French ship Duguay-Trouin (1800)

Type

Ship of the Line

Period

18th Century

Nation

France

Overview: Duguay-Trouin was a 74-gun Téméraire-class ship of the line of the French Navy, launched at Rochefort in 1800. She is far better known under her later British name, HMS Implacable, after being captured following the Battle of Trafalgar, and became one of the most celebrated surviving "wooden walls" of the Napoleonic era, second in fame in British service only to HMS Victory. Specifications: As built to Jacques-Noël Sané's Téméraire-class design, she measured roughly 181 ft 6 in (55.3 m) length with a 48 ft 11 in (14.9 m) beam and displaced about 3,069 tonneaux, with a complement of 640 in British service. Her original French armament comprised 28 x 36-pounders on the lower gun deck and 30 x 18-pounders on the upper deck plus smaller carronades and guns on the forecastle/quarterdeck; once in Royal Navy service her gun deck was re-armed with 32-pounders. Service History: The 74-gun ship was built as the French 'Duguay-Trouin' at Rochefort in 1800, fought at Trafalgar in 1805 and was one of the four vessels that escaped under Admiral Dumanoir, all captured about a month later by Sir Richard Strachan in a small squadron action in the Bay of Biscay. She was taken into the Navy as 'Implacable' and after further service, including action against the Russians in the Baltic, was preserved in harbour service at Portsmouth, latterly as a boys' training ship. She was eventually scuttled off Portsmouth in December 1949 after efforts to preserve her as a permanent museum ship alongside Victory failed for lack of funds. Notable Facts: Restoration work on her stern was funded by Sir James Caird before WWII, who also underwrote efforts to have her preserved alongside 'Victory' at Portsmouth as the last of the 74s and the last French survivor of Trafalgar. Her ornate stern carvings and figurehead were saved before scuttling and are preserved at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, giving modelers a rare surviving reference for a Téméraire-class stern gallery. Reflecting her fame, the World Ship Trust adopted a symbolic representation of Duguay-Trouin as its emblem, with the motto "Implacable, never again". The featured image, painted by Francis Sartorius II, depicts Strachan's Action of 4 November 1805 off Cape Ortegal, the very engagement in which Duguay-Trouin (by then sailing with Dumanoir's squadron) was captured and brought into British service.