HMS Culloden ( 1776 ) HMS " Culloden " was a 74 - gun third - rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy , built at Deptford Dockyard , England , and launched on 18 May 1776 . She was the fourth warship to be named after the Battle of Culloden , which took place in Scotland in 1746 and saw the defeat of the Jacobite Rising . She served with the Channel Fleet during the American War of Independence , seeing action at the Battle of Cape St Vincent , before being sent out to the West Indies . Her stay there was brief , sailing for New York with Admiral Rodney in August 1780 to join the North American station . The ship ' s specific duties were to blockade the French at Newport , Rhode Island where a French army of 6 , 000 had disembarked in July 1780 . On 23 January 1781 , while trying to intercept French ships attempting to run the blockade at Newport , RI , " Culloden " encountered severe weather and ran aground at North Neck Point ( Will ' s Point ) in Montauk . All attempts to refloat the vessel were unsuccessful , but all the crew were saved , and " Culloden ' s " masts were taken aboard . The area is today known as Culloden Point . Salvage Operations . The British conducted salvage operations on the ship throughout March , retrieving all 28 eighteen - pounder guns from the upper deck , and all 18 nine - pounders from the quarterdeck . The larger cannons were pushed into the sea and the ship was then burned to the waterline and abandoned . On 24 July 1781 , Joseph Woodbridge of Groton , Connecticut sent a letter to George Washington offering to sell him sixteen 32 - pounders from the wreck , and on 14 July 1815 , Samuel Jeffers arrived in Newport , Rhode Island with 12 tons of pig iron and a 32 - pounder from the wreck . In 1971 Henry W . Moeller , an undersea archaeologist associated with Dowling College , discovered the keel and large wooden beams resting in between and feet of water off Culloden Point . A gudgeon imprinted with the name " Culloden " was recovered . Subsequent recovery efforts brought up another 32 - pounder cannon as well as copper sheathing . A sketch of the outline of the ruins showed the ship resting on a large boulder . National Register of Historic Places . Since 1979 the wreck site has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places , which prohibits SCUBA divers from taking artifacts from , or otherwise disturbing the wreck . The designated area is a ' circle with a radius of approximately and a centre at the point formed by UTM co - ordinates 19 / 2 51 370 / 45 50 810 . The application notes that in addition to Revolutionary War connections , the shipwreck is important for showing the British state - of - the - art copper sheathing of the ship as well as the possibility that it may reveal problems about corruption in the British shipyards at the time . The application notes : ' Finally , the Culloden shipwreck site may provide material insight into the political conditions existent in the British Admiralty during this period . James [ 1926 : 7 - 18 ) has written describing the strength and organization of the Royal Navy at the end of the Seven Years War ( 1755 - 1762 ) and its subsequent dissipation between 1771 and 1778 through mismanagement and corruption under Lord Sandwich ' s control of the Admiralty . Construction of the Culloden occurred during the period that Admiralty corruption was at its height . Therefore , the Culloden may reflect in material terms corrupt practices plaguing England ' s shipyards at the time . Construction shortcuts and the manufacturing of parts that do not meet specifications have long characterized the defense industry of all nations . The Culloden shipwreck site may provide data illustrating this activity . '