HMS Colchester was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at King's Yard in Harwich by John Barnard according to the dimensions specified in the 1741 proposals of the 1719 Establishment, and launched on 14 August 1744.

[1] After being commissioned under Captain Frederick Cornewall, Colchester took aboard a pilot to guide the ship out of the Nore anchorage and on to the Downs.

Sailing on Sunday 21 October 1744, the ship ran aground between Long Sand and the Kentish Knock, and became stuck in weather that was 'not at all tempestuous.

'[2] A boat was sent back to the shore the following morning for help, and whilst the crew waited for it to return, another ship from the Nore arrived to offer assistance, having heard Colchester's cannons being fired in a signal of distress.

[2] In the afternoon of Monday 22 October, the fore and mizzen masts were cut away in an effort to prevent the ship working herself to pieces.