French ship Duc d'Aquitaine
Duc d'Aquitaine was a 64‑gun sailing ship built for the French East India Company in Brittany. Her keel was laid in September 1753 by Nicholas Levasseur at Lorient, she was launched on 22 July 1754 and commissioned in January 1755.
During the Seven Years’ War she sailed from Lisbon in May 1757, captured a British merchant brig, and on 30 May 1757 was taken after a 45‑minute battle off Ouessant by HMS Eagle and HMS Medway. The British bought the ship for £12,310 at Plymouth and renamed her HMS Duc d’Aquitaine. She was refitted and rearmed to 64 guns (24 x 24‑pounders, 26 x 12‑pounders, 12 x 6‑pounders and 2 x 9‑pounders) with a crew of about 590.
She took part in the Raid on St Malo on 5 June 1758 and, after further refits in late 1758–early 1759, sailed for the East Indies in April 1759 under Captain Sir William Hewett.
On 1 January 1761, while anchored near Pondicherry, a cyclone struck. Duc d’Aquitaine foundered in the storm, with only 19 survivors. The gale also wrecked several other British ships.
She was about 159 feet (gundeck) long, 42 feet 7 inches wide, and displaced roughly 2,300 tons.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 17:11 (CET).