HMS Deal Castle (1756)

Commissioned in 1754 she was built at Blackwall and fitted out in Deptford 1755/56 by Adam Hayes and launched on 20 January 1756.

[3] In 1762, she escorted a convoy of troop carriers to Senegal and saw brief action with the French ship Le Signe.

[1] She was recommissioned in 1763 under command of Captain Digby Dent and saw three years service in the Mediterranean including a diplomatic trip to Cadiz.

[3] On 17 April 1780, she took part in the Battle of Martinique under command of Captain William Fooks with Admiral George Rodney.

[5] The ship was wrecked in the Great Hurricane of 1780 off the coast of Puerto Rico on 11 October 1780 (along with 12 other Royal Navy vessels) but only three of the 160 crew perished.

A scene on board the Deal Castle , Captain James Cumming , in a voyage from the West Indies in 1775
The Battle of Martinique, 1780
The wreck off Puerto Rico, in the hurricane of 1780 with the crew escaping on a raft
The wreck of the Deal Castle by John Thomas Serres