HMS Bienfaisant (1758)

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

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:
General characteristics [1]
Class and type: 64-gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen: 1360​7⁄94 (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

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.[2][3] She took part in the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1780 and the capture of the Comte de Artois off Ireland in August.

On 19 July 1780, Bienfaisant encountered the French 32-gun frigate Nymphe, returning to Brest from America under Du Rumain. Nymphe managed to escape.[4]

Bienfaisant 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.[5]:46

Bienfaisant was broken up in 1814.

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See also

Citations
  1. Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 178.
  2. Ships of the Old Navy, Aetna.
  3. Ships of the Old Navy, Bienfaisant.
  4. Roche (2005), p. 331.
  5. Ross, Sir John. Memoirs of Admiral de Saumarez Vol 1.

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.
  • Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours. 1. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.


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