French ship Alcide (1743)

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

Alcide was a 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1742. The captain of the vessel was Toussaint Hocquart, for the re-enforcement campaign that was sent to Canada in May 1755.

Capture of Alcide near Louisbourg
History
France
Name	Alcide
Ordered	October 1741
Builder	Brest Naval Dockyard
Laid down	March 1742
Launched	6 December 1743
Commissioned	1744
Captured	8 June 1755, by Royal Navy
Great Britain
Name	Alcide
Acquired	8 June 1755
Fate	Sold, 1772
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	64-gun third-rate ship of the line
Tons burthen	1373.8 tons
Length	159 ft (48 m) (gundeck); 128 ft 4.5 in (39.129 m) (gundeck)
Beam	44 ft 10.25 in (13.6716 m)
Depth of hold	18 ft 2.375 in (5.54673 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	64 guns of various weights of shot

On 8 June 1755, Alcide was captured by HMS Dunkirk and HMS Torbay of Vice-Admiral Edward Boscawen's squadron, and commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1757 as the third-rate HMS Alcide.

HMS Alcide was sold out of the navy in May 1772. However, it perhaps remained in service in some form because on 10 July 1772 according to the UK, Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices' Indentures, 1710–1811, Robert Mellefent was apprenticed as a carpenter to Ebenezer Holland to serve on the ship.^[2]

Shown here as a member Sir George Pocock's Blue Squadron, circa 1762

Plan of Alcide

Another plan of Alcide

See also

• List of ships captured in the 18th century
• Father Le Loutre's War

Citations

1. Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 178.
2. Pichon's Lettres et Memories sure Cap Breton, p. 248

References

• Lavery, Brian, The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650–1850. Conway Maritime Press, 2003. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
• Winfield, Rif, British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing, 2007. ISBN 978-1-84415-700-6.