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full rigged ship
Armament	64 guns of various weights of shot

Bienfaisant was a 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1754.

A cutting out expedition ordered by Admiral Edward Boscawen of the British Royal Navy captured her on the night of 25 July 1758 during the 1758 Siege of Louisbourg. Bienfaisant and the 74-gun Prudent were the last remaining ships of the line of the French squadron in Louisbourg harbour. Prudent had run aground and so her captors set her alight, but men commanded by Commander George Balfour of HMS Aetna boarded and brought out Bienfaisant. The action provided a decisive moment of the siege; the fortress surrendered the next day.

British Service

The Royal Navy commioned Bienfaisant as the third rate HMS Bienfaisant. She took part in the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1780 and the capture of the Comte de Artois off Ireland in August.

She participated, under the command of Captain Braithwaite, in the 1781 Battle of Dogger Bank with reduced armament on her lower deck as the last ship in the line.

Bienfaisant was broken up in 1814.

See also

• List of ships captured in the 18th century
• Glossary of nautical terms

References

• Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
• Michael Phillips. Aetna (8) (1756). Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 24 November 2007.
• Michael Phillips. Bienfaisant (64) (1758). Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 24 November 2007.