HMS Bienfaisant (1758)
Bienfaisant was a 64-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1754. A cutting out expedition ordered by Admiral Edward Boscawen of the British Royal Navy captured her on the night of 25 July 1758 during the 1758 Siege of Louisbourg. "Bienfaisant" and the 74-gun "Prudent" were the last remaining ships of the line of the French squadron in Louisbourg harbour. "Prudent" had run aground and so her captors set her alight, but men commanded by Commander George Balfour of boarded and brought out "Bienfaisant". The action provided a decisive moment of  the siege; the fortress surrendered the next day. British Service. The Royal Navy commissioned "Bienfaisant" as the third rate HMS "Bienfaisant". In late 1777 "Bienfaissant", Captain McBride, captured "American Tartar" privateer, of 24 guns and 200 men. "Bienfaissant" took "American Tartar" to St Johns, Newfoundland. She took part in the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1780 and the capture of the "Comte de Artois" off Ireland in August. On 19 July 1780, "Bienfaisant" encountered the French 32-gun frigate "Nymphe", returning to Brest from America under Du Rumain. "Nymphe" managed to escape. "Bienfaisant" participated, under the command of Captain  Braithwaite, in the 1781 Battle of Dogger Bank with reduced armament on her lower deck as the last ship in the line. Fate. "Bienfaisant" was broken up in 1814.