British Privateer frigate 'Hercules' (1777)

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Hercules
Nominal Guns	30	ref:1846
Nationality	Great Britain
Operator	Private Owners
First Mentioned	19.8.1777	ref:1846
First Commissioned	1778	ref:1846
Home Port	Bristol - England	ref:1846
Shipyard	Unknown	ref:1846
Category	Privateer	ref:1846
Ship Type	Frigate	ref:1846
Captured	28.10.1778	ref:1846

Dimensions

DimensionMeasurementTypeMetric Equivalentref:1846
Burthen250Ton

Armament

15.10.1778Broadside Weight = 120 Imperial Pound ( 54.42 kg)ref:1846
Gun Deck20 British 9-Pounder
Quarterdeck/Forecastle10 British 6-Pounder

Owners

DatesOwnerSource
1778/10/15 - 1778 Bush, Elton and Bush (1779/09/21 - 1783/01), Meyler and Maxse (1782/09/26 - 1783/01)ref:1846

Crew Complement

Date# of MenNotesSource
15.10.1778150 ref:1846

2 Ship Commanders

DatesRankNameSource
19.8.1777 - bef.14.10.1778Captainref:184615.10.1778 - 11.1778Captainref:1846

2 Commissioned Officers

DatesRankNameSource
19.8.1777 - bef.14.10.1778Lieutenantref:184615.10.1778 - 11.1778First Lieutenantref:1846

Service History

DateEventSource
19.8.1777Issued with a Letter of Marqueref:1846
15.10.1778Issued with a Letter of Marqueref:1846
28.10.1778Taken by
11.1778

4 days after sailing the Hercules was captured by Neptune, 74 and Glorieux, 64 after a chase of 7 hours and carried into Brest

ref:1846

Notes on Ship

Serviceref:1846

Letter of Marque ship

Ownersref:1846

"Meyler and Maxse", and "Bush, Elton and Bush" are both listed on advertisement for crew

Sources

IDNameAuthorType

ref:1846J W Damer Powell, Book

Previous comments on this page

Posted by Jeffrey McQuinley on Saturday 6th of December 2025 20:10

This ship is listed in "Bristol Privateers and Ships of War" and I am adding information from there

Posted by Hilary Conybeare Marsh on Monday 17th of March 2025 19:44

Thank you for this record! I found a listing of British prisoners of war taken (1778-9) from the "Herculas" [sic] but the timeline did not match up for the Hercules (1759). FindMyPast has a list of those prisoners (all listed as sailors) if that would help grow this page.

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