![]() Modeste | |
History | |
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Name | Modeste |
Builder | Toulon |
Laid down | April 1756 |
Launched | 12 February 1759 |
Completed | May 1759 |
Captured | 18 August 1759, by Royal Navy |
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Name | HMS Modeste |
Acquired |
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Reclassified | Receiving ship from 1778 |
Fate | Broken up in August 1800 |
General characteristics [1] | |
Class and type | 64-gun third rate ship of the line |
Tons burthen | 1,357 47/94 bm |
Length |
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Beam | 44 ft 5.75 in (13.6 m) |
Depth of hold | 19 ft 8 in (5.99 m) |
Propulsion | Sails |
Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
Complement | 500 |
Armament |
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HMS Modeste was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was previously the 64-gun Modeste, of the French Navy, launched in 1759 and captured later that year.
Modeste was laid down at Toulon in April 1756 to a design by Noël Pomet, and was launched on 12 February 1759. Work on her was completed by May 1759, and she joined Chef d'escadre Jean-François de La Clue-Sabran's fleet in the port. [2] The Seven Years' War was being fought at the time, and the Toulon fleet was being blockaded by Admiral Edward Boscawen. Taking advantage of the British fleet's departure for supplies, the French left port and sailed into the Atlantic. There they were chased and finally brought to battle by Boscawen off Lagos, Portugal. The ensuing Battle of Lagos, fought between 18 and 19 August 1759, saw the defeat of the French fleet, with two of their ships destroyed and three taken. Captured alongside Modeste were the 74-gun ships Téméraire and Centaure. [2]
Taken as a prize into Portsmouth, she was surveyed there that December, and was purchased for the navy on 7 January 1760 for the sum of £17,068.18.11⁄2. [2] She was named HMS Modeste, retaining her French name, on 11 January and was added to the navy lists. Having been commissioned into the navy, she underwent a refit in June and July 1760. [2]
Modeste was commissioned under her first commander, Captain Henry Speke, in April 1760, though command soon passed to Captain Robert Walsingham. Walsingham went out to the Mediterranean and was involved in naval operations there, capturing the 32-gun Bouffonne off Cadiz at the action of 17 July 1761, while in company with HMS Thetis. [2] Modeste then sailed to the Leeward Islands in October 1761 and was present at the reduction of Martinique in January and February 1762. Captain John Hollwall took command later that year and Modeste remained in the Leeward Islands until returning to Britain to be paid off in March 1764. [2]
She spent the next few years laid up, being occasionally surveyed and repaired as required. She was fitted out at Portsmouth in early 1771 and was recommissioned as a guard ship under Captain John Wheelock. She went out to Jamaica in June 1771, but returned to Britain to be paid off in October 1772. [2] She was fitted out for her final role, a receiving ship at Portsmouth, between July and August 1778. She saw out the rest of the American War of Independence and most of the French Revolutionary Wars in this state, until finally being broken up at Portsmouth in August 1800. [2]
Admiral of the Blue Edward Boscawen, PC 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 during the 18th century and the engagements that he won, including the siege of Louisburg in 1758 and Battle of Lagos in 1759. He is also remembered as the officer who signed the warrant authorising the execution of Admiral John Byng in 1757, for failing to engage the enemy at the Battle of Minorca (1756). In his political role, he served as a Member of Parliament for Truro from 1742 until his death although due to almost constant naval employment he seems not to have been particularly active. He also served as one of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty on the Board of Admiralty from 1751 and as a member of the Privy Council from 1758 until his death in 1761.
The naval Battle of Lagos took place between a British fleet commanded by 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 Cádiz on 18 August and to the east of the small Portuguese port of Lagos, after which the battle is named, on 19 August.
Admiral Philip Affleck was an admiral in the Royal Navy. He was the younger brother of Sir Edmund Affleck. Affleck held various commands throughout the latter half of the 18th Century, most notably as commander-in-chief of the Jamaica Station and as a Lord of the Board of Admiralty. Early in his career he fought at the Siege of Louisbourg where he was promoted commander after carrying out a successful cutting-out mission. He was promoted to post-captain a year later after impressing Admiral Edward Boscawen during the Battle of Lagos. Later in his career he joined Admiral Sir George Rodney in the West Indies and took part in the capture of Sint Eustatius. Between 1790 and 1792 he held the position of commander-in-chief of the Jamaica Station and between 1793 and 1796 he held his position as a Lord of the Board of Admiralty. Although his career was marked with long periods of inaction and unemployment Admiral Affleck was known as a good officer and was well respected by his peers.
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28 × 36-pounders on the lower deck
30 × 18-pounders on the upper deck
10 × 8-pounders on the quarterdeck
6 × 8-pounders on the forecastle.
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