HMS Northumberland was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line

Ship of the line

A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...

 of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, built at Plymouth Dockyard to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment

1745 Establishment

The 1745 Establishment was the third and final formal establishment of dimensions for ships to be built for the Royal Navy. It completely superseded the previous 1719 Establishment, which had subsequently been modified in 1733 and again in 1741...

, and launched on 1 December 1750.

During the Seven Years War Northumberland was under the command of Lord Alexander Collville

Alexander Collville

Vice-Admiral Alexander Colville, 7th Lord of Culross served as the Commodore and Commander in Chief of His Majesty's Ship's and Vessels in North America from 1757 to 1762...

. He received command of the ship in 1753 and remained in command until 1762. In 1759, future explorer, James Cook

James Cook

Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...

 was appointed Master.

She was later reclassified as a storeship and renamed Leviathan on 13 September 1777.

Leviathan foundered on 27 February 1780 whilst sailing from Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

to Britain.