Commissioned in 1754 she was built at
Blackwall and fitted out in
Deptford 1755/56 by
Adam Hayes and launched on 20 January 1756. Her first Captain was Edward Hughes. Fitting out was completed in March and she then plied the
English Channel and
North Sea. Her first action was on 18 July 1760 when she captured the French privateer Le Faucon. In 1762, she escorted a convoy of troop carriers to
Senegal and saw brief action with the French ship
Le Signe. From 1766 to 1768, she was repaired and recommissioned at
Chatham Docks. She was relaunched in April 1768 and went to
North America. She was refitted again in 1772 and in April 1773 went to the
Leeward Islands returning to England in 1775. In 1776, she was recommissioned and refitted at
Portsmouth to serve in
Newfoundland. This was changed in 1777 and in December she returned to the Leeward Islands again. 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. Hawkins-Whitshed took over
HMS Ceres. 22,000 persons were killed in the storm. ==References==