HMS Modeste (1759)

For other ships with the same name, see French ship Modeste and HMS Modeste.

Modeste
History
France
Name	Modeste
Builder	Toulon
Laid down	April 1756
Launched	12 February 1759
Completed	May 1759
Captured	18 August 1759, by Royal Navy
Great Britain
Name	HMS Modeste
Acquired	18 August 1759 (captured) 7 January 1760 (purchased)
Reclassified	Receiving ship from 1778
Fate	Broken up in August 1800
General characteristics
Class and type	64-gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen	1,357 47/94 bm
Length	158 ft 6 in (48.3 m) (overall) 129 ft (39.3 m) (keel)
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	64 guns: Lower deck: 26 × 24-pdrs Upper deck: 28 × 12-pdrs Quarterdeck: 6 × 6-pdrs Forecastle: 4 × 6-pdrs

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.

French career and capture

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. 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.

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. 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.

British career

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. 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.

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. 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.

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.
• Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714-1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-84415-700-6.