HMS Exeter (1763)

HMS Exeter was a 64-gun third rateship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 26 July 1763 at Chatham Dockyard.^[1]

In 1782, Exeter was involved in the battles of Sadras, Providien, Negapatam and Trincomalee, and the Battle of Cuddalore in 1783.^[2]

In 1783, after peace returned between France and England and the British squadron was recalled, Exeter ran aground arriving at the Cape of Good Hope.^[3] The French squadron under Suffren had been anchored there for a few days, and both the British and French ships launched their boats to provide assistance.^[4]

In 1784 she was found to be unseaworthy, and was burned.^[1]

• Cunat, Charles (1852). Histoire du Bailli de Suffren. Rennes: A. Marteville et Lefas. p. 447.
• Hennequin, Joseph François Gabriel (1835). Biographie maritime ou notices historiques sur la vie et les campagnes des marins célèbres français et étrangers (in French). Vol. 2. Paris: Regnault éditeur. pp. 289–332.
• O'Byrne, William R. (1849). "Stoddart, Pringle" . A Naval Biographical Dictionary. London: John Murray. p. 1123.
• Lavery, Brian (1983), The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850., vol. 1, Conway Maritime Press, ISBN 0-85177-252-8

• HMS Exeter entry in the shipwreck database of the South African Heritage Resources Agency