French ship Hector (1756)

The Hector was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class.

Career
Hector was launched on 23 July 1755, and commissioned under Captain Vilarzel d'Hélie.

In 1757, the departed Toulon on 18 March, arriving in Louisbourg on 15 June. Returning to Brest on 23 November with 5000 sick aboard, she spread the typhus to the town; the ensuing epidemic caused 10 000 fatalities. She was then decommissioned and stayed in the reserve in Brest.

In July 1762, while cruising off Cap Français, she struck the bottom on a rock. The same spot had been the theatre of the wreck of Dragon on 17 March of the same year.

Between 1763 and 1777, she was decommissioned in Toulon. During the American War of Independence, she reactivated, sailing to the Delaware in July 1778. She arrived at Newport on 8 August 1778.

On 14 August 1778, Hector and the 64-gun Vaillant captured the bombship HMS Thunder. The same day, she also captured the 16-gun HMS Senegal at Sandy Hook.

Hector then took part in the Battle of Grenada on 6 July 1779 and in the Siege of Savannah, before returning to Brest, arriving on 10 December 1779. She was decommissioned in Lorient on 21 December, before rearming and thaking part in the Battle of the Chesapeake on 5 September 1781.

During the Battle of the Saintes, from 9 to 12 April 1782, she battled HMS Canada and Alcide and was captured. He captain, Lavicomté, died in the action.

The British took her to Jamaica, where she was repaired and recommissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Hector.

She took part in the Action of 5 September 1782, where she was damaged by the frigates Aigle and Gloire.

Much damaged in this action and after suffering the 1782 Central Atlantic hurricane of 17 September, she sank on 4 October 1782. The privateer Hawke saved 200 of her crew.