French ship Séduisant (1783)

Séduisant was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class.

History
France
Name:	Séduisant
Namesake:	As Séduisant; French: "Seducing" As Pelletier; Louis-Michel le Pelletier[Note 1]
Ordered:	1 June 1782
Builder:	Toulon
Laid down:	August 1782
Launched:	5 July 1783
Commissioned:	1783
Renamed:	Pelletier on 30 September 1793 Séduisant again on 30 May 1795
Fate:	Wrecked, 16 December 1796
General characteristics
Class and type:	Séduisant-class ship of the line
Displacement:	1550 tonnes
Length:	56.3 m (185 ft)
Beam:	14.2 m (47 ft)
Draught:	7.4 m (24 ft)
Complement:	600
Armament:	74 guns

She was renamed Pelletier on 30 September 1793, in honour of Louis Michel le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau. Under Savary, she was one of the last ships of the line at the Glorious First of June.

On 30 May 1795 her name was changed back to Séduisant. She sank accidentally on 16 December 1796 while leaving Brest for the Expédition d'Irlande. Out of 600 crew and 610 soldiers, only 60 survived.
Other sources speak of 650-680 survivors.[1] The wreck was rediscovered in 1986.[2]

Notes

1. Variously spelt Peletier, Pelletier, Lepeletier or Lepelletier.

References

1. "Wrecksite Séduisant (+1796)". Retrieved 2017-11-18.
2. "Wrecks & shipfinds of Western & inland Europe". Archived from the original on 2008-03-16. Retrieved 2010-09-23.

• Guerre sur mer pendant la révolution et l'empire. Episode XXXII.
• Demerliac, Cmdt. Alain, Nomenclature des navires français de 1774 a 1792. Editions ANCRE, Nice.
• Winfield, Rif and Roberts, Stephen (2015) French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786-1861: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-204-2.