HMS Thunderer (1760)

HMS Thunderer was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 19 March 1760 at Woolwich. She earned a battle honour in a single-ship action off Cadiz with the French ship Achille (64 guns) in 1761, during the Seven Years' War.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Thunderer.

Model of a 74-gun ship, 3rd rate, circa 1760. Thought to be either HMS Hercules or HMS Thunderer from 1760.
History
Great Britain
NameThunderer
Ordered15 July 1756
BuilderWoolwich Dockyard
Launched19 March 1760
FateWrecked, 1780
General characteristics
Class and typeHercules-class ship of the line
Tons burthen160933⁄94 (bm)
Length166 ft 6 in (50.75 m) (gundeck)
Beam46 ft 6 in (14.17 m)
Depth of hold19 ft 9 in (6.02 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament
  • 74 guns:
  • Lower gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs
  • Upper gundeck: 28 × 18 pdrs
  • Quarter deck: 14 × 9 pdrs
  • Forecastle: 4 × 9 pdrs

She foundered in the Great Hurricane of 1780 in the West Indies, reportedly 90 miles east of Jamaica on the Formigas Banks with the loss of all 617 on board. Among the lost sailors were the Captain, Robert Boyle-Walsingham (1736–1780), and Midshipman Nathaniel Cook (1764–1780), the second child of Captain James Cook.

Two cannons attributed to the ship are displayed at a rum cake factory on Grand Cayman Island. A plaque states that they were recovered in 1984 by the research vessel Beacon.

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