HMS Defence was a 74-gun Bellona-class third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Israel Pownoll and launched on 31 March 1763 at Plymouth Dockyard. She was one of the most famous ships of the period, taking part in several of the most important naval battles of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. In 1811 she was wrecked off the coast of Jutland with the loss of almost her entire crew.
HMS Defence at the Battle of the Glorious First of June 1794, dismasted and with severe injury to the hull, by Nicholas Pocock
Situation of the Defence at the close of the action on 1 June 1794, by Robert Dodd after Lieut. A. Becher RN.
The beach near Thorsminde
The last cruise
Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1780)
The Battle of Cape St. Vincent was a naval battle that took place off the southern coast of Portugal on 16 January 1780 during the American Revolutionary War. A British fleet under Admiral Sir George Rodney defeated a Spanish squadron under Don Juan de Lángara. The battle is sometimes referred to as the Moonlight Battle because it was unusual for naval battles in the Age of Sail to take place at night. It was also the first major naval victory for the British over their European enemies in the war and proved the value of copper-sheathing the hulls of warships.
The moonlight Battle off Cape St Vincent, 16 January 1780, Francis Holman
Don Juan de Lángara, portrait by an unknown artist.
Admiral Sir George Rodney, portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
La Battalla de Cabo de San Vincente, painted by an unknown Spanish artist.